Thermoelectric wine cooler drying and curing - DIY

pahpah-cee said:

I just keep dropping it as quickly as it’ll let me. It usually ends up being a point a day. Once I hit 61% I stop dropping it. I like to keep it at the higher end of moisture content so I can guarantee the cure is still taking place when I bag it up.

I try to not worry about mold. I like to think it’s not a mold friendly environment in the fridge. This is assuming the bud going in is mold free.

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Good deal. This is exactly what I was thinking. When it can be dropped down to 61%, do you just hold it there until it takes hours to creep up? Or does it just stay at 61% and quit creeping entirely?

Part B. When you bag/jar it up, do you take it out of the Koolatron and let it come up to room temperature before putting into container of choice? Seems putting cold product into a bag or jar may be an invite for moisture to form?

TCH said:

Good deal. This is exactly what I was thinking. When it can be dropped down to 61%, do you just hold it there until it takes hours to creep up? Or does it just stay at 61% and quit creeping entirely?

Part B. When you bag/jar it up, do you take it out of the Koolatron and let it come up to room temperature before putting into container of choice? Seems putting cold product into a bag or jar may be an invite for moisture to form?

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I let it sit at 61% for a few days to make sure it really leveled out. If it’s creeping up past 61% then it isn’t really at 61%. The fridge is just holding it there for you.

never really thought about it but yeah that makes sense to let it raise to room temp to minimize any humidity fluctuations before bagging it.

I throw a humidity sensor into a couple of the grove bags so I can monitor it. If you aren’t processing anything else in the fridge after I would just store all the bagged cannabis in the fridge for temp control.

pahpah-cee said:

I let it sit at 61% for a few days to make sure it really leveled out. If it’s creeping up past 61% then it isn’t really at 61%. The fridge is just holding it there for you.

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Yeah, I thought about that right after I asked. Didn't get a chance to edit it yet. Lol. Thanks

Something I've wondered about, is what about room rh? Does it affect the rh inside the cooler?

Hollatchaboy said:

Something I've wondered about, is what about room rh? Does it affect the rh inside the cooler?

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It shouldn't. Inside the cooler is its own environment. That said, i guess it may have a little effect on how long it takes to adjust if it is drawing in super humid or super arid air. Great question.

TCH said:

It shouldn't. Inside the cooler is its own environment. That said, i guess it may have a little effect on how long it takes to adjust if it is drawing in super humid or super arid air. Great question.

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I mean, I don't believe it's airtight. Air has to be moving in and out, but the question is, at what rate.

My room is sitting at 68% right now. I've had my bud in the cooler for about a month or so, and it's still going above 61%, pretty quick. The bud is smokable, but definitely still moist. I'm hoping I can just keep it in the cooler, until my next run is ready, which is still at least a couple months away.

Hollatchaboy said:

I mean, I don't believe it's airtight. Air has to be moving in and out, but the question is, at what rate.

My room is sitting at 68% right now. I've had my bud in the cooler for about a month or so, and it's still going above 61%, pretty quick. The bud is smokable, but definitely still moist. I'm hoping I can just keep it in the cooler, until my next run is ready, which is still at least a couple months away.

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Hmmm.... good point. How quick is pretty quick? How high does it go?

TCH said:

Hmmm.... good point. How quick is pretty quick? How high does it go?

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I have mine set now for 60% with 1% difference value. So it rises right away, gets to about 61.8 before it starts to drop again.

Hollatchaboy said:

I have mine set now for 60% with 1% difference value. So it rises right away, gets to about 61.8 before it starts to drop again.

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Bright side is that as long as you are staying in that window, you should be able to keep it pretty much indefinitely in there I think. If not, I imagine you could jar it and burp it down to steady or toss in grove bags.

TCH said:

Bright side is that as long as you are staying in that window, you should be able to keep it pretty much indefinitely in there I think. If not, I imagine you could jar it and burp it down to steady or toss in grove bags.

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Yea, I check daily, and it's staying in the window, both ways. We'll see how long that lasts though. Wintertime, here, means dry air indoors.

Hollatchaboy said:

Yea, I check daily, and it's staying in the window, both ways. We'll see how long that lasts though. Wintertime, here, means dry air indoors.

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With any luck the dry air will let it settle at 61 finally.

I am finding if I set mine to 61% it can sit for weeks and be very close to dry but just a bit moist for several weeks, if I drop it to 58% it finishes up and is ready to bag quicker, so if I have time I set it at 61, if I have another harvest I keep dropping until it settles at 58 fairly well for a couple days then bag it and load it back up.

Hollatchaboy said:

I mean, I don't believe it's airtight. Air has to be moving in and out, but the question is, at what rate.

My room is sitting at 68% right now. I've had my bud in the cooler for about a month or so, and it's still going above 61%, pretty quick. The bud is smokable, but definitely still moist. I'm hoping I can just keep it in the cooler, until my next run is ready, which is still at least a couple months away.

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There’s a bit of air moving, the drain hole is just one opening, but it should be very little. It will stay weeks well, but I would monitor it and if it starts going lower than your target rh put a moist sponge inside, at least that’s what the Cannatrol guys recommend and it works for them. I have yet to need to do that, but if I was holding for multiple months I would keep an eye on it.

Hook Daddy said:

I am finding if I set mine to 61% it can sit for weeks and be very close to dry but just a bit moist for several weeks, if I drop it to 58% it finishes up and is ready to bag quicker, so if I have time I set it at 61, if I have another harvest I keep dropping until it settles at 58 fairly well for a couple days then bag it and load it back up.

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Awesome. I dropped mine to 64 yesterday and 63 this morning. I'll get it down to 61 by the end of the weekend and work down to 58 next week to get ready for the 4x4 tent to get chopped in the coming weeks. I took a sample bud of my Cinderella Purple last night at day 54 and tossed it in there.

Grabbed a couple sample buds this morning and tossed them in a small Jelly jar with a hygrometer. Wasn't super excited when it stayed at 54% all morning. It finally creeped up to 55% 4 hours later or so. Even though the Koolatron is averaging 63% rh, im kinda scared that all the buds in there are somehow going to be too dry to keep curing. At least all the smaller ones. Heading home to fill up a couple jars and see what they do.

TCH said:

Grabbed a couple sample buds this morning and tossed them in a small Jelly jar with a hygrometer. Wasn't super excited when it stayed at 54% all morning. It finally creeped up to 55% 4 hours later or so. Even though the Koolatron is averaging 63% rh, im kinda scared that all the buds in there are somehow going to be too dry to keep curing. At least all the smaller ones. Heading home to fill up a couple jars and see what they do.

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They should be good, but I would bump the rh of the Inkbird down a couple percent so they match closer. As long as they didn’t go below 55% they should keep curing. What was the Inkbird set at?

Hook Daddy said:

They should be good, but I would bump the rh of the Inkbird down a couple percent so they match closer. As long as they didn’t go below 55% they should keep curing. What was the Inkbird set at?

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It's currently at 62% with a 1.5% swing. It's still swinging pretty often so i dropped it to 1.5% this morning.

If you are comfortable that your hygrometer is correct I would change my humidity calibration setting to -6. That should change your sensor so that what was 61% rh is now 55%, watch it and make sure it goes the correct way though. I have mine set at -10, they all need calibrated, at least mine have.

Hook Daddy said:

If you are comfortable that your hygrometer is correct I would change my humidity calibration setting to -6. That should change your sensor so that what was 61% rh is now 55%, watch it and make sure it goes the correct way though. I have mine set at -10, they all need calibrated, at least mine have.

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I just jarred it all up. I cycled about 5 different hygrometers through the cabinet the last week or so and they were all within about a point of each other. I will definitely be checking the calibration on the humidity controller sensor and making needed adjustments. The jars seem to be settling around 54--55% but I just got them sealed up. I'll give them a few hours and then overnight to make sure they stay around there. I ended up with just over 10 zips off of the one blueberry cupcake plant in a 3x3 tent.

I scored a couple waterproof 2 wire plugs and decided to solder those in so I can unplug and remove the dehumidifier for maintenance/cleaning without having to remove the back of the fridge.


Question about calibrating the inkbird sensor. I currently have it set at 62% and a 1.5% swing. These are my readings overnight from the Govee.


I had it on these settings when I pulled all the flower out on Sunday because it was drier than expected. When I jarred it up, it was hanging at 54-55%. It has now been in the jars for 36 hours or so and is sitting at 58%. Does that mean that I should set the calibration number at -4?