Need some tips on drying and curing

Holden9cox · Jul 19, 2022

Ok so this is my 3rd time harvesting and I’m still trying to figure out the best ways to dry and cure. First time I put them on hangers in a dark attic space with a box fan on them. The 2nd time I used a triple thick cardboard box with a dehumidifier in it. Both times to cure I used mason jars with bovida bags and hygrometer. Both times they came out with that hay smell. They smoked good the second time but it wasn’t that nice weed smell to them

RonnieB2nd · Jul 19, 2022

Buy a dehumidifier if your natural humidity swings a lot. Cooler the room the better. 62-65 degrees is optimal drying condition and set the dehumidifier on 60. Larger dense buds will take a week or more longer to dry. Once dried put in the jar with a hydrometer. If it shoots over 69% remove them and dry them for 2 or 3 more days. You want a constant 62% 60%-65% is fine.

2Bad · Jul 19, 2022

RonnieB2nd said:
Buy a dehumidifier if your natural humidity swings a lot. Cooler the room the better. 62-65 degrees is optimal drying condition and set the dehumidifier on 60. Larger dense buds will take a week or more longer to dry. Once dried put in the jar with a hydrometer. If it shoots over 69% remove them and dry them for 2 or 3 more days. You want a constant 62% 60%-65% is fine.

Agree with ronnie ur last post in april shows 70% humidity in jars. How long are you burping for seconds? minutes? Switch to grove bags when you can. I wouldn't even use boveda's waste of money. Hygrometers are good.

RootsRuler · Jul 19, 2022

My method of curing....

Cut the tree down and hang upside down in a cool, dry place with medium airflow moving throughout the room for around 4 - 5 days. Closet works well. No direct air on plants as you'll dry them too quickly on the outside. The idea is to remove the moisture without damaging the flower structure. If you dry them to quickly you'll get a crispy outer shell with trichs that have hardened into crystals that will fall off upon handling in trim. You're trying to draw the moisture from within without overdrying the outside where the crystals are. I typically stop watering around a week or less prior to harvest to help in curing along with stressing the plant to produce that last resin and trich push.

I separate the branches from the main stem and check to see how dry they are. If they're still wet I hang the branches and let them dry for a few more days.

After they've been hanging for a few days I remove the flowers from the branches and lay them out on a dry net.

Once they start to firm up and solidify I transfer them to jars and finish out the process. Usually takes me around a month to 6 weeks.

Having a dehumidifier is good but a lot of people go overboard and the flower dries too quickly.

It's like making BBQ. Low and slow. If you rush it you get that hay smell.

Holden9cox · Jul 20, 2022

So what I’m getting from this, I think I’ll try drying in my garage. It’s going to be the coolest place in my house. I’ll either have to make something to put the buds in to control the humidity because I don’t think can control the humidity of the whole garage

jadins_journey · Jul 20, 2022

We are all guilty of it, speed drying that is. I've gotten to the point of 2 months dry/cure. Slow down and enjoy.

jj

RootsRuler · Jul 20, 2022

Holden9cox said:
So what I’m getting from this, I think I’ll try drying in my garage. It’s going to be the coolest place in my house. I’ll either have to make something to put the buds in to control the humidity because I don’t think can control the humidity of the whole garage

jadins_journey said:
We are all guilty of it, speed drying that is. I've gotten to the point of 2 months dry/cure. Slow down and enjoy.

jj

Garage will work. Take the Hygrometer you're using and stick it in your garage to monitor humidity and temp levels. Temps in the 80's with low humidity (40% ish) is a good environment for curing. The low humidity will help in drawing out the moisture without over drying the outer part. Kind of like a wick in water. Let the low humidity pull the moisture out rather than forcing it out.

If you can, pick up a dry net. Once you have the flowers off the stems they'll dry faster since they can't pull moisture from the stem but, again, low and slow. I usually keep them on the net in a temp/humidity controlled space until they get to a certain "doneness" then transfer to jars. I guess the best way to explain it is you want to pull the most moisture you can at the beginning without doing it to fast and then slowly drain out the rest of the moisture until you get to the desired cure level you want.

RootsRuler · Jul 20, 2022

You can also do the paper bag method where you line the bottom of a paper bag with paper towel and lay your nugs out. Once you've covered the paper towel you make another layer on top of the nugs and lay out more flower to fill another layer until you've got all your flower layed out in however many layers you need.

Keep in mind your trim method should also inform your cure method. In other words, wet vs. dry trim.

Madbud · Jul 20, 2022

Most important, don’t overdry or underdry. Use a scale. Weigh a big cut every day til it stops losing weight, that means its dry. Then jar and burp to cure in a cool dark area.

weed420420420420420 · Jul 20, 2022

you could hang a big plastic sheet so you're only dehumidifying part of the garage.

LegalizeNorway · Nov 4, 2022

RootsRuler said:
Garage will work. Take the Hygrometer you're using and stick it in your garage to monitor humidity and temp levels. Temps in the 80's with low humidity (40% ish) is a good environment for curing. The low humidity will help in drawing out the moisture without over drying the outer part. Kind of like a wick in water. Let the low humidity pull the moisture out rather than forcing it out.

If you can, pick up a dry net. Once you have the flowers off the stems they'll dry faster since they can't pull moisture from the stem but, again, low and slow. I usually keep them on the net in a temp/humidity controlled space until they get to a certain "doneness" then transfer to jars. I guess the best way to explain it is you want to pull the most moisture you can at the beginning without doing it to fast and then slowly drain out the rest of the moisture until you get to the desired cure level you want.

Im having trouble in my tent now.. i cant get it at 60/60.. and i cant afford a dehumidifier right now, i just put up 2 ladies to dry and i got stressed seeing the numbers today RH 48/51 temp 70-80, but i saw ut post, u think they will be fine?? Sorry to hijack the post alittle btw :/ im new in here

crossfader · Nov 4, 2022

Dried recent harvest in my tent, the best I could do temperature-wise was 65-68F and humidity hovered between 45-55%RH. A week in the tent then trimmed all branches and filled mason jars. Burping twice daily, grassy aroma is being replaced by sweet earthy spicy terps. You'll get there!

LegalizeNorway · Nov 4, 2022

crossfader said:
Dried recent harvest in my tent, the best I could do temperature-wise was 65-68F and humidity hovered between 45-55%RH. A week in the tent then trimmed all branches and filled mason jars. Burping twice daily, grassy aroma is being replaced by sweet earthy spicy terps. You'll get there!

Thanks, my hope just came back

omega_mu · Nov 5, 2022

For curing you may want to try grove bags. I'm lazy and just cannot do Mason jar and burping without worrying the whole time. The grove bags are perfect as long as my dry is good 60/60 for 2 weeks or so. Seal it up and nothing else needed for myself.

Neueregel · Nov 5, 2022

2Bad said:
Agree with ronnie ur last post in april shows 70% humidity in jars. How long are you burping for seconds? minutes? Switch to grove bags when you can. I wouldn't even use boveda's waste of money. Hygrometers are good.

I agree with 2bad. i use grove bags terp loc. i also have a moisture sensor and i dry until the buds say 10- 12% and then i put in grove bag. i dried in a room that was 60 degrees and 60 % RH let them cure for 2 months or longer. this is just my opinion.

Halebop · Nov 5, 2022

That hay smell is drying too fast. Don't put fan directly on them. It takes a week at least

LegalizeNorway · Nov 6, 2022

Neueregel said:
I agree with 2bad. i use grove bags terp loc. i also have a moisture sensor and i dry until the buds say 10- 12% and then i put in grove bag. i dried in a room that was 60 degrees and 60 % RH let them cure for 2 months or longer. this is just my opinion.

I noticed a few of the smaller buds are actually getting really dry already, should i clip the smaller ones off and put in bags? I do have Grove Bags and used them on the last dry, worked great i have checked and the smallerd buds are now 10-11-12% humid, do i let them hang with the bigger buds longer? It’s only been 2-3 days

S.N.O.W · Nov 6, 2022

Holden9cox said:
Ok so this is my 3rd time harvesting and I’m still trying to figure out the best ways to dry and cure. First time I put them on hangers in a dark attic space with a box fan on them. The 2nd time I used a triple thick cardboard box with a dehumidifier in it. Both times to cure I used mason jars with bovida bags and hygrometer. Both times they came out with that hay smell. They smoked good the second time but it wasn’t that nice weed smell to them

Make sure the buds are fairly dry between 58 to 62% relative humidity before trying to cure. I opt for vaccum sealing my mason jars and using grove humidity cure bags. If dried bud are lower than 62%relative humidity I don't even burp the jars after the 1st week. The Grove bags don't have to be burped at all.The buds come out so nice.

Need some tips on drying and curing

Need some tips on drying and curing

Holden9cox

RonnieB2nd

2Bad

RootsRuler

Holden9cox

jadins_journey

RootsRuler

RootsRuler

Madbud

weed420420420420420

LegalizeNorway

crossfader

LegalizeNorway

omega_mu

Neueregel

Halebop

LegalizeNorway

S.N.O.W

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