Drying and curing first time

[Dabs]

8 hours ago, MidgeSmith said:

@Dabs it isn't abnormal.  I've found most of my crops have been grassy for a while and then become aromatic.  I have had a couple of grows that didn't really ever smell grassy, but the smell of the plants dipped during drying while moisture was leaving the plants and came back afterwards.

 

Hi there,

 

Thank you very much for your help.  I’ll stop panicking    

[Dabs]

Hello again 

 

So I’m 3 to 4 weeks into curing and my buds are still smelling like hay! How long should I be burping my buds at this stage?  I’m starting to worry I’ve done something wrong.  Is there something I can do to help get this smell away.   

[MidgeSmith]

3 - 4 weeks into curing, I had gone down to 5 minutes every 2 or 3 days.  Do you have hygrometers in the jars to maintain the RH at about 58-62?

 

 

On 26/11/2022 at 6:38 AM, Dabs said:

Hello everyone, 

 

I thought I’d update this post as to help with first time growers like myself.  I’ve now been curing for coming upto the second week and my buds are slowly starting to move along nicely.  
 

One question I’d like to ask is - when I burp my glasses I’m smelling a cut grass kind of smell?  Is this normal and how long until it goes away ?  
 

Also anyone new to growing I highly recommend gloves of some type when you’re trimming your buds down to get ready for curing - as you get covered in stickiness    

@Dabs it isn't abnormal.  I've found most of my crops have been grassy for a while and then become aromatic.  I have had a couple of grows that didn't really ever smell grassy, but the smell of the plants dipped during drying while moisture was leaving the plants and came back afterwards.

[Dabs]

11 hours ago, MidgeSmith said:

3 - 4 weeks into curing, I had gone down to 5 minutes every 2 or 3 days.  Do you have hygrometers in the jars to maintain the RH at about 58-62?

 

 

@Dabs it isn't abnormal.  I've found most of my crops have been grassy for a while and then become aromatic.  I have had a couple of grows that didn't really ever smell grassy, but the smell of the plants dipped during drying while moisture was leaving the plants and came back afterwards.

 

hi there midge, 

 

I didn’t have but have now.  My jars where around 69% RH, so I pulled the bud out and put it in paper bags for a half day.  They are now 62.5% and still smell a little like hay/grass, will this smell go away and the nice smell come back if I keep curing and burping 

[MidgeSmith]

I wish I could be absolutely, but out of the crops I have grown, 3 have been disappointing after drying.

 

However the only one that stayed like hay, was my last which spent a whole day in the high 20s when spring became summer for a few days unexpectedly. Annoyingly, that was my last crop, growing my favourite strain.  Even in that case, a little of the original terpene profile returned after 3 months or so - but too little to be happy about.

 

By my reckoning, they must have been drying for 6 weeks, but are only now dry enough to think of as dried and now curing.  I think that it could go either way.  I hope though, that like most of mine, providing they never got too hot or moulded, they should lose the hay smell over time.

 

I'd probably try to burp them in a space with an RH of 60% or less now.  Today where I am it is 56% right now indoors, which is great.  I'd try to let them dry down to 58% and no lower and keep your fingers crossed.

Edited December 10, 2022 by MidgeSmith

[Dabs]

5 hours ago, MidgeSmith said:

I wish I could be absolutely, but out of the crops I have grown, 3 have been disappointing after drying.

 

However the only one that stayed like hay, was my last which spent a whole day in the high 20s when spring became summer for a few days unexpectedly. Annoyingly, that was my last crop, growing my favourite strain.  Even in that case, a little of the original terpene profile returned after 3 months or so - but too little to be happy about.

 

By my reckoning, they must have been drying for 6 weeks, but are only now dry enough to think of as dried and now curing.  I think that it could go either way.  I hope though, that like most of mine, providing they never got too hot or moulded, they should lose the hay smell over time.

 

I'd probably try to burp them in a space with an RH of 60% or less now.  Today where I am it is 56% right now indoors, which is great.  I'd try to let them dry down to 58% and no lower and keep your fingers crossed.

 

Hey mate, 

 

Thank you for all your help.  So are you saying to dry them out to 58% out of the jar then back to curing?  

[MidgeSmith]

Personally, I dry them to a target of 62% RH which is what they hopefully read when I put them in the jar.  Then in burping and curing, in general, I aim to keep them between 62% - 58%.  I like them to be 58% or lower when it comes to smoking, but in that 58% - 62% sweet spot for curing.

 

Ideally, they will hit the jar at 62% and won't reach 58%  RH for a couple of months at least.  Once they get as low as 54%, in my experience, curing stops.

 

Others may have different ideas as to what constitutes the ideal RHs and the end of curing, but looking around t'internet, I think my way is pretty much the average  or dare I say consensus of most. That's no surprise as I decided to use those figures after researching around the web.

Edited December 10, 2022 by MidgeSmith

[Cajafiesta]

I think it's fair to remember that people have been doing this for eons, WAY before anyone had any idea what a hygrometer was. 

 

 

This is what I've found to be workable for me.  For whatever that's worth. You should also consider that how you cut/trim the plant for drying has a significant impact on how quickly it dries.  Hanging a whole, untrimmed plant will drastically increase drying time as opposed to hanging a single branch, or cut off buds in a hanging basket. 

 

I typically cut mine into branches with a rough, wet trim.   I let them hang in my spare closet ( ~60%RH ~65-69F at this time.  Summer: ~40-45%RH ~70-75F) until smaller branches make an audible snap when broken.  From that point, I'll jar it.  I may or may not trim more thoroughly, at this point, depending on whos gonna end up with the dope and how trichome-covered the sugar leaves are.   It goes into a mason jar with a boveda packet (size 8 packet in a quart mason jar) that's 58% RH.  I monitor the jars by feel.  I had a batch last week in jars that I was too premature on.  It rehydrated too much once in the jars.  So all the jars got emptied and went onto a flat surface to air dry some more overnight.  I assessed this by feel and by the fact that the boveda pack had swollen up, meaning it had absorbed a lot of humidity in a short time.  Once the buds had the additional day air drying, they went back in the jars with the boveda packs.   

 

 

I really like the boveda stuff.  It seems to be provide a good "crutch" so that you can be a little more ham-fisted and still get a desirable cure.  Doing it this way, the cure REALLY changes the weed.  I suppose it probably really changes it with other cure methods, too, I just can't speak to those. They also provide a stable storage environment once the cure is set in.  If you can manage to keep the weed in the jar long enough to actually need a stable, post-cure environment.  

 

 

If you're like me, half the shit gets smoked once dry with barely any cure, cause I'm not good at planning for my consumption needs