So I'm having the dreaded grass smell. I hang dry until the bigger branches snap then I either hand trim or put in a spinning trimmer. 90% is done in the dry trim. I then put into jars and open 1 or 2 times a day. The humidity level is usually around 53-57% in the jars. I tried putting some of the 62% packs in as well. All the jars are In a dark cupboard. The room they are in is anywhere from 60°-70° and humidity is around 60-65%. Buds have been in jars for 2-3 weeks after drying.what am I doing wrong???
Ok.... i need help with this curing part...
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Curing is simply the process of extracting unwanted chlorophyll from your buds immediately after they have dried. Chlorophyll is a chemical that plays a key role in photosynthesis and is what makes plants green. With uncured bud, the chlorophyll will overpower its flavor and odor and is also very harsh on the lungs, making for an all around bad session. If you want your bud to be as dank as possible, you gotta take the time to properly cure it.
Steps to curing your bud:
That cut grass smell you get is actually Ammonia, which is the byproduct of Chlorophyll decomposition. There are tiny microbes floating around everywhere in the air that are responsible for the decomposition of all organic matter, especially plant matter. By sealing the buds in the jars, you accelerate the decomposition process. Think about what happens when you leave freshly cut grass in a lawn bag for a few days. Since grass is pretty much all water and chlorophyll, you will find a bag full of wet, stank sludge. If you don’t put the grass in a bag, it will just dry up and turn brown and crumbly. You don’t want either one of these things to happen to your buds and that’s why we dry and cure them.
If you are going to take the time to grow your own medicine, you need to come correct and take time to finish the job. Harvest time may be only two months, but the bud’s not ready to smoke for three. You wouldn’t eat non-ripened fruits and vegetables so don’t smoke uncured buds. If a fine wine takes 20 years to age into perfection, you must wait 20 years to drink it. Otherwise you are cheating yourself
Steps to curing your bud:
- Trim the large fan leaves from the plants and hang them upside down in a cool dry place with plenty of circulation.
- Allow the buds to dry until the stems snap and break when bent in half.
- Finish manicuring the bud by removing the rest of the small crystal filled leaves. Set the leaves aside for making hash or edibles later.
- Remove the buds from their stems and place into glass mason jars.
- Put the lids on the jars and store them in a dark place like a sock drawer or something for 48 hours.
- Open the jars and notice that the buds are a bit damp again and have that cut grass smell.
- Stir the buds around and allow them to air out until they dry back up. (usually about 2 hours)
- Put the lid back on the jar and return it to the sock drawer.
- Wait a few days and repeat steps 6 and 7.
- Continue this process until the bud remains dry in the jars and there is no longer any trace of the ammonia smell. (usually about 1 month)
If you are going to take the time to grow your own medicine, you need to come correct and take time to finish the job. Harvest time may be only two months, but the bud’s not ready to smoke for three. You wouldn’t eat non-ripened fruits and vegetables so don’t smoke uncured buds. If a fine wine takes 20 years to age into perfection, you must wait 20 years to drink it. Otherwise you are cheating yourself
Is there a reason, other than cost, for using glass over something opaque, like stainless or ceramic? I really don't want my weed sharing a drawer with my socks. If you saw my feet, you would understand : )
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A good cure will take a month. You can smoke it in the mean time, but you'll notice an improvement in the taste after a month.
Never used anything but mason jars because of the way they seal.
So I should have some kind of hay smell in the beginning? But over time in the cure this should disappear?
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Your bud shouldn't be smelling like straw after 3 weeks. What strain is it? I love my Golden Pineapple. Never looses its sweet pineapple smell. It might not be the strongest pot I grow but once somebody gets a whiff of it.....sold. But, some strains take longer for the taste and smell to come back. The curing process doesn't really start until you can leave the lid closed. When you are popping the lids you are still in the drying process.
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One last thing....good genetics is important. Took a long time for me to get the genetics I have. Like a basketball team.....you have to be really good to make my starting lineup.
Gold leaf and skittlez.. so are you suggesting that the time on the stem is enough time for it to dry out and I should keep the lids closed as long as i think the buds are dried in cure??
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I wouldn't. Once you trim the buds and jar 'em, they'll still need burping 'til you get the humidity right. If you leave them sealed too early, you ain't gonna like the taste of the weed 'cause it'll taste like mold.
Take your time. Ya don't wanna screw up after all the hard work you've put in.
Just my opinion. YMMV.
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Don't know exactly what you mean. We all do this a bit different and you need to decide what works best for you. Most here will do a wet trim. I do a dry. So, when I cut the plant I take off all fan and biggest sugar leaves. I hang in a cool dark place with the RH starting at 60% and slowly dropping to 50/% for as long as it take for the stems to snap when bent. This usually takes about a week. Because of my genetics I rarely smell the Straw odor you are referring to.
Then the drying process continues in paper sacks for a day or two. Then to jars. then it is a matter of crispy, spongy texture of the bud. As long as the buds go from crispy to spongy popping the jars is necessary. There will come a time when the buds stay crispy long enough to leave the lids on for a few days at a time that is when the real curing process starts. I still pop the lids on occasion to let the gasses escape. After 30 days or so your pot is ready to go.
Then the drying process continues in paper sacks for a day or two. Then to jars. then it is a matter of crispy, spongy texture of the bud. As long as the buds go from crispy to spongy popping the jars is necessary. There will come a time when the buds stay crispy long enough to leave the lids on for a few days at a time that is when the real curing process starts. I still pop the lids on occasion to let the gasses escape. After 30 days or so your pot is ready to go.
I must be screwing something up somewhere. That's pretty much what I do, but I do a dry trim. Well I have 4 getting ready to come down and hopefully I get theses correct.
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yeah , it sounds like somewhere along your process the timing is off
i would rather have my flowers a tiny bit on the moist side versus to dry
it is easier to dry a flower out if it’s to damp than to have to rehydrate a flower once it gets bone dry
it has been my experience that if my flowers dry to fast after harvest , the hay smell is more noticeable and harder to get rid of , not to mention rehydrating the dry flowers
the drying curing process is sometimes tricky and takes a lot of attention to detail to get it right
so yeah , I’ve screwed up a few times and had some bad hay grass smelling flowers and anyone who grows enough cannabis over the years will eventually deal with this problem
keep trying and you will find the sweet spot
good luck
cheers
big
I don't think I'm going too fast, the humidity is around 60-67% and I'm usually about 10-14 days. They still have a bounce back to them, should i wait a bit longer before putting them in the jars.. maybe leave them on a screen for a couple days? Then jar them? The buds will snap off the branch, not come off with a bit of branch on there. I'm messing a step up somewhere..
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Are your buds crispy. If they are at that high of humidity you're letting them get too dry somewhere in the process. Dry equals straw
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it’s really difficult for me to answer your questions because I am not there to look and see and smell what is going on
maybe you can put some in jars and leave some out….trial and error
and I am sure the drying and curing process is affected by the plant genetics so there is that too
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Can you squeeze your bud they should be somewhat pliable and bounce back if not you're smoking dust.
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No they have a slight spongy feel not wet or flakey. I will say that one of the plants did dry faster and I made the mistake of taking them all down to trim at the same time not telling myself that they will dry at different rates. I am going to write down every step I do this time. If it comes out bad on these 4 I'm gona cry...
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