DrZiggy's Low And Slow Drying: Maximizing Your Harvest

[Trala]

ya I noticed the time I tried this method before that the buds would get crisp and ready feeling in the fridge then all the sudden after I'd pulled them out for a while theyd go back to all wet and I'd be like wtf? so get them to holy fuck i crisped it too much level then that should be perfect? got it.

You learn the feel as you go along. It’s just a process.

I was making the mistake of pulling them too early, then burping daily and fucking about to get them to sit at 62% in the jar.

Shed actually explained it. The idea is to go from the fridge to jar to sit and cure. So you want it to be in the 61%-64% zone. No burping, coz that part should be done.

Is that right @InTheShed?

 

[SmokingWings]

uhh its filled with food, it gets opened and closed frequently in a humid environment and Im sure my family doesnt want everything in the fridge smelling like weed

I used to dry in an extra 20 year old fridge we had in the back room because of all the reasons you mention. Then it stopped working one day and I had to use the kitchen fridge. Yes, sometimes the kitchen smells like recently harvested buds but after a few days the smell starts to go away. Found out that none of the foods smelled like recently harvested buds nor did the buds pick up any food odors.

In an emergency the kitchen fridge will do the job. I just realized that the other fridge stopped working a year and half ago and so far I can't convince myself that it is worth the extra expense of finding a new one .

 

[InTheShed]

Shed actually explained it. The idea is to go from the fridge to jar to sit and cure. So you want it to be in the 61%-64% zone. No burping, coz that part should be done.

Is that right @InTheShed?

Correct! The actual low and slow method does not involve any burping. The reasoning behind low and slow is terpene preservation, which is why they go from the fridge to the sealed jars. As Sue outlined, if they come out with the RH too high you put rice balls in the jars to quickly remove the excess humidity, but once you start burping the terps are floating away.

But she pulls them at 2 weeks rather than waiting for them to get to 62%. I can't recall exactly why but it also might relate to keeping the terpenes intact.

 

[Uzagi]

Harvested first plant and had it in the fridge in brown bags on glass shelves with a brown bag underneath.

Followed the guide here and after 8 days in fridge, tested the RH and after 8 hours shows 52-55% RH in the jar. Slowly been rising for about 8 hours.

Perhaps my fridge RH always showing at 30% is causing them to dry quickly? They are small airy buds, nothing thick or super dense so could be that too. After i noticed, I tested some buds on day 3 drying in fridge, and they def too wet at 75-85% RH atm.

Just worried this is low temp, but not slow enough. If 8 days is too dry, then prob 5-6 days is where I will find the 62-68% sweet spot.

I heard the brown bags helps them dry even faster and maybe to try an open glass jar? Ill be harvesting another plant in about 1 week and testing the processes again.

 

[SmokingWings]

Followed the guide here and after 8 days in fridge, tested the RH and after 8 hours shows 52-55% RH in the jar. Slowly been rising for about 8 hours.

Good possibility that if you keep the buds in the jar with the lid closed and wait longer, maybe a day or so, the humidity will go up some more.

 

[Uzagi]

Good possibility that if you keep the buds in the jar with the lid closed and wait longer, maybe a day or so, the humidity will go up some more.

Yeah seems you might be right. It is sitting at 56% now. Wouldnt be suprised to see 60%+ after 24 hrs total. So did i overdry or is it normal for it to take days for the RH to increase like this? The guide i followed said 2-3 hours min and at most overnight iirc. Its been about 12 hours now. I smoked a bit and whilst grinded slightly dry (more like brittle ever so slightly), it was rather wet to smoke actually and wouldnt light properly until further down the joint but was sticky and tightly packed and long so idk. Kinda confused.

Most importantly what could i try better?

 

[InTheShed]

Yeah seems you might be right. It is sitting at 56% now. Wouldnt be suprised to see 60%+ after 24 hrs total. So did i overdry or is it normal for it to take days for the RH to increase like this? The guide i followed said 2-3 hours min and at most overnight iirc. Its been about 12 hours now. I smoked a bit and whilst grinded slightly dry (more like brittle ever so slightly), it was rather wet to smoke actually and wouldnt light properly until further down the joint but was sticky and tightly packed and long so idk. Kinda confused.

Most importantly what could i try better?

12 hours in the jar should give you an accurate reading of the moisture content of the flowers, but it's important to fill the jar about 3/4 full to get an accurate reading. Too much air in there and that RH will dominate the flowers' RH.

If you're still finding that they dry too quickly, the mesh top jar method might work better for you. @Grand Daddy Black still uses that.

 

[Uzagi]

12 hours in the jar should give you an accurate reading of the moisture content of the flowers, but it's important to fill the jar about 3/4 full to get an accurate reading. Too much air in there and that RH will dominate the flowers' RH.

If you're still finding that they dry too quickly, the mesh top jar method might work better for you. @Grand Daddy Black still uses that.

Thanks will def this this mesh jar a go. I had a search but couldnt find any reference to the mesh jar method except this one i had saved in my bookmarks:

 

[InTheShed]

Thanks will def this this mesh jar a go. I had a search but couldnt find any reference to the mesh jar method except this one i had saved in my bookmarks:

The original concept was open jars with mesh across the top:

“Cover open end of jar with nylon screen and screw on cap ring.“

 

[Uzagi]

The original concept was open jars with mesh across the top:

“Cover open end of jar with nylon screen and screw on cap ring.“

I dont have any nylon like that but according to the poster that is only to prevent the buds from falling out when shaking the jars. Emptied some brown bags into the jar as shown below to compare remaining drying speeds. I shall update my results here.

I tested the RH of the crisper for several hours and amazingly seems like no difference at all in RH. Always showing 25-32% across the entire fridge. Its a big 400L unit and i have like 2oz of weed inside only rn lol. Maybe i could add some household items to either freezer or fridge to assist with increasing the RH? some bowls of water or jars of sauce, vegetables etc, anything that wont rot too fast or smell. What do you think?

 

[Uzagi]

Good possibility that if you keep the buds in the jar with the lid closed and wait longer, maybe a day or so, the humidity will go up some more.

Exactly correct!

Some good news the RH in the curing jar (24 hrs) has now risen from 50% to 60-61%! All happened slowly over 24hours and technically is still rising slowly even now. The curing jar is about 85% full with bud btw.

I guess i slightly over dried but nothing terrible. Prob was still moisture in the inside of buds but outside started getting properly crispy, maybe a better distribution of moisture is occuring. idk, i lean heavily towards i slightly overdried them and will now avoid burping too much.

 

[SmokingWings]

So did i overdry or is it normal for it to take days for the RH to increase like this?

Early on when trying out the "low and slow" method I ran into this sort of thing happening. Still have not figured out why the buds will not be ready one day and the next they feel dry like they are already over-dried. Even stems and sticks will have that over-dry feel and can easily be broken into pieces. Now I take the bag out, check, and if the buds feel dry I will leave them in the bag and put them on the kitchen table to come up to room temperature.

Like you mention, there is moisture left in the buds. Plus, I leave the buds on the sticks so it does make it a slower process to get them to the dry stage. Once they have dried to where I want them to be I take the buds off the sticks and put them into the jar.

 

[Uzagi]

Early on when trying out the "low and slow" method I ran into this sort of thing happening. Still have not figured out why the buds will not be ready one day and the next they feel dry like they are already over-dried. Even stems and sticks will have that over-dry feel and can easily be broken into pieces. Now I take the bag out, check, and if the buds feel dry I will leave them in the bag and put them on the kitchen table to come up to room temperature.

Like you mention, there is moisture left in the buds. Plus, I leave the buds on the sticks so it does make it a slower process to get them to the dry stage. Once they have dried to where I want them to be I take the buds off the sticks and put them into the jar.

Yep, great idea, i didnt leave too many stems on this time at all. For the next harvested plant in 1 week i will test with much larger stems in the brown bags, plus in glass jars with both smaller and larger stems. Updates to come!

 

[SmokingWings]

Yep, great idea, i didnt leave too many stems on this time at all. For the next harvested plant in 1 week i will test with much larger stems in the brown bags, plus in glass jars with both smaller and larger stems. Updates to come!

After reading a message on this message board several years ago I taking pieces of stem and putting them into plastic zip lock bags and keeping them in the freezer. Occasionally I feel that a couple might need to be added to a jar to finish controlling the humidity.

If you want to experiment along those lines you should watch out for excess ice crystals building up in the plastic bag. Moisture is drawn out of the stems or sticks and will re-condense on the surface of the stem and on the plastic itself and it is a sign that the sticks/stems themselves are slowly drying out. I recommend that none of those ice crystals end up in with the drying & curing buds.

 

[Uzagi]

The 2nd half of the plant has been in/out of the fridge 3 times and testing the RH to ensure i dont overdry it this time. Now confirmed the first oz or 2 or so is indeed slightly harsh on the throat due to overdrying. Not terrible though at all. Really good stuff.

Now that ive smoked the 2nd half of the plant, this is super smooth and not harsh at all and im guessing on the next plant (coming down asap) that it will take about 8-10 days in the jars in the fridge, which is perfect.

Next round hopefully close to perfect, just dialing in how many days exactly in the fridge.

 

[Uzagi]

UPDATE:

The next plant was cut down and went into open glass jars in the fridge. It's been 10.5 days now and am almost there. Timing seems perfect in glass jars! Whoop! Solved that problem!

One issue i seem to have is as they approach the desired 65% RH region they go slightly too brittle on the outside before the inside has dried sufficiently. I know they are not dried enough cos the stems dont break yet, pure bendy. So can quickly end up with over dried cannabis, which is what happened on my first trial and was harsh.

I now find myself jarring the buds twice a day to check the RH, which actually helps spread the moisture to the outer parts of the buds again, and am paranoid of overdrying but maybe am wasting a lot of time checking like this? On the other hand perhaps what im doing is already optimal?

How have you guys mastered knowing when they are ready to jar?

 

[Trala]

UPDATE:

The next plant was cut down and went into open glass jars in the fridge. It's been 10.5 days now and am almost there. Timing seems perfect in glass jars! Whoop! Solved that problem!

One issue i seem to have is as they approach the desired 65% RH region they go slightly too brittle on the outside before the inside has dried sufficiently. I know they are not dried enough cos the stems dont break yet, pure bendy. So can quickly end up with over dried cannabis, which is what happened on my first trial and was harsh.

I now find myself jarring the buds twice a day to check the RH, which actually helps spread the moisture to the outer parts of the buds again, and am paranoid of overdrying but maybe am wasting a lot of time checking like this? On the other hand perhaps what im doing is already optimal?

How have you guys mastered knowing when they are ready to jar?

Not from jar drying I haven’t. But I’ve defs mastered the paper bag.

 

[Uzagi]

Not from jar drying I haven’t. But I’ve defs mastered the paper bag.

How do you know when ready in the paper bag? Its exactly the same process, just slower in the jar.

Do you ever find them overdrying on the outside vs the inside of the bud?

Do you think jarring them for 12-24 hours before returning to the fridge is an acceptable way to disperse the moisture? Rinse and repeat 2-3 times until reach the 65% RH in the jars?

Everytime buds reach the 70-75% RH region, the buds start going overly crispy/crunchy on the outsides, yet the stems only bend and stringy, no snapping. Happened in both brown bags and jars.

 

[SmokingWings]

How do you know when ready in the paper bag? Its exactly the same process, just slower in the jar.

The same way. Practice and experience.

Do you ever find them overdrying on the outside vs the inside of the bud?

Yep. But then I find out that the buds were not over dried.

Everytime buds reach the 70-75% RH region, the buds start going overly crispy/crunchy on the outsides, yet the stems only bend and stringy, no snapping. Happened in both brown bags and jars.

This has come up several times in this thread and a few others. One thing I do when I think that the buds in the paper bag have dried out to much is put the bag on the kitchen table and leave it alone for a few hours. As it returns to room temperature the buds and stems both start to feel like they are the same moisture level.

 

[Trala]

How do you know when ready in the paper bag?

When I touch it and think “omg I’ve fucking ruined it”

Not even joking. I know the crisp feel I need.

Its exactly the same process, just slower in the jar.

Do you get condensation in the jar tho?

Do you ever find them overdrying on the outside vs the inside of the bud?

I mean initially yes, but no. Not so far. Once in the jar they moisten.

I used to not have them dry adequately and finish the drying in jars because I had a fear of over drying.

Do you think jarring them for 12-24 hours before returning to the fridge is an acceptable way to disperse the moisture? Rinse and repeat 2-3 times until reach the 65% RH in the jars?

Look I’m not sure tbh.

Everytime buds reach the 70-75% RH region, the buds start going overly crispy/crunchy on the outsides, yet the stems only bend and stringy, no snapping. Happened in both brown bags and jars.

That’s normal. You get to know the right feel. I don’t even touch mine until I’ve hit 7 days in the fridge. I seemed to have learned the exact type of crisp and crunch I need to pull them out. Literally scares me every time. I always think it’s ruined. Pop it in a jar and I’m in the magical zone.