The hardest part

[JDU]

This is where I really faulter. WHEN do y'all jar it up? Mine has been hangin about 6 days & it's gittin a lil crispy but the tiny stems don't break when I bend em.

Another question- How long do you leave the jars open when you burp em?

[Willyd]

I hang for a week keeping my rh at 30% then I cure usually for 4 weeks but that depends on what im growing i like to taste it once a week to see if I like where it's at

[JDU]

I'm in Oregon. In my front room. I have no control over my humidity lol.

[Canuck147]

Usually after 4 days I'll jar mine - all crispy - next morning they'll be moist - out of the jar onto the screen til they need to go back in the jars - few hours til crispy - then back out of the jars and onto screen. Usually do that 3 or 4 times. For burping - depends - either 10 seconds or 10 minutes.

[JDU]

Ok I'm not alone. That I keep needing to dump them back out is what has me doubtin my decision to jar em up.

[Canuck147]

Once you've opened a jar that been in your closet a number of weeks - only to find your buds have all turned brown from mold - well - I haven't done it again.

[JDU]

Yeah we ain't a gonna do that.

[JohnEmad]

After trying the twig snapping method many times I have abandoned it as the smaller twigs rarely snap for me. I do more like Canuck147 and jar them only to empty back out once or twice. Also use mini hygrometers and if it settles near 60% RH give or take a bit I am happy with that and jar em up. I make sure to burp once a day for the 1st 2 weeks to keep a close eye on things so no mold happens.

[JDU]

I got that but until Canuck147 nobody would say HOW LONG to leave the jars open when ya burp em. GWE is an amazing site but most of the tutorials are about as clear as mud.

[JohnEmad]

My take on burping is just like a burp is short so is the opening of the jar. I usually open it and give the contents a gentle shake to let the old air our and new air in, then back goes the lid. So far my curing has resulted in real smooth smoke doing this.

[Willyd]

for the first week I open them for a min or two everyday once a day that's also when I check the boveda pack to make sure it's still moist

[Booger789]

This is why I like and use the boveda packs. I remove my buds when they feel crisp to me. Then into the jars with a Boveda pack and I burp everyday. And a burp to me is shaking everything up and leaving the lid off for about a minute. I use two of the 8 gram packs in the half gallon jars. And I keep some of the big packs for pounds if I get some that wants to seem to stay to high in humidity, and the big pack will whip a half gallon jar right into the right humidity in about a day.

[JohnEmad]

I have started to use the boveda as well. Simplifies things and no shaking the trichs off the buds.

[Toker1]

Unfortunately there is no cookie cutter answer to this question. There is a ton of variability here to discuss. Bud density plays a factor.
me, I dry them for a little over a week. 50% RH and temps just below 69F. When the outsides feel crispy, I toss them into brown paper bags. Approx 1 Oz per grocery store sized paper bag. They moisten back up (due to the internal moisture) and go crispy again. That’s when I jar them. If RH goes above 66-67% I put them back into the brown paper bags again for 4-6 more hours. Once RH is below 65% I burp the jars for 10-20 min daily. I do this for about a month. Then no need to burp any longer.

[dphipps1020]

I like the bags a lot. Still getting my drying technique dialed in though. Seems like some dry perfectly and some dry just a bit much. For the times I think it's too dry I throw a Boveda pack in a jar with the weed for about a day and then into the bags for curing. Only downside I've noticed is that the zipper part starts to rip with a lot of use, but otherwise they're great.

[FunkyButtLovin]

The zipper tearing has been my experience as well. I have a bunch of these bags but they're only good for 6-10 openings on average before they tear and are useless. I have gone to jarring and burping for the first couple of weeks or so then into the bags for long term storage. I keep pint jars around that I smoke out of and reload them from a Grove bag when they run out so that I'm not opening the bags very often. It's a pain in the ass but until they make a bag with a much more durable zipper I can't use them for early curing or as a reusable pouch.

[Toker1]

The directions on the bag say to seal them. Not suppose to open and close often. Maybe purchasing the smaller sizes will lessen the open/close factor. The zippers on mine have all been ok on mine. Yes, I transfer an Oz at a time into a jar for my personal stash.
I always save a few stems from harvest in bags in the fridge in case I over dry. Stick a stem in the grove bag, or jar, for 12 hours will moisten the buds back up again and add will more beneficial bacteria to contribute to the cure process. I only use bovida packs to calibrate my hygrometers now days.
I have a stash in jars in my refrigerator that have been curing for 8-9 months now. No pack. The buds are better than most Dispensaries have on hand. Flavor is impeccable at this stage.

[JDU]

With a bovada pack they are holdin steady at 59%. Is that good?

[Booger789]

Yes and it should climb to 62% (if your using a 62% pack) over the next few days.

[Toker1]

Be careful not to add the Bovida pack too early in the cure process. Re-moistening is ok. But I have seen others use them to bring the bud moisture down and flavor always suffers.
if you dried properly....only use Bovida for long term storage, if at all.

[JDU]

Good to know! Thanks!! Flavor is just as important as potency to me!

[HighDesertRat]

I hang till crispy...only 3-5 days here in the mojave desert. Just the outer layer is really crispy. Then I jar it up, bout an oz per jar.
i go by smell, and at first I'll burp them several times a day, every few hours, really.
If they smell green, or like fresh cut hay, I leave the jars cracked for a few hours and close them up again. Depending on smell, I'll leave them open or closed overnight and check first thing.
When they can go a full day without smelling like hay, I leave them.closed. maybe check once a day just to be safe.
usually takes a week or so to get them.where I can leave the jars closed. Takes a couple more for the nugs to tighten up nicely.

If you smell earth...that's the start of mold..it's too wet. Unjar and spread to dry another day..
Your nose will tell you when it's ready.
I don't think there's any real formula...each environment is different...but I know what good weed smells like..lol
It's an intensive process at first....but I don't get mold. Ever.
And No one complains about my smoke. 🙂

[Toker1]

D.A.A.S.69 has some interesting info on brown paper bag drying from start to finish. I have never tried it this way... but it’s seems like it takes the environment factor of ambient RH out of the equation this way. Maybe he will comment or share a link?
Thanks DAAS! Hope all has been well recently!!

[D.A.A.S.69]

Toker1 we used to hang ours too, way back in the day, but we had plenty to hang too, lol
Now we just use brown grocery bags, you put the wet trimmed buds across the bottom of the bags, with a hygrometer in the bag, if they touch each other a little, that's ok, you just don't want them stacked on top of each other, then we roll up the top of the bag, an put a clothspin on it.
An shake the bags slightly a couple of times a day, at our house with central air, temps 70, humidity 50, it takes 6days for the humidity in the bags to reach 60-62percent, then when you put them in jars the humidity goes back up to close to 70percent, that's when the burping comes in, we burp them several more days, 3-4, till it gets close to 60-62percent.
Then we only burp once a week or so, we use a magazine to fan them an change the air, for about a couple of minutes, I don't use Bovedas either, tried them, but ain't crazy about them either, I only use them for long term, like Toker said, most of the time don't even use them for long term, cause we always giving it away, an need the jars, they expensive.
Farmall is better explaining then I am, but even when you smoke a joint after drying in the bags, it tastes like it's been cured a couple of weeks, very smooth, but after a month in the jars, it's really smooth.
We doing fine Toker1 thanks for asking, hope you an yours are doing fine too!!
There is so many variables, like you said, but if you got stable temps an humidity, the bags are very hard to beat, imo.
HappyGrowing all.
Stay well, there's some serious shit going around.
Maybe Farmall will chime in. He can tell you much better than I can.

[Toker1]

Thanks D.A.A.S.69! Really great info. We are all healthy here. I guess that’s all one can brag about these days. My kids got a bit of the “cabin fever” due to the lock down status. But we all have our health.
Hope you all are staying well too.

[Farmall]

Hey D.A.A.S.69. Could not have explained that any better.... it’s the way you taught me and I have NEVER had an incidence of mold. The paper acts as an osmotic barrier between ambient air and inside the bag without the drying process progressing rapidly. If left long enough, they do crisp up though.

[SoOrbudgal]

I use paperbag after hanging 3-4days always

[gbauto]

Because I live in the Smokies, my humidity rarely drops below 50%. It will usually take 10-14 days before they have lost enough moisture for me to buck them into paper bags.
This is where patience pays off-it's vital to allow the moisture level in the flower to redistribute from the interior to the exterior surface. This is where jarring too early will destroy your crop by allowing mold to proliferate. When I'm confident they've dried enough, I jar and burp for a week-10 days and call it good.

[JDU]

So they came down to 52 & 54% & kinda crispy so I jarred em. In the morning they were 73. The colas from yellow were 62 & jumped to 79 so I put it all back in bags. It keeps goin like that- what am I doin wrong?

[JDU]

Brown paper bags.
So just keep jarring em til they get wet & dump em back into the bags for awhile?

[Toker1]

You might go back and forth from the jars back into the bags a few times. That’s ok. You are drawing out the internal moisture this way.

[JDU]

Ok cool. Thanks everyone!!