I live in so cal and my outdoor grows love the fresh California air and sunshine. But drying outdoors in 80-100 plus days is a huge mistake. I can’t stink up my whole house and I can’t keep a room or space at the recommended 65degrees and 52-58RH. I’ve been experimenting with the refrigerator for several seasons now and I’m very happy with the return.
Here’s what I do and how it effects the drying process.
Refrigerator temps are low 40’s. But the refrigerator creates a rh of around 15-30% which is a little too low and will create an environment that will dry too quickly.
I cut colas and bag them immediately from plant to paper bags and put them in the veg drawers of my refrig. I keep a hydrometer in the drawer at RH will settle at around 53-65% which is perfect.
In a 65 degree environment you’ll have plants ready around 7-13 days.
But what’s nice is in the frig at 43-50 degrees it’ll take closer to 25-30 days to hit the sweet spot.
I remove the paper bags every few days the first week or two and shake and set the paper bags out in front of a fan for about 5 mins if because the bags will feel slightly moist and this helps wick moisture slowly and equally from the plant matter inside. After they’ve been inspected and the bags are dry again, roll the bags back up and put them back in the fridge compartment.
Since the plants are never hung and they’re not air dried too quickly in a hot environment with low air flow, there is no chance of disgusting hay smell (lawn clippings) and no loss of terps that occur almost instantly if you hang dry at 80 or above.
I don’t even remove small fan leaves at this point because they help with a slow gradual dry.
The colas keep their beautiful lime green and pink hues and the sugar stays frosty.
Once the bags have gone 20 days or so I start keeping an eye on rh in the refrigerator compartment and when the rh drops to somewhere around 50 the herb in the bags is ready. The leaf will be crisp and wil break away easily with a gloved hand and the bud will feel dry but it’s not. Since it’s cold when you trim and de-stem the nugs will start equalizing and should go straight from trim screens to mason jars with a digital hydrometer. No moisture packs yet. Lids off, let the nugs come completely to room temp and then cap the jars. Place in a dark cupboard. Inside temps can be between 66-78. Check RH after several hours and if your at around 62 you’re good! Curing is now about to start.
If your jars are showing over 65rh, you need to empty the jars back on the screen and let the plants sit out for an hour then put them back in the jars and check again the next day.
If your jars are showing 40-50rh after 48 hrs, you went too long in the fridge and your plants will not be curing. I’d recommend a moisture pack to bring them back to 62rh, but no noticeable chemical reaction will occur that reduces harshness and “green” home grown flavor. They will still be tasty since they didn’t get destroyed from heat and high temp air terpene evaporation, but they won’t have enough natural “living” enzymes in the plant cells left to continue eliminating chlorophyll and other chemicals.
I burp jars daily for a few minutes and shake the nugs around to let them breathe. After about 2 weeks you can switch to burping once a month.
I enjoy testing my
harvest right out of the fridge. And, I taste them continuously from day one of curing until I’m all out from this harvest and have to repeat my season. Flavors tend to be cleanest after 30 days in jars. Full jars stay good for 6-9 months in the dark. Near empty jars will lose quality within 30-60 days.
I also never bag my weed in ziplocks because the herb will dry out. So I always grab a few nugs from my curing jars and I like those medical pop tops you get at the dispensary to hold my day or weekend allowance and smoke to my head’s content.