Just written an essay for
@GreenGardener on how I dry my bud so I thought I would put it here as well to open the discussion up on what I do and what you do... hope this helps some.
Good morning dude, got distracted last night with watching Beverly Hills Cop on my 4K TV... man it was awesome felt like I was watching it for the first time again, it was like Eddie Murphy was in the room with us.
Ha ha... the age old drying question. I did see this message last night before I turned in but did decide to sleep on it as I had to think about this one... are you ready for the essy
The only thing I can tell you is how I do it but its all comes down to your own personal environment and at what time of the year it is, temps, RH etc.
I
hang dry and
dry trim... I use to bag dry at the start but I found that it always smelt of hay. The reason being is that you just can't gauge properly how dry your bud is in the bags (I don't trust the RH readings on a hygrometer as the final word). You end up jarring to early which is giving the hay smell... can't get rid of it once its there. Also it make the most ugly buds in the world giving them a flat side...
I'm really don't think bag drying works, at all. Get the hang of hanging drying and it knocks the shit out of bag drying any day.
As I cut each branch down to hang I remove the larger fan leaves but if they have any sugar they stay (we want all that waste for our ice water hash later)... the reason for leaving the leaves on is as they dry they create a protective shell around the buds which helps with the curing process of locking in the smell in. It also slows the drying process down by drawing the moister out of the leaves. The slower the dry the better the flavour, the slower it drys the more of the chlorophyll is removed. This is the taste we want to get rid off... if I could hang the whole plant I would.
Now this next bit is the bit you need to teach your self, no reading of journals is going to show this but I will describe it the best I can...
When to start working on the buds... This is the age old how long do I hang for, well I used to go by temp and RH. If the RH said 60% I gave it 6 days plus 2. That's what most write ups say but I say this is wrong you need to go by touch and feel (still keep an eye on the temps and RH, it can give you an average of when to check to see if things are ready).
What I look for is when I can snap a bud off the branch, I'm looking for that small bit of branch attaching the bud to the larger branch just being dry. If it bends its not ready and there is still moister... now you have be careful here, if you live in a dry climate (50% RH and lower) you could take it to far and over dry the bud (you could have only few hour window). I'm lucky the average RH where I live is between 55% and 65% so Its hard for me to over dry. In fact it go's in my favour that I have the perfect RH drying conditions (in the winter).
An other thing to look for is to squish a bud between finger and thumb, if it bounces back its ready, if it stay flat needs to be hung a bit more... this is an art and I'm still teaching my self, this doesn't happen on the first harvest. It take few and you are for ever still learning. Only you will know when that bud is ready for the trim.
Once I'm happy I start to work on the buds. First I just separate smoking buds from the larf that I want to use for hash (no trimming just yet). Note - be careful here not to jar straight away, if any of those buds are not dry they will taint the other buds. I often then leave the buds open in bucket/container (food grade plastic) for another 24hrs. Then I start to trim, how much you trim is up to you, this is personal.
Once trimmed I then jar ( again triple checking the dryness, if think its still wet, out it stays for another 24hrs)... for the first cure I place all of it in one large food grade plastic container with an air tight lid (ikea do really good ones in the kitchen section that hold about 12oz, white with a clear push down lid). I then burp every 24hrs for about 5-10mins for about a week or 2. Again this stage is a very important, you are still trying to remove the remaining chlorophyll and moister. I do keep an eye on the RH, I don't want it dropping below 55%... 58% is the sweet spot for me and my environment. If I'm in the 60's I get the hey smell... I recommend inkbird cigar hygrometers for your jars, reliable and accurate.
After the 1-2 weeks of burping your ready for the long cure, I now swap to glass jars... now this is the hard bit...
not smoking it before it cures.
Recently I've been hard on my self and left a few jars to properly cure over 4-6 weeks and man its so worth it. The weed is to die for, the best tasting, smelling and all round best smoke I've ever ever had, not even Dam weed is that good... I leave all my jars a minimum of 2 week now before I smoke test.
Where I dry...
Now this is a very important part of the process... I use a small tent to dry in with a carbon filter, small fan and a mini dehumidifier... the small fan is hooked up so it fire's towards the ceiling of the tent, this why I think bag drying does not work,
you need air flow around those buds to help them dry and remove the moister. In a bag the moister just gets absorbed by the paper and then again has to be evaporated from the bag which in turn (my opinion) then imparts the hey smell back into the buds. You don't want to blow any air direct on to the buds other wise they will dry the fastest. I'm looking for an even dry through out the tent. Temps I look for, any thing below 19c, around the 14-15c is the sweet spot for a nice long 14 day hang dry. I want to hang for minimum of 8 days...temps control how long they hang, again the slower the better.
This is something I'm building on, when I move house I will build a special environmentally controlled drying area... a large air tight sealed wooden box with air con and dehumidifier.
To produce the best weed you need to build that drying space or have a special set up for your tent. It's all about your home environment, you will have to come up with your own system and work on it. It took me at least 8 harvests before I started to get it right and I'm improving with each harvest... my next step for the summer is bringing the drying tent into my bedroom and out of the loft (summer temps with go through the roof... pardon the pun) and hook up a mini Air con to get that longer dry time... now this will be bit much for most but I like a top self product, its why i got into this game in the first place. To grow the best... you wait, when we get comps over here at shows Slater is going to try for a cup or 2.
I understand why people may bag dry, its all about your situation and what your goals are... I've set mine to a high stranded and bag drying is not going to reach that in any way shape or form.
Hope that helps my friend, just keep working at it and each harvest will get better and better.
Happy Easter
