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Discussion => Off topic => Topic started by: BlarghRawr on July 01, 2012, 10:17 am

Title: Advice on drying weed?
Post by: BlarghRawr on July 01, 2012, 10:17 am
Just need to know if anyone has personal experience with using salt or uncooked rice in an air-tight container with the bud to dry is, so as to avoid an open-air method that spreads the smell around.

Anyone?
Title: Re: Advice on drying weed?
Post by: conehead on July 01, 2012, 02:14 pm
I have read a lot about it but never done any of that myself. You need to research curing processes. Jar curing has the biggest following. The goal is not to simply dry the bud. You can just dry it with many processes including heat and vacuum. The goal is to slowly dry the bud so that enough water is present to allow cannabinoids to break down to increase THC percentage and THC breaks down into other cannabinoids. You don't want it to dry so slowly that mold grows. Most people put trimmed buds into a jar, and open it to breathe (reduces the RH in the jar) for the first few days (IIRC) and then once a week or so for about 2-3 weeks, generally speaking. If you hang dry for longer, you will need less curing (as it is open air curing while it's still sticky wet. You still need to cure it after you hang dry, but it might only take 1-2 weeks instead of 2-3 (total).

Good luck brother! I wish I had the nuts to grow   :'(
Title: Re: Advice on drying weed?
Post by: Enemy of the State on July 03, 2012, 04:56 pm
When I used to grow I used brown paper bags. Put the weed in the bag for 3-4 days then check on it. Judge the dryness, turn buds, and wrap it up for a couple more days if needed. Not too much smell except when you open the bag. Jars can take a long time and invite mold if you're not careful. Salt sounds like a bad idea. Uncooked rice will not draw the moisture out.
Title: Re: Advice on drying weed?
Post by: BlarghRawr on July 03, 2012, 06:12 pm
When I used to grow I used brown paper bags. Put the weed in the bag for 3-4 days then check on it. Judge the dryness, turn buds, and wrap it up for a couple more days if needed. Not too much smell except when you open the bag. Jars can take a long time and invite mold if you're not careful. Salt sounds like a bad idea. Uncooked rice will not draw the moisture out.
That's exactly the kind of advice I needed, thank you. :)
Title: Re: Advice on drying weed?
Post by: UKGrower on July 03, 2012, 06:43 pm
I use a large cardboard box for drying, with lines of string inside to hang the buds from.  When the bud is (mostly) dry, I transfer to jars, burping as and when required, until i'm happy there is no mold risk.  At this point the jars are sealed until needed, apart from the occasional air exchange.

The drying process is separate to the curing process, which relies on anaerobic conditions to some degree, hence the jars.  If you dry your weed too much, curing will not take place properly, leading to sub-par weed.  You can rehydrate over-dried buds, but you can't restart a cure if the buds are too dry.

There's an excellent thread on ICmag with a technique that involves placing a small hygrometer in the jars to obtain a perfect cure every time.  I've never been that scientific in my curing approach, but it took some trial and error to get things right, so the hygrometer method seems a safer bet for new growers.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=156237

I've used paper bags before with success, after I jarred too early and the buds regained more moisture than anticipated.  12 hours in the bags did the trick nicely to get them back into a jar-able state.  I prefer boxes for the actual drying, but bags are great for when you have broken your buds down, but then decide they need a bit more drying time before the cure.
Title: Re: Advice on drying weed?
Post by: Mrambulancedriver on July 03, 2012, 06:52 pm
A couple months ago i was getting weed of this grower. Well his brother would drop it off. But it was always wet.

They would only dry it for like a couple days before tossing it to me, which pissed me the fuck off but it was cheap and it was fucking good shit. But i couldn't sell it without drying it out for close to a week.

But what i would do is get mason jars (the quart sized ones,they fit about 2oz of dry nug) i would get the jars and fill em up about 2/3 full of bud. I would keep em closed and in the dark closet. About once every 12-20 hours i would open it, pick the buds apart, as they would stick together in the jar, and rotate em, so the ones on the bottom of the jar are now on top and vice versa.

Using this method the buds would dry perfectly. By the end of the week i'd have perfectly intact, bbbbeeeauutiful looking dry nugs. Looking back on it, it was probably better that i cured it than the grower, they didn't know much about processing weed...


Good luck homey!
Title: Re: Advice on drying weed?
Post by: ppass on July 03, 2012, 07:17 pm
A different piece of thought for this, but what about using a cedar box (or maybe pine) as a drying container. The only reason I say this is at the parents house (built 1918) there is a room in the basement which was made for drying herbs and fruits, and doubled as a clothing storage room (moths apparently don't like cedar :D ). I don't see why this wouldn't work for fun herbs as well.

If anything get some sort of cigars box or better yet one of those sliding boxes which tea comes in and give it a shot. Who knows this could be the next big thing :D

-Cheers