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

[SplifStarr]

Great post

Great post

Wow I read this entire post. Great information. I can’t wait to try this out. Have a few months till next harvest. On Day 3 of flowering. I plan on doing two comparisons. One is to hang out to dry for a few days till outside of bud crisp and then freeze in brown paper bags: The other method I’ve been reading up on is being dried in the fridge in brown paper bag where it takes a lot longer to dry since the bud is added fresh from day one and requires you moving around the buds daily. Can’t wait to try results from both. I’ve only dried and cured buds the normal route.

 

[wvkindbud38]

What's a good humidity pack to put in your jars?? I put everything in quart jars after dry. I've been noticing there's different numbers or %?? What's a good number to start with?? I'd like to buy some. At times I have 7-8 cases loaded with killer!!! But there all almost empty but I just finished a good indoor grow.!!!!!

 

[I'mback]

62%

 

[Andykara]

Is jus'plain'gill around here? I have a question for the master

 

[Veggia farmer]

easy mode, I like that. I will try this in a couple of days.

 

[donburi]

Has anybody used a mini freezer for this technique? I see them mentioned a few places, but none of the small (1-2 cu ft) models I can find are frost-free. They all say manual defrost.

 

[Hookahhead]

donburi, I don’t think a mini fridge/freezer would work. From various experiences with these, the freezer section slowly becomes a block of ice, trapping it’s contents inside an icy tomb. They need to be thawed out every few months because the ice buildup.

The reason a self defrosting freezer is recommended is because that’s the action that freeze dries the buds. The freezer continuously removes moisture from the air instead of letting it condense and slowly build up inside.

 

[TychoMonolyth]

62%

62 for long term storage. For short term, meaning I'm going to smoke it in a couple months, I like 55%.

At 62% it's hard to grind, sticks to my fingers and gums up my grinder. I think it's too fresh.

 

[art.spliff]

Thank you for this idea! Without following recent historical developments closely in live rosin and freezing for storage it makes sense that fresh berries or herbs are tastier than dried. I tried this placing some fresh cut flowers in the freezer in a paper bag. Bugs and mold spores are slowed or stopped this way and the flowers can be cut fresh and vaporized or divided into smaller pieces to air dry. We do this with food we eat. If your/my/our harvest reasonably fits in a freezer it saves more of the good stuff. Each step of the grow has something like a cumulative risk and part of the resin loss to pathogens eating the plants may happen during the drying period preventable with frozen storage.


Kind of tangential once you're harvesting from the garden and freezing food at home it raises all sorts of questions how fruits vegetables grains spices herbs and so forth elsewhere are handled.

 

[Redrum92]

Necrobumping this thread to revive the discussion. Need more tips and tricks from the masters. Repeated attempts with traditional air drying have all failed due to inexperience and extremely low RH during winter (Low/no smell, hay smell, etc). Even with a humidifier, branches are usually verging on too dry after 3 days hanging. Once put some LARF in the freezer for storage and noticed it came out amazingly. Any tips would be greatly appreciated

tl;dr:

1) hang branches til crispy-ish (~3days)
2) trim buds off branches
3) buds in cardboard box- into freezer ~3weeks
4) remove boxes, open them, and thaw buds for a few hours
5) if properly dry, final trim, jar, and return to freezer for storage

Any mistakes here?

 

[ConeSmoker]

Would this work for buds in baggies? Do you zip it shut or leave it open?

 

[jus'plain'gill]

FYI, I still keep my buds in the freezer after a good freezer cure. Buds that are in a non air tight container preserve better than buds in air tight containers. There is little to no loss in quality even 3+ years after harvest. The look, flavor, and potency are preserved perfectly. I am still amazed all these years later how easy this is and how well it works.


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[OSB1a]

Yesterday I struggled with great interest through the 27 pages. I think I have also understood the principle well. Classic drying (as long as possible, 3-10 days), then 3 weeks in the freezer, then ventilate and store.

However, one hypothesis from the topic remains unresolved for me. For sublimation and drying we need frost and low humidity. But what is the best temperature? City Twin has noted several times that (from his own experience with mushrooms) he finds a temperature of just below 32F/0C ideal. However, most who have tried the method and shared it here use freezers that cool much lower. Is there a comparison to this already (I hope I didn't over read it)?

I have an older fridge/freezer combination in the garage. In the refrigerator area there is a fresh drawer especially for meat, sausage, fish and cheese or similar (cool and dry). I can set this drawer to 30F/-1C. Alternatively, I can set a minimum temperature of 20F/-7C in the freezer section. What would be "best practice"?

Actually, I wanted to go with Grove Bags. With this one you should also be able to avoid the airing of the containers. You measure the moisture of the buds with a 2-pin wood moisture meter. At 12%, they are then placed in the bags and supposedly do not need to be aired (unless condensation forms at the beginning). Perhaps the 12% is also a good indication of the starting time for the freezing method?

I am a week away during the curing time as well. The variant with the freeze currently feels a little safer to cure unattended.

 

[WingzHauser]

I've been growing retail genetics and have realized there are two types of Cannabis: There is Cannabis that needs its terps preserved, and there is cannabis that benefits and improves from heat light and air exposure. I'd simply get rid of any genetics that require the special treatment to taste worth a damn. Think about how many smells on earth are as delicate as modern cannabis. None.

 

[easytoker]

FYI, I still keep my buds in the freezer after a good freezer cure. Buds that are in a non air tight container preserve better than buds in air tight containers. There is little to no loss in quality even 3+ years after harvest. The look, flavor, and potency are preserved perfectly. I am still amazed all these years later how easy this is and how well it works.


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Can you expand on this please? I've done the freezer curing twice before I went on a long hiatus with growing. I remember cutting the plants down and putting the branches on a drying rack for five days then putting them into paper bags..then into the freezer for two or three weeks. After they came out they went into jars where they were kept at 62% with Boveda packs. I think I'm going to go with 58% boveda this time. Anyways...you said you keep them in the freezer after the initial cure in "non air tight" containers. First, what kind of container...paper bag or something that breathes? Second, the non air tight aka breathing was the purpose of the initial cure so the water vapor could dissipate in the "frost free" freezer. How does the bud get preserved like this ..wouldn't it just continue to cure? Do you have a freezer set aside for just this as I remember having to through away a little food because it tasted like weed..lol. I'd assume over a long term storage the weed take on food and freezer smells to.

Thanks, I remember this thread is what got me into trying the freezer method in the first place.

 

[Jcue81]

Found this thread after rummaging through my frozen trim bag looking for a bud to smoke. Found a glue bud that made it into the trim bag in March.

Flavor and effects blew me away compared to the jar cured. Man, I had forgotten how delicious the flavor was! I will be finishing my dries in the freezer going forward.

Looks like gill may have left, but if you’re out there buddy, thanks for this thread.

 

[easytoker]

Found this thread after rummaging through my frozen trim bag looking for a bud to smoke. Found a glue bud that made it into the trim bag in March.

Flavor and effects blew me away compared to the jar cured. Man, I had forgotten how delicious the flavor was! I will be finishing my dries in the freezer going forward.

Looks like gill may have left, but if you’re out there buddy, thanks for this thread.

So, what was the process. Dried the protect until the stem snapped them put them into the freezer in a paper bag for several month?

 

[Prs2xs]

I have been storing my pot in the freezer for many years. Haven't actually cured or dried it in the freezer, though. But I compress my buds after they are almost dry, then vacuum seal, then into the freezer, which is at -40C. My buds are as good as the day they went in , I still have some from 2015 that seems as fresh as when I put it in there!
I am thinking about getting a freeze dryer machine now, as I was watching a video where the researchers found that freeze dried bud preserves all the cannabinoids and terps better than any other method!

 

[easytoker]

I have been storing my pot in the freezer for many years. Haven't actually cured or dried it in the freezer, though. But I compress my buds after they are almost dry, then vacuum seal, then into the freezer, which is at -40C. My buds are as good as the day they went in , I still have some from 2015 that seems as fresh as when I put it in there!
I am thinking about getting a freeze dryer machine now, as I was watching a video where the researchers found that freeze dried bud preserves all the cannabinoids and terps better than any other method!

If you're putting them in the freezer after the buds dry...I guess you're kinda curing in the freezer. Right?

 

[Prs2xs]

If you're putting them in the freezer after the buds dry...I guess you're kinda curing in the freezer. Right?

I guess, but how much curing goes on at -40c, I'm not sure!