kelticBlue
Well-Known Member
You realize we'll redefine what is meant by "beautiful. bud"?What a beauty keltic. The colors jump right off the page.
She looks like a canna fairy.
thanks Sue. I like. It seems to have dried happily.
DrZiggy's Low And Slow Drying: Maximizing Your Harvest
thanks Sue. I like. It seems to have dried happily.
LedGuy74
Well-Known Member
Allow me Derbybud, although I don't really have much science to offer. What I have is the experience of having dried a number of harvests in my dehydrator, and I can assure you, as counterproductive as it sounds, the buds I get from the dehydrator are every bit as fragrant and colorful as the buds I'm drying in the fridge. The big difference is in the time needed to get to dry.
Low and slow buds
Dehydrated buds
My last dehydrated batch took 53 hours straight, and they were ready to be jarred up to begin the cure. The latest batch of low and slo took two weeks, in paper bags. Other batches have taken longer.
I can't explain why there's not more terpene loss with the dehydrator, unless it's because the greatest number of the components may be inside the buds, and flash-drying doesn't give them time to get loose? Not a very scientific explaination, I'm afraid. The proof is in the pudding, and the oils I've made with the dehydrated buds are as tasty and potent as the low and slo oils.
I believe you're doing yourself a disservice by not considering this drying option.
Ive heard of that method before.. Idk I just always slow dry... If I'm out of smoke and want to smoke some early I just wrap it in a paper towel and put it out under the sun (during warm months) and before you know it it's nice and dry and still has a nice smell/taste
- Thread starter
- #1,183
The advantage to this method is the apparent retention of more terpenes, which potentiate the major cannabinoids. This method produces buds that rival the low and slo in color, flavor and potency, and does so in less than 3 days.
I harvested my first plant yesterday (yay!), washed it according to Doc Buds' instructions, and hung it to drip dry for about 5 hours. She's currently in the garage fridge to dry.
The problem I see is that the humidity fluctuates wildly in there, even after all night of no one opening the door. It's been as high as 81% and as low as 24%. I use a sensor push sensor to keep tabs on the temp and RH without opening the fridge.
Any ideas for normalizing the humidity? Aside from the buds, we only keep canned soda and batteries in there.
Thanks! This is a terrific thread, and I'm excited to see how my dried buds come out.
The problem I see is that the humidity fluctuates wildly in there, even after all night of no one opening the door. It's been as high as 81% and as low as 24%. I use a sensor push sensor to keep tabs on the temp and RH without opening the fridge.
Any ideas for normalizing the humidity? Aside from the buds, we only keep canned soda and batteries in there.
Thanks! This is a terrific thread, and I'm excited to see how my dried buds come out.
Congrats on the harvest! Earlier in this thread it mentioned that the key to drying in the fridge is to have a fridge filled with stuff. Fill it more things that need to be cold! Or even things that don't mind being cold
Thank you! Exciting times for sure.Congrats on the harvest! Earlier in this thread it mentioned that the key to drying in the fridge is to have a fridge filled with stuff. Fill it more things that need to be cold! Or even things that don't mind being cold
Thanks also for that tip. I'll move some stuff out there from the inside fridge right now. .
Derbybud
Well-Known Member
Just make sure your moving things in that won't take on or give off smells
- Thread starter
- #1,188
SweetSue's hybrid approach
Before I start the report, I wanted to share this beautiful picture of the CBD Critical Cure I used to make an infused oil recently. It was dried low and slo in paper bags.
They look fresh to me. They handle like fresh produce too. I'm thrilled that my goal has apparently been reached. Using low and slo buds appears to create an oil equivalent to making FHO on harvest day.
On to the hybrid drying approach I'm playing with. I started with Candy Cane buds, ready for the dehydrator.
This time I cut the branch attachments long enough to drop down through the grid so the buds set up on the trays.
I've begun setting one of the fine grid screens to slow down the air. Next time I'll add another to the next layer down and put the largest buds up on the top, working my way down to the smaller buds near the bottom, furthest from the fan.
I left this batch in for 50 hours.
The buds were much larger when they went in. You can see how much branch length I left on to add stability. They were all cut at about the same length.
At this point the buds get trimmed from the branch pieces they were left attached to. Leaving the branch pieces lends positioning stability so the buds can dry with less damage to their shape, and also slows down the drying a bit by having more plant material to pull from.
At this point they weigh 33 grams.
4:45 PM: Into the jar overnight.
By 9:28 that evening the humidity level is rising.
10:35 AM the next morning had RH creeping up to near 80%.
Instead of tossing it all back into the dehydrator, I decided to play with the rice I'd cooked the moisture out of. For the rest of the day I switched out bundles of 1/4 cup of the rice, and in so doing managed to drop the humidity, but only in very small steps.
Immediately upon adding the first bundle humidity levels came down about 2%. I spent the day working with it at random, switching out the rice for new, dry replacements. I wasn't paying close attention, but I was thinking about it casually, wondering what it was that would do what I was after. To be honest, I was involved in a lot of different projects yesterday and this was a minor thing.
At midnight I made my decision. After recooking and then cooling down the rice I got a larger jar that would allow for three equal spaces, 1/3 filled with rice, 1/3 filled with cannabis, and 1/3 filled with air.
By morning it was stable enough to place in a smaller jar with a Boveda pack.
That stabilized the buds at 62%.
4:52 today, 7 hours after jarring them up.
Final weight.
This was exactly what I'd anticipated.
Next time the plan is:
* 50 hours in the dehydrator at the lowest setting
* into a jar with 1/3 rice, 1/3 buds, 1/3 air
* switch out rice until it's stable at 62-65%
The potential is in the jar, ready to cure, in three day's time. I may begin to notice nuiances that the low and slo brings out that dehydration doesn't, but for now, from the perspective of a producer doing her best to stay ahead of patient demand this is a valuable tool to have available. The quality is better, IMO, to line-dried, which makes it more valuable medicinally. Higher potency means it goes further, freeing my grow space for other projects beyond basic meds.
I'll keep tweaking it until I'm happy with what it does for me.
Before I start the report, I wanted to share this beautiful picture of the CBD Critical Cure I used to make an infused oil recently. It was dried low and slo in paper bags.
They look fresh to me. They handle like fresh produce too. I'm thrilled that my goal has apparently been reached. Using low and slo buds appears to create an oil equivalent to making FHO on harvest day.
On to the hybrid drying approach I'm playing with. I started with Candy Cane buds, ready for the dehydrator.
This time I cut the branch attachments long enough to drop down through the grid so the buds set up on the trays.
I've begun setting one of the fine grid screens to slow down the air. Next time I'll add another to the next layer down and put the largest buds up on the top, working my way down to the smaller buds near the bottom, furthest from the fan.
I left this batch in for 50 hours.
The buds were much larger when they went in.
You can see how much branch length I left on to add stability. They were all cut at about the same length.
At this point the buds get trimmed from the branch pieces they were left attached to. Leaving the branch pieces lends positioning stability so the buds can dry with less damage to their shape, and also slows down the drying a bit by having more plant material to pull from.
At this point they weigh 33 grams.
4:45 PM: Into the jar overnight.
By 9:28 that evening the humidity level is rising.
10:35 AM the next morning had RH creeping up to near 80%.
Instead of tossing it all back into the dehydrator, I decided to play with the rice I'd cooked the moisture out of. For the rest of the day I switched out bundles of 1/4 cup of the rice, and in so doing managed to drop the humidity, but only in very small steps.
Immediately upon adding the first bundle humidity levels came down about 2%. I spent the day working with it at random, switching out the rice for new, dry replacements. I wasn't paying close attention, but I was thinking about it casually, wondering what it was that would do what I was after. To be honest, I was involved in a lot of different projects yesterday and this was a minor thing.
At midnight I made my decision. After recooking and then cooling down the rice I got a larger jar that would allow for three equal spaces, 1/3 filled with rice, 1/3 filled with cannabis, and 1/3 filled with air.
By morning it was stable enough to place in a smaller jar with a Boveda pack.
That stabilized the buds at 62%.
4:52 today, 7 hours after jarring them up.
Final weight.
This was exactly what I'd anticipated.
Next time the plan is:
* 50 hours in the dehydrator at the lowest setting
* into a jar with 1/3 rice, 1/3 buds, 1/3 air
* switch out rice until it's stable at 62-65%
The potential is in the jar, ready to cure, in three day's time. I may begin to notice nuiances that the low and slo brings out that dehydration doesn't, but for now, from the perspective of a producer doing her best to stay ahead of patient demand this is a valuable tool to have available. The quality is better, IMO, to line-dried, which makes it more valuable medicinally. Higher potency means it goes further, freeing my grow space for other projects beyond basic meds.
I'll keep tweaking it until I'm happy with what it does for me.
Excellent documentation! Thank you Sue! .
HealthFreak
Well-Known Member
Thank you for sharing this !!!
SweetSue's hybrid approach
Before I start the report, I wanted to share this beautiful picture of the CBD Critical Cure I used to make an infused oil recently. It was dried low and slo in paper bags.
They look fresh to me. They handle like fresh produce too. I'm thrilled that my goal has apparently been reached. Using low and slo buds appears to create an oil equivalent to making FHO on harvest day.
On to the hybrid drying approach I'm playing with. I started with Candy Cane buds, ready for the dehydrator.
This time I cut the branch attachments long enough to drop down through the grid so the buds set up on the trays.
I've begun setting one of the fine grid screens to slow down the air. Next time I'll add another to the next layer down and put the largest buds up on the top, working my way down to the smaller buds near the bottom, furthest from the fan.
I left this batch in for 50 hours.
The buds were much larger when they went in.
At this point the buds get trimmed from the branch pieces they were left attached to. Leaving the branch pieces lends positioning stability so the buds can dry with less damage to their shape, and also slows down the drying a bit by having more plant material to pull from.
At this point they weigh 33 grams.
4:45 PM: Into the jar overnight.
By 9:28 that evening the humidity level is rising.
10:35 AM the next morning had RH creeping up to near 80%.
Instead of tossing it all back into the dehydrator, I decided to play with the rice I'd cooked the moisture out of. For the rest of the day I switched out bundles of 1/4 cup of the rice, and in so doing managed to drop the humidity, but only in very small steps.
Immediately upon adding the first bundle humidity levels came down about 2%. I spent the day working with it at random, switching out the rice for new, dry replacements. I wasn't paying close attention, but I was thinking about it casually, wondering what it was that would do what I was after. To be honest, I was involved in a lot of different projects yesterday and this was a minor thing.
At midnight I made my decision. After recooking and then cooling down the rice I got a larger jar that would allow for three equal spaces, 1/3 filled with rice, 1/3 filled with cannabis, and 1/3 filled with air.
By morning it was stable enough to place in a smaller jar with a Boveda pack.
That stabilized the buds at 62%.
4:52 today, 7 hours after jarring them up.
Final weight.
This was exactly what I'd anticipated.
Next time the plan is:
* 50 hours in the dehydrator at the lowest setting
* into a jar with 1/3 rice, 1/3 buds, 1/3 air
* switch out rice until it's stable at 62-65%
The potential is in the jar, ready to cure, in three day's time. I may begin to notice nuiances that the low and slo brings out that dehydration doesn't, but for now, from the perspective of a producer doing her best to stay ahead of patient demand this is a valuable tool to have available. The quality is better, IMO, to line-dried, which makes it more valuable medicinally. Higher potency means it goes further, freeing my grow space for other projects beyond basic meds.
I'll keep tweaking it until I'm happy with what it does for me.
- Thread starter
- #1,191
Thanks bignstrange. I enjoy putting them together.
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
MustgVagabond
Well-Known Member
This needs to be pinned to the top of the page!!
Sue this will be the new standard for drying!!! Well done!
- Thread starter
- #1,193
Thank you.
You'll love this then. I'm working on a small batch of buds that've been in the fridge for 8 days. I think I'll have them stable at 62% by the time I go to bed tonight. I'll post when they're done. My thinking is, we went with low and slo because it caused the least disturbance to the light isomers we want to keep around. Well, the other goal is always to get the product dry for use. If we can start the process one way and finish more quickly with rice this meets both goals, doesn't it? Dry without the loss of too many terpenes and flavonoids and as quickly as can be safely done.
For oil making you don't need a cure. For anything else this simply means you jumpstart the cure. So far I'm seeing nothing but positive results from this brainstorming session.
- Thread starter
- #1,194
Alright..... It worked!! 
8:15 AM
Just out of the fridge after 9 days.
8:17 AM
Into a jar half full of rice. I didn't bother cooking the rice. I checked it with a hygrometer first, and it was at 50% humidity, so I just started in.
2:26 PM
Six hours later it's down close to 62%.
2:28 PM
I put it into a smaller jar, without rice, to check the humidity.
6:49 PM
Four hours later and it's back up to around 68%.
6:50 PM
Back into the jar half-full of rice.
9:02 PM
I went out to dinner and when I returned it was down to 60%.
9:03 PM
Back into the smaller jar, this time with a Boveda pack.
10:05 PM
An hour later and it's stable at 62%. Mission accomplished.
Next time it'll be one week in the bags in the fridge and one day working with rice to get it down to a stable 62%.
What I like most about the rice is the gentle but effective way it removes humidity quickly. I'm going to begin working closer and closer to harvest, maybe take part of the next harvest and see if I can get it to dry using just rice.
Anybody know of any reason this wouldn't work?
8:15 AM
Just out of the fridge after 9 days.
8:17 AM
Into a jar half full of rice. I didn't bother cooking the rice. I checked it with a hygrometer first, and it was at 50% humidity, so I just started in.
2:26 PM
Six hours later it's down close to 62%.
2:28 PM
I put it into a smaller jar, without rice, to check the humidity.
6:49 PM
Four hours later and it's back up to around 68%.
6:50 PM
Back into the jar half-full of rice.
9:02 PM
I went out to dinner and when I returned it was down to 60%.
9:03 PM
Back into the smaller jar, this time with a Boveda pack.
10:05 PM
An hour later and it's stable at 62%. Mission accomplished.
Next time it'll be one week in the bags in the fridge and one day working with rice to get it down to a stable 62%.
What I like most about the rice is the gentle but effective way it removes humidity quickly. I'm going to begin working closer and closer to harvest, maybe take part of the next harvest and see if I can get it to dry using just rice.
Anybody know of any reason this wouldn't work?
Slowpuffer
Well-Known Member
Thanks for sharing Sue !!SweetSue's hybrid approach
Before I start the report, I wanted to share this beautiful picture of the CBD Critical Cure I used to make an infused oil recently. It was dried low and slo in paper bags.
They look fresh to me. They handle like fresh produce too. I'm thrilled that my goal has apparently been reached. Using low and slo buds appears to create an oil equivalent to making FHO on harvest day.
On to the hybrid drying approach I'm playing with. I started with Candy Cane buds, ready for the dehydrator.
This time I cut the branch attachments long enough to drop down through the grid so the buds set up on the trays.
I've begun setting one of the fine grid screens to slow down the air. Next time I'll add another to the next layer down and put the largest buds up on the top, working my way down to the smaller buds near the bottom, furthest from the fan.
I left this batch in for 50 hours.
The buds were much larger when they went in.
At this point the buds get trimmed from the branch pieces they were left attached to. Leaving the branch pieces lends positioning stability so the buds can dry with less damage to their shape, and also slows down the drying a bit by having more plant material to pull from.
At this point they weigh 33 grams.
4:45 PM: Into the jar overnight.
By 9:28 that evening the humidity level is rising.
10:35 AM the next morning had RH creeping up to near 80%.
Instead of tossing it all back into the dehydrator, I decided to play with the rice I'd cooked the moisture out of. For the rest of the day I switched out bundles of 1/4 cup of the rice, and in so doing managed to drop the humidity, but only in very small steps.
Immediately upon adding the first bundle humidity levels came down about 2%. I spent the day working with it at random, switching out the rice for new, dry replacements. I wasn't paying close attention, but I was thinking about it casually, wondering what it was that would do what I was after. To be honest, I was involved in a lot of different projects yesterday and this was a minor thing.
At midnight I made my decision. After recooking and then cooling down the rice I got a larger jar that would allow for three equal spaces, 1/3 filled with rice, 1/3 filled with cannabis, and 1/3 filled with air.
By morning it was stable enough to place in a smaller jar with a Boveda pack.
That stabilized the buds at 62%.
4:52 today, 7 hours after jarring them up.
Final weight.
This was exactly what I'd anticipated.
Next time the plan is:
* 50 hours in the dehydrator at the lowest setting
* into a jar with 1/3 rice, 1/3 buds, 1/3 air
* switch out rice until it's stable at 62-65%
The potential is in the jar, ready to cure, in three day's time. I may begin to notice nuiances that the low and slo brings out that dehydration doesn't, but for now, from the perspective of a producer doing her best to stay ahead of patient demand this is a valuable tool to have available. The quality is better, IMO, to line-dried, which makes it more valuable medicinally. Higher potency means it goes further, freeing my grow space for other projects beyond basic meds.
I'll keep tweaking it until I'm happy with what it does for me.
Peeece
Well-Known Member
Great write up Sue! I am a converted Dehydrator since my last harvest. I have another crop and will definitely go straight to the Dehydrator and skip everything else. The rice is a nice side step of handling the buds so much going from jar back into the dehydrator and I'm going to have to go buy some nylons to give it a shot...maybe knee highs? Lol! Thanks for being such an intricate part of this community and contributing as you do! Keep it Green! ..
kelticBlue
Well-Known Member
Absolute fun. I try to get the buds out of the fridge around the 8 day mark and check in jar. My purp rhino is very dense and being resistant to drying, arrrh. As of yesterday, I have one of the big buds stable in the jar with three more big buds in the fridge. I think the 4 or 5 smaller buds will be ready in no time.
I would say I am having success, but that will have to wait till after cure. I am so glad I had this week of moderate temps and humidity to work with. Buds look great, the green dries greener than browner. Going to go check on the jar right meow.
I dont have any rice on hand,
I would say I am having success, but that will have to wait till after cure. I am so glad I had this week of moderate temps and humidity to work with. Buds look great, the green dries greener than browner. Going to go check on the jar right meow.
I dont have any rice on hand,
I used knee-highs and cut them in half and then tied off the ends to make the rice balls.
Using Rice Balls to Quickly Lower the Relative Humidity in Jars
How is that even possible???
kelticBlue
Well-Known Member
How is that even possible???
i live under a small rock with no storage space
i got a bag of quinoa
kelticBlue
Well-Known Member
Here is the bud, looks good after 8 days in the re-frige 
going into jar.
going into jar.
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