Gettin' learnt on drying and curing with Ricky

[Buzzer777]

Hey @Buzzer777 hope you don't mind me asking because that herbs now dude is really hard to set through one of his videos. I just did a 48 hr check and the buds feel pretty good but no stem snapping yet. How often should i check from here on out? Just from looking i don't think they will go 96 hrs but i understand the process can be different from normal.

No bother at all..In fact a welcome break from trimming. Haha

In my climate, if I waited for the stems to snap, my buds would be dust. He also says no Bovedas, but I still use them and have never had mold in a jar.
I still burp a few times a day too..just to keep things right.
In the end, there is no right and you do what instinct says to do. Nothing wrong by doing a few branches in the dryer and a few hanging to compare.

When mine are crispy outside and spongy inside, I jar them..usually 48 hrs for me and my stems do not snap. Hope this helps and feel free to ask away!

 

[Capt. C]

No bother at all..In fact a welcome break from trimming. Haha

In my climate, if I waited for the stems to snap, my buds would be dust. He also says no Bovedas, but I still use them and have never had mold in a jar.
I still burp a few times a day too..just to keep things right.
In the end, there is no right and you do what instinct says to do. Nothing wrong by doing a few branches in the dryer and a few hanging to compare.

When mine are crispy outside and spongy inside, I jar them..usually 48 hrs for me and my stems do not snap. Hope this helps and feel free to ask away!

Okay thanks i may jar some this afternoon and see where the humidity goes. They feel pretty good at the 48 hr mark. For the most part the dry room has been steady between 50-60% RH. The baseball size buds shrunk down to golf ball size as usual

 

[Buzzer777]

Yep..they sure get smaller fast! LOL But look at the trichomes now..bet they are sparkling
With both humidifiers in the drying closet (no door), the RH is at 50%..otherwise it drops below 30% and fast! Outdoors it is under 15%..life in a sauna!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Capt. C]

No bother at all..In fact a welcome break from trimming. Haha

In my climate, if I waited for the stems to snap, my buds would be dust. He also says no Bovedas, but I still use them and have never had mold in a jar.
I still burp a few times a day too..just to keep things right.
In the end, there is no right and you do what instinct says to do. Nothing wrong by doing a few branches in the dryer and a few hanging to compare.

When mine are crispy outside and spongy inside, I jar them..usually 48 hrs for me and my stems do not snap. Hope this helps and feel free to ask away!

I went ahead and shut the unit off after the last post and Jared the product. Total dry time would be 50ish hours. The Jars seem to be steady at the moment around 61% RH and holding . We will see were they are at later this afternoon. I can always put them back in the dryer. I only had the first run at about 50% capacity so that could affect the dry time. Just like the traditional methods of drying LOTS of variables. Never dried anything this quick we shall see.

 

[Capt. C]

Yep..they sure get smaller fast! LOL But look at the trichomes now..bet they are sparkling
With both humidifiers in the drying closet (no door), the RH is at 50%..otherwise it drops below 30% and fast! Outdoors it is under 15%..life in a sauna!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy shit that is DRY!

 

[Buzzer777]

Holy shit that is DRY!

Reno is in the High Sierra Desert..and I am in an even drier part just outside of town. It was great growing outdoors last yr, but alas, I don't need the medicine and I am still unsure about our laws since rec went in (2017). Decided to cull this yr's grow.
Last yr..The plants love that dry air

 

[Capt. C]

Quick up date on the Herbs Now dry in progress. First shot is the before right after harvest . The second shot is the two pans combined after 50 hr's in the dryer. Forth shot is the product Jared 50 hr,s after harvest. I could have taken them at the 48 hr mark. Jar RH is around 60% RH. CURE TIME!

 

[DopeDaniel]

Each unit uses 500 watts and will supposedly dry 6 oz at a time.

Wow! Thats more than my flower light is running at right now. Is this continuous draw? It seems that would be too much heat but wtf do I know? Think @macsnax has used one and reported temps of something like 80F. Just find it odd that its that high on watts. Is there a dehumidifier inside of it?

 

[Capt. C]

Wow! Thats more than my flower light is running at right now. Is this continuous draw? It seems that would be too much heat but wtf do I know? Think @macsnax has used one and reported temps of something like 80F. Just find it odd that its that high on watts. Is there a dehumidifier inside of it?

I am thinking it might have one because of the wattage but not sure. I am going to put a amp meter on it this afternoon to see what the continuous draw is. I think that is around the same wattage as my 70 qt dehumidifier. I purchased two of the units based on my normal harvest amount not realizing the wattage that they draw. I was running one of them in a closet area and did not notice any excessive heat in the room while running.

 

[Capt. C]

Wow! Thats more than my flower light is running at right now. Is this continuous draw? It seems that would be too much heat but wtf do I know? Think @macsnax has used one and reported temps of something like 80F. Just find it odd that its that high on watts. Is there a dehumidifier inside of it?

Interesting i just put a meter on it @SSGrower . Wattage is continuous at 469 watts. However on the amp side shows a steady 0.5 amps but does a 4.0 amp burn for 5 seconds every 15 seconds.

 

[Smokieokie]

Interesting stuff here, I have been seeing these things for awhile now and have wondered how they do. I'm gonna follow along and see yalls results. Damn that's alot of watts lol.

 

[Capt. C]

Interesting stuff here, I have been seeing these things for awhile now and have wondered how they do. I'm gonna follow along and see yalls results. Damn that's alot of watts lol.

I am going to do several posts on this product. On my second dry now. First round is curing in jars now. I will report on them in a couple of weeks. @Smokieokie the power consumption is not that bad. I ordered 2 of these units and not realizing they are 500 watts each . Actually it is 469 watts and is doing a 4.0 amp burn for 5 seconds every 20 seconds. So if my math is correct that would be like running a 100 watt bulb. Looks like they might have some more units in stock the week of the 17th of this month. If you purchase the three tray extension pack that brings the capacity to dry 9 oz's per unit ( that is dry weight). If this unit works well it will add some very needed flexibility in my harvests. My current grow i am doing three different harvests one at 58 days the second at 65 days and the third will be at 70 days. Space wise i used to have to harvest everything at once.

 

[Buzzer777]

I am going to do several posts on this product. On my second dry now. First round is curing in jars now. I will report on them in a couple of weeks. @Smokieokie the power consumption is not that bad. I ordered 2 of these units and not realizing they are 500 watts each . Actually it is 469 watts and is doing a 4.0 amp burn for 5 seconds every 20 seconds. So if my math is correct that would be like running a 100 watt bulb. Looks like they might have some more units in stock the week of the 17th of this month. If you purchase the three tray extension pack that brings the capacity to dry 9 oz's per unit ( that is dry weight). If this unit works well it will add some very needed flexibility in my harvests. My current grow i am doing three different harvests one at 58 days the second at 65 days and the third will be at 70 days. Space wise i used to have to harvest everything at once.

I will say that besides hanging a comparison once, I have not hang dried anything since getting the dryer. I am sold on it! Maybe @jaguarlax will update us on his air fryer dryer.

 

[Smokieokie]

I am going to do several posts on this product. On my second dry now. First round is curing in jars now. I will report on them in a couple of weeks. @Smokieokie the power consumption is not that bad. I ordered 2 of these units and not realizing they are 500 watts each . Actually it is 469 watts and is doing a 4.0 amp burn for 5 seconds every 20 seconds. So if my math is correct that would be like running a 100 watt bulb. Looks like they might have some more units in stock the week of the 17th of this month. If you purchase the three tray extension pack that brings the capacity to dry 9 oz's per unit ( that is dry weight). If this unit works well it will add some very needed flexibility in my harvests. My current grow i am doing three different harvests one at 58 days the second at 65 days and the third will be at 70 days. Space wise i used to have to harvest everything at once.

Thanks Capt, that's good about the amps I'm about maxed out everywhere lol. I agree on the helping with harvesting timing, it would allow me to not worry where I'm gonna hang the next one if the one I pulled 10 days before isn't dried yet. I hope they work great, I can see it saving my ass at times.

 

[Buzzer777]

Thanks Capt, that's good about the amps I'm about maxed out everywhere lol. I agree on the helping with harvesting timing, it would allow me to not worry where I'm gonna hang the next one if the one I pulled 10 days before isn't dried yet. I hope they work great, I can see it saving my ass at times.

Ahhh, but there is a still a problem with timing for me. Now it's having enough trays emptied to accommodate the number of plants that get chopped at once! Just can't win anymore.

 

[Capt. C]

Ahhh, but there is a still a problem with timing for me. Now it's having enough trays emptied to accommodate the number of plants that get chopped at once! Just can't win anymore.
View attachment 20452

Hey @Buzzer777 . On the HND my first round i went 50 hrs and after jarring they got a little to moist so i had to pull them out of the jars several times to dry up a little more. That round is curing nicely. My second round i went 70 hrs. Little longer than i planed but did not want to check in the middle of the night. I think i have over dried this batch . When i put it in jars the humidity was around 48% RH. After a couple of hours no rise at all i went ahead and added some 62% humidity packs. Well over night they only rose to around 52% RH. Really really hoping they come up some more after a few days of the lids being closed. I think i just hit my first learning curve with this unit

 

[Buzzer777]

Hey @Buzzer777 . On the HND my first round i went 50 hrs and after jarring they got a little to moist so i had to pull them out of the jars several times to dry up a little more. That round is curing nicely. My second round i went 70 hrs. Little longer than i planed but did not want to check in the middle of the night. I think i have over dried this batch . When i put it in jars the humidity was around 48% RH. After a couple of hours no rise at all i went ahead and added some 62% humidity packs. Well over night they only rose to around 52% RH. Really really hoping they come up some more after a few days of the lids being closed. I think i just hit my first learning curve with this unit

@Capt. C The Bovedas will help a little, but they will usually stay dry to the touch (when over dried). However, if you take a bud and squish it into a pipe, it feels somehow squishy. The entire thing is not how we were trained to think about drying. I still have a jar from my first attempt that I overdried and while not perfect; it is surely smokeable.

Once 48 hrs have passed (in my super dry environment ..11% RH yesterday), further drying happens at a much faster pace, so accidents will happen. Once dialed in, you should be AOK!

 

[DopeDaniel]

You guys might find some interisting info by googling grain drying. Specifically with regard to calculating drying time. Most of the equasions I saw needed inlet and outlet temp and rh, starting weight and desired end weight. This kind of info may help avoid the overdrying.
Basically grain drying silos force heated air through the grain from what I understand, this unit seems like a miniature version.

 

[Capt. C]

@Capt. C The Bovedas will help a little, but they will usually stay dry to the touch (when over dried). However, if you take a bud and squish it into a pipe, it feels somehow squishy. The entire thing is not how we were trained to think about drying. I still have a jar from my first attempt that I overdried and while not perfect; it is surely smokeable.

Once 48 hrs have passed (in my super dry environment ..11% RH yesterday), further drying happens at a much faster pace, so accidents will happen. Once dialed in, you should be AOK!

Well after 2 days the jar humidity is rising to the mid 50's. Still a bit dry. I have always questioned how well on how well those boveda's work. I had 7 jars full and i had 6 of the 62% on hand and tried them. The jar that i did not put it in is only 1% lower than the others. They might move the product 1 or 2 degrees. There is no way the packs will rise this product to 62% RH. If i had some more i would try sticking two or three in the jar to see if that would make a difference. If i have a jar full of flower and the humidity is 65% it will stay right there for a long time without the use of the packs. I am not buying anymore of these packs unless someone could convince me of there effectiveness. I have observed similar circumstances with them in the past.

 

[Buzzer777]

Well after 2 days the jar humidity is rising to the mid 50's. Still a bit dry. I have always questioned how well on how well those boveda's work. I had 7 jars full and i had 6 of the 62% on hand and tried them. The jar that i did not put it in is only 1% lower than the others. They might move the product 1 or 2 degrees. There is no way the packs will rise this product to 62% RH. If i had some more i would try sticking two or three in the jar to see if that would make a difference. If i have a jar full of flower and the humidity is 65% it will stay right there for a long time without the use of the packs. I am not buying anymore of these packs unless someone could convince me of there effectiveness. I have observed similar circumstances with them in the past.

@Capt. C
Try putting a piece of Lettuce inside, but not touching the weed. You can use a magnet and piece of metal between the lettuce and the lid to keep it up from the flower. Orange peel, piece of apple peel all work. Have heard that a piece of taco is good too. (never tried that one)