Plastic bucket curing - anyone done it before? Or anything larger than mason jars?

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MooseFarts

MooseFarts

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Hey everyone, just curious if there’s anyone here on the farm who cures their product in plastic buckets / pails. My guess is that it would normally be outdoor growers who don’t want to have hundreds of mason jars to use to cure.

I was thinking about getting perhaps 5L food grade pails for curing in. It would hold much more than a mason jar and be much easier to go about opening a bunch of them every day.

Does the smoke lose some flavour when curing in plastic? Any preferences to size of bucket? Etc etc
 
G

Godfthrfarm

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Yes I have used plastic tubs..infact they work very well.. but make sure your bud is dry I mean after hanging and branch snappy you can put whole kola into tub until u r ready to finish trimming or u can trim and put into containers for curing I buy the big storage containers people store items in or used for moving that u can buy at Walmart for 5 -10bucks ..don't forget u must burp nightly ...or leave lid cracked open...the cure is so stank...taste supreme and product is safely hidden and stored...I used jars b4 for curing and tubs r the way to gooooo..happy harvest my friends..
 
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MooseFarts

MooseFarts

298
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Yes I have used plastic tubs..infact they work very well.. but make sure your bud is dry I mean after hanging and branch snappy you can put whole kola into tub until u r ready to finish trimming or u can trim and put into containers for curing I buy the big storage containers people store items in or used for moving that u can buy at Walmart for 5 -10bucks ..don't forget u must burp nightly ...or leave lid cracked open...the cure is so stank...taste supreme and product is safely hidden and stored...I used jars b4 for curing and tubs r the way to gooooo..happy harvest my friends..
This was the answer I was really lookin for! Thanks man! So you even use larger totes eh, how much goes in a box for you? Pound or so? Or more?

Also you’ve never had issues with Mold when curing that much bud in a container?

Plants are lookin awesome my man
 
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Jimster

Jimster

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I think any type of airtight container would work well. Once the buds are pretty well dried, Aging them for 3 or 4 weeks seems to bring out the flavor and potency. I don't know why it takes that long after the buds are dried (as they can be used as soon as dried), but the hay smell drops and the flavors develop. As long as it's airtight and sufficiently dry to avoid mold/mildew issues, I think you are good to go!
FWIW, if you want to remove the O2 from your drying container, a hand warmer pack works great for removing the O2 and replacing it with CO2, preventing oxidation. Just open the warmer and toss it into the container and it will slowly oxidize the iron inside the warmer, using up the O2 in the process.
 
BudBogart

BudBogart

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I used mason jars but realized burping that many jars was not working.
So I have 5 gallon food grade 5 gallon buckets with Gamma Seal spin open lids.
I line the buckets with turkey bags for extra purity and ease of packaging.
When they are fully done curing, I move them into mason jars for long term storage. I still have some 2016, 17 and 18 stored.
I put the mason jars inside corrugated boxes with lids and keep them cool 😎.
The cases of jars not in corrugated boxes are empties.
I’ve seen your grow, moose farts 👨‍🌾👍🏽 And you’re gonna need a similar set up. Success has its price, lol.
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FD482CC4 3754 49D5 9BED B21A0ED0DA5F
 
MooseFarts

MooseFarts

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I think any type of airtight container would work well. Once the buds are pretty well dried, Aging them for 3 or 4 weeks seems to bring out the flavor and potency. I don't know why it takes that long after the buds are dried (as they can be used as soon as dried), but the hay smell drops and the flavors develop. As long as it's airtight and sufficiently dry to avoid mold/mildew issues, I think you are good to go!
FWIW, if you want to remove the O2 from your drying container, a hand warmer pack works great for removing the O2 and replacing it with CO2, preventing oxidation. Just open the warmer and toss it into the container and it will slowly oxidize the iron inside the warmer, using up the O2 in the process.
Wow that’s a pretty neat trick! So would a Humidipak and hand warmer in each container work well then? I think what I also plan on doing this year is vac packing some of the buds once they're dried and cured. Test to see how that preserves flavour compared to having them stored in containers for their whole life
 
MooseFarts

MooseFarts

298
93
I used mason jars but realized burping that many jars was not working.
So I have 5 gallon food grade 5 gallon buckets with Gamma Seal spin open lids.
I line the buckets with turkey bags for extra purity and ease of packaging.
When they are fully done curing, I move them into mason jars for long term storage. I still have some 2016, 17 and 18 stored.
I put the mason jars inside corrugated boxes with lids and keep them cool 😎.
The cases of jars not in corrugated boxes are empties.
I’ve seen your grow, moose farts 👨‍🌾👍🏽 And you’re gonna need a similar set up. Success has its price, lol.
View attachment 891200

View attachment 891195
Damn, those buckets are beautiful (I used to work in a factory which produced every and any sized pail you could imagine and we didnt produce those lids). And same with you, you don't have any issues with mold when filling the bucket with a decent amount of buds? In my first post I indicated that I was thinking of using 5 litre pails, this was only due to the fact I am a bit hesitant to put it in a larger pail in case there would be issues with mold. If you haven't had any issues with 5 gal buckets then I won't worry too much then!

Thank you for the compliment BudBogart! Thats the reason I am looking into this now, since harvest season is up and coming and like you said, burping that many mason jars would just be ridiculous!

When growing wasn't legal around here I would grow a couple of plants and yield a few pounds. I would end up using 40-50 mason jars and burping those would take way too long. Now I am at the point where my plants will yield a whole season's harvest amount in one plant that I have this year so, like you said, I need a similar setup!
 
BudBogart

BudBogart

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Wow that’s a pretty neat trick! So would a Humidipak and hand warmer in each container work well then? I think what I also plan on doing this year is vac packing some of the buds once they're dried and cured. Test to see how that preserves flavour compared to having them stored in containers for their whole life

If you decide to vac pack some bud you may want to stop the suction at a more desirable spot than fully sucked out.
Until I practiced a bit the machine would suck so much air out of the bag that the buds would compress into one small bunch ( bag appeal) and would be impossible to break the buds apart with using scissors ✂️.
However, once you get the knack it works great. The bags can leak over time due to stems poking, etc. so keeping an occasional eye 👁 to make certain it’s still airtight is suggested. I think vac sealing once cured, then storing back in the 5 gallon sealed food grade containers would be awesome.
 
Jimster

Jimster

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2,770
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Wow that’s a pretty neat trick! So would a Humidipak and hand warmer in each container work well then? I think what I also plan on doing this year is vac packing some of the buds once they're dried and cured. Test to see how that preserves flavour compared to having them stored in containers for their whole life
I learned the handwarmer trick from doomsday preppers... they use big plastic barrels to store bulk food items and stuff, throwing a couple of hand warmers in before sealing things up to burn up the oxygen. It makes perfect sense, but it wouldn't have occurred to me if I didn't see them doing it. From my experience, I've had buds stored in mason jars for years and they are just about as good.
 
Kraken.headz

Kraken.headz

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In my experience, the very best thing is mylar long term storage bags. I've used the ol' black and yellow 27 gal totes, the ludicrously expensive cure tubes, and most recently RTIC 65 qt coolers.
Generally, I hang the whole branch for 10 days, then transfer everything to the coolers while I go through and give them the final trim. Trim > into mylar storage bags.
 
MooseFarts

MooseFarts

298
93
If you decide to vac pack some bud you may want to stop the suction at a more desirable spot than fully sucked out.
Until I practiced a bit the machine would suck so much air out of the bag that the buds would compress into one small bunch ( bag appeal) and would be impossible to break the buds apart with using scissors ✂.
However, once you get the knack it works great. The bags can leak over time due to stems poking, etc. so keeping an occasional eye 👁 to make certain it’s still airtight is suggested. I think vac sealing once cured, then storing back in the 5 gallon sealed food grade containers would be awesome.

That makes sense; I could see vac packing too tight being a problem. But yeah I was also thinking that vac packing once cured would be great to keep the humidity of the buds at the perfect level.
 
BloodShot

BloodShot

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That makes sense; I could see vac packing too tight being a problem. But yeah I was also thinking that vac packing once cured would be great to keep the humidity of the buds at the perfect level.
If you have a vacuum sealer there are attachments that can be purchased that will suck the air out of small and larger mason jars.
 
G

Godfthrfarm

64
18
This was the answer I was really lookin for! Thanks man! So you even use larger totes eh, how much goes in a box for you? Pound or so? Or more?

Also you’ve never had issues with Mold when curing that much bud in a container?

Plants are lookin awesome my man
Lol..nahh never mold bra I burp the totes nightly and I put my kolas dried in the containers until I'm ready to trim it up ...then I put it back into the totes by the pound if it's on kolas it holds about 3 pounds up to five in pure bud...I'm a female grower of 20 years from mendocino county trust me this is the best way I have found to cure my shit...enjoy my friend..ohhh make sure its dry completely first and burp that bitch...lol
 
3 balls

3 balls

582
143
I used mason jars but realized burping that many jars was not working.
So I have 5 gallon food grade 5 gallon buckets with Gamma Seal spin open lids.
I line the buckets with turkey bags for extra purity and ease of packaging.
When they are fully done curing, I move them into mason jars for long term storage. I still have some 2016, 17 and 18 stored.
I put the mason jars inside corrugated boxes with lids and keep them cool 😎.
The cases of jars not in corrugated boxes are empties.
I’ve seen your grow, moose farts 👨‍🌾👍🏽 And you’re gonna need a similar set up. Success has its price, lol.
View attachment 891200

View attachment 891195
What are you using for a pump to supply that many buckets??? I'm in the process of doing something similar, I had a extra Ecoplus 793 gph that I hooked up to one bucket and I dont even think it was sufficient. I'm guessing you might be using multiple 3566 gph? I know it needs to be a oil-less compressor but other that the water aerator pumps we are all familiar with I dont know where to look. Thank you!
 
BudBogart

BudBogart

1,662
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What are you using for a pump to supply that many buckets??? I'm in the process of doing something similar, I had a extra Ecoplus 793 gph that I hooked up to one bucket and I dont even think it was sufficient. I'm guessing you might be using multiple 3566 gph? I know it needs to be a oil-less compressor but other that the water aerator pumps we are all familiar with I dont know where to look. Thank you!
I use two standard aquarium pumps. One is 12 valve, the other 6 valve. It takes very little air to burp the containers. Bought off Amazon.
 
3 balls

3 balls

582
143
I use two standard aquarium pumps. One is 12 valve, the other 6 valve. It takes very little air to burp the containers. Bought off Amazon.
Thanks! I have a feeling the pump I did the experiment with is too old and/or defective. I've read that once a day 15 minutes is the way to go. Does that sound about right to you? Thanks
 
BudBogart

BudBogart

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Thanks! I have a feeling the pump I did the experiment with is too old and/or defective. I've read that once a day 15 minutes is the way to go. Does that sound about right to you? Thanks
I did 15 minutes a day last year. I’m doing like two minutes a day this time. Takes very little to burp.
 

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