DrZiggy's Low And Slow Drying: Maximizing Your Harvest

[Tejasdirt]

I’ve just completed my 3rd fridge dry and I just wanted to pass on this tip.

I circulate my bags from the top shelf to the bottom twice a day when I give the bags a flip and a shake. I know it sounds silly, but I would often forget which side of my bag I was flipping to because for evenness I want to alternate sides.

Writing a simple AM PM on either side of the bag has been a huge help to me. I just thought I’d share in case anyone else might find it helpful.

Wow

Wow. I have a mini fridge I’ve been useing with s inkbird and govee humidy meter. I put my buds in paper bags, and close and lock the door. Never open till 3 weeks. ( nope not even a peek. That’s what the locks for...)
Inkbird set at 42f. I use the govee to watch my humidity fall. And I have a plate in back of the fridge.

I get fantastic drys every time. And I have cured in the fridge ( turned off and totally dry) with good results also.
But I’m in search of a frost free mini fridge just because.....

 

[Tejasdirt]

Awesome reply, thanks. I have zero condensation or signs of moisture so I think I am good. Man I should have stuck to this thread. There is another method that was organized well that the poster swore by that kept the refrig shut. To the point that he put a lock on it to not be tempted. Can't find it for the life of me now.

Old but wanted to reply....
That was me. I used a mini fridge with the evaporater plate froze in back . I ran it at lower temps with paper bags. Used a inkbird temp controller to keep the temp and a govee humidity meter to watch my humidity. And put a lock on it to keep me out. Didn’t open it for 3 weeks. Allways had great results.
Heck dureing covid I was locked down on our ranch 200 miles from home where the fridge was. That bud stayed in the fridge for 6 weeks and came out a little dry, but nicely cured.
Loved to watch the humidity spike, then the compressor kicks on and the temp and humidity lowers.
Due to life changes I had to down size and got rid of the fridge and went with a diy herbs now dryer, and a small 3 gallon David Gilman inspired auto burp. Worked well in my situation.
But I just picked up a wine cooler for cheap and will set it up with my inkbird and govee and see where it goes. And yep. I will load it up and not open for 2.5-3 weeks. Then into grove cure bags then into jars for storage.
At least that’s the plan.......

 

[Tejasdirt]

And before I found the low n slow I was useing steeltainers, with xl boveda in the mini fridge to actually cure. Would over dry my weed then into steeltainets with the xl boveda for 3 weeks. Yep. Had a lock on the refer door also. This worked very well even though the nay sayers said it couldn’t be done. Worked better than how I was doing it useing ambient temp and humidity
Amazing the things one remembers when ya don’t put your mind to it...,,

 

[Tejasdirt]

now then that I think about it.....


i Was using the Boveda to aid in curling which is not the correct way to use Boveda.
so this is the plan now.....

do low n slow fridge dry and bring the humidity of the product down to 60% and stay below 60% for a couple days.
ill then transfer product to the steeltainers and raise fridge temp to 50f ( good starting point I guess) put a Govee into the steeltainers and monitor as it cures. IF the humidity goes above 62% will take out and put product into The auto burp, till it hits 58% then back into steeltainers where it should settle on a good cure humidity. After few weeks of cold curling maybe into grove bags for a bit then into jars with a Boveda for long term storage.
i was going to use a wine cooler but I don’t feel wine coolers Won’t get the temps low enough for my purposes.
so now off to find a beverage cooler........

 

[Lisa2265]

Just have a quick question. I thought the grove bags were in place of jars.? I have my first harvest, what’s left of it anyway I. Grove bags, humidity @62% temp at around 50-58 degrees. Could I leave that long term or should I do jars?

 

[GratefulBud]

Just have a quick question. I thought the grove bags were in place of jars.? I have my first harvest, what’s left of it anyway I. Grove bags, humidity @62% temp at around 50-58 degrees. Could I leave that long term or should I do jars?

It is my understanding (I have not used them) that grove bags are not entirely air tight and you may want to place bag into a large sealable bucket, or use jars for long term storage.

 

[cbdhemp808]

I started a thread over here... just getting started with understand how I can use a mini fridge for my situation in Hawaii. Comments welcome!

 

[BadBeerBreath]

Old but wanted to reply....
That was me. I used a mini fridge with the evaporater plate froze in back . I ran it at lower temps with paper bags. Used a inkbird temp controller to keep the temp and a govee humidity meter to watch my humidity. And put a lock on it to keep me out. Didn’t open it for 3 weeks. Allways had great results.
Heck dureing covid I was locked down on our ranch 200 miles from home where the fridge was. That bud stayed in the fridge for 6 weeks and came out a little dry, but nicely cured.
Loved to watch the humidity spike, then the compressor kicks on and the temp and humidity lowers.
Due to life changes I had to down size and got rid of the fridge and went with a diy herbs now dryer, and a small 3 gallon David Gilman inspired auto burp. Worked well in my situation.
But I just picked up a wine cooler for cheap and will set it up with my inkbird and govee and see where it goes. And yep. I will load it up and not open for 2.5-3 weeks. Then into grove cure bags then into jars for storage.
At least that’s the plan.......

This sounds like my mini-fridge that I may use. It doesn't have a freezer in it, nor fan of any sort. There is though a metal plate in the back that is damp to touch, but no water pooling. So if I'm correct, I can get away with this..wet trim bud, place in some brown paper bags, maybe in single layers, plop a hygrometer in each bag and walk away!? Wait at least a few weeks and inspect? Sound about right?

 

[InTheShed]

I thought most folks in mini fridges did best by opening and closing the door a few times during the day to make up for the fact that they're not frost free. The built up moisture needs somewhere to go.

Not everyone has a way to monitor/control RH on the fly.

 

[BadBeerBreath]

I started reading this thread last year, got side tracked and didn't finish but am trying to get through now. What is the advantage to the brown bags anyway, as opposed to just laying out on fridge racks if you can, just extra moisture absorption?

 

[InTheShed]

The bags will slow down the transfer of moisture from the flowers to the air. Same reason that vegetables go in the crisper drawer, since they would dry up much faster left on the shelf.

 

[cbdhemp808]

I thought most folks in mini fridges did best by opening and closing the door a few times during the day to make up for the fact that they're not frost free. The built up moisture needs somewhere to go.

Not everyone has a way to monitor/control RH on the fly.

Somewhere in this thread it is explained that the freezer part of a mini fridge, which is exposed to the rest of the fridge and doesn't have its own door, serves as a collector of moisture – it turns to ice. Just keep the temp somewhere, like 42°F for example, and keep the door shut. I am planning to do this, and use brown paper bags. I'm off-grid on solar, with a relatively small solar power system, otherwise I would use a dehum and air conditioner in a closet-size room. But the fridge method should actually preserve terpenes better, because the drying temp is way lower.

 

[Dennise]

When it comes to slow drying and the perfect conditions for curing - I'm working on preparing my "cave" to do a cave-curing. Sadly too much on my hands now, so I don't think I'll be able to finish that project this year. This is for the future. What I have done is to install a temperature/relative humidity meter in there that records the highest and the lowest temperatures/humidity over a period of time. What I have found so far is that the RH is a little too high. I need to get it reduced a little. But the cave-cure idea is an old way of doing it. Here in the frosty north people built their "fridges" outside or inside - but under the ground.

Here's my cave. It's a more than 100 years old root-cellar, and it's still standing strong. I will get it cleaned up, add a new floor, put up shelves and a door I can lock. Then if it doesn't become my default place to dry and cure the buds, it will be the perfect place for long-term storage of them.

Here's how it looks from the inside. View of our property - hard to see from outside the property and well hidden under ground. You can't see the entrance until you're right in front of it.

Floor need to be cleaned and then I want to add a layer of wood.

When I am done with this, it will most likely become the absolute optimal place to dry, cure and store buds without even the need of glass-jars

I live in the south and would love to have a hidden cave like this on my property. Hubby’s from upstate NY and says they’re all over the place there. There’s one on his family property there and they use it to store canned vegetables…..

 

[DirtLover]

I have been watching this thread for a while and looking for a DIY that may help some to get a fridge automated. Stumbled on this, that is used for home brewers to maintain yeast temps. If i try this method I will try to modify rh levels if the Light bulb heater dries the air too much . I love the idea of the Cannatrol but the price tag and capacity are a show stopper for me. If any DIYer tries this before me , please post results. Happy Growing ( and low and slow drying )

DIY Fridge Fermentor for Homebrew (Under $50)​

 

[syenite]

Have I really missed that big of a thing in this thread? Low and slow is only for drying, not curing?

It's a big deal.

Curing involves microbes in the flower breaking down sugars and chlorophyll and things.

You can't cure optimally in the fridge because at those temps the microbes will be inactive or working extremely slowly. Plus, there's also the issue of proper air exchange. I imagine these processes require oxygen and emit waste gases in turn.

Curing also results in the redistribution of moisture and smells throughout the flower.

So your flower smelling grassy after dry is normal. It is precisely the curing process that will get rid of the grassy smells and "bring back" the good smells.

 

[Deser]

Hi community,
Unfortunately, in my apartment I can only use the bathroom to air dry my cannabis buds, meaning I can't shower for a while or the humidity would go up very quickly. I'm an outdoor grower (autoflower) so my first batch usually ends in July, by this time my bathroom is a bit too hot for a decent terpene preservation and I can never get it below 23° C (74.5 F). Usually no more than 5 days of drying, too fast in my opinion.

Hence, like many others, I've been looking into the low and slow fridge drying method. I have around 5 weeks left of flowering, and have been testing the temps and humidity in my fridge. I don't have a No Frost fridge, but there is a freezer in the same compartment as the fridge area, and I believe it does a great job with the humidity, even though it's not really No Frost technology. There are two crispers in the bottom in which I put a couple of different hygro/temp meters.
So like many fridges, the knob goes from 1 (highest temp) to 5 (coolest).

The readings (in the crispers):
at 3: 13°/14°C (55/57°F)
at 5: 9,5°/10°C (50°F).
So the coldest the crispers get is at level 5, being no colder than 10°C / 50°F.

Humidity is not stable (50-60%, sometimes 70%), but there is always some food so I should test the humidity with nothing in there.
What do you think about this fridge? High risk of mold due to the unstable and high humidity?

Thank you.

 

[InTheShed]

Hi community,
Unfortunately, in my apartment I can only use the bathroom to air dry my cannabis buds, meaning I can't shower for a while or the humidity would go up very quickly. I'm an outdoor grower (autoflower) so my first batch usually ends in July, by this time my bathroom is a bit too hot for a decent terpene preservation and I can never get it below 23° C (74.5 F). Usually no more than 5 days of drying, too fast in my opinion.

Hence, like many others, I've been looking into the low and slow fridge drying method. I have around 5 weeks left of flowering, and have been testing the temps and humidity in my fridge. I don't have a No Frost fridge, but there is a freezer in the same compartment as the fridge area, and I believe it does a great job with the humidity, even though it's not really No Frost technology. There are two crispers in the bottom in which I put a couple of different hygro/temp meters.
So like many fridges, the knob goes from 1 (highest temp) to 5 (coolest).

The readings (in the crispers):
at 3: 13°/14°C (55/57°F)
at 5: 9,5°/10°C (50°F).
So the coldest the crispers get is at level 5, being no colder than 10°C / 50°F.

Humidity is not stable (50-60%, sometimes 70%), but there is always some food so I should test the humidity with nothing in there.
What do you think about this fridge? High risk of mold due to the unstable and high humidity?

Thank you.

The humidity will always be variable but if your coldest temp is 50º, that's too warm. Most fridges keep the temps around 37ºF, and the cold is one of the things that keeps the mold from growing. Can you keep the bags in the fridge itself (where it has to be colder than 50º!)?

Also, in the pic there is water dripping down the back wall, meaning it's pretty wet in there even without bags of damp flowers.

I almost always hang dry in the mid 70s F so I don't think that's a specific problem for terpenes. If you had said 90s I'd be more concerned, but hang drying at any temperature never preserves terpenes like low and slow does.

 

[zecht]

sup guys, harvesting my 2nd grow soon and wanted to try this method out so i can keep my tent free for the next run.

i'm just gonna put these in some trader joe's bags and lay em on a shelf in my everyday fridge. it's ~40F and 50H in there typically. basically just leave them be and shake a bit every few days, and after 2 weeks that's about it yeah? just wondering if any major updates to the process, it's a big thread lol.

CDLC by Mephisto btw:

 

[InTheShed]

sup guys, harvesting my 2nd grow soon and wanted to try this method out so i can keep my tent free for the next run.

i'm just gonna put these in some trader joe's bags and lay em on a shelf in my everyday fridge. it's ~40F and 50H in there typically. basically just leave them be and shake a bit every few days, and after 2 weeks that's about it yeah? just wondering if any major updates to the process, it's a big thread lol.

Hey zecht! I just replied to your post here, so click that link and check it out.

 

[zecht]

Hey zecht! I just replied to your post here, so click that link and check it out.

Got it, yeah that was the summary I was gonna go by just double checking. ty much