Harvest & Curing Rosenthal - "cure first" then dry jar to age - what do you think

Thank you Alan smithee.

You are very kind to share your experience. I will trial this over the next month with some sativa and indica I am ready to pull.

Will be sure to let you know how it goes.

Rip bongs in peace
 
What I did was set my freezer to the lowest setting for a few days and then back to my normal setting (or factory).

I cleared a section of the freezer (rack).
Placed foil on the rack.
Placed buds directly on the foil.
Closed freezer and left it so for several hours.
Peeked in occasionally.
Buds will freeze.
May see some ice crystals; however, they go away because of the freezer vacuum. Some may stay--no big deal.
Make sure you don't have any fish etc. in the freezer. Other odors could be absorbed by the buds.
You can take out small buds early to try.

Check the stems. If medium size stem(s) seem brittle and/or break (big stems seem to retain moister and may not break) about 10 to 20 days have passed--they are ready. In a pinch even after a week you partake a bit.
Then take buds out. Let them air out for a short time to room temp. Will not take long.
Make sure they are not wet. Sticky is ok.
Jars them for aging.
Check humidity if you want.
Burp the first few days.
Enjoy.

Cheers. I placed them in the freezer but didnt turn down the temp. They have frozen up to the point they look eatable! Yum! I placed them on a dinner plate and have meat in there but packed well.

Will report when i am done!

Many thanks.
 
To the above looking forward to your results. And maybe some canna glamour photos. I too should have some racks loaded in a few weeks.
 
Hm interesting I thought curing and drying happened at the same time. Last times I tried to dry the crop as slowly as possible, in a closet with a little fan to circulate air, and the door not opened more than necessary. Then I had a really long jar/burp process because I put it slightly wet in 4oz jars. That last part seemed very important to me.
But it makes sense that it cures a lot more while it is still fresh. Compare it to fruit and vegs like tomatoes, it all continues to ripen if it's fresh(not dried) and in the right environment(fruit can dry out faster in cold fridges than it can ripen). Keep it at the right humidity and temps so it doesn't dry out to fast, then when it becomes dry to the touch, dry it as fast as you can - without overdrying unevenly - to the point it needs to be, as fresh oxygen degrades thc and probably flavanoids/terpenoids too... The jar way is good to prevent overdrying, but I'll definitely give the freezer trick a try sometime. CO2 drying now also makes sense to me!
 
Right sprinkl. I think Rosenthal is giving us a method of chop/cut to initial cure with partial dry. Then a slow dry with preservation of terpenes while in the freezer. After which to the jars for further aging (longer curing).

I decided to paper bag the first part of my small harvest earlier in the week. I live in an extremely dry area. The second day I could smell the grassy scent and buds (still on branches) were still fresh. Unbelievably, day three----dry and fluffy. Should have only gone two days.

So, into the freezer. In a week, I will place in jars with humidifier packs to get them up to speed.

What is handy about the freezer beyond drying is long term storage. One can just keep a jar in the freezer and pick out buds when one needs them--daily, weekly or whenever. Ready within thirty minutes or less.
 
Update.

I def recommend this method, my buds remained dense even after i took a few out to dry. Dried up quickly but retained what it needed too. The smoke was smooth and not harsh at all and the stone was more than i expected. I took them all out after 10 days and pout them in mason jars and let them dry daily..problem is i kept picking at buds daily..so i didnt allow a full cure!

But this has been better than previous curing efforts, if only i knew of this method a few years ago when i first started growing. I have a Dr Feelgood with 2 weeks left and will be trying this again.

Don't let your buds dry out during the first stage, i noticed out of the two the last batch i did i only allowed 3 days and she was semi dried and the buds kept their density whilst the fist attempt i left the buds to dry for too long and then put them in the freezer when they were 90% dry. The buds were not as dense.
 
*Freezer cure* Last year I had to resort to this method with 1 plant; 2 days after harvest, a week long storm system rolled into town and my relative humidity went way to high (no AC either)... as you might guess, the Rot Fairy was nigh upon me (:finger:), so in the freezer they went.....for about 3 weeks. It worked mostly, what little moisture was left a couple days of air drying finished off.... Compared to the fully air dry bud, it retained more of the fresh color, the trichomes were intact, a little cloudier; pistil color changed very little as well; flavor/aromatics were pretty much the same; ditto for potency... the smoke was a bit harsher, but mellowed out some after storing for a month... I don't believe it's held up as well as air-dry over time, but that could be attributed to other factors,...:shrug: That first week or so described by Ed is, without a doubt, a factor in how things turn out down the road. Appearently, the death-throe metabolics going on is altering the chemistry inside, and has direct consequences on the quality of the end product; I think freezing bypasses this process, and that's why the freeze-dry didn't end up as nice as the air dry.... I can't say it ruined it by any means, and it saved my gal from that freakin' fairy, but I see no reason to go down that road again unless necessary. Maybe others with better equipment/technique get better results,... and after all, I only did this once, so,.... :toke: + :2cents:
 
Update.

I def recommend this method, my buds remained dense even after i took a few out to dry. Dried up quickly but retained what it needed too. The smoke was smooth and not harsh at all and the stone was more than i expected. I took them all out after 10 days and pout them in mason jars and let them dry daily..problem is i kept picking at buds daily..so i didnt allow a full cure!

But this has been better than previous curing efforts, if only i knew of this method a few years ago when i first started growing. I have a Dr Feelgood with 2 weeks left and will be trying this again.

Don't let your buds dry out during the first stage, i noticed out of the two the last batch i did i only allowed 3 days and she was semi dried and the buds kept their density whilst the fist attempt i left the buds to dry for too long and then put them in the freezer when they were 90% dry. The buds were not as dense.

Same here. You got it down too. Right, the first couple of days are important. The cure days. I am in a dry area, so near 48 hours is good. Now, I am drying some for a little longer out of the freezer.

Sticky buds--for sure. Just finished some jarring an hour ago. :thumbs:
 
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