Water Cure Experiment
I recently found myself in a situation where I lost access to any cannabis, had a grow that was still a week or so from harvest let alone any dry/cure, and a hell-bent determination to stay off the pain meds I used to be on.
There is a small write-up on GWE about Water Curing, but it’s pretty sparse, pretty much like most posts dealing with Water Curing. The possibility of a 4-10 day process instead of the 3-10 +2 weeks times of a “normal” dry and cure was very appealing, so it was time to experiment!
This was very spur of the moment, and I didn’t track all of the things that should be, I was looking to prove or disprove the concept as viable.
The W.C. posts start here on my thread, if you are interested in reading.
Process
I ran 2 batches of trimmed bud in pint canning jars. One had buds from a soil plant and the other a hydro plant. The samples of buds were not equally sized, the hydro jar being the lesser. The soil plants were about 3 days into flush, the hydros were on flowering nutes still.
The soil was given Tap water the first day and Distilled all others. The Hydro was given Distilled all days.
PPM and PH was recorded for each drain and fill. Temp was not monitored but was not exposed to any extremes. Jars were kept in a desk drawer between water changes.
Jars were filled to top lid placed on and inverted, then was laid on side in drawer. By doing this the angle of the jar because of the lid allowed any air bubbles to travel up to the high end of the jar while the buds only went about ½ to ¾ of the way up, allowing the buds to stay totally submerged.
Buds were taken out at each water change to feel for firmness and to smell and visually examine for rot/mold/deterioration.
The hydro jar was allowed to cure for 3 days and the soil jar for 5 days. All buds were dried by fan about 12 hrs and stored in a airtight jar overnight, left out for a few hours and were done, ready for smoking.
Hydro
7.0 - 34 --- 6.4 - 89
6.4 - 22 --- 7.5 - 49
7.4 - 21 --- 7.8 - 30 (Pull for dry)
Soil
7.2 - 431 --- 6.8 - 525
7.6 - 20 --- 6.0 - 161
6.2 - 27 --- 6.7 - 103
6.7 - 25 --- 7.8 - 44
8.0 - 21 --- 5.7 - 37 (Pull for dry)
Results
The Buds dried very firm and compact, they were noticeably smaller than an air dried would be, and not as “bright” looking as an air dried bud. They aren’t pretty in any fashion but they don’t look hideous, imo.
There is a distinct lack of smell to the buds, I’m not sure if a dog could sniff them out or not, but no one will smell any “Bag Smell” This lack of smell extends to the burning and smoke as well. Many people wouldn’t even notice you were smoking cannabis if there was any small distance between you and a touch of tobacco or some other blending agent would mask it entirely.
The taste is quite strange, the experience is similar to drinking pure water, the “taste of no taste” if you follow. To me there was a hint of a woody, smoky flavor. I found it smooth with just a bit of hotness in the back of the throat.
I didn’t have any of the strain ready to smoke via air dry so I couldn’t really compare the highs. I will say it did what it was supposed to for me.
In my opinion:
If you are about the aesthetics of the cannabis in question Water Curing will leave you disappointed. Not pretty, no smell, no/different taste will likely be more downside than the speed and ease will be upside for you.
If you are in need of quick access to weed, need to try and save a harvest you can’t cure normally, or stealth is a major consideration this may be something of value for you to have in your bag of growing tricks. I also feel this might just be a superior way to prep cannabis for edibles and vape juices etc. the lack of smell and flavor puts that more within your control.
All in all the experiment was a success, and proves the concept, but it also leaves many things unanswered and untested.
Random Thoughts
With this I have managed to keep myself supplied through this dry spell so I’m very happy. I’ll be working on this a bit more in the future for sure, it’s just too good of an ace up the sleeve not to explore further.
Please note. I am not suggesting anyone do this and certainly not with an entire crop. If what you’ve read has an appeal I suggest copying what I’ve done for yourself and expanding from there, you can try this with just a few buds no need to risk everything. Now I will say, if you are in an emergency and it’s lose the entire crop unless you can dry cure immediately, I wouldn’t hesitate to throw it in the water before something like an oven or whatever fast dry method, the possibility of a 4 day turnaround that gives you smokable bud is much better than a certain loss.
I’m happy to answer any questions and appreciate your comments
There is a small write-up on GWE about Water Curing, but it’s pretty sparse, pretty much like most posts dealing with Water Curing. The possibility of a 4-10 day process instead of the 3-10 +2 weeks times of a “normal” dry and cure was very appealing, so it was time to experiment!
This was very spur of the moment, and I didn’t track all of the things that should be, I was looking to prove or disprove the concept as viable.
The W.C. posts start here on my thread, if you are interested in reading.
Process
I ran 2 batches of trimmed bud in pint canning jars. One had buds from a soil plant and the other a hydro plant. The samples of buds were not equally sized, the hydro jar being the lesser. The soil plants were about 3 days into flush, the hydros were on flowering nutes still.
The soil was given Tap water the first day and Distilled all others. The Hydro was given Distilled all days.
PPM and PH was recorded for each drain and fill. Temp was not monitored but was not exposed to any extremes. Jars were kept in a desk drawer between water changes.
Jars were filled to top lid placed on and inverted, then was laid on side in drawer. By doing this the angle of the jar because of the lid allowed any air bubbles to travel up to the high end of the jar while the buds only went about ½ to ¾ of the way up, allowing the buds to stay totally submerged.
Buds were taken out at each water change to feel for firmness and to smell and visually examine for rot/mold/deterioration.
The hydro jar was allowed to cure for 3 days and the soil jar for 5 days. All buds were dried by fan about 12 hrs and stored in a airtight jar overnight, left out for a few hours and were done, ready for smoking.
Hydro
7.0 - 34 --- 6.4 - 89
6.4 - 22 --- 7.5 - 49
7.4 - 21 --- 7.8 - 30 (Pull for dry)
Soil
7.2 - 431 --- 6.8 - 525
7.6 - 20 --- 6.0 - 161
6.2 - 27 --- 6.7 - 103
6.7 - 25 --- 7.8 - 44
8.0 - 21 --- 5.7 - 37 (Pull for dry)
Results
The Buds dried very firm and compact, they were noticeably smaller than an air dried would be, and not as “bright” looking as an air dried bud. They aren’t pretty in any fashion but they don’t look hideous, imo.
There is a distinct lack of smell to the buds, I’m not sure if a dog could sniff them out or not, but no one will smell any “Bag Smell” This lack of smell extends to the burning and smoke as well. Many people wouldn’t even notice you were smoking cannabis if there was any small distance between you and a touch of tobacco or some other blending agent would mask it entirely.
The taste is quite strange, the experience is similar to drinking pure water, the “taste of no taste” if you follow. To me there was a hint of a woody, smoky flavor. I found it smooth with just a bit of hotness in the back of the throat.
I didn’t have any of the strain ready to smoke via air dry so I couldn’t really compare the highs. I will say it did what it was supposed to for me.
In my opinion:
If you are about the aesthetics of the cannabis in question Water Curing will leave you disappointed. Not pretty, no smell, no/different taste will likely be more downside than the speed and ease will be upside for you.
If you are in need of quick access to weed, need to try and save a harvest you can’t cure normally, or stealth is a major consideration this may be something of value for you to have in your bag of growing tricks. I also feel this might just be a superior way to prep cannabis for edibles and vape juices etc. the lack of smell and flavor puts that more within your control.
All in all the experiment was a success, and proves the concept, but it also leaves many things unanswered and untested.
Random Thoughts
- PPM is a very useful measurement to determine when to pull for dry
- PH fluctuations should be looked at more
- A larger volume of water to bud may speed the process up even more, while more bud to water may slow it down
- I never had the severe water discoloration I’ve often seen mentioned
- Possible the degree of taste/smell loss is dependent on strain, also PPM/Time.
- Different results if air dried then water cured? Possible taste/smell increase?
- Should work for trim
- Any taste/smell development with longer storage?
- Should be able to replace flushing with this process
- PH seems to carry over from drain to fill, bud rinse between?
- H2O2 treatment somewhere in process? A possible way to save from Bud Rot?
- Need comparisons for potency
With this I have managed to keep myself supplied through this dry spell so I’m very happy. I’ll be working on this a bit more in the future for sure, it’s just too good of an ace up the sleeve not to explore further.
Please note. I am not suggesting anyone do this and certainly not with an entire crop. If what you’ve read has an appeal I suggest copying what I’ve done for yourself and expanding from there, you can try this with just a few buds no need to risk everything. Now I will say, if you are in an emergency and it’s lose the entire crop unless you can dry cure immediately, I wouldn’t hesitate to throw it in the water before something like an oven or whatever fast dry method, the possibility of a 4 day turnaround that gives you smokable bud is much better than a certain loss.
I’m happy to answer any questions and appreciate your comments
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