ppm Charlie
Well-Known Member
I am interested in cannabis drying, curing and preservation methods and I found some interesting information on silica gel beads. We have all seen those little pouches inside prescription bottles, vitamin bottles and sometimes packed in with electronic devices. These silica gel pouches are meant to absorb water to keep the contents dry after manufacture and during storage and shipping. Silica gel beads are nontoxic and also used to help preserve certain packaged food items (i.e. dehydrated meals). Silica gel beads not only help dry-out things, they can also be used to help maintain a particular humidity (RH) level in a closed or semi-closed space. For example, museums commonly use silica gel beads to keep a museum exhibit that is sealed or semi-sealed at a certain predetermined RH humidity level for long periods of time. In my deep dive into the subject I found two useful articles.
The first reference talks about how museums use silica gel and the need to maintain humidity at various correct levels in museum exhibits both short and long term. The article also talks about the different kind of silica gels beads that are used in museums, how different types of silica gels are better in certain ranges of humidity and how to mix different silica gels to obtain a fixed humidity (RH level) in a closed (sealed) or semi-closed space (mostly sealed and employee access areas).
The next article I read indicated that a person can make their own silica gel mix that maintains humidity in a closed space in a certain narrow range. For example, the article gives instructions for making a silica gel that maintains 75% RH humidity by simply using silica gel, table salt, water, a plastic bag and a hygrometer. From there, the article gives instruction on how to mix the 75% RH humidity silica gel with "new" (unaltered) silica gel to make silica gel that will maintain humidity in any given range (say, 45%, 55%, 60%, 65% or even 70% RH, etc.).
Silica gel and silica gel beads alone are non-toxic. Silica gel is usually sold in "bead-form" and in colors that tell you when the silica gel is used up (absorbed all the water it can, say originally orange colored but when "used up" yellow colored). Once the silica gel is used up, it can be used again by regenerating it in a heated conventional oven or microwave oven to drive-off the accumulated water. I would stay away from the blue indicator silica gel as it has cobalt-blue in it and cobalt can be harmful to health if ingested in large quantities. However, there are uncolored silica gel beads and also different colored indicator silica gel beads that are nontoxic and safe to use.
Silica gel beads are cheap and easily obtainable in bulk. Boveda Humidor Bags are expensive. Boveda Humidor Bags use various salts for humidity control rather than silica gel. However, silica gel can provide the same humidity control if properly prepared at a fraction of the cost of Boveda Humidor Bags. If a person has a lot of cannabis to preserve it may be cost effective to use silica gel beads for holding humidity at the proper level in closed containers. I would not suggest adding the gel beads directly to the bottom of a container, however, a small cloth pouch or nylon sock could be used to place the silica gel beads in and separate them from your precious dried and cured 420 for short or long-term preservation.
I have not tried to prepare my own silica gel bead humidity control pouches but I plan to and I hope this will decrease my costs of cannabis preservation. If museums can do it, I can do it!
P.S. Preparing the 75% RH silica gel beads described above could also help people calibrate their cheap humidity gauges that go inside their cannabis storage containers since the table salt/water method yields exactly 75% humidity each time. Is my cheap humidity gauge reading correctly? Is it reading high or low, based on the 75% RH silica gel calibration technique?
The first reference talks about how museums use silica gel and the need to maintain humidity at various correct levels in museum exhibits both short and long term. The article also talks about the different kind of silica gels beads that are used in museums, how different types of silica gels are better in certain ranges of humidity and how to mix different silica gels to obtain a fixed humidity (RH level) in a closed (sealed) or semi-closed space (mostly sealed and employee access areas).
The next article I read indicated that a person can make their own silica gel mix that maintains humidity in a closed space in a certain narrow range. For example, the article gives instructions for making a silica gel that maintains 75% RH humidity by simply using silica gel, table salt, water, a plastic bag and a hygrometer. From there, the article gives instruction on how to mix the 75% RH humidity silica gel with "new" (unaltered) silica gel to make silica gel that will maintain humidity in any given range (say, 45%, 55%, 60%, 65% or even 70% RH, etc.).
Silica Gel: Passive Control of Relative Humidity – Technical Bulletin 33 - Canada.ca
The purpose of this Technical Bulletin is to explain the need to control the relative humidity (RH) in a museum environment.
www.canada.ca
Silica gel and silica gel beads alone are non-toxic. Silica gel is usually sold in "bead-form" and in colors that tell you when the silica gel is used up (absorbed all the water it can, say originally orange colored but when "used up" yellow colored). Once the silica gel is used up, it can be used again by regenerating it in a heated conventional oven or microwave oven to drive-off the accumulated water. I would stay away from the blue indicator silica gel as it has cobalt-blue in it and cobalt can be harmful to health if ingested in large quantities. However, there are uncolored silica gel beads and also different colored indicator silica gel beads that are nontoxic and safe to use.
Silica gel beads are cheap and easily obtainable in bulk. Boveda Humidor Bags are expensive. Boveda Humidor Bags use various salts for humidity control rather than silica gel. However, silica gel can provide the same humidity control if properly prepared at a fraction of the cost of Boveda Humidor Bags. If a person has a lot of cannabis to preserve it may be cost effective to use silica gel beads for holding humidity at the proper level in closed containers. I would not suggest adding the gel beads directly to the bottom of a container, however, a small cloth pouch or nylon sock could be used to place the silica gel beads in and separate them from your precious dried and cured 420 for short or long-term preservation.
I have not tried to prepare my own silica gel bead humidity control pouches but I plan to and I hope this will decrease my costs of cannabis preservation. If museums can do it, I can do it!
P.S. Preparing the 75% RH silica gel beads described above could also help people calibrate their cheap humidity gauges that go inside their cannabis storage containers since the table salt/water method yields exactly 75% humidity each time. Is my cheap humidity gauge reading correctly? Is it reading high or low, based on the 75% RH silica gel calibration technique?
