Hi Fellas!
So I've had two grows and I have some concerns about the drying and curing process.
To begin with the drying process, here's what I know and how I did it (based on recommendations from friends or reading about it online somewhere):
*Cut and trimmed the buds into pretty small branches (like 1/2-3/4 ft tall max. for faster drying)
*Hanged the branches and let them dry in a dark cool Place for 4 days, with fans blowing around them for air circulation.
The results differed between the two times i did it. The first time I dried the buds inside the growing tent hanging from the seiling and only the vent.fan was on the whole time.
The second time i driend them in a bigger room (like 2 sq.ft) and this time it also took then 4 Days. I know about the recommended 4-7 day draying time, it's just a coincidence that both times took 4 days.
The funny thing is that eventhough the second batch had so much more compact and denser buds and obviously weighed a lot more, it took the same amount of time to dry, and it felt like they've dried even more than the first time. You could just crumble them with your fingers no grinder needed at all. My suspicion is that the first time when I dried inside the tent the space was more confined and the second time was more open (like I said it was a room) and I felt like I should of had just one osc. fan istead of two placed on the floor beneath the hanging buds.
So far I feel like I did an OK job with the drying, but if someone has ANY tip about it feel free to share. But my real concerns are with the curing process. I cured the crop according to info from friends and research online:
*When the buds felt dry enough, I put them in glass jars with sealed lids.
*For like the first week or so open the jars and keep em opened a while (20-30 min.) severeal times for say a total of 1-2 hrs per day until you feel that there's no risk for mould development in the buds anymore. Then keep the lids closed and let them cure for a minimum of 4 weeks.
*And you should keep the jars in the refridgerator as soon as possible. Because I was told the crystals develop better in cold. Is this really true?
This was my curing process. And if anyone has additional info on curing, please help
My biggest concerns on curing is theese questions:
*When dried, the buds will loose 70-80% of their initial weight. How long should you wait before putting them in jars? I mean should you dry em all the way through and then cure or should you maybe let them have at least some moist left in them, otherwise there're gonna be too dry for good taste and smell development?
*Is it important NOT to open the jars once you finally closed them during the curing process? (My long sticky fingers could'nt resist picking out one bud every now and then). One other thing with this second batch is that the buds only developed taste and smell for maybe 2 weeks, then nothing more happened They didn't smell or taste any better after 4 weeks or 6 weeks, it was just 2 weeks than nothing more.
And also I didn't like that the smell had no lingering. If I opened a jar it only smelled for like 10 seconds then the smell is comletely gone and also the buds doesn't smell at all or very little when I pick them up and smell them individually, they still kinda smell like hay or burned grass. But they do have some taste and aroma when smoked but I'm not satisfied. The first batch I Think had some better taste and smell, but it was the same when you open the jars, the smell completely dissapears after opening the jar. Could this be because I open the jars too much during curing? Or is it just poor growing? Or bad nutrients? (Greenhouse Seeds Powder Feeding, btw) or whatever?
I feel this is getting too long and too descriptive, But you get the hang of it, of how I did it and what info I had and what possible mistakes I've made (that I could think of). Just asking for some constructive criticism and additional tips.
Just one more note that could have significance: Even during flowering, both my grows didn't smell too much either. They smelled more from the beginning of flowering but later on during flowering I felt they smelled less and less and this time I did Critical Plus which is supposed to be a real smeller. Is something wrong or do I just have a really good carbon filter?
Thanks/Jupiter79
So I've had two grows and I have some concerns about the drying and curing process.
To begin with the drying process, here's what I know and how I did it (based on recommendations from friends or reading about it online somewhere):
*Cut and trimmed the buds into pretty small branches (like 1/2-3/4 ft tall max. for faster drying)
*Hanged the branches and let them dry in a dark cool Place for 4 days, with fans blowing around them for air circulation.
The results differed between the two times i did it. The first time I dried the buds inside the growing tent hanging from the seiling and only the vent.fan was on the whole time.
The second time i driend them in a bigger room (like 2 sq.ft) and this time it also took then 4 Days. I know about the recommended 4-7 day draying time, it's just a coincidence that both times took 4 days.
The funny thing is that eventhough the second batch had so much more compact and denser buds and obviously weighed a lot more, it took the same amount of time to dry, and it felt like they've dried even more than the first time. You could just crumble them with your fingers no grinder needed at all. My suspicion is that the first time when I dried inside the tent the space was more confined and the second time was more open (like I said it was a room) and I felt like I should of had just one osc. fan istead of two placed on the floor beneath the hanging buds.
So far I feel like I did an OK job with the drying, but if someone has ANY tip about it feel free to share. But my real concerns are with the curing process. I cured the crop according to info from friends and research online:
*When the buds felt dry enough, I put them in glass jars with sealed lids.
*For like the first week or so open the jars and keep em opened a while (20-30 min.) severeal times for say a total of 1-2 hrs per day until you feel that there's no risk for mould development in the buds anymore. Then keep the lids closed and let them cure for a minimum of 4 weeks.
*And you should keep the jars in the refridgerator as soon as possible. Because I was told the crystals develop better in cold. Is this really true?
This was my curing process. And if anyone has additional info on curing, please help
My biggest concerns on curing is theese questions:
*When dried, the buds will loose 70-80% of their initial weight. How long should you wait before putting them in jars? I mean should you dry em all the way through and then cure or should you maybe let them have at least some moist left in them, otherwise there're gonna be too dry for good taste and smell development?
*Is it important NOT to open the jars once you finally closed them during the curing process? (My long sticky fingers could'nt resist picking out one bud every now and then). One other thing with this second batch is that the buds only developed taste and smell for maybe 2 weeks, then nothing more happened They didn't smell or taste any better after 4 weeks or 6 weeks, it was just 2 weeks than nothing more.
And also I didn't like that the smell had no lingering. If I opened a jar it only smelled for like 10 seconds then the smell is comletely gone and also the buds doesn't smell at all or very little when I pick them up and smell them individually, they still kinda smell like hay or burned grass. But they do have some taste and aroma when smoked but I'm not satisfied. The first batch I Think had some better taste and smell, but it was the same when you open the jars, the smell completely dissapears after opening the jar. Could this be because I open the jars too much during curing? Or is it just poor growing? Or bad nutrients? (Greenhouse Seeds Powder Feeding, btw) or whatever?
I feel this is getting too long and too descriptive, But you get the hang of it, of how I did it and what info I had and what possible mistakes I've made (that I could think of). Just asking for some constructive criticism and additional tips.
Just one more note that could have significance: Even during flowering, both my grows didn't smell too much either. They smelled more from the beginning of flowering but later on during flowering I felt they smelled less and less and this time I did Critical Plus which is supposed to be a real smeller. Is something wrong or do I just have a really good carbon filter?
Thanks/Jupiter79
CA215
& everything I'm reading throughout this thread sounds a o k to me 
