I've been seeing alot of threads concerning drying and curing so I figured I would contribute a little. Now I can't take responsibility for this idea seeing as I myself picked up from another thread, but passing along the info is what this site is all about right??:thumbs-up: Now we all have smoked/grown bud that was either too dry and had that hay smell and crumbled into powder when broke up.:BangHead: :BangHead: Or maybe you were like me and put your buds into jars too early attempting to avoid overdrying only to find some white fuzzy shit on them a week later and lost a whole jar of crowns to mold. :buzzkill: This is the method I used for my last harvest and will never stop from now on.:nanner-2: When my girls are ready to be chopped, I trim each branch and hang them in a dark, cool area to dry. I wait until the buds are fairly crispy on the outside but still quite spongy and the stems bend but don't quite snap. My temps are usually 60's and RH is in the 50% range so this usually takes 4 or 5 days. I keep a fan circulating air but not blowing on the buds themselves. Obviously the number of days will differ as everyones conditions are different. I then cut the buds off the stems and put them in a paper bag and roll the top of the bag down a few times loosely. A few times a day I will open the bag for a few mins and stir the buds around. I leave them in the bags for 2 or 3 days until they feel evenly dry and still a little spongy. Now it's jar time, where the real job starts. I fill my jars, loosely packed or more or less just set in, and stick one of these in with it. It's a Caliber 3 digital hygrometer. It was recommended to me by several people who use the same one for it is the most accurate of all the brands they tried. I myself haven't tried others but I say if it ain't broke don't fix it. I picked mine up for 15 bucks apiece off a place called cheaphumidors.com Set your Caliber inside the jar and store it in a cool dark place. Wait a few hours and check the readings. Above 70%RH is too moist and you should pull your buds back out for a few hours or overnight then put them back in the jar. Between 65-70% they are still a tad too moist. Burp the jars for 10-15 mins a few times a day. Between 60-65% is the sweet spot. Buds still feel a little moist and sticky but are evenly dry throughout and stems will snap or almost snap. This is a good spot to cure your buds and let them be. Give the meter a day to stabilize before deciding to continue to burp or let them sit. I usually open my jars 2 or 3 times a week, especially if they're hovering around 65, just to be cautious and catch of a whiff of the ever-growing dankness:droooling: Between 55-60% you can store your jars away without worry of mold and the buds will continue to cure. Below 55%RH the bud is out of the curing zone. I will occasionally swap my meters from jar to jar, making note of what it was reading in the previous jar to test accuracy. They are usually within a % point of each other. Now these meters aren't cheap, especially if you like to have one for each jar like myself. But it's a relatively small price to pay for knowing that you are getting the most of your work and best tasting and smelling nugs you can. I will never go back to the guessing game after using this method. Hope this helps some of you guys as it has surely helped me!!:thumbs-up: :beerchug-2:
Minus the fancy hygrometers, I cure my buds by the exact same method. I wouldn't mind having one of those hygrometers to test my current method and dial it in as necessary. Great post. Thanks for sharing. :beerchug-2:
I been looking for that very gidget! Thanx man! If you only wanted to use one meter for a bunch of jars... Just get a sealing container of larger size and put the open jars in ther...using the larger container to seal in the moistness. Walmart/freddy's carries 1 gallon glass jars with screw lids...I used those last go round in conjuntion with my drying box. Which was basically a 12wx18Lx18D rubbermaid toolbox with a computer fan mounted to the bottom of the tray. Drilled a bunch of holes in the tray and loaded the clipped buds in the tray and in the bottom. There's another fan mounted to the box itself hooked up to a humidistat inside the box. I just set it to 50% and walked away. Well I still played with it for days on end but it worked pretty well. Next time ill be using ur method I think...only larger jars
damn thats what i do but no fancy meter been doing it for over 10 years that way guess i dont need digi readout. LOL but right on thats the way to do it for sure!!
subscribed for future reference. how important is the paper bag step? I've been waiting to start curing mine until he does, but I put them straight in jars and burp about 10 mins 3-4 times a day for the first week. is the paper bag important?
Ya Joe they definitely come in handy to take the guess work out of things. I'm sure you vets that have been at it for sometime would probably be pretty close anyway, but I figure anything that makes the work more precise is a good thing.
GG- Ya thats whats nice is you can use any size jar and they will work the same. They are only 3.5 x 1.5 inches so they will work from small jars to large ones. Nobogart- Ya I realize these are prob less important for you vets, but for a fairly cheap price they are nice to have. I thought I had a pretty good control on things after losing a couple jars to mold, but when I finally snagged some of these on my last harvest my RH was a tad over 70% in all my jars when I thought they were good. Sirstynk- The paperbag method isn't exactly necessary, but I just found that everytime I think my buds that are hanging are good and jar them, I end up pulling them back out for a couple days because they were still way too wet. The paper bags seem to even out the drying a little better, plus they slow things down more. The longer the dry the better smelling and tasting the smoke.
Had my one jar of Sour Bubble sitting at 67% and I've been burping it for about a week 15 mins at a time 3 or 4 times a day. Today is the first day it finally went down. So just be weary these indica dom dense nugs take a while to get all that moisture out. I know before I bought one of these meters I only burped for 2 weeks before letting them sit. It's no wonder I've gotten mold before because its been a couple weeks and this particular jar still isn't ready to sit yet.
Thought I would give this thread a little bump to see if any of you guys adopted this method. My buds have never stank better!!! I have to admit there is just something nice of peakin in at your jar and seeing 65% everytime.
Hey, StickyIcky...? Yo, Sticky! OK...Im gonna follow your method to the letter. But er um...what do you mean by "burping" the jars for 15 min? Does that mean pushing down on that little bump on the jar lid? And...do you mean you sit there pushing it for 15 min? Jeeze.... Is the point to get all the air OUT of the jat? If so....I have one of those Food Saver thingys...why not use it to suck the air out? Confused about the "burping", Dixie
sticky, that is awesome brother. thanks a lot for your input, I am sure that your post alone will help many people including myself.. I myself will be skipping the paper bag and just let them hang out a little longer. I will def def def be getting one of those hygrometers only I won't be using jars, I'll be using vacuum sealer bags and I should be able to see right through them good enough.. thanks again, Kro-nee-chee-wah
Ive now been doing this for a few months now. I must say...my smoke has never been better thanks to you shareing. Its all in the cure....makes all the difference in the world. Thanks again comrade.....one of the better tips Jay
excellent info Sticky.... great thread and very useful for sure... asssit: RR I second this as a sticky
I dig the instruments and it be nice to know for sure exactly whats what. 15 bucks? Hell seems like a good investment.asssit:
