I did it once as a test and it worked great, but the smell combined with not having a spare fridge made low and slow a no go. We need our fridge for food!
DrZiggy's Low And Slow Drying: Maximizing Your Harvest
johnnyappleseed
420 Member
Lol makes sense. I trimmed the fans. Put everything back in. I noticed ice inside on the back wall. It's seems my frost-free fridge has frost 
That could be the abundance of moisture from the flowers and might disappear after a few days. After all, the frost free aspect wasn't designed to handle bags of wet flowers!
johnnyappleseed
420 Member
Lol. Finally found the manual. It's the fridgidaire efmis155. There's a section on it re the frost on the back. It said it happens if the fridge is set too cold and there are not enough beverages in it. After the trimming you suggested I was able to get rid of two bags lol looks like I'll fill it up with beer!
I feel like I remember SweetSue mentioning stocking the rest of the fridge with beverages (absorb the cold but not put out any moisture).
johnnyappleseed
420 Member
I really need to read this entire thread ...
Not the whole thing! I'd start with the first post including the link Sue has to The Good Stuff here:
https://www.420magazine.com/communi...zing-your-harvest.366783/page-17#post-3498536
A good summary of the whole process is here:
https://www.420magazine.com/communi...-on-the-pineapple-express.455099/post-4376699
But there are definitely a few helpful hints scattered throughout the rest of the thread, that's true!
johnnyappleseed
420 Member
I'm on my second fridge dry. Is there any type of rack or something that would prevent flat spots on the buds? Ive done the turning and fluffing but it still happens. Thanks!
Like anti-gravitational? I can't think of anything non-mechanical that would prevent gravity from working on the buds, and the more jostling they get the higher the likelihood of trichome damage. Are the flat spots an aesthetic problem or do you feel like they're damaging the flowers?
johnnyappleseed
420 Member
I'm imagining something like a plastic rack or something with like spikes or something. Aesthetic mostly but would also make organizing a bit easier. When i stick my hand in to turn and fluff the buds they still kind of clump together.
That would probably work with loose buds, but I don't think it would work against the structure of a paper bag.
I have noticed that sort of thing happening but I just bounce them around and ignore the flat spots. By the time for putting them in jars it is not noticeable. Plus the ease and convenience of the "low and slow drying" outweighs a few funny looking buds.
Kinda thinking that if it takes a lot of banging around with ice cubes in a solid container to get the trichomes to break off for making ice hash. Tossing the buds around in a paper bag does not leave any noticeable layer of trichomes sitting on the bottom so I stopped worrying.
I don’t get flat spots.
I’m wondering if your bags are too full?
I also don’t turn or fluff. I just check in 7 days, then check and flip the bag each day there after.
I average 10 day till it’s ready to cure.
That can do it. Been there done that
.johnnyappleseed
420 Member
They are barely full.
Oh well, not a deal breaker by any means. It's just me looking at the stuff. I just wanted an easier way to place them separated so the won't move. It's likely that when I'm closing bags back up and putting back in the fridge the buds just slide back together and clump up again.johnnyappleseed
420 Member
Hi all. Is 11 days too quick?
The last run was in the fridge for 11 days. I took them out at day 9, Put a few nugs in the Mason jar and they registered 71 RH . Put them back in the fridge for another 2 days , took them out and put them in a jar . They hit high-60s, I left them out of the jar for a few hours and now they're at a steady 62 RH in the jar. I'm burping once a day.
I'm using the fridgidaire efmis155 set to 42°. I'm thinking that I'm not packing the bags full enough. Do you guys actually weight out the 28g per bag? Is it 28? And that's for the regular size brown lunch bags? All I have are the XL size.
And/or trimming too much. Is there a huge downside to drying too fast in the fridge? Since both RH and temperature are low and not burning off terpenes, what's the downside?
Thanks
The last run was in the fridge for 11 days. I took them out at day 9, Put a few nugs in the Mason jar and they registered 71 RH . Put them back in the fridge for another 2 days , took them out and put them in a jar . They hit high-60s, I left them out of the jar for a few hours and now they're at a steady 62 RH in the jar. I'm burping once a day.
I'm using the fridgidaire efmis155 set to 42°. I'm thinking that I'm not packing the bags full enough. Do you guys actually weight out the 28g per bag? Is it 28? And that's for the regular size brown lunch bags? All I have are the XL size.
And/or trimming too much. Is there a huge downside to drying too fast in the fridge? Since both RH and temperature are low and not burning off terpenes, what's the downside?
Thanks
They're looking great Johnny, with that nice low and slow green color to them!
All that said, some folks use low and slow just to prevent their harvests from over-drying if they live in a very dry environment, rather than terpene retention. Burping wouldn't be an issue there.
Those were the original instructions anyway. XL bags would handle more.
The downside of drying faster in the fridge is probably that the chlorophyll might not be outgassing in the shorter amount of time, which will lead you to having to burp to get rid of the green smell. And burping isn't part of the original point of low and slow intent, which is to maximize terpene retention. That's why the rice ball solution was the best way to lower the RH quickly once the flowers were out of the fridge: suck the moisture out down to 62% and seal for curing. Burping is one of the places terpenes are lost.
All that said, some folks use low and slow just to prevent their harvests from over-drying if they live in a very dry environment, rather than terpene retention. Burping wouldn't be an issue there.
As for trimming I take of the extra leaves but will leave most of the buds on the sticks. I have no actual method, just look and decide which stay on the stem and which are cut off. The moisture in the stem will help to control how fast or slow the drying. Before putting in the jars most of the buds still on the sticks are taken off but I still leave some sticks to control humidity.
I do not weigh out how much goes into the bag. It is just a matter of trimming and putting into the bag.
The brown paper bags we use are the ones that the supermarket has for bagging groceries.
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