Hey gang! Been away a minute! Hope you’re all well!
2 weeks into flower on my third grow. Had to take some time for life issues.
With 2 under my belt of the same strain and 2 different result (both good but different) id like to find some consistency in the process.
First time I hung the buds in dark sealed tent with small fan on low not blowing on the material until the buds were at 11% moisture content the bagged them.
Second time did the same but added a duct fan on low to control the smell but it dried too quickly. And i used the moisture meter on the stem instead of the bud. (Don’t recommend that btw)
I do all of my growing and drying in my attic that has spay foam insulation in the rafters so not too bad. But can’t control temp independently of my house and it’s usually 5 to 10 degrees hotter up there so i keep it cold in my house lol. Lights off during hottest part of the day
So im curious about things you guys do while drying and curing that you believe is making the difference for you in your unique grow situation
Consistency in environment is key to a consistent end product. Anything you can do to keep your environment stable will help a lot. Ideally you want temps below 68 degrees to preserve all the volatiles and humidity between 50-60% RH to get a slow consistent dry inside and out. Do you put lights on your drying plants or just your growing ones?. Those are your basic requirements. The closer you can get to those numbers the better time you will have. I built an insulated closet next to a window with an A/C unit in it. In the cold months I have to have a heater in there as well. I also use both humidifiers and dehumidifiers to maintain the RH. I use between 4 and 8 small fans to circulate air around the plants and a larger oscillating fan below them to circulate air around the heating, cooling and humidity equipment. The only time I introduce fresh air is when I go in to check on everything 2-3 times a day or if the dehumidifier can’t keep up. It took a few years to put it all together and it’s still a work in progress, but hopefully that gives you some ideas to work off of.
It depends on the methods used and the end product desired. Live rosin or wax would require fresher cannabis, but some like shatter need more time to dry and cure before extraction. Others like bubble hash it’s more a matter of preference. What kind of methods are you planning to use and what kind of end product are you looking for?
I’d love to get it clean enough to vape. I suppose that at that point i can pretty much use it for whatever…I’m really only looking at vapes and infused candies right now. Wax, shatter and all that is something I don’t understand except that is different forms of goodness.
For a beginner friendly vape I would guess you want some sort of rosin or QWET (Quick Wash Ethanol tincture). You can use the hair straightener method to make rosin, but I have trouble getting consistent quality with it and a proper press can cost a few hundred bucks. For rosin I use cannabis that has been dried and jar cured for 30 days. If it loses too much moisture it won’t press well, but if you press wet nug you get soup. QWET can mostly be done with stuff from around the house. For QWET you can pretty much use whatever cannabis you have wet or dry stems and trim but obviously yields and end texture might be affected a little. Again I personally use trim and larf that have been dried and cured. However, you have to be careful how you evaporate the ethanol as it is extremely flammable and if you breathe in too much you will get very drunk very fast. If you just let it evaporate over time in the ambient air it’s a little safer since the concentration of ethanol in the air stays relatively low. You still need to take proper precautions like keeping the area well ventilated and choosing an area with no ignition sources like pilot lights and electric motors.
