I remember seeing home freeze driers for sale when walking around tractor supply a year or two ago. A bit out of my budget for drying herb, but if you have one that seems like a really fun tool to have around! Not sure about the quality of the end product having never tried one before, but at least you can use it for other things too, unlike the cannatrol.
Turkey bags don’t sound bad either, what I like about the grovebags for small scale grows is that their windowless opaque bags are lightproof. I think I paid around 1$ per bag for the 1 OZ bags, which seem reasonable enough to me. I think I used 5 of the 1 OZ bags this grow, so ~5$ isn’t a big deal when you’re small scale like me and don’t need tons of them.
They ARE pricey. I have seen a few used models on Crazedlist for around $2500 but still a lot of cash for many folks. I treated myself and said fuck it after so many years of fighting the air drying process on both weed and hash.
The quality of the final product is very nice. It’s just a completely different mindset. It’s completely dry. No 60% moisture/Boveda/etc. It smells and tastes better, IMO. Burns amazingly too.
I usually do one huge grow outdoors/don’t have a perpetual grow going anymore so I’m dealing with a >bit< of weed when I am in the mode. I just filed cases of big Mason jars and a bunch of canisters that seal as well. Weeks of trim jail! It all happens @ once! No complaints though. I do it to myself wilingly.
My first two runs I had to use boveda packs because I overdried. This last time I bagged them after 8 days and put them into grove bags. I had to take the bud out and put it on some cardboard for a few minutes a few days but god damn did it cure so much better. Remarkably smooth.
The whole stem snap thing threw me off but glad I figured it out this time.
This is what i do too… i spray with 99% Isopropyl alcohol and rinse and then into the dishwasher with heated cycle.
I have the grove bags and half gallon mason/ball jars, and all sizes in between. I think the reuseabilty of the jars works best for me, though I will say the bags seemed to perform about the same in terms of holding moisture/curing. I still have some grove bags and they’ve held up, but i do find the herb/trichomes get stuck in the ziploc part of the bags, and seem impossible to get out. Can you run the bags through the dishwasher?
I tried bovedas a few times… i noticed muted or weird smelling stuff in the curing weed and didn’t really see any benefit, at least not enough to keep purchasing them.
Would love to have a harvest right freeze drier, for making hash rosin… I didn’t know you could freeze dry herb in there…? Does it come out super dry? Harsh smoking?
It is completely dry. The bud doesn’t shrink and retains it’s shape, density, and terps. Tastes terpier/smells truer in the jar, IMO. No grass, weed, or hay smells.
I’ve been hang drying for over 30 years so this is new to me as well but I am impressed. No chance of mold/etc and I believe it won’t turn brown/lose it’s zip after a year+. We will see.
I feel like I’ve read a long thread on the subject before - not sure if on ICM , RIU, or here. Forget the conclusions that were drawn but it always sounded appealing to me, other than the price. I am not convinced the cure phase is entirely necessary - so the fact the freeze dried buds don’t cure doesn’t sound off-putting to me at all. That’s an interesting additional benefit about mold as well.
How do freeze buds break apart? Do they turn to powder / dust? They don’t burn harsh / hot when smoked? Seems like retention of terps and shelf life or longevity would be dramatically better
I’d assume for hash making, and especially rosin, that getting all the moisture out would be extremely desirable also.
On another note , I cut back the seedlings for the 4th or 5th time - stuck some cuttings in rapid rooters, and put them in the flower tent under 12/12. If they don’t root and something stands out I’ll just reveg it early on…
Tomorrow : 10/21 is Day 1 of 12/12
#flip #day1flower
Not sure if there’s a way to tag these posts so I can easily search them later on when trying to figure out what day I’m on…
I wouldn’t do it. I’ve spaced and put Ziploc’s version of Tupperware in the dishwasher (they’re basically like Tupperware Lite) instead of handwashing and they’ve all come out fully melted haha.
I think if you just search this thread and type in “GG4 x SSDD” (or whatever), the most recent post that that was mentioned comes up first. Probably if you typed “#flip”, then the above post would definitely come up first.
The long term aspects of freeze drying are yet to be seen here. But yeah, the mold issue is a moot point with this procedure. Not gonna happen.
“Curing” is something I always shot for as well. However, I never got a cure like the old Thai Sticks had. Or the lumbos. There’s definitely an art to it. More than just sticking buds in a jar and waiting a year for them to turn brown/change character. I think what we saw in the 70’s/etc. was related to bricking it all up/wrapping it all up/storing it away in hidden places >over long periods of time<. But I digress…
Freeze dried products come out >totally< dry. @ that point the buds are firm but you can definitely break it/grind it into a powder of sorts. However, if you don’t seal the bud up it will start to rehydrate from the moisture in the atmosphere. I took a DRY bud out of the container last night and sat i here by my computer. It is spongy now. I think the real deal with freeze dried bud is that you never go to the HAY phase so the terps stay true. You can purposely rehydrate it (the Boveda yuk) if you want but I see no real reason to do so.
The weed burns very well right out of the machine. No runs in the joint. Nice ash. Smoothe and terpy. Those who want a “cure” could still do so by introducing a bit of moisture back in the mix and aging the weed. I would think the end product would be superior to hang dried because of the lack of hay thing. It truly makes a difference in all of the sought after aspects of cannabis, IMO.
I personally freeze buds to make hash and then freeze dry the hash. I’m sure, just as with buds, there are many approaches/ways to skin the hash cat
I was pretty sure, if it’s getting it down to near or no moisture level at all, you can’t really restart the curing process afterwards It’s just not gonna be the same as if you dried it slow and cured it to begin with.
Curing is a biochemical process inside the flower that breaks down or converts the sugars and other things in the flower. Once the moisture level gets below a certain percentage(think around ~10% ), that process stops and there is no way to restart it again.
That said, freeze-drying after harvest will preserve the flower and terpenes how they were at the time of harvest. Hang drying alone, will change that a bit. Curing even more.
If I could get a freeze-dryer/cannatrol for no more than a couple hundred bucks, i’d consider it. ~$1600 is right out for me
After years of killin’ it and money comin’ in hand over fist, once legality hit and it all took a huge shit, I’ve changed my focus to >me<. I figured I deserved it after 25 years of being market-driven in most all aspects of the game. I’m fortunate my wife likes to smoke as well. Combine that with not wanting a new boat or truck or spending any cash on booze these days it was an easy sell. I even splurged for the big pump with no oil changes. God damn right.
In all honesty, as good as this tastes right out of the gate I’m not GAF about “cure” anymore. I also won’t be dumping multiple jars of 1-2 year old (“cured”) buds that turned brown/funky/tasteless every year. Not all pot cures well. That is a fact. As someone who grows outside (meaning large amounts of take) just keeping it viable is more important to me than “cure”. I can always hash it/etc. Can’t/won’t do that with old, tired shit.
Hopefully you’ll get to sample some freeze dried product @ some point to draw your own conclusions.
This reminded me of a convo I had with jayplantspeaker over IG DM on his drying process. He dried it in the 55- 60% range and cures them in big bins stems and all to rehydrate the plant a bit. It’s the best method I’ve used personally. I can copy and paste what he sent if anyone wanted to get his logic. He even said if he over dried, he will add humidity back in with a humidifier and shoot it into the bin.
Pretty much all the dispo herb here is freeze dried. All of it generally smokes good. Haven’t found any id prefer to smoke over my own grows with hang drying and cure, but that’s likely the genetics and care during grow, not the drying process. I’d do the freeze dryer if I could, but not trying to justify the cost when I have near perfect dry/cure conditions doing nothing
I guess that would be my concern if it was freeze dried, that it would burn a little harsh, breaking down into dust like that. But, I’ve been proven wrong many times, I’ll have to sample some for myself, if i can find any…
Good to hear, and thanks for the info… that would really be the way to do it… all I really need is the resin man! The green stuff is just the vessel… hah!
Really? I’ve never ever seen any freeze dried herb in Oregon… i would think it would be cost prohibitive for producers to freeze dry everything. Now, if we’re talking about freezing and running to hash, that’s a different story.
Nice to hear some “negative” reviews about that machine… i think it is kinda gimmicky… when i read that the weed has to be broken up to smell anything, i figured it’s useless if it’s not going to produce a superior end product.
Maybe some freezers… mine definitely will NOT get all the moisture out of buds like a true freeze drier would.
Plants look good! Always fun to see more SSDD exploration!
If you do it wrong, it definitely won’t freeze dry in this century. The buds need to be specially prepared like in the image. If you toss a cola in the freezer and think it’s going to dry out, it’s not going to. Small pieces, spread out in a single layer. You don’t need a “freeze dryer” because standard temperature pressure, the laws of thermodynamics mean it has to sublime the moisture in a process known as “freezer burn” to the average human, is really known as “freeze drying”.
You will notice your ice cubes get smaller as time goes on. They are freeze drying.
How do you cure? Where I grew up, the Amish would hang tobacco leaves in a well ventilated barn to both dry and cure. It was mostly used for cigar wrappers, which need to be pliable, and tasty. Down here in NC, tobacco is flue cured in a closed shed with heat. It’s all, or was, for butts.
I hang dry, and as long as it’s not too warm, seems like it cures at the same time. Takes about 3 or so weeks.
I agree about over drying stopping any cure, and not being able to go back. Afterwards, though, a few fan leaves in the container rehydrate pretty nicely.
Not a real fan of canning jars. The lids aren’t made to seal unless you heat them up and get a pressure differential. Hand tightening isn’t enough, at lest for a normal human, lol!
It’s just not gonna be the same as if you dried it slow and cured it to begin with.
