Curing timing question

[Farang]

I get the idea of slowly drying the harvest. I don't think I've achieved a cure, though.

it's far more humid here than back home, but the harvests dry very, very quickly.

this most recent harvest dried to the touch in less than two days. I put the buds into a canning jar with my newly acquired Calibre III 12 hours later, they were moist, again (76%). I hung them back up for about 12 hours and they were quite dry.

I put them back into the jar I and RH is 61-62% and has been for several days, almost a week. in the jar, I can hold them at whatever RH for whatever time period, it seems.

lots of nice charts out there advising the RH for the process but nothing about how long to hold them in what stage.

come to think of it, there is no 'final' RH mentioned. when I pop a bud out of the jar, it seems to re-moisten a touch in ambient RH of 50-60%. my dry basil, oregano, etc. stays dry; my smoke does not.

what am I missing here?

 

[JJ Bones]

You are burping your jars right? (2-3 times a day opening the lids for 15 mins)

Also humidipaks will make things cure much better.

 

[Farang]

the instructions I read were to open the jar only if the RH ran above 69%.

burping here has got to add more moisture to the buds as our ambient RH is typically above 50%. so in answer to your question, no. I haven't been. I open the jar with my oldest harvest in order to retrieve a bud for the day.

is this one of those whoops moments?

 

[Stilletto]

Burping the jars a couple times a day for the first week is important. I wont get into the humidity issue but will mention that it is important because of air exchange. Mould can easily ruin a jar of weed if it is not aired out to realese extra moisture and get fresh air inside. This will also play a big part in the taste.
Here is a point, after a jar has been sealed for a week, open and smell it.... then air it out for a bit and the smell changes to a sweet more "bud like" smell from a more deep organic smell.
This is not the gospel, just my 2 cents,

Jonny

 

[Farang]

Jonny, you have the answers which have been frustrating me.

in case you missed vague references, I'm not in the US any longer. so when people say buy this or that product, I'm further frustrated because things we found easily back home are simply unavailable here. it was tough enough finding canning jars that actually sealed. paper bags are virtually non existent here. (you don't want my horror stories in finding acceptable soil!)

but with the ambient RH being what it is, I thought things would dry slower here than back in AZ. not at all true. however, mold has not been an issue unless I force it, which I did with part of one harvest a couple of harvests ago.

I'm burping the latest jar as I write.

thank you for your clear answers.

 

[Muttt]

Also, any time you open your jars and notice a grassy hay smell. Then you need to open the jar for a while to let the off gassing escape.

 

[Farang]

thanks, Muttt

 

[DUCKEE 1]

your inital dry was way too short--2 days. thats a fast dry. it takes 2 days just to get my stems to shrival let alone fully dry. the cure time on those buds is going to be long. just a suggestion----- water cure. i have done that in the past when i want to rid the buds of all fragrence so i can make stealth BHO. thats the downside to a water cure almost all taste and terps are gone. But the upside is the finished buds after a 7 day soak (changed daily) in cold h2o will give you the smoothest smoke you will ever have off a 7 day cure with a fast dry. They shrink alittle but due to the loss of organic matter, the ratio of potency raises.

 

[Farang]

it wasn't by choice, I assure you. it was also unexpected because ambient RH hovers around 50%. but when the buds did not re-moisten in the jar, I didn't think further hanging was going to be a good thing.

as suggested above, I've begun burping the newest jar twice daily and, again, because of ambient RH, the RH in the jar is up to 64% today. if I leave the jar sealed, it'll stay at 61%.

I tried the water cure with my first or second harvest last year with a bunch of popcorn buds and was not at all pleased with the results.

I'd rather turn it all into hash than use the water cure again.