Advanced jar curing

[kellya86]

Unless you have the experience, skill, and a bit of luck it's very hard to achieve a quality cure without a hygrometer or using boveda.
And once you fuck it up and it smells like hay, there is no coming back from that in my experience.
I use 2 x 8g 62% for every 50 grams in kilner jars and it cures nicely over 3 months.
I have done it by feel in the past. But boveda takes the stress out of it.

 

[harmless healing]

boveda 62s have been ordered.

I don't intend on curing or changing my herb too much as I like where its at just now. Just hoping to maintain that fresh smell I'm lacking on some of the older strains. Will keep an eye daily for mould. What is the number one thing I'm looking out for? Wet buds, condensation? ...

Wish it didn't degrade and I could just jar it up n leave it

The trails of planning ahead

 

[kellya86]

I find the first thing I ever noticed was the smell once I opened the jar. That came before I could see spores with naked eye.

 

[MinnBobber]

If it has to be opened frequently or checked on even weekly its not for me at this time unfortunately. I'd rather dry bud than the risk of mold, and I don't have time most days to check all 5+ strains.

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My experience is that checking for mold with Boveda 62's is ONLY needed at the very beginning of the cure---like when burping them daily for the first 10 days of the cure.
After that, I only open them when needing to take out a small amount to put in my"daily use jar".

Steama had mold with 62's but he's the only one I've ever heard of and I'm not sure that was the fault of the 62's as a likely reason was that bud had mold when put up.

My grower checks all his harvest with a blacklight for mold. Thus, mold is never there to start with.
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" but also not opening the jars too often is messing with my melon "

Not opening them often is only an issue if you want to maximize Boveda lifespan,
lazylathe confirms a simple "humidifier process" to make them like new OR a replacement Boveda is like
$2 ? a pop.

My only opened about 10 times, CO 18 month old preemo bud jar Boveda 62 is just now getting less than fluid so I'm humidifying it. After the first two weeks, when humidity was stabilized---I never checked for mold except giving a look/smell when I took some out. Easy peezy method.
Opening often will only make Boveda deplete faster---no bid deal

 

[kellya86]

Yeah I would say if you have had mould with boveda you must have put it straight in there after the chop. It must have been sopping to mould with the boveda. You still have to dry first, over 10 to 14 days, slowly and controlled. Then I put in jars and burp for another week. Then let boveda so it's thing. These packs are great, but the are not a miracle dry and cure pack. They need some common sense applied with them.

 

[MinnBobber]

You still have to dry first, over 10 to 14 days, slowly and controlled. Then I put in jars and burp for another week. Then let boveda so it's thing. These packs are great, but the are not a miracle dry and cure pack.

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X2
With an initial 10-14 day controlled dry and then into Boveda jars where I burp 10 days, I find that it's pretty much hands off after that. I love 'em

 

[shark sandwich]

From a study on the subject::

"If the temperature and other necessary conditions are favorable for mold growth, what is the maximum humidity below which materials must be maintained in order to keep them mildew-free?"

"From the experiments described here and those given in the literature, an atmosphere of 65 per cent R.H. or less, might be considered safe for permanent storage of all materials"

This article states mold can pull moisture from its substrate and grow regardless of RH, if the material being stored has a high enough moisture content

The article also states that mold is more likely to occur when there is ventilation, as opposed to a sealed jar. Ventilation is anecdotally known to inhibit mold, but that's only because it can mediate humidity. Fresh air was found to increase mold growth in experiments where humidity was controlled. Mold needs oxygen and the removal of carbon dioxide in order to thrive, so "burping" may be counter-productive if you have another way to mediate moisture, like Boveda packs.

Article: Humidity Requirements for Mold Growth
S. S. Block, Appl. Microbiol. November 1953 1:6 287-293
PDF: http://aem.asm.org/content/1/6/287.citation?related-urls=yes&legid=aem;1/6/287

 

[kellya86]

Leave a glass of water in a room next to a sealed bottle of water. The glass has ventilation. And mould will grow. Mould needs air.

 

[kellya86]

Your making me wanna check my jars. Fuck it I'm off to check my jars. Better safe than mouldy.

 

[kellya86]

Jus checked. I'm all good. I haven't seen mould in 4 years. It's easy to get complacent I suppose.

 

[kellya86]

I still remember the smell more than anything.

 

[IAmKrazy2]

Hi all,

I know storage has been discussed here in length. Especially with boveda packs. However, these packs make me sceptical and I rarely have herb around for over 6months so a standard jar store and cure is really enough I feel.

My question to fellow mason jar users. Is how often and for how long do you open your jars for?

I have been going with every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday for an hour and a half each time.

I feel this is working but is far from perfect

Interested to pick the minds of more intelligent beings than myself

Namaste

Sorry, i didn't read this whole thread so i may be repeating info and suggestions.

Google search "the perfect cure". Buy a hydrometer for cigars for each jar and you are off to the races. How often you need to open your jars is moisture dependent. Once moisture is stabilized throughout the entire jar, there is little need to even burp the jars. Again, check out the perfect cure threads on others forums and you will be set. Happy curing.

 

[lookhigh]

I wonder does curing take place in a vacuum?

 

[kellya86]

I like this idea. Water boils at room temp in a vacuum so would the moisture 'boil off'.

I am 4 month from next harvest so I have no fresh herb to try this myself for a while. If anyone has the means to try this before I do, I would be very interested in the results.

Does anyone here have an autoclave? Maybe positive pressure works too?

 

[shark sandwich]

Water will boil off in a vacuum, but so will terpenes, and even thc. If flowers are kept under vacuum for an extended period of time, many of the actives will off-gas and be lost.

Oxygen is necessary for curing to take place. If you are able to store in an oxygen free environment, then you can almost halt the degradation process and store flowers at peak quality for years. Unfortunately using a vacuum as an oxygen free environment will adversely affect the quality of your flowers, but luckily there's another way!

A quick vacuum pull is pretty harmless and will remove the oxygen rich air in your storage. You can then use nitrogen to bring your storage container back up to atmospheric pressure. This will inhibit the curing process, the growth of mold and bacteria, and slow the degradation of cannabinoids and terpenes without boiling them off like a vacuum. Also, it eliminates any chance of jars imploding in the middle of the night!

 

[kellya86]

Pretty well said. Although I feel the cure is still important for vaping. When I used to buy weed of the UK streets, it was never cured. Just dred enough to sell.

I found this sort of draw doesn't produce much vapour no matter what you do.
But now I produce my own herbs, iv noticed I get much nicer, and more vapour. And as my cure progresses, my vaping experience seems to be improving.

So can you explain why cured draw produces more, smoother vapour than not cured draw? Is it purely to do with moisture content, or is it more to do with the increased amount of thc.?

More thc=more vapour? This seems logical to me.

 

[grokit]

Not a growing forum but as it relates to curing; it's advisable to keep the harvest from light the last day or three or even just harvest in the morning before the lights come back on to facilitate a faster and more effective cure. The chlorophyll will be minimized and the thc maximized before drying even starts.

 

[kellya86]

Yes I start the drying process while my crop is still in soil. I also drop humidity very low the last few days do draw some moisture out and encourage more resin production.
This is not discussing cultivation, this is to do with the final product so I think it's ok.

The initial dry is very important. If it dries too quick in that first week, it's very hard to come back from.

 

[grokit]

No matter how you grow the plant the pre-curing part of the process is the same, and important

 

[Vapor_Eyes]

In my opinion curing helps out immensely when vaping in regards to flavor. Cannabis that hasn't been fully cured can taste very grassy due to the chlorophyll. Curing reduces that taste and allows the flavor of the terpenes to shine.

A convection vaporizer is needed to fully appreciate the improvement to flavor curing brings.

 

[harmless healing]

Anyone have an opinion on two low of a temperature? Just moved my deep storage to the garage.

It's getting chilly out there ladies n gents!

Namaste

 

[MinnBobber]

Anyone have an opinion on two low of a temperature? Just moved my deep storage to the garage.

It's getting chilly out there ladies n gents!

Namaste

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What's the lowest temp the garage will see?
Freezing is too low as that makes the trichs frozen, brittle and they break off

Will it be shielded from light, which degrades herbs?
A steady temp and humidity is best. What kind of range of temp?
Are you controlling humidity, like with Boveda humidity control packs?

 

[harmless healing]

I have boveda 62s on the way but still unsure I need them in there so have ordered a hygrometer

It won't get below freezing but I have a digital thermometer en route to me also

All jars are biophotonic glass so everything is shielded from light

Namaste

 

[kellya86]

I feel that if the glass gets too cold, like below 10 Celsius. Then moisture in the jar may condense on the inside of the jar and caus possible mould growth. I'd rather keep my weed at constant 18 Celsius at 62 humidity.
Better safe than sorry. I couldn't handle the worry of leaving my prime flowers out in a cold garage all night.

I keep my weed for months like this with no degradation.

 

[harmless healing]

The garage was between 5 and 10 degrees C last night. That help at all?

Namaste

Just noticed reply above

Cheers