Here’s how I do it
we harvest just befor lights on , this means that trichs are fully loaded with goodness
and the light has not degraded them yet , trichs are the plants sunscreen , at night the plant replenishes the goodness in them for the following day
The branches go hang in dark place or in paper bags , temp 17-21 c , 17 being best ( slowest dry time ) never dropping to 15 or lower , but with air circulating but not directly on the buds
after say 3-7 days depending on drying environment the outer surface of the buds will feel dryish but when you bend the branch it will just kink , no snapping yet
then they go into sealed plastic bags or jars , the contents of the bag over 1-2days will equalate moisture and the outside of the bud will feel wet again , then back to drying again in paper bags or hanging in dark
when outside of bud feels dry we bend the branch in a different place , if it kinks we go through the stages again etc
if we bend the branch , the top full half snaps but bottom half kinks ( like child’s green stick fracture ) this indicates that the buds are just at or slightly below 70 %rh , so it is safe to put in jars or bags as no mold will happen , we trim buds of branch , a humidity reader in the jar makes life easier , with this more detailed drying we are drawing the mousture from the center of the bud while also not drying the outer of the bud too quickly or over drying it : )
now in jars or sealed plastic bag peminatly , we open lids or open bag once a day for a minute or two , till the day we are finally happy ( steady 62%rh reading in small humidity reader in jar ) or by general feel /full snap , keep an eye on the humidity reader in the jar if you have one , as it may rise over night slowly so more burping required , needs to be steady 62 for storage
from chopping the earliest you can have a quick sample puff is usually10-14 days or 2 weeks but only at 3weeks will it start to get really potent and really nice tasting
if at any stage of this process you drop to below15c the cure slows down and if lower than 12c it stops and cannot be restarted
if you dry too quick you will not give the chlorophyll a chance to escape from bud and it will get locked into bud and bud tastes like hay
if contents of jar or bag goes at or below 55%rh the cure stops and cannot be restarted
