Clockworx dry/cure method (step by step)

[dorjewright]

I use a modified version of clockworx's. But the rh here on the n ca coast is usually in the 80s so I have to use a dehumidifier. Problem is it raises the temperature into the mid to high 70s especially during the day so I've tried 12 hrs on 12 hours off. But the question I have is about storage. Last year I tried using humidipaks to keep the rh at 62%. After 6 to 8 months the buds seemed to have a slightly musty smell and taste and lost color. This year the final dry will be down to 55% in jars no humidipaks until broken out to smoke. I would like to hear other's experience with storage.

 

[clockworx]

I use a modified version of clockworx's. But the rh here on the n ca coast is usually in the 80s so I have to use a dehumidifier. Problem is it raises the temperature into the mid to high 70s especially during the day so I've tried 12 hrs on 12 hours off. But the question I have is about storage. Last year I tried using humidipaks to keep the rh at 62%. After 6 to 8 months the buds seemed to have a slightly musty smell and taste and lost color. This year the final dry will be down to 55% in jars no humidipaks until broken out to smoke. I would like to hear other's experience with storage.

62% rh is too wet to store buds at for long periods, you want the finished bud to be around 10-15% .....10% if your smoking joints 15% if your going to be vapeing .....the musty smell is caused by anaerobic bacteria (no oxygen and to much moisture will cause them to thrive) when I dry/cure I use the bags to get the buds down to where they don't need to be burped and can be stored for a long period of time (25-35%) seems to be the perfect time to snip them off the branches and toss the into jars. It also depends on how dense the buds are, airy buds dry to dust easy and dense buds can get musty inside if to wet...but when the buds get nice and tight using the bags (like pic) they are around 25-30% and ready to be stored, they might need to be off gassed 1 time.........

 

[clockworx]

You jarred to early.......just use the bags longer and keep drying until the stem BENDS WITH A SLIGHT CRACK......that is the best time to jar if your not wanting to burp jars an worry about musty bud......25-35% is when I jar mine, no burping needed...at that % the buds will be tight when jarring and the stem will have just enough moisture to keep them from going stale..........and when I'm ready to use them, they are nice and fresh...

 

[dorjewright]

Clockworx, is your 25 to 35% the same as my 65 to 70%rh of the jar measured with an hygrometer as used for cigars? In otherwords I don't understand how you get your readings please explain for this dummy.

 

[clockworx]

25-35% inside bud moisture......let's say a fresh snipped bud is 100%, the first 4 days of drying you will lose the most moisture let's say down to 50% depending on temp and rh% ,,,,,the drying process then needs to be slowed down (bags) and keep sweating them to get the buds where YOU feel they are at 25-35% overall bud moisture, not room rh% ....I guess you can call it bud rh% ....buds vary in density so its only you that can judge, but a good rule of thumb that I see in all my different strains is when the stem slightly bends and cracks the buds seem to be at that inside moistness.... this is not an exact science, but after you have been doing it for a long time you will know what your looking for...during this next jarring I will toss a hydro meter into the jar with the buds and give you a reading of the inside jar rh% after a day ....its been so long since I've used meters and I forget the % and don't want to give you the wrong number.....but if your buds are smelling any hint of musty after jarring then they need to be dried longer or burped until you get them to a dryer state.....

 

[clockworx]

Rh is only used to control how fast the buds dry.....it has absolutly nothing to do with when you jar them....only bud moisture content matters.....buds you buy from a dispensary are 10-15% moisture content...you wanna jar just above that 25-35% to allow the product time to finish the cure and they will stay fresh, slowly dropping moisture as the weeks go by from opening the jar to grab a bud out here and there....the earlier you jar the more you have to burp to keep the buds from getting musty.....I use this method because I hate burping 100 jars and damaging the buds..

 

[clockworx]

If your buds are still heavy when jarring = 2 wet........they should be lite and tight with a little "bounce" to them.....after being in the jar for a day or 2 the last of the moisture from the inside of the bud and stem will evenly remoisten the buds and they will be perfect to just stay in the jars and become great.....your doing most of the decarboxlyation on the line using the bags and finishing up in the jars.......as opposed to just drying on the line and doing all the decarboxylation in the jar, you CAN do it that way but you have to keep burping so they won't get musty.......

 

[clockworx]

I will also say that using a hydrometer only works if you have a TIME to go by (longer the better) like a day or two and the room humidity at the time of jarring and also temp.....I can toss wet buds into a jar and say the hydrometer reads 70% after an hour but that doesn't really mean anything because in 3 hours it might be 80% and so on.....now if I dry buds perfect and jar them with a hydrometer and count down exactly 24hours and see what the reading is it would be more accurate but you have to remember that if one person is jarring in florida at 100% rh and one person is in arizona with 5% rh then one persons jar already wet inside to start with and one persons jar is dry.....and that % of humidity is trapped in the jar.......not to mention the temp......

Hypothetical example

In order for it to be accurate you need a starting room humidity % , temp,,, a length of time....end rh%

The correct way would be like this ::::::: @ the time of jarring the room rh% was @ 55%
** room temp 70°
**buds were in jar for 24.0 hours and the reading is now 49% rh

That way people would have a starting rh%.......a temp....a time ......and an ending %.......making it universal for everyone..

So if a person says " ok I'm going to jar according to this rule "....they jar with a room temp at 70°,,humidity at 55%...they count down 24.0 hours and the inside of their jar is 65%.....then they know 100% that their buds were too wet......as long as they had accurate temp/rh meter...and could count 24 hours.

 

[clockworx]

You can see why is doesn't really work how people do it.......much easier to jar them when the stem slightly bends with a crack.....also using other signs I have given......stem should bend around 40° and then crack....if the stem snaps without bending at all you overdried.....if the stem bends 120° its still to wet.. that just might be the best way to tell now that I think about it.....

 

[clockworx]

Stem cracking points/2 jar timing
Green line = good for jarring
Yellow line = can be jarred but will need to be burped
Red line = to wet needs more drying time
***********Bend in the stem is directly related to bud moisture content*********

haha , not the best chart but it will do

 

[dorjewright]

Nice chart that helps alot. Here's what i am doing this time around. I bring the humidity in the drying room down to 50%. Temp varies a bit. I bag (turkey bags) or jar with hygrometer. Wait 24 hrs or more. The moisture of the buds should bring the rh up. If its above 60% I burp in a room with rh about 50 to 55% and keep doing that until I get an rh between 55 and 60% in the jar (Is this dry enough for storage?).
I will now go and do the snap test for comparison.

 

[SmokinDogCujo]

This was a great read. Drying and curing is where want to step my game up! I'll be harvesting in about 3 weeks and will definitely be giving this method a go!

Grow Safe

SDC

 

[clockworx]

Someone was asking about using a rh meter inside the jars while curing, i didnt have numbers for the method so i told him next time i would cure a jar like that and record the info , so here it is.

When using a relative humidity meter inside the jars you want buds curing at 55-65% relative humidity. Buds should be sealed in the jar for at least 1 hour to get a stable read on the rh%. If you place buds inside a jar, seal it and see the RH is higher than 65% after 1 hour, the buds are still too wet, toss them in a paper bag and let them dry a tad more and try again. Its very important to not shortcut this step, you will end up with nug that smells musty or worse, moldy!!!

If the RH inside a closed jar after 1 hour is less than 50%, you have dried a little too long and the buds will not have enough moisture for a long cure. In this case just leave them sealed in the jar and try not to open it to avoid losing the little remaining moisture.

Let buds cure as long as you want, or pack it, light it, and fly like a birdie. o_Oo_Oo_O:rolleyes::):);)

 

[clockworx]

...

 

[soserthc1]

Awesome thread and came at the right time as was exactly the info i was researching as my r/h seemed high in drying area at 55% but seems right on point , thanks for taking the time was very helpful

 

[OLDproLg]

Really good read here!!!

My prob is,im in FLA huh,an i harvest from 20 to 60
POUNDS at a time of outdoor bud,if i leave any moister the buds either mold or get brown......yuk..
SO i just dry for 6 days,trim n bag....burp every week an in a few weeks it gone anyhow......

Never used jars,just to much weed for that!
oh well,that commercial for ya?

Personal stuff can be done like this well though,
AND i admit,i never really cared about perfect levels of moisture in bags....

Crisp buds here,get moistened in an hour left out.
SHUCKS if i left a bud outside,by mornin it would almost to wet to smoke here huh?
Humidity sucks......mold spores suck,heck FLA frikin SUCKS hahahaaaa.......but weed grows like HELLFIRE!!!!!!!!

Great read,im gonna have to try this one!
THANX,
Lg

 

[Burned Haze]

Someone was asking about using a rh meter inside the jars while curing, i didnt have numbers for the method so i told him next time i would cure a jar like that and record the info , so here it is.

When using a relative humidity meter inside the jars you want buds curing at 55-65% relative humidity. Buds should be sealed in the jar for at least 1 hour to get a stable read on the rh%. If you place buds inside a jar, seal it and see the RH is higher than 65% after 1 hour, the buds are still too wet, toss them in a paper bag and let them dry a tad more and try again. Its very important to not shortcut this step, you will end up with nug that smells musty or worse, moldy!!!

If the RH inside a closed jar after 1 hour is less than 50%, you have dried a little too long and the buds will not have enough moisture for a long cure. In this case just leave them sealed in the jar and try not to open it to avoid losing the little remaining moisture.

Let buds cure as long as you want, or pack it, light it, and fly like a birdie. o_Oo_Oo_O:rolleyes::):);)

What about after you have the snap-rate dry like you do before you burp your jars in a food-grade jar ,Has anyone used food-grade plastic 5-gal buckets to burp there plants ? I am sick of doing my bigger plants in small 1/4-half gallon jars . I realize you have to examine for issues and RH issues but would a true food grade plastic container work? I have always heard you have to use Food grade glass since it will absorb to it.

I am sure many growers would love to know that question!

-BH

 

[UCMETOO]

Burned i have used Food Grade plastic to "Jar" bud for curing, the largest issue we ran into was not being able to see the product without taking it out of the bucket. Moving that unfinished bud out of the bucket was too much physical 'wear and tear' on the herb whilt it was still unfinished, and it loves to clump together especially at the bottom of the container.

 

[kuz]

Thanks for the thread. Somewhere along the line I heard the rh has to fluctuate up and down for the bud to cure, but you are saying thats not true, I will try it. rh in the cure/dry room 50-60% right? You stop burping the jars when the rh meter stays at 60%. When you say 35-40% for long term storage, you arent talking about what a meter would read are you?

Last bud I cured had no smell, its been unusually rainy and humid here, think I just jarred it too soon. idk. First time with that strain, but really there is no smell. No musty smell just no aroma at all.

 

[clockworx]

@kuz some phenotypes in a strain will just lack smell. You might have to hunt for that special plant.. @Burned Haze I personally stay away from plastic but I'm sure food grade will work.. Also after you have the snap correct you should only need to crack the jar 1 or 2 times just for safe measures... If your having to keep cracking you most Likly jarred to soon... I like to slow the initial dry, then use the bags while the buds are still hanging to cut out the burping totally, when mine go into jars they can stay there with a burp or 2 tops, the slow drying is what keeps the smell. The cure sweetens them up and allows for that nice smoothness... With this method there is no damage to the finished product and no fussing around with burping a ton of jars. This is what you would learn after 15 years of drying and a load of trial and error, I'm not telling anyone to try something as a test, this will ALWAYS be my method so feel comfortable that once you got it correct your golden and will never look back..