Anyone use a drying cabinet?

[ston-loc]

So thinking ahead, before harvest, and having no where to dry I'm thinking to build a cabinet to dry my buds in, in my back yard. Just realistically thinking, with 2 kids in the house, and people over all the time I cant have the house all skunky smelling.
My thought is just a 4'x4'x2' cabinet, and cut a hole low covered by screen. Then a whole on the top with some kind of fan sucking air out to give some air flow.
Any suggestions, other designs, or links would be great. I searched and couldn't find any specifically for drying. Also thoughts on fans. How much air flow is really needed for drying? This is my first grow (outdoor), so I'm just learning. Now thinking ahead to be prepared. Thanks

 

[dman1234]

Temperature will be your issue IMO, they will cook outside in a box, you would be pulling in hot air.

 

[WeedHopper]

I use a computer fan,,goes in the square hole in the front to pull air thru the box. The sacks are for suger buds and the tray on the botton is for popcrn buds.

 

[ston-loc]

Thanks Weedhopper! My thought is this. I could use my garage, but there is no air circulation at all in there, AND gets super hot in there. I figured building a cabinet outside with vents in a fully shaded spot would be way cooler, and get the circulation too.
What kind of circulation is needed even? Indoors in a closet isn't getting any (unless indoor grow set up for it I guess). I'm just looking for ideas I guess, being my first time. Thanks

 

[pawpaw]

I'm looking at building a closed loop drying and curing cabinet using a custom built solid state dehumidifier. I'm still at the research stage but if you're interested and comfortable with basic electrical issues and have some wood working skills I'll post my early ideas. Be glad for someone else to do the prototype so I don't waste a lot of time and effort just to ruin my first grow LOL

 

[bwanabud]

I built a free-standing foam wall room, a bakers rack, installed circulation fans, put a dehimidifier in....with the exhaust vented out of the room. Works great.....but dry is not cured

 

[pawpaw]

...but dry is not cured

Right, I understand. I am trying to determine what chemical processes go on during curing and what environmental parameters they require. In that regard I am looking first for information on the role of oxygen. See the role of oxygen in curing (posted on this site)

You will find in this thread a request for someone to run an experiment using oxygen absorbers in jar curing. You are obviously serious in your pursuit of these things. Can I persuade you to be that person?

 

[ston-loc]

Oxygen absorbers? Explain...

Also, anyone want to chime in, what kind of circulation is really needed for the drying process? I mean, I've seen people string a line across their family room and hang it for a bit. That's not fans or dehumidifiers or anything. I'm just looking at my options, and it's building a shed more or less, and wondering the ideal climate to dry them out. Vents in the box, being outdoors, seems like way more circulation than hanging on a clothesline in a family room. Are fans even necessary?
Is everyone just settup with a closet with exhaust, etc indoors?

 

[bwanabud]

Right, I understand. I am trying to determine what chemical processes go on during curing and what environmental parameters they require. In that regard I am looking first for information on the role of oxygen. See the role of oxygen in curing (posted on this site)

You will find in this thread a request for someone to run an experiment using oxygen absorbers in jar curing. You are obviously serious in your pursuit of these things. Can I persuade you to be that person?

Ohhh, I'm serious in my pursuit all right :hubba: I'll be glad to look the info over, and get back to ya.

 

[bwanabud]

Oxygen absorbers? Explain...

Also, anyone want to chime in, what kind of circulation is really needed for the drying process? I mean, I've seen people string a line across their family room and hang it for a bit. That's not fans or dehumidifiers or anything. I'm just looking at my options, and it's building a shed more or less, and wondering the ideal climate to dry them out. Vents in the box, being outdoors, seems like way more circulation than hanging on a clothesline in a family room. Are fans even necessary?
Is everyone just settup with a closet with exhaust, etc indoors?

Obviously, you don't have to use fans or a circulation system. But it's better than having skunk hangin in your house for 3 weeks It speeds the drying process, and lets you move onto the curing stage. Alot of it depends on house much you are drying....few ounces, no biggie, hang it in the kitchen cabinet My needs are far more than that :hubba:

 

[pawpaw]

The rate of evaporation of water from a surface depends greatly on the the rate at which water molecules move away from the surface once they are free of it. The slower molecules are in moving away the higher the likely hood that a molecule first leaving the surface will strike one that has just left the surface and bounce back to that surface and be reabsorbed. After relative humidity it is the next most important factor. A stream of moving air acts to move the molecules away from the near surface. For a fixed absolute humidity, relative humidity is a function of temperature. But if we express our formulations in terms of RH temperature loses its relevance. Thus one is primarily concerned with RH and "wind speed" when calculating evaporation rates.

To sum it up, you need air circulation. The more you have the faster your “clothes” will dry. If they get no circulation they may mildew before they are dry

 

[ozzydiodude]

If you do not have a real good air flow around all buds while drying they will not dry or tasted good and most likely mold.

 

[pawpaw]

Oxygen absorbers? Explain...

Typically oxygen absorbers are porous containers of fine iron powder suspended in a lite weight porous medium that allows air to circulate through the iron. Small amounts of salt (NaCL) are also included. As air passes over the iron the iron is converted to iron oxide (rust) and in that oxygen is removed from the air.

Rust: iron "mixes" with oxygen. This happens when water comes in contact with iron because the water conducts the small amounts of current that randomly travel through iron. This in turn causes the hydrogen and oxygen to split and the oxygen is then free to bond with the iron. Salt adds more ions into the water making it a better conductor, so more current passes through producing more oxygen and therefore more rust. Distilled water will not cause rust because H2O alone is not a good conductor.

The post to which I linked in my first post in this thread contains links to suppliers of oxygen absorbing packets that are used for preserving dried foods.

 

[ozzydiodude]

If you get rid of the oxygen you creat a anarobic area that will cause your mj to taste like the mexican dirt dopes the are put in piles in the sun to dry and just turned over once in a while til they are baled up.

 

[pawpaw]

If you get rid of the oxygen you creat a anarobic area that will cause your mj to taste like the mexican dirt dopes the are put in piles in the sun to dry and just turned over once in a while til they are baled up.

That is not necessarily true. It depends on the moisture content of the material during the anaerobic conditions. In the example you gave the conditions are high moisture and anaerobic. I am still researching the matter to find the lowerlimit of moisture content that will sustain anaerobic processes.

anaerobic bacteria is strongly dependent on favorable moisture conditions, oxygen, and an organic food source. Anaerobic representatives (Clostridium) predominate in grassland and waterlogged soils and soil aggregates where moisture conditions and organic substrates are available but oxygen supply to the micro-environment of the bacteria is severely restricted.

 

[ozzydiodude]

Why do you want the anaerobic process? from things I have read and experenced it does nothing but give mj a bad taste

 

[pawpaw]

Below a certain temperature THC degrades primarily by oxidation. Once the cannabis is dry enough not to support anaerobic bacterial growth, removing oxygen would eliminate that path of degradation without any problems that I have been able to document. I am still trying to determine if oxygen plays any constructive role in the curing process.

 

[Hushpuppy]

Oxygen absorbers? Explain...

Also, anyone want to chime in, what kind of circulation is really needed for the drying process? I mean, I've seen people string a line across their family room and hang it for a bit. That's not fans or dehumidifiers or anything. I'm just looking at my options, and it's building a shed more or less, and wondering the ideal climate to dry them out. Vents in the box, being outdoors, seems like way more circulation than hanging on a clothesline in a family room. Are fans even necessary?
Is everyone just settup with a closet with exhaust, etc indoors?

I have a small "grow-lab" that has three grow rooms and one central room for cloning and general work. When I harvest, I turn one of my smaller rooms into my drying room. I made 4 drying racks out of door screen (fiberglass stormdoor from Lowes) and suspend them in the room with my circulation fan running (not blowing on buds) that moves air out of the cabinet (replaces the whole cabinet air once every 1-2 minutes). This moves the moisture out of the cabinet that is coming off the buds without causing enough airflow to overdry the buds. A mistake a lot of people make is drying buds too fast, which leads to harsh smoke. This happens because the buds get dried on the outside while not completely dry on the inside, which traps a lot of chlorophyll in anything green. I found that drying them gently(slow air movement) in 50-60%rh, 65-75degrees, total darkness, for 7-14 days (depending on the size of the buds) seems to dry them just right. The problem with drying them in the heat is that heat and light lend to oxydation. If yu want to build yu a drying and curing cabinet in yer garage yu still could do it. yu would just have to find a way to insulate it and cool it.
I wonder if one of those small refridgerators turned down and modified with a small computer fan to exchange the air would work? Or maybe a water chiller unit with an evaporator grill hooked to the air intake for the cabinet to constantly cool the cabinet...There are lots of possibilities if yer mechanically inclined:hubba:

 

[WeedHopper]

I keep my Dry Box in the house where the Computer fan pulls cool air thru the box and back out. Keeps my buds fresh and they dry slow.

 

[ston-loc]

Hmmm, yeah, I can build stuff. Haha. I work construction, actually an electrician. I can get something built no problem. It's just what exactly I need to build that is the question. Plan is a 4x4x2 cabinet, outside on the shaded side of the house with either small holes or open bottom with screen keeping the critters out, with a small hole on top with a fan sucking the air out of the cabinet. Not sure what temps will be like this year since our summer has been really wacky so far. But could be any random extreme for what we get around that time, but its not too crazy here...