This one was crammed in a small closet in my garage. Musta been there almost 10 years. I've had a few drying racks and I don't think I ever used this one before because I remember cutting off some trays and they were not nearly as big as this one. The case was pretty dusty but inside the trays were like new so I proceeded.
I've never liked using net trays but figured they'd be fine for leaf. I put down parchment paper and laid the leaf down in a single layer.
Woulda used a table but there's so much trim I didn't have enough room on my table.
Looks like it's worked well and all the leaf is dry already so I'll bag into a grove today and get that rack out of my room and out of my way.
Thanks Buddy!
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So here's my DIY freeze dry and beginning of my attempt to make live rosin.
In the end, if I get 5 grams I'll be very happy and if this works even happier.
I love live extracts but there's no way I'm gonna spend big $$$ on a freeze drier so when I get a good harvest with plenty to use for experiments, freeze drying and live resin is always at the top of the list of experimentation.
I found this idea online and liked it mostly because I could use better equipment than the tutorial which used a marinating dish and hand pump for wine to make freeze dried strawberries.
I'm using a BHO purge chamber and powered vacuum pump I used for purging BHO and installing the mini split AC system for my home. Cue the Tim Allen "More power" grunts
My gear...
3 gallon purge chamber made of aluminum with sealing lid that has a ball valve connector T and pressure gauge.
Stainless steel steam pot strainer.
2.5 CFM vacuum pump.
About 1lb of silica beads. I got the blue kind that turn white when filled with water and they can be dried out for reuse.
Medium size deep freezer.
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To start I cut down what I wanted to use off the plants and froze it right away for a few days
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First I cleaned all my gear and to begin the freeze dry I added the silica to the purge chamber. I think the ratio is around double the weight of bead to material added. I didn't weigh it or anything and just figured the more the better.
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Next in goes the strainer and this is just used so the material does not have contact with the silica beads
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And then the weed
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And now comes the purge. I did this with video so Y'all can see the vacuum happen and it even began to pull some vapor from the chamber so I'm thinking this might actually work!
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Ok so now the chamber is under a vacuum and I put it back in the deep freezer where it'll sit for a few days then I'll check it's progress.
But basically the way this should work is that under the vacuum, the water in the material will turn to vapor and instead of using the pump to keep pulling, hopefully the silica absorbs that vapor and leaves me with some freeze dried cannabis. We'll soon find out!
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And since I'm feeling really good about this grow, harvest, and future I decided to treat myself to some new toys...
Another Terp Pen and I also ordered the mystery box from Boundless which came with another XL pen plus a bunch of tips! Pretty good deal for only $59!
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And a little fancy upgrade to my desktop rolling station courtesy of BlueBus
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