Finish drying my bud in the freezer in my kitchen?!?

[robotwithdreams]

What a cool discussion!! Has anyone here tried drying fresh frozen bubble in the freezer? Not overnight in those fancy freezers but over a period of several weeks in a regular defrost freezer.

 

[Drewsif]

Hey JPG, did you ever find out (the science) as to what happens with the chlorophyll or the "curing, done by a "Freezer cure?" This is a reply from a person on another form when I recommended the "Freezer cure."
"Freezing may be a very good way to preserve fresh cannabis, by just removing the water. But freezing does not allow the integrated chemical, enzymatic and microbial breakdown of unwanted materials, such as chlorophyll and other dead plant cell debris (proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, sugars/carbohydrates, etc.), that we call 'curing.'"

You'll never get an answer. These guys aren't curing. Anyone who thinks it's about preserving what's already there isn't curing. Curing is conversion, evolution of secondary metabolites.

Freezing is for lame chemmy hydro grows. Nothing to convert so preservation of pre harvest terps, mostly fake ones from snake oil products like Terpenez and Sweet Citrus in my experience, is the best they can do.

Since I will never personally waste even a gram trying the freezer method, I'll do like Lord Skunkman and ask for scientific studies proving me wrong.

 

[Hookahhead]

You'll never get an answer. These guys aren't curing. Anyone who thinks it's about preserving what's already there isn't curing. Curing is conversion, evolution of secondary metabolites.

Freezing is for lame chemmy hydro grows. Nothing to convert so preservation of pre harvest terps, mostly fake ones from snake oil products like Terpenez and Sweet Citrus in my experience, is the best they can do.

Since I will never personally waste even a gram trying the freezer method, I'll do like Lord Skunkman and ask for scientific studies proving me wrong.

Well at least you bumped the thread after it was stagnant for a few months, bringing this post to my attention. So you actually contributed something useful! For real you're so close minded you couldn't even spare a single gram to try? Surely anyone here who has just harvested any size plant can spare a gram man.

If you had taken the time to read the entire thread like I just did you would see plenty of evidence that this method works. There is a lot of information on this site and others that show frozen cannabis is much better at preserving terpene content and overall "freshness" of the plant. Unfortunately, it seems only a few have accepted moving a large portion of the drying process to the freezer as well. It seems logical; it's a cool, dry, dark place which is what everyone aims for in traditional curing.

As .JPG and others have already stated, nobody is trying to convince you this is the ultimate way to cure your buds. All anyone who is in support is suggesting is that it is a VIABLE way to cure your buds. As long as you stay within the suggested boundaries, the same as traditional and COB curing your buds. I personally haven't tried this method yet, but will be on my upcoming harvest. It suits my needs as I am going on vacation over what would normally be the critical burping phase. I had not known about this method before tonight, so thank you to all who have contributed! Twin City's information linking this method to mushrooms was a mind bomb, and very useful information for preserving other harvests.

The most common folly I have read across all the pages is either putting the bud in the freezer too soon, or taking it out too early. Finally one suggestion I might offer is to consider moving finished buds from the freezer, to the refrigerator for an hour or 2 before moving to room temperature? This should hopefully reduce the issue with getting condensation on buds that are moved directly from the freezer to room temperature.

 

[rocker]

Well guys I think it's time to try it out myself. I just harvested 2 small plants and have them hanging, I am about to go on vacation and am going to put them in the freezer before going out of town this week end.


Fingers crossed it goes as well for me as for others, if it doesn't pan out I make it all into butter, but I am a glass half full kind of guy.


So check back towards the end of January, I will post my results.

 

[Guest]

Make sure the buds are dry enough prior to putting in freezer. When buds are dry enough to be put in jars is the right time for the long sleep in the freezer.

 

[rocker]

Make sure the buds are dry enough prior to putting in freezer. When buds are dry enough to be put in jars is the right time for the long sleep in the freezer.

Yes that is my understanding from reading the thread through, (a few times), needs to be as dry as you would want them for jars.

Fingers crossed, they were not ready last night, hopefully tonight, last chance is in the morning, got to catch a flight.

 

[Hookahhead]

Mine were dried for 5 days, and moved to the freezer 3 days ago. I won't be home to check on them for another 2 weeks, but I'll give them the full 3 weeks before thawing. I'll post an update then!

 

[Defacto]

Especially for the stoner types who are lazy or forgetful.

I resemble that remark!

Thank you jus'plain'gill for this thread. I can't believe I've never heard of it but am convinced & will be trying it.

 

[rocker]

Four days of drying, going to airport in 2 hours, buds are pretty dry to the touch, buttons stems did not snap yet, still bent.

I hope they are going to be ok, in they go.

 

[THC123]

I really want to try this method out with my next harvest. Will be in a year or so .

I am really convinced, especially after reading the comments. I have been storing my cannabis in the freezer for 15 years at a point that is a bit drier than this method (but without the drying in the freezer) and already that method is way superior to jar curing. I am sure drying them in the freezer will make for an amazing terpene retention!!!

Freezer ftw!!

I heard some companies are using a harvest right dry freezer to dry their herb.

 

[mexweed]

I did it once when some spider mites were setting up on a couple hanging plants, not as good as a proper jar cure by any stretch of the imagination but I did what I had to do

the more shortcuts one tries to take the more the final result suffers, this goes for all processes like trying to rush a flush, machine trimming etc

 

[jus'plain'gill]

You'll never get an answer...

...I'll do like Lord Skunkman and ask for scientific studies proving me wrong.

I hope the first part isn't true, and I don't think it will be. My state just recently passed medical cannabis laws, but I don't anticipate any access for at least a couple/few more years. As its not federally legal either, broad research hasn't been possible. There needs to be much better access (rescheduling for a start) so the research can be done. I want to see the science as well! Until that happens, I'm going to do what we've always had to do- the best with what we've got.

...Since I will never personally waste even a gram trying the freezer method...

I did it once when some spider mites were setting up on a couple hanging plants, not as good as a proper jar cure by any stretch of the imagination but I did what I had to do

the more shortcuts one tries to take the more the final result suffers, this goes for all processes like trying to rush a flush, machine trimming etc

Reading this thread, I see that the positive experiences growers have had come from firsthand experience. The majority of negative experiences and comments come from growers who have not, or are not, willing to even try and growers who had other issues- mites, not dry enough/too dry going into the freezer, etc.

Because this works very well for me, and most others, but I cannot provide the science to back it up, my advice remains the same- Experiment and see what works for you.

Take care!



.jpg

edit. Freezer cured Congo-

 

[TychoMonolyth]

This is high school science guys. It's called sublimation. But there's a huge advantage to drying in a freezer.

Time stands still in a freezer. If you put a steak in it when it's 5 days old, it'll be 5 days old when you pull it out in 6 months. It may be a little dryer (aka freezer burn) via sublimation, but that's all that changes. Remember, we're talking frost free freezers here.

So drying your bud in the freezer should preserve more of the Terps. There will also be way less oxidation of the trychomes. If you can't afford to test it on a couple fresh buds, you're not growing anywhere near enough to smoke in the first place.

 

[larry badiner]

I love this thread, id been growing for years and never produced smokable bud until this thread, I now use the jar method

dry, jar with a 52% boveda packet, burp about twice a day for the first few days, then set and forget, you can get potent bud in about 2 weeks

the reason I like the jar method is I like hiding my jars

 

[Hookahhead]

Ok I'm back from vacation and the freezer method kept my buds from turning into a moldy mess while I was away. They look really nice and fresh. I'm still 5-6 days short of the 3 weeks so I didn't thaw them yet, just took a peak.

I also stored my previously jarred bud in the freezer while I was away. I moved them to the refrigerator for about an hour before I moved them to room temp (85F). This seemed to prevent condensation on the buds.

I'm anxious to thaw out the "wet" stuff, but I'm being patient! To satisfy the itch a little I did some more research to familiarize myself with the sublimation of water. I found a nice thread on a physics form discussing ice sublimation in a home freezer!

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/sublimation-of-ice.531202/

Basically, just as .JPG has said since the beginning of this thread.. the environmental conditions in a frost free freezer leads to water sublimation. However, because it's not optimized for this, freeze drying occurs much slower (3-4 weeks as opposed to 24-48 hours).

The phase diagram is a product of "classical" thermodynamics; it is the result of investigating the behavior of a "large" (typically milligrams and bigger) system. It is the wrong "tool" for understanding a process like sublimation. The boundary lines between phases are only the result of observations of behavior for a large system. At molecular scales, those lines would "blur out" considerably, because there is a distribution of energies for the molecules, so they are not all behaving in the same way. What looks like a single chip of ice to a human eye is a system consisting mostly of bound water molecules on an irregular surface, surrounded by a vapor layer of molecules, some breaking loose from that surface, some bonding up again, and some few escaping entirely.

The broad answer to your question is that there is no cutoff. Sublimation is always taking place; it is just an extremely slow process at low temperatures and becomes more significant as the ice approaches the phase boundary with vapor.

Another thing to consider is that a line is a phase diagram really tells us nothing more than that the bulk system is in transition. It is "all" (but not quite) one phase on one side of the line and "all" (but not quite) the other phase on the other side. The question of what is happening in the bulk system becomes more difficult to answer when it is very close to that line.

 

[SeymourGreen420]

Hi Jpg. Sorry its been awhile. I did get a chance to try this method with about a half zip from my last run, but I had issues with the weed still being wet after almost 3 weeks when I took it out to thaw. I dried for 8 days till crispy, trimmed , and put in a open box in the freezer. It is an old fridge/freezer from the nineties, and I have noticed condensation on the roof of the freezer. Is this normal? I think water droplets occasionally dripped onto the weed possibly rehydrating it? May be I should put it in a covered box to prevent this from happening and/or let it in for longer? What would you suggest? Also does anybody have positive experiences with fridge drying or the black bag method to dry? I'm getting tires of flavorless buds because they dry to quick! ��

 

[Hookahhead]

Seymour, depending on your drying conditions you may be over drying your bud in 8 days... resulting in the flavorless bud. As for the water in your freezer, did you notice any ice buildup on your buds before you removed them? A frost free freezer is definitely preferred for this, since it routinely draws the moisture out of the system.

I just took my buds out yesterday. They were dried for 5 days, the outside of the buds were dry but the stem still had some give.I trimmed and removed buds from the stalk, then placed in the freezer inside a cardboard box. They stayed in the freezer for 3 full weeks, then I moved them to the refrigerator for 1-2 hours before moving them to room temperature. After an hour at room temperature I moved them to jars. I never noticed any condensation on the flowers. When I moved the buds to the jar, there was very little smell. They had a "freezer" smell too them, almost like cardboard or something. As others have reported 12 hours after being in the jar, the smell is starting to build again as more terpenes are volatilized.

I tried a small sample bud as I was moving them to the jars. Unfortunately this is my first and only run of this plant so I can't make any direct comparisons between jar cured and freezer cured. I have run a sister though, so I am comparing it to that one in my head. One thing I noticed was the bud seemed stronger. Not in terms of potency, but in physical strength... it was a little harder to break up the bud. Although the smell had not returned yet to this sample, the taste was nice. It could totally be because of placebo, but I thought it tasted "fresher", which is hard to describe otherwise. Not fresh as in a strong chlorophyll or grass taste, but instead the flavor was somehow more vibrant and pure. Again, this was just the first sample.. so I will have to dip into the jar a few more times to get a true test.

For me, the intention wasn't to see if this was a superior method to traditional curing. I used it out of necessity, because normal curing would have left me with moldy buds after being away for 2 weeks. I can confirm that this method does work, and that I now have herb that is enjoyable to smoke. In the end, that's all that matters to me.

Thanks again to .JPG and others that have shared their experiences!

 

[SeymourGreen420]

Thanks Hookahead for the analysis. When I tool my buds out of the freezer they weren't frozen, but felt super moist still like they didn't even dry at all. I'm not sure what the issue is with my freezer. It is a frost free model, but I do notice condensation forms on the roof of the freezer. Not sure if that's normal lol. I'm glad you had success with this method and I do plan on giving it another go here in about 3 weeks when I chop and dry for a little. Let us know if the flavor and smell gets stronger the longer it sits. Take care.

 

[TychoMonolyth]

If you have condensation in your freezer, then it's not working properly. It could be something as simple as the door not closing properly because of an obstructed or bad door seal.

There's a fan in the back of the freezer that should be coming on every once in a while. I'm pretty sure it evacuates the air from the freezer to the fridge (or out if it's not a fridge/freezer combo).

 

[SeymourGreen420]

If you have condensation in your freezer, then it's not working properly. It could be something as simple as the door not closing properly because of an obstructed or bad door seal.

There's a fan in the back of the freezer that should be coming on every once in a while. I'm pretty sure it evacuates the air from the freezer to the fridge (or out if it's not a fridge/freezer combo).

I think your on to something. I do feel air leaking out a tiny bit when I put my hand over the door when the freezers defrost fan kicks on.