Dry & Curing Science

After a few hang drying under my belt I stopped using the clothes pins…


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What are you general temps and humidity where you’re at? That plays a huge part in what you do really. That’s why you’re getting different answers :wink:. Actually, I know your general temps and humidity… We’re relatively the same

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Truth! I’m in the desert, and I run a 4L humidifier, inside a 2x2 drying tent, that has to be refilled every 3-4 days!
I run a 100 cfm fan on an inkbird, so the tent only exhausts when humidity climbs above 65.
And I agree with others, the clip fan is good for circulation, point it anywhere except directly at your plants. :bear::+1:

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Since we are in the same area, have the same tent, and also don’t have a ton in there. Set your humidifier for 58 RH, and set your exhaust to turn on at like 62 RH. That’s about it.

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Not everyone hang dry in the same environment so you have to figure it out yourself bromigo.

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Ok I have my exhaust going outside so if I don’t run my inline I’ll be getting backdraft. Guess I’ll set it on 1 or 2 :+1:

I’ll get the clip on running at floor. Thanks for the tips yall!

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Turn off the exhaust but just have an oscillating fan on the floor, set to low. Unless the humidity gets too high, or if the smell gets too intense, click the exhaust on low for a bit but IMO don’t run it all the time during drying.

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Imo the corner fans are too much even pointed at ground.

I dry mine in a wine fridge. but I use humidistat plugged into a timer .

I found with the exaust running 24 hours it dried too fast . So it only comes on twice a day If humidity is over 65% .

When u get it right all the heads stay on and its done cured ready to go. Jarring really just equalizes the humidity and preserves the freshness .

If it’s a big havest ill vac seal and put in crisper.

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I’ve learned drier humidity is hard to regulate and would dry too crispy going longer than a week, so to circumvent this I dry to a slight snap 2-4 days then finish the low-slow dry I couldn’t accomplish in the rubber sealed gasket jars by allowing jars to air out not completely exposed to air sapping moisture. If it gets too dry, I find a wet disc of paper towel in the top well brings all the moisture back. I say a more controlled dry is best if the humidity is difficult to maintain for longer air drying. Nice harvest btw :+1:

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I find this interesting. I still struggle with the dry/cure in my dry mountainous climate.

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Yes, everyone has a set of circumstances to how temperatures and humidity is determined. When I lived on 15th floor of a condo, all the other units heating would drive my humidity to 10-15% and no humidifier would make any difference to help raise it. Now I’m in a house w poor insulation, so the humidity isn’t that dry, but unless it’s the sauna of summer, I don’t get above 50% and always between 20-40% My first harvest I did use a fan but air is too dry it’s too fast, so no fan. Just let the air sap the moisture enough and finish by jar controlled.

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I generally prefer not to use fans in my drying environment. Especially when I’m able to achieve 60%rh within the drying space. For a larger harvest (grow room), it’s necessary because of the sheer volume of buds, but not for a harvest from a tent.
I personally believe movement of air on buds, even indirect would result in fatser drying and loss of terps.
My methods maybe controversial but I’ll mention it anyways. Ive picked this up from a half-dutch grower who lives in my country of birth (sri lanka). I just focus more on rh. My drying temps may even reach 90f, doesn’t matter. In india, buds are dried in the sun and still smoke dank! Something to think about. Prior to this I have dried with the inline fan running and was horrified with the end result. Requirement is only a dehumidifier but even an ac helps, but it would lower rh close to 40%.
For the first 48 hrs I hang buds in the tent and close it shut. Dehumidifier is set outside tent to 70%. Humidity will spike inside the tent 90%+…doesn’t matter. Just make sure your tent is sterilized before the dry (i.e for mold spores) I never have sterilized ever and no mold has appeared so far.
If it’s a rainy day, I leave it for 24 hrs and proceed to the next step.
After 48hrs or 24 (if it’s been a rainy day) I would open up the tent for 10-15mins to air them out. What happens during this time is that all those terps are locked within the tent rather than losing it all with the aid of fans. You will understand by the smell…it will be dank! None of those terps have been lost!
I would then set the dehumidifier at 60% and close the tent waiting till its ready for the cure. I understand this more more by touch and feel. Ideally it takes me 6 days.
Now that ur using an ac continously, my advice would be shut the tent for 2 days and then maintain rh outside the tent @60% after those 2 days with the aid of the humidifier. With the ac running continuously the 1st 48hrs, you really don’t have to worry abt mold setting in. Portable ac should be outside the tent.
I’ve dried using ac, without, with fans, freezer drying and fridge drying, paper bag methods…just not the water cure or lotus whatever it’s called…:joy:
What I follow now is the best with consistent results.
Hope this helps…:v:t4::herb:
Edit: there will be passive movement of air within the tent when using an ac or dehumidifier outside. It’s inevitable and is what we want. Anything more is not necessary. If you don’t have ac or dehumidifier, the grow room where the tent is should be ventilated…without that passive movement, mold will set.

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I like to vent tent at the bottom, bottom, and put fans at the top to pull the air thru kind of out with the old in with the new just watch your humidity levels.

When the temps hit 80+ next week no way I’ll be able to maintain 63F. But right now it looks ok.

I’d love to turn off the exhaust like some mentioned here but I have no flange/backdraft protection at the window. So if I turn the inline off, there will be backdraft. So guess I’ll be sacrificing some terps.

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No tips here…I use an herbsnow dryer because I’m impatient and anxious :joy::joy:

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I had a closet I was drying in that had fresh air filtered in from outside. The closet was always cold until the other day. I walked in to check on my buds drying in the dryer and said oh hell no this is not gonna work :joy: @Gonzo we got a long hot summer ahead of us

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Just try to keep it “low & slow” @Gonzo, when I had my dry room, running it low and slow, produced the best results for me. I tended to run a bit cooler than most would, 55 degrees/55 humidity, typically 18-21 days. It seemed to be the “sweet spot” for my old room. I no longer have the dry room, as it’s now going to be my flower room. It opened up a whole new space for me, since I got a Cannatrol as a “gift” from the wife.
Good luck and hope you get some great tasting buds!!!

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My house is soooo dry I’m hoping my local starts carrying the AC infinity Cloudforge systems soon. :crossed_fingers:

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@Jetdro is getting what look like great results in his Cannatrol bud drying machine when he sets the temp to 68°F with a Dew Point of 52 (==RH of 56.6) so you have a little buffer in your temperature range that you can work with if you cannot maintain that 63° temp.

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I’ve been holding out for these too, I think I read somewhere they are available again in may? :thinking:

Have you checked out reptile humidifiers? Looks like that’s what they used for inspiration, but I want to run run it from my phone while on the couch :rofl: so we wait.

My only drying tip is hang it upside down so the thc flows to the tips, science yo. :clown_face:

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