my understanding is that he bypasses the 2 weeks hanging part, and waits for them to be about 5 or 6 days dry, and then he puts them in to the buckets to cure.
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I thought in the video he said he dries for 5 or 6 days, then trims, then hangs em back up for another weekā¦?
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exactly this! burping allows moisture and CO2 to escape which relieves gaseous pressure and removes potentially harmful moisture from the curing environment, and improves flavor and increases thc content in the process. After a plant is harvested, the metabolic process that creates THC from CBG continues onward which results in THC levels rising as the buds cure.
here is another video discussing the bucket curing:
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same idea here but with smaller glass jars:
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Again my confusionā¦ why would there be any excess moisture left to remove if it has been evenly dried and sealed with a moisture balancing Boveda pack? I get the point of burping, what I dont get is why there is any reason to continue doing it for 5 weeks! Where is this excess moisture and CO2 coming from if you sealed it up at an even 62%? What purpose does his Boveda pack serve of heās continuing to cycle the air for 5 weeks? The Boveda should function to even out any minute remaining inconsistencies in humidity, as will the simple act of keeping it sealed up.
Are you saying that the curing process, wherein starches continue to break down into sugars with time, is producing moisture in the process of that chemical reaction? That it is producing significant quantities of CO2?
It really seems like I must be missing some core concept to this approach, cuz I just canāt seem to grasp why it would be necessary or what it would improveā¦?
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All I can say is that the process to properly cure takes TIME, it isnāt just about getting to a certain moisture level, itās about allowing the CBG to mature and degrade in to stronger and more potent THC and THCa, and allowing the chlorophyll to degrade and let the terpenes take over. And yes sugars breaking down over time produces CO2 - its the same with baking or brewing or curing weed. The purpose of the boveda pack is to maintain the moisture at 62% so the weed doesnāt dry out and degrade too quickly.
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From the moment the flowers are harvested your cannabis begins to degrade - enzymes and aerobic bacteria break down the excess sugars and starches in the plant. Curing cannabis forces the plant to use up those sugars, starches & excess nutrients before they have a chance to dry out and get āstuckā inside the plant causing it to taste like hay or grass. When freshly-harvested cannabis flowers are kept at the proper temp/humidity the non-psychoactive cannabinoids continue to transform into THCa (a precursor to psychoactive THC). Even though bud is OK to smoke after 2 to 4 weeks, longer curing for four to eight weeks or even more will improve the flavor and potency greatly.
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Oh my lord dude, yes I actually understand curing, and I am aware of all of that. I am not questioning curing in any sense, or the effectiveness of curing. Yet again nowhere in there are you addressing what Iām actually questioning about continuing to burp for so long.
Why keep burping to get rid of moisture when you have already dried things to a stable enough point to close it up with a Boveda? The Boveda WILL balance the humidity just fine if you donāt undersize for your quantity, or load it up with sopping wet or powder dry buds. Thatās the whole point of the Boveda packs.
By continuing to burp after adding a Boveda pack you are not making a relevant difference to your humidity you are in fact just wearing out your Boveda packs quicker by cycling more air through they then have to balance. So I dont get how this long term after Boveda burping makes sense from a humidity stand point.
Now you did mention CO2 very briefly as a byproduct of the conversion of starches into sugars. In a previous post you mentioned preventing pressure build up. So CO2 seems to be the closest I can get to figuring out why you guys bother to burp for so longā¦ bit still it doesnāt seem to add up to me.
See, Iāve been curing and storing in jars for decades. Nowadays I have a vacuum fitting for my mason jars, so when Iām done burping, after maybe 2 days max, I pop in a Boveda, give it a day to stabilise, and then pull a complete vaccuum and store the jar for the long cure. Iāll pop em open maybe once a month just to check on them and then vac em back up. Often I wonāt even open all of them every time, heck Iāve left jars sealed up for 6 months without cracking them. I have never experienced anything that would speak to any sort of change in pressure. Everytime I open a vacuum sealed jar, no matter how long it sits, it Its always a battle to get the lid cracked, and it sucks in air with a whoosh. No amount of time has led to a significant enough buildup of CO2 pressure to reduce the vacuum. Additionally, even before I used a vacuum sealer or Boveda packs I never, ever, under any circumstances have heard of jars of curing weed āoffgassingā, or hissing, or coming unsealed, or any other sort of possible indication that would speak to a perceptible buildup of pressure during the curing process. So again, I just dont see it.
Now, I am sure that some amount of CO2 is released, but Iād wager itās such a negligible amount as to never result in a relevant change of pressure. If the reasoning instead is that the mere presence of a percent or two more Co2 will somehow degrade trichomes or terpenes, well I would be very interested in learning more about that. Because other than this, Iām still not seeing any benefit to the extremely long burping period.
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I too would like to know, is there really a buildup of breakdown products at this stage of cure that negatively affect the buds?
To me it seems like a fail safe measure. Product is handled in bulk and some of it might still be moist, therefor, automated air re circulation could save from product loss due to mold.
Moisture is already in check and even a backup solution in place (boveda).
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yes, that is the science that I have always understood to be true about curing weed.
Yes, that could be true - all I know is that it does work, and it works well and it saves me a lot of time, and I have never had bud rot or anything like that using this setup. Like I said, it appealed to me mostly due to the fact I really dislike having to go through the manual process of burping those jars (not to mention the cost and lack of availability now), and it always seems to be manhandling the buds to me. This way its more set it and forget and 5 weeks later the smoke is smooth and tasty.
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For large scale processing I can understand the convenience and safety aspects but I am sure many are itching to know if its ābetterā.
Do you find the quality of cure to be different compared to a jar that is left alone after a few weeks?
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I find the cure to be better simply because I donāt have to manhandle the buds constantly, knocking off the trichomes each time I open the jar and manipulate the buds. As far as flavor goes, I would have to do a side-by-side test of the same flower from the same plants to be fair and to determine if one is better, but it does a comparable job and I have never had anyone complain about the taste or quality of any of the buds that I grow. I would obviously recommend to use a food-grade bucket if anyone plans on trying this out.
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Oh, and I guess I should say, I hope Iāmnot coming off as combative or anything. Iām just reeeeeeaaaaaaly curious about why we end up doing different things in the world of growing, and about different ways we all achieve success. Very much like the plant itself, the craft of growing is extremely diverse and at times rather mysterious. Iām always extremely fascinated when I come across something like this, that seems to be such a different approach to something that had been a fairly long settled process amongst many fine growers I have known. Iām not asking a million questions to be a dick and get one over on anybody. Iām just trying to understand why we take different approaches. I dont doubt youāve had great results with it, but Iāve always had great results with mine as well, so Iām curious. 
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See this seems like a really sound reasoning for the practice, doubly so when youāre talking about 70 pounds in 35 buckets or something.
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Just wondering(I ask everyone running autos) why autos???
itās all good, I understand completely, and was just thinking the same thing. There is more than one way to skin a cat, or shuck a seed 
yet all approaches seem to work out fine - I like it when we can both be right - and thats the great thing about this forum - we can exchange ideas and contribute to each otherās perpetual education 
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My thoughts exactly. Think Iāve already got the extra check valves and tubing laying around here somewhere. Guess on the next harvest Iāll have to rig a jar up and do a little side by side here. See if I can notice any difference. 
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Right on brothers and sisters 
Ps that was slick monkeyman
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