# Freeze Drying Bud and Commercial Freeze Dryers



## Stoner Smurf (Jan 13, 2011)

According to Ed Rosenthal's Marijuana Grower's Handbook, which on a side note is hands down the best growing book I've read and I've read 7 or 8, the best way to dry/cure your bud is by freeze drying. After letting it hang for a few days you put it in a freeze dryer. Freeze drying uses sublimation  to remove the moisture from the bud. It's suppose to preserve the terpenes (did I spell that right?), which will preserve great flavor and aroma. Freeze dry cured bud is supposed to be incredibly smooth. 

Since the book has been so great I tend to believe it, and I've heard this before else where. I actually saw a post on RIU of someone using dry ice to cure the bud. You put dry ice in the bottom of a container (the container must have holes on the lid. Don't think anyone is going to read this little post and try it without further research, but just making sure.), put a thin layer then put your bud on top. I think this uses sublimation as well, just in a different way. That would be very inefficient way to cure a lot of bud and very expensive. A commercial freeze dryer uses a vacuum to dry the bud.

That's where the problem lies. I want to try this, but a commercial freeze dryer cost $9,000.00 +++. How hard would it be to make one of these? Take a normal freezer, put a vacuum chamber made of reinforced steel in there, hook up some pumps, and boom freeze dryer. Obviously there's probably a few more steps in there, and a fridge might actually work better since a freezer may get too cold, but do I have the right idea? Any engineering folks around here, am I on the right track? Can a commercial freeze dryer be made at home if the right amount skill and care is put into the vacuum chamber so there are no implosions?

My other question to anybody is has anyone ever seen freeze dry cured weed or done it themselves. I don't want to spend $2000 on parts or god forbid $10,000 on a commercial freeze dryer and find out Ed was lying to me.


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## kevin (Jan 13, 2011)

the frost free freezers has a dehumidifier built in them that take all the moisture out of it, more less freeze drying. you could do a small sample bud and report back. i've never tried it myself.


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## Smot360 (Jan 13, 2011)

.......This has me very interested! I personally have never heard of a technique like that but I'm sure its worth a shot! When you freeze dry produce and such it retains alot of the nutrients that would be expelled when you use the sun, air, ..etc...... NASA sends their astronauts up with food that has all been freeze dried because of the weight that has been removed. This could be a breakthrough in curing weed on a mass scale! My only concern is that the freeze drying method is so good at what it does by removing all water is that, the weed would have absolutely no water and would end up burning faster than a cali wild fire! Not all of the water is removed from the weed in the curing/ drying process. You would have to come up with some way of knowing when the bud was ready before you cure it too long and it ends up like some crispy potato chip lol. If you could figure out how long the process takes and you have it down to a science (without destroying the weed) I really do belive it could cut the standard curing/ drying process time into fractions! Like I said this could be a breakthrough! I do have a meat freezer in storage and this conversation has me thinking of going and getting it out and than designing the freezer into a drier. I myself find work as a drafter, and I tend to think of myself as an amateur engineer. I Believe with a little time, effort, and some more input from people, I could get this done in a week or so. Now to make it work and work right the way you want.......I have no idea rofl!


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## i81two (Jan 14, 2011)

I just got done hang drying some buds in some really cold weather and it took 26 days and the flavor is the best ever and ive been growin that strain a while.


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## YThor (Jan 14, 2011)

I have extensive freeze-drying experience when it comes to plant parts; the main reason that DIY freeze-drying may not work well is that unless there's a trap in there to capture the moisture, you dump the water into the pump oil and it gets foamy and messy. Just as important, once there's water in the oil, the effectiveness of the pump is shot because of the vapor pressure of the water: you can't draw a good vacuum with gunked up pump oil.

Traps don't have to be sophisticated or expensive, but unless you like recharging your trap with dry ice (for a dry ice + acetone trap, which will give you something like -79C) on a regular basis, a refrigerated trap is recommended- hence the cost.

There's also an implosion hazard; of course, one can use good plastic (or even metal), which greatly reduces the risk.


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## resinhead (Jan 21, 2015)

Bump! I would like to see some more recent info on this topic!


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## Sublimator (Aug 30, 2015)

Old topic but one I have some interest in and may be able to help. I've recently taken up interest in freeze drying and been doing some research into applications and of course drying bud quickley came to mind to which led me to this place. Being a refrigeration mechanic by trade I have some knowledge about pulling vacuums and what not. My idea for you guys if your serious about trying to rig up a cheap setup is as follows.

Pressure cooker drilled and tapped with brass MIPxflare fittings hooked up to a copper coil that has been looped inside a freezer. Copeer coil the exits said freezer and is hooked into vacuum pump. The pressure cooker should solve the implosion risk and be able to withstand deep vacuum. The freezer with looped copper coil would remove the moisture from air before hitting vacuum pump and contaminating oil. From what i understand of the process the material should be frozen as well so maybe pressure cooker and coil setup could all be inside a deep freeze?

Anyways if you guys are still into this topic lemme know what you think and if your going to try id like to know results.


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## Danielle Sheridan (Oct 13, 2015)

Hello EVERYONE! I own a commercial freeze dryer, AND I have freeze dried medical cannabis. It was dried in less, than 12 hours and came out BEAUTIFUL!!! The color was electric, the smell was VERY fragrant, it broke up perfectly, AND THE TASTE WAS AMAZING!! Did NOT trim before hand, as you can trim after with ONLY using your fingers to easily break off the leaves, which are perfectly dried, IN A FRACTION(1/10th of the time) of the time needed doing it wet. The "clippings" were ready for making edibles. NO MOLD OR FUNGUS OR DANDER WORRIES ( compromised immune systems)/ NO WORRY OF SMELL WHILE DRYING/ NO TIME HARDLY/ NO WORRY OF TOO HIGH OF TEMP WHILE DRYING!!! THIS IS THE FUTURE!!! ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS????


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## Mr.Goodtimes (Oct 13, 2015)

Interesting....


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## Abiqua (Oct 15, 2015)

This is the one I would go with...Spend it to make it/save it....

http://harvestright.com/store/

japanese made I believe...all the hash makers on Hashchurch...drool all over these...


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## missgrn29 (Oct 27, 2015)

This is an interesting concept. I know a lot of people freeze their bud/trim before making butter or oil for edibles because it (supposedly) makes it easier for the trichomes to fall off. So would drying with this process and then handling it not make your bud less potent the same way using an automatic trimmer would? By knocking all the trichs off? I'm not trying to insult anybody's methods. Just curious.


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## SunnyGarden (Nov 16, 2015)

Danielle Sheridan said:


> Hello EVERYONE! I own a commercial freeze dryer, AND I have freeze dried medical cannabis. It was dried in less, than 12 hours and came out BEAUTIFUL!!! The color was electric, the smell was VERY fragrant, it broke up perfectly, AND THE TASTE WAS AMAZING!! Did NOT trim before hand, as you can trim after with ONLY using your fingers to easily break off the leaves, which are perfectly dried, IN A FRACTION(1/10th of the time) of the time needed doing it wet. The "clippings" were ready for making edibles. NO MOLD OR FUNGUS OR DANDER WORRIES ( compromised immune systems)/ NO WORRY OF SMELL WHILE DRYING/ NO TIME HARDLY/ NO WORRY OF TOO HIGH OF TEMP WHILE DRYING!!! THIS IS THE FUTURE!!! ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS????


I would love to know more about your process.. What type of Freeze dryer did you use?


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## hd deuce (May 1, 2016)

Smot360 said:


> .......This has me very interested! I personally have never heard of a technique like that but I'm sure its worth a shot! When you freeze dry produce and such it retains alot of the nutrients that would be expelled when you use the sun, air, ..etc...... NASA sends their astronauts up with food that has all been freeze dried because of the weight that has been removed. This could be a breakthrough in curing weed on a mass scale! My only concern is that the freeze drying method is so good at what it does by removing all water is that, the weed would have absolutely no water and would end up burning faster than a cali wild fire! Not all of the water is removed from the weed in the curing/ drying process. You would have to come up with some way of knowing when the bud was ready before you cure it too long and it ends up like some crispy potato chip lol. If you could figure out how long the process takes and you have it down to a science (without destroying the weed) I really do belive it could cut the standard curing/ drying process time into fractions! Like I said this could be a breakthrough! I do have a meat freezer in storage and this conversation has me thinking of going and getting it out and than designing the freezer into a drier. I myself find work as a drafter, and I tend to think of myself as an amateur engineer. I Believe with a little time, effort, and some more input from people, I could get this done in a week or so. Now to make it work and work right the way you want.......I have no idea rofl!


u still don't believe in nasa do u

its fact they didn't go to the moon

fact they don't go to space

google nasa commercial 

where they talk about needing to invent electronics to pass through the van belt of radiation to get to mars 
if they went to the moon they would have passed through this belt

so why do they need to invent something they had 50years ago


mr kubric famous movie maker clockwork orange 


came out and proved he made phony video for nasa about moon landing

just google the subject learn for ur self

they got caught using green screens a dozen times

their videos of space walk are actually done in water tanks also proven by footage


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## hd deuce (May 1, 2016)

SunnyGarden said:


> I would love to know more about your process.. What type of Freeze dryer did you use?


nice\\\\

im buy-in one tomorrow

u just rehydrate it to smoke or is it smooth as is


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## hd deuce (May 1, 2016)

Smot360 said:


> .......This has me very interested! I personally have never heard of a technique like that but I'm sure its worth a shot! When you freeze dry produce and such it retains alot of the nutrients that would be expelled when you use the sun, air, ..etc...... NASA sends their astronauts up with food that has all been freeze dried because of the weight that has been removed. This could be a breakthrough in curing weed on a mass scale! My only concern is that the freeze drying method is so good at what it does by removing all water is that, the weed would have absolutely no water and would end up burning faster than a cali wild fire! Not all of the water is removed from the weed in the curing/ drying process. You would have to come up with some way of knowing when the bud was ready before you cure it too long and it ends up like some crispy potato chip lol. If you could figure out how long the process takes and you have it down to a science (without destroying the weed) I really do belive it could cut the standard curing/ drying process time into fractions! Like I said this could be a breakthrough! I do have a meat freezer in storage and this conversation has me thinking of going and getting it out and than designing the freezer into a drier. I myself find work as a drafter, and I tend to think of myself as an amateur engineer. I Believe with a little time, effort, and some more input from people, I could get this done in a week or so. Now to make it work and work right the way you want.......I have no idea rofl!


nasa is a scam
moon landing hoax 

google it 

stately kubric famous movie maker clockwork orange came out admitted he did fake moon movie footage

time to open our eyes


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## hd deuce (May 11, 2016)

Stoner Smurf said:


> According to Ed Rosenthal's Marijuana Grower's Handbook, which on a side note is hands down the best growing book I've read and I've read 7 or 8, the best way to dry/cure your bud is by freeze drying. After letting it hang for a few days you put it in a freeze dryer. Freeze drying uses sublimation  to remove the moisture from the bud. It's suppose to preserve the terpenes (did I spell that right?), which will preserve great flavor and aroma. Freeze dry cured bud is supposed to be incredibly smooth.
> 
> Since the book has been so great I tend to believe it, and I've heard this before else where. I actually saw a post on RIU of someone using dry ice to cure the bud. You put dry ice in the bottom of a container (the container must have holes on the lid. Don't think anyone is going to read this little post and try it without further research, but just making sure.), put a thin layer then put your bud on top. I think this uses sublimation as well, just in a different way. That would be very inefficient way to cure a lot of bud and very expensive. A commercial freeze dryer uses a vacuum to dry the bud.
> 
> ...



FREEZE DRYING IS THE ONLY WAY TO DRY UR BUD

EVEN WITH UT A CURE ITS SMOOTH SMOKE TASTEY AND SMELLY TERPENES OUT UR ASS IF THAT THE BUZZ WORD OF TODAY

WE USED TO SAY DANK

HARVEST RIGHT HAS FREEZE DRYERS FOR $3500

HERE HOW TO MAKE UR OWN

DIP UR BUD IN LQUID NITROGEN

PUT IT IN A VAC OVEN BY BEST BUY VACS ($100) SET HEAT MATT TO LOWEST SETTING


PUTTING YOUR HERB IN A FROST FREE FREEZER WOULOD TAKE MONTHS TO GET THE MOISTURE OUT

FREEZE DRYERS USE MINMAL HEAT TO SUBLIMATE REMOVE WATER UNDER VACUME

NO TERPENE LOSS WITH FREEZE DRYERS

WE TESTED BEFORE AND AFTER WITH A GC UNIT AND NO TERPENSE LOSS LIKE TRADTIONAL DRYING METHODS

GO TO BEST BUY VACS SMALL SCALE BUT MOST ONLY NEED SMALL SCALE

FREEZE DRYING


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## hd deuce (May 11, 2016)

kevin said:


> the frost free freezers has a dehumidifier built in them that take all the moisture out of it, more less freeze drying. you could do a small sample bud and report back. i've never tried it myself.


THAT WOULOD TAKE MONTHS TO SUBLIMATE THE MOISTURE BUT IN THEORY YES IT WILL WORK BUT MONTHS LIKE 6 MONTHS TO DO IT THAT WAY

HENCE THE TERM FREEZER BURN ON MEATS 
ITS BECOME DRY FROM MOISTURE LOSS

DIP IT IN LIQUID NITROGEN THEN SET ON A Rack over a minimal heat source the moisture will vape via straight to gas and leave u with bone dry herb

then put in jars with humi patch to get back to 60 % or so RH in ur jar and u have best connoisseur bud around 

we still do 4 month cure not for terpenes taste but to allow chlorophyll to breakdown true connoisseur bud.



even with out the cure our freeze dried bud is smooth 


side benefit 4month into cure it look like its still alive


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## bjph (Jun 17, 2016)

I have some data on this


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## hd deuce (Jun 17, 2016)

Stoner Smurf said:


> According to Ed Rosenthal's Marijuana Grower's Handbook, which on a side note is hands down the best growing book I've read and I've read 7 or 8, the best way to dry/cure your bud is by freeze drying. After letting it hang for a few days you put it in a freeze dryer. Freeze drying uses sublimation  to remove the moisture from the bud. It's suppose to preserve the terpenes (did I spell that right?), which will preserve great flavor and aroma. Freeze dry cured bud is supposed to be incredibly smooth.
> 
> Since the book has been so great I tend to believe it, and I've heard this before else where. I actually saw a post on RIU of someone using dry ice to cure the bud. You put dry ice in the bottom of a container (the container must have holes on the lid. Don't think anyone is going to read this little post and try it without further research, but just making sure.), put a thin layer then put your bud on top. I think this uses sublimation as well, just in a different way. That would be very inefficient way to cure a lot of bud and very expensive. A commercial freeze dryer uses a vacuum to dry the bud.
> 
> ...



This method I derived to handle 400 lbs per cycle

U can scale it down

Like this for home use

In a closest or entire room
Depending on quantity

Seal room


Get hanging rack with scale
Load rack with1100 grams

Use liquid nitrogen spraying
$1200
Spray product

Use small space heater 65f
Blow towards wall thT has rack above it
Keep heater going for 7 minutes

Start dehumidifier on highest setting
When rack weighs 280 g
Place in plastic bin
With hygro meter inside

RHshould b60-65 RH
If it stay at 65rh for 24hr
Move to jars
It's already smooth from freeze drying
Super smooth
But the jars take an already wow terpene profile and super cure that taste and aroma in
Moisture allows anaerobic degradation. Of the chlorophyll 
Which = bomb connoisseur bud

Cure for 3 -6 months

This method u can stop drying before its solid dry no moister
Dry bud. Though smooth. Is smoother with a nice perfectly hydrated bud
Joints. Not smoke nice all dry ass

Bonus way cheaper than commercial unit
Plus it can accommodate any room u can fill
Not to many homegrown dry n cure more than 5lb personal harvest

300lld can lb easy in a large bedroom
With
Adequate dehumidifier

Another bonus.
Less handling


The bud ur going to sell later or smoke later if ur harvest to large to sell within a month
Freeze dry after first 3 week cure Til 
.....
Bone dry
Then rehydrate with fresh bud or RH gel pack prir to needing it

Bonus again
The
Buds 6 months later appear days old when u store them bone dry n rehydrate to smoke or sell


Shatter. Dehydrate bud Til
bone dry


I use this from this method for shatter to keep insane terpene profile

Dry seive buds
Collect kief
Use 160 then 90 then 70 screens
Use 90 kief 
Large and small plant material is caught

U can add more ethanol and filter plant material if u choose 
Only if u have plant. Matter
Avoid plant matter by min sieve time

Then use reading lace over bud and discarded kief for edibles


Decarb in VAC sealed bag in boiling water 

For kief that's high end
Use for shatter 
Add just enough ethanol to dissolve kief to thick oil consistency
Super thick
Warm to pour out easier
Place on. Blast Matt
Then put Matt on griddle at 45f
12 hrs per side

Wam. Best tasting. N smelling shatter ever
No terpenes lost

None

No chlorophyll leach

We avoid it with using kief


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## vostok (Jun 17, 2016)

Stoner Smurf said:


> According to Ed Rosenthal's Marijuana Grower's Handbook, which on a side note is hands down the best growing book I've read and I've read 7 or 8, the best way to dry/cure your bud is by freeze drying. After letting it hang for a few days you put it in a freeze dryer. Freeze drying uses sublimation  to remove the moisture from the bud. It's suppose to preserve the terpenes (did I spell that right?), which will preserve great flavor and aroma. Freeze dry cured bud is supposed to be incredibly smooth.
> 
> Since the book has been so great I tend to believe it, and I've heard this before else where. I actually saw a post on RIU of someone using dry ice to cure the bud. You put dry ice in the bottom of a container (the container must have holes on the lid. Don't think anyone is going to read this little post and try it without further research, but just making sure.), put a thin layer then put your bud on top. I think this uses sublimation as well, just in a different way. That would be very inefficient way to cure a lot of bud and very expensive. A commercial freeze dryer uses a vacuum to dry the bud.
> 
> ...


*LATE: Stoner Smurf, Jan 13, 2011* 
https://www.rollitup.org/members/stoner-smurf.283293/
There's always a hidden cost ..for this is why I prefer water cured weed
https://www.rollitup.org/t/freeze-drying-bud-and-commercial-freeze-dryers.400138/
done and dusted in 10 days 

no lengthy hangs 

no messing with Bovedas

good luck


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## BobCajun (Sep 17, 2016)

You don't need liquid nitrogen. In fact you don't even have to freeze the material first. The vacuum itself causes it to freeze due to the heat loss caused by the water evaporation. Apparently prefreezing does have benefits though. If you let it freeze just by the vacuum there can be frothing (see page). You do need some slight heating to avoid it getting too cold which would interfere with the drying. I don't know what temperature would be best to maintain it at, probably a little below 0 C.

This does seem to be the premium method for drying though. A 12 or even 24 hour drying time would be pretty sweet, and having buds that look almost exactly like they did when they were picked. Could be a little bulky though, for handling. Oddly enough, when you search "Cannabis freeze drier" you get nothing but Harvestright, $3000. If you go to Best Value Vacs you can buy vacuum chambers fairly cheap though. That would be a start for making a DIY unit. Just need a vacuum pump and a water trap. The chambers are a little small though, if you want to dry much product.


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## Handy Mandy (Dec 5, 2016)

Danielle Sheridan said:


> Hello EVERYONE! I own a commercial freeze dryer, AND I have freeze dried medical cannabis. It was dried in less, than 12 hours and came out BEAUTIFUL!!! The color was electric, the smell was VERY fragrant, it broke up perfectly, AND THE TASTE WAS AMAZING!! Did NOT trim before hand, as you can trim after with ONLY using your fingers to easily break off the leaves, which are perfectly dried, IN A FRACTION(1/10th of the time) of the time needed doing it wet. The "clippings" were ready for making edibles. NO MOLD OR FUNGUS OR DANDER WORRIES ( compromised immune systems)/ NO WORRY OF SMELL WHILE DRYING/ NO TIME HARDLY/ NO WORRY OF TOO HIGH OF TEMP WHILE DRYING!!! THIS IS THE FUTURE!!! ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS????







So do the buds come out crispy like chips or will they remain sticky dense nuggets


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## BobCajun (Apr 24, 2017)

That post I made earlier was regarding commercial or lab freeze driers, that the vacuum alone would freeze the material. Apparently the page I linked is dead now, but anyway that was just from a quick search I had done about freeze drying, I never actually freeze dried anything before.

The reason I'm posting here now is because I saw a video where it showed that you can freeze dry small amounts of foods by using an airtight container with a desiccant in it and applying a vacuum using a "wine preserver" vacuum pump and special stopper. I have everything ready. I used Tritan food containers, they have a rubber seal and locking flaps and are thick walled and solid. Drilled a cork hole in the lid and stuck a vacuum cork in it and the pump was able to cause the lid to suck down considerably and it held overnight as a test. I also got a bag of calcium chloride pellets, used to refill "moisture absorbers", as the desiccant. It liquifies when it absorbs moisture so I'll have to put it in a separate small container and sit that inside the main container so the plant material can't get contaminated. I'll test it out in a while when I need it. I'll probably let the material wilt for about 24-48 hours to reduce the volume first.

Oddly, you don't see many articles on the subject of freeze drying bud. There's no YT videos at all, just on freeze drying in general. Seems like an obvious thing to do to get pretty and flavorful weed. You can let it dry enough that it looks the way you like and then retain it in that condition when fully dry, or at the desired rh. I think I might flatten it somewhat though, for space saving.


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## Budzbuddha (Apr 24, 2017)

hd deuce said:


> u still don't believe in nasa do u
> 
> its fact they didn't go to the moon
> 
> ...


Yeah sure


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## sadanimalknight (Jan 6, 2018)

Looks like I may be of help....

I just so happen to have a freeze drier! I haven’t messed with freeze drying buds before but for the last year I’ve been shoving whatever I can in there to see how it does.

I just trimmed some of my Gorilla Glue #4 a little early to give it a try.

I have a handful of nugs that I will freeze dry and another group I’ll dry and cure regularly. 

I haven’t read Ed Rosenthal's Marijuana Grower's Handbook but I do believe I saw somewhere that the terps are best preserved if the temperature in the chamber stays below 75-80° so I’ve set my unit up to freeze overnight and heat the chamber to 70° When it kicks over to drying.

It will take about 24hr for it to complete a cycle so I’d have at least some news here in a few days.

Unfortunately, the “control” to this experiment won’t be done for a while but I can at least update on how the freeze dried product comes out.

Here’s some of what I’m going to be running...

And the other half in my freeze drier.
 

I’ll post back tomorrow after the unit has cycled and share what I experience.


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## Cold$moke (Jan 6, 2018)

Wont the freezing just break the terpenes off?

Like dry ice extraction?


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## sadanimalknight (Jan 6, 2018)

Cold$moke said:


> Wont the freezing just break the terpenes off?
> 
> Like dry ice extraction?


You know, I don’t know. I just recently started growing and just so happened to have an actual freeze drier. I was curious if anyone else had done this and good old google had this as the top hit. 
Instead of starting a new thread with my 2 cents, i figured I’d just throw in. I saw this thread was originally started in ‘11 but has remained opened and occasionally bumped so no harm right?

And a good way to finally post and contribute instead of lurk.


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## Cold$moke (Jan 6, 2018)

Nope no harm at all science changes every day.

Was just wondering cause im like dont i use dry ice for breaking the terpenes off? Lol

I know i sure as hell dont know it all 

If it works your onto something 


sadanimalknight said:


> You know, I don’t know. I just recently started growing and just so happened to have an actual freeze drier. I was curious if anyone else had done this and good old google had this as the top hit.
> Instead of starting a new thread with my 2 cents, i figured I’d just throw in. I saw this thread was originally started in ‘11 but has remained opened and occasionally bumped so no harm right?
> 
> And a good way to finally post and contribute instead of lurk.


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## Cold$moke (Jan 6, 2018)

@sadanimalknight i sure as hell would be using it for makeing extracts for sure


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## sadanimalknight (Jan 7, 2018)

Cold$moke said:


> @sadanimalknight i sure as hell would be using it for makeing extracts for sure


Funny enough, I’ve been running extracts I’ve gotten locally through it to see if they have been purged correctly, it’s been interesting to see cheap(er) extracts that stay solid (indicating no left over solvent) and other more expensive extracts foam up and then settle down and solidify. 
I am also interested to see if the terps will sublimate and if so, at what vacuum. This unit is semi-automatic with only the length of freeze and drying times along with drying rack temperatures being able to be adjusted. 


Having this freeze drier has been a never ending science experiment on what can and can not be preserved.


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## sadanimalknight (Jan 7, 2018)

Cold$moke said:


> Nope no harm at all science changes every day.
> 
> Was just wondering cause im like dont i use dry ice for breaking the terpenes off? Lol
> 
> ...


Don’t you mean the trics?

I thought terpenes were the “smell and flavor” and the trichomes were the actual thc containing part of the calyx...


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## Cold$moke (Jan 7, 2018)

Oh my bad i thought the terpenes where in the trichomes but
Yes i ment trichs 

I thought thats why the extracts are yummy is because its pure terpenes? From the trichs?

Not an expert though


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## sadanimalknight (Jan 7, 2018)

Cold$moke said:


> Oh my bad i thought the terpenes where in the trichomes but
> Yes i ment trichs
> 
> I thought thats why the extracts are yummy is because its pure terpenes? From the trichs?
> ...


I’m no master grower, but I believe the trick will be pulling the nugs out of the freeze drier before they are 100% dried. That way they won’t be fragile and I won’t break off all the tricomes when moving them to a jar to finish.

From freeze drying food I’ve found that you can think you’re stuff is 100% dry but if one little part anywhere is still moist at all, it will “rehydrate” whatever is around it. That’s bad for my food stores but that’s exactly what I want for my nugs. I’m hoping I can pull them out before they are 100% dry so that way I don’t have to rehydrate them. Just pop in a jar and let equalize. I figure, if I’m able pull the nugs out when they contain about 10% of the water they had, they would be ready for curing. 

If I really wanted to get into it, I could weigh the flowers wet and then periodically throughout the process reweigh them until a desired weight was achieved. You’d have to know an approximate dry weight for your flowers to effectively calculate the water weight. That can be solved by fully drying one nug from the same plant and weighing the before and after.
I’m sure there are rough calculations for this floating around here or elsewhere for calculating a harvest, but to get as close to the optimal amount of moisture you want in your product, it would likely be best to just run a sample and calculate your own harvests moisture/weight content.

That’s all fun and whatnot, but for now, I’m just going to see how well it does at drying.

Im thinking it’s going to be a great way to quickly dry my flowers while maximizing the preservation of smell and taste but it is not a replacement for traditional curing that will further the “ripening” of said flower. 

I’m really intrigued to see if this makes a finer end product or if it produces a flower that’s as good as longer traditional dry and cure regimes just in shorter time. 

I guess we will see!


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## sadanimalknight (Jan 7, 2018)

As an update, I’ve stopped the freeze drier to take a look at how everything is coming along.

First thing I’ve noticed is that the flowers look almost identical to when I put them in. After careful investigating I’ve found the denser nugs and thicker stems are still frozen and will require more time. However I did manage to find a few bits that seemed just right enough to test.


Not bad!

Now, granted I don’t have any of my other stuff to compare flavors and smell to, but, I will say that I am definitely impressed with the amount of flavor and smell that is present after only have been drying for about 8 hours. I will say the taste is a little on the green side. Being a little early to harvest and fresh cut, I’m not surprised though. 

As you can see, it looks as green and perky as they did when I put them in there. 

And for any of you geeks out there, here’s some thermal imaging as well.

As you can see, there is plenty of water left to sublimate out. It will probably take the rest of the day as originally planned.


I do have to say, I’m happy with the potency of my stuff! You know it’s good when you spend a good 10 min blankly staring at the screen pondering what to say next.

I definitely see promising results!


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## sadanimalknight (Jan 8, 2018)

Well as promised, here’s an update.

In just under 12 hours I have gone from frozen to dry! I’ve whisked my nugs out of the drier and straight into the second phase of my experiment which I’m going to do a write up about as soon as I can.

For now, I can say that the one flower the SO and I did sample tasted and hit just like most club weed. Taste and smell was there. Subtle, a little harsh on the throat, but all around a good smoke.
Now that I’m on to my curing stage, it will be interesting to see how this pans out.

So far, I’m impressed. From plant to good smokable product in under 24 hours!
I’m gonna save all the good photos for my write up but here’s the end product

.


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## HookahsGarden (Jan 8, 2018)

Google

Home freeze dryer for beef jerky.
Home models $1800us


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## sadanimalknight (Jan 8, 2018)

HookahsGarden said:


> Google
> 
> Home freeze dryer for beef jerky.
> Home models $1800us


Yep, that’s the Harvest Right freeze drier I use. I have the standard model that was nearly 4K just a year ago. Good to see the price has dropped (those fuckers)

I bought mine because I’m a pretty serious camper, hunter, and a little bit of a prepper.
I love that I can make my own “mountain house” meals which are way tastier than anything store bought. I also love preserving seasonal veggies and fruits to enjoy whenever. And with a supposed 25 year shelf life, I do mean whenever! Also there is no better look than that of your hungry hunting buddy when you bust out a full thanks giving meal when in the bush for two weeks.

Some things dry really well and others horribly. But this thread is about the ability to quickly dry and preserve herbs... which it does exceptionally well it seems.


I do know I replaced the vac pump shortly after getting it. It’s way louder than the 60-70db they claim and I never liked JB brand anything....

I went and got a premium 2 stage 7cfm vac pump and have had no issues since. I almost wish they had an upgrade option to get a yellow jacket or something... oh well, I’m happy with my unit.

Edit:

Not that it matters, but I wouldn’t attempt to make beef jerky in a freeze drier. Anything put in raw will dry out raw. That means the bacteria is still very much present. You preserve the food by placing it in an airtight container along with an O2 scavenger. The lack of any moisture along with this prevents most* bacteria from breeding and spreading to a hazardous level. Any raw meats should always be cooked after rehydrating to kill off any errant bugs. 

*I also say most bacteria from spreading because botulism actually can grow in a no/low oxygen environment. Ensuring the food is absolutely dry is also important. But cleanliness is most important as it is in any food production facility.


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## mothersfinest (Jan 9, 2018)

Wow I sort of randomly was looking into just this and am astonished this tread is current. Post from today? woohoo! Didn't have to sign up or anything, already a member for this resource lol. This is awesome guys! I guess i am going to be buying a freeze dryer. Lol I'm glad the sites are still alive. Still miss OverGrow. I would recommend hanging the herb for a brief period of time to get that more standard hung look, just for appearance if nothing more. Man this almost has a strange de ja vu vibe just finding this lol.


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## Uncle Reefer (Jan 9, 2018)

Very interesting, subcribed


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## sadanimalknight (Jan 9, 2018)

mothersfinest said:


> I would recommend hanging the herb for a brief period of time to get that more standard hung look, just for appearance if nothing more. Man this almost has a strange de ja vu vibe just finding this lol.


I am going to write up all the progress tomorrow (hopefully) once I have some time to sit down and breathe. But for now, I’m going to say you are on to something. One biggest difference between hang dry and freeze dry is that the freeze dried flowers stay preserved almost exactly as they were when you put them in whereas the hang dry gets dense as it shrivels up. 

I will say I’m happy with the freeze dried product. It can be consumed right out of the unit or cured as normal. So far things look good.

I am actually doing a few experiments right now, I may just start a new thread and share my experience in whole. 

I’m also working on gathering up all my stuff for a journal. I’ve done my room from the ground up so lots of fun to share.

Stay tuned!


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## Possum1 (Jan 10, 2018)

sadanimalknight said:


> I am going to write up all the progress tomorrow (hopefully) once I have some time to sit down and breathe. But for now, I’m going to say you are on to something. One biggest difference between hang dry and freeze dry is that the freeze dried flowers stay preserved almost exactly as they were when you put them in whereas the hang dry gets dense as it shrivels up.
> 
> I will say I’m happy with the freeze dried product. It can be consumed right out of the unit or cured as normal. So far things look good.
> 
> ...


Very cool. Thanks for running the experiment and taking the time to post. Followed on to read your experiments and adventures. We have similar interests.


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## hd deuce (Jan 19, 2018)

Budzbuddha said:


> Yeah sure


you probably still suk ur moms tits nasa commercials admit they haven't put a man through the van allen belt and need to develop tech to do so in order to go to mars

moon footage has sounds in it from them pounding a hammer even todays astroNOTS admit sound is impossible in a vacuum do your homework somas boy your bus was so short kids thought you took a yellow cab to school faking tard


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## Uncle Reefer (Jan 19, 2018)

hd deuce said:


> you probably still suk ur moms tits nasa commercials admit they haven't put a man through the van allen belt and need to develop tech to do so in order to go to mars
> 
> moon footage has sounds in it from them pounding a hammer even today's astronauts admit sound is impossible in a vacuum do your homework somas boy your bus was so short kids thought you took a yellow cab to school faking tard


Not to get too into it, however, we are not allowed to treat humans as unsafely as we used to. So to get to the moon and back, hell even Jupiter and back with today's tech at yesterdays safety standards, no problem. At today's standards a whole host of new issues. Another example, if we discovered the internal combustion engine today and we had today's standards there is no way in hell we would have cars or even a lawnmower.


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## sadanimalknight (Jan 21, 2018)

Possum1 said:


> Very cool. Thanks for running the experiment and taking the time to post. Followed on to read your experiments and adventures. We have similar interests.


Between my room and work, the last few weeks have been a sleepless blur. Once everything is hanging or in the freeze drier, I’ll have time to seriously write some stuff.

As a quick update and teaser, freeze dried nugs retain their size, so everything looks bigger. An oz of FD nugs looks like 2. Cures just like hang dry, smokes good as well.


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## KENTA (Jan 21, 2018)

I live in hawaii where the RH is usually well over 70%. I've always just used curing bags and a small fridge. Just make sure there's nothing else inside the fridge for best results. Easy cheap and perfect for preserving long term as well.

Freeze drying sounds very interesting. Great thread!


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## Possum1 (Jan 30, 2018)

sadanimalknight said:


> Between my room and work, the last few weeks have been a sleepless blur. Once everything is hanging or in the freeze drier, I’ll have time to seriously write some stuff.
> 
> As a quick update and teaser, freeze dried nugs retain their size, so everything looks bigger. An oz of FD nugs looks like 2. Cures just like hang dry, smokes good as well.


Still following along. Very interested in the dry/ cure aspect. So from green chop straight into dryer gets similar results; or chop, hang dry, freeze dry?


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## Raudhbjorn (Feb 16, 2018)

sadanimalknight said:


> I will say the taste is a little on the green side. Being a little early to harvest and fresh cut, I’m not surprised though.!...Cures just like hang dry, smokes good as well.


So freeze drying does not replace hang drying, and it doesn't replace curing? Then what's the point? Am I missing something or is this just a $1200 way to chop 4 days off your hang time?


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## CoolerAltec (Feb 23, 2018)

Ive been wondering about this too - thanks for sharing.


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## gb123 (Mar 19, 2018)

cold means a lot when it comes to taste,, and preserving it.


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## Realbax (Mar 23, 2018)

sadanimalknight said:


> Between my room and work, the last few weeks have been a sleepless blur. Once everything is hanging or in the freeze drier, I’ll have time to seriously write some stuff.
> 
> As a quick update and teaser, freeze dried nugs retain their size, so everything looks bigger. An oz of FD nugs looks like 2. Cures just like hang dry, smokes good as well.


What were your final results? Would a small freezer with a vacuum chamber in it produce similar results? The entire curing time would be cut to more like 2-3 weeks rather than 6-8 weeks correct?


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## Dr.J20 (May 9, 2018)

So I got turned on to doing something like Ed Rosenthal's frost-free freezer curing method a while back and I can say that I love it. I picked the freezer up from craigslist for about 100 bucks like 6 years ago. this method is much more practical in my lifestyle. Here's my tek:

1) Chop herb upon desired ripening, trim fan leaves, wash and hang to dry for 5-7 days with an oscillating fan blowing across them on low. 

If I'm going to trim the sugar leaves, i do it either immediately at harvest, or before the next step:

2) Lay (in a cardboard box lined with wax paper) or hang (depends on how much is in my freezer and how much herb there is to cure) the slightly dried bud in my FROST FREE freezer. 

3) Leave herb there for 21-28 days. Remove and let come to room temperature (20-22C/68-72F). (if they were hanging, I prepare a cardboard box with wax paper to place them in for this resting period). 

4) Clip into nuggets and store in dark glass jars in a cool dark place. 

Sneak back into room, open up jars and delight in the fantastic terpene profiles, giggling like a small child with joy 

5) Open jars between 6 and 8 hours later to check their smell, to ensure proper cure has been achieved.

this should keep for up to two years if its reached its proper cure. And, no trichomes are lost, so long as you handle them with care while they're in their frozen state. 

Note: if the buds aren't perfectly cured in the 21-28 day window, you may end up having to burp them in the jar once or twice, but generally, as with all things, once you get the hang of it, you hardly ever have to take that step.


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## OPfarmer (Jul 22, 2018)

Ok
I tried the freezer cure with Auto bubblegum. I did a slow dark dry of whole plants with fan leave cut off, sugar leaves lightly trimmed. Roughly a week or a little more for a stem snap. Then destemmed, and boxed in freezer for maybe a week or a little more again. Then into jars that don't need burping.

Knock you over turpins when you open the jar, buds lost no tricomes, they actually stick to your fingers.

Extreamly aromatic vapor in the vaporizer.
Flavor more clean, minty and smooth. 

I have Jarred, burped and turned buds in the past. Time in the frost free freezer, instead of burping jars is interesting, and worth repeating for me.


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## LinguaPeel (Jul 24, 2018)

gb123 said:


> cold means a lot when it comes to taste,, and preserving it.


Yeah bro the best hash from Antarctica.

"Curing stops at 55 mph" who has insight on this biblical scripture that's been recited for ages?

How you going to freeze bacteria and ferment anything with it? Hmm must be hydro growers holding these confusions.. Waiting for the chems to flash off so the smoke is bearable. Thats not curing.. Thats confusion about the bacterial nature of natural Cannabis.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the sugars can convert in the freezer. I haven't seen it all.. Hell up until a few years ago I thought all weed could be smelled through walls..


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## maysgma (Oct 4, 2018)

Danielle Sheridan said:


> Hello EVERYONE! I own a commercial freeze dryer, AND I have freeze dried medical cannabis. It was dried in less, than 12 hours and came out BEAUTIFUL!!! The color was electric, the smell was VERY fragrant, it broke up perfectly, AND THE TASTE WAS AMAZING!! Did NOT trim before hand, as you can trim after with ONLY using your fingers to easily break off the leaves, which are perfectly dried, IN A FRACTION(1/10th of the time) of the time needed doing it wet. The "clippings" were ready for making edibles. NO MOLD OR FUNGUS OR DANDER WORRIES ( compromised immune systems)/ NO WORRY OF SMELL WHILE DRYING/ NO TIME HARDLY/ NO WORRY OF TOO HIGH OF TEMP WHILE DRYING!!! THIS IS THE FUTURE!!! ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS????


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## maysgma (Oct 4, 2018)

We have a new Harvest Right freeze dryer. How long did you set your freeze time and your dry time? We are ready to do this and don't want to ruin any cannabis. Any suggestions?
thanks


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## maysgma (Oct 4, 2018)

hiw


sadanimalknight said:


> Looks like I may be of help....
> 
> I just so happen to have a freeze drier! I haven’t messed with freeze drying buds before but for the last year I’ve been shoving whatever I can in there to see how it does.
> 
> ...


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## maysgma (Oct 4, 2018)

How did it turn out? how long was the freeze part and dry time?


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## Hempington (Apr 17, 2019)

maysgma said:


> We have a new Harvest Right freeze dryer. How long did you set your freeze time and your dry time? We are ready to do this and don't want to ruin any cannabis. Any suggestions?
> thanks


We have recently purchased one also. Any tips from those who have done it?


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## sadanimalknight (Apr 19, 2019)

Hempington said:


> We have recently purchased one also. Any tips from those who have done it?


Been awhile but I have a HR freeze drier and tried drifting some fresh flowers out in it.

What I did was custom run it on the lowest temp set and froze it for 12hr and set the final dry to 12 hr.

It took over a day to run and realistically I could of gone with less time.

The flowers will look almost identical to when you put them in there. They retain a “fresher” scent than properly dried and cured. Everyone I asked loved the looks and Couldn’t believe what an Oz looked like! 

As far as taste, I found it to be slightly grassy tasting at first, it does mellow out but not completely. 

It smokes fast! 
Since it’s as airy as the day it was picked, a nug just doesn’t go as far as you’d think. Burns fast. Great for J’s and the likes. 

If you want to make concentrates this is the shit! Your flowers will come out so dry they will just crumble to dust! Perfect for bubble bags or extraction tubes.

I’ve found that you can “rehydrate” them by placing in jars with boveda bags and they will return to whatever humidity you like. I found that after sitting in jars they do smooth out the flavors and such but they don’t cure like traditional methods. 

As far as practicality.... I stopped using it for my main flowers besides some novelty. Mainly I’ll throw my shake and popcorn nugs in for making concentrates. Other than that, I’d rather have this beast making freeze dried meals and such. Been a real food saver and great meals for camping, backpacking, hunting, prepping, and the likes.

If you really want some treats, try freeze drying gummy bears, skittles, or other fruit snacks! They are addictive. 


But that’s off topic.


As far as settings, I’d keep the temp under 90 and final dry times 8-12 hrs.
If you see your torr (pressure) stays low for an extended period, you can stop the unit early and check it.

After having this unit for a few years, I’ve gotten a feel for when stuff is done in it.


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## Hempington (Apr 27, 2019)

sadanimalknight said:


> Been awhile but I have a HR freeze drier and tried drifting some fresh flowers out in it.
> 
> What I did was custom run it on the lowest temp set and froze it for 12hr and set the final dry to 12 hr.
> 
> ...



Thanks, it comes in this week. I won't have another harvest until June (6 wks away) but I'll post an update on how it goes. Maybe I'll try the gummy bears and skittles til then! Thanks again.


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## sadanimalknight (May 17, 2019)

Hempington said:


> Thanks, it comes in this week. I won't have another harvest until June (6 wks away) but I'll post an update on how it goes. Maybe I'll try the gummy bears and skittles til then! Thanks again.


If you have any questions on it, you can PM me and I’ll help anyway I can! I’ve done many “experiments” with it so I know a little bit about a little bit. 

Have fun experimenting with it! I’m sure you’ll find plenty of uses for it between harvests!


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## Hempington (Jul 9, 2019)

I've had a chance to run a few batches through it and I'm happy with the purchase. I would not recommend the average grower invest in one though, just due to the cost ($2k +), weight(250lbs) and noise (think vacuum cleaner running for 12 hours straight). I needed it for a large harvest that I really wanted to all dry equally and pretty quick, but not smell like hay. I knew trying to hang that much flower was not going to work and the machine did what I hoped it would. We trimmed all the buds and put them in the deep freezer. After a day in there, we ran them through the freeze dryer for 8-9 hours with max shelf temp at 70*F (ran some more and some less and settled on the 8-9 hrs/70*F). That time and temp got most of the water out and it left them just shy of dry (stem not snapping). Then left it out on a rack for about a day and then it was ready for the jar. Burped the jars over a couple days, even dumping it out on a rack again if needed, until it was just right. Pics are of the machine, the plants a couple weeks in and then again a couple weeks before harvest.


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## Hydro247 (Jul 20, 2019)

What size harvest right would I need for 4-6lbs harvest? Really interested in this thread! I believe this is the future of drying for sure


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## Hydro247 (Jul 20, 2019)

Could you give me some more info on how you did this? I harvest 4-6lbs of medicine at a time and would love to give freeze drying a shot. What size unit and what settings etc would you recommend? Any tips or tricks would be appreciated!




Danielle Sheridan said:


> Hello EVERYONE! I own a commercial freeze dryer, AND I have freeze dried medical cannabis. It was dried in less, than 12 hours and came out BEAUTIFUL!!! The color was electric, the smell was VERY fragrant, it broke up perfectly, AND THE TASTE WAS AMAZING!! Did NOT trim before hand, as you can trim after with ONLY using your fingers to easily break off the leaves, which are perfectly dried, IN A FRACTION(1/10th of the time) of the time needed doing it wet. The "clippings" were ready for making edibles. NO MOLD OR FUNGUS OR DANDER WORRIES ( compromised immune systems)/ NO WORRY OF SMELL WHILE DRYING/ NO TIME HARDLY/ NO WORRY OF TOO HIGH OF TEMP WHILE DRYING!!! THIS IS THE FUTURE!!! ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS????


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## Hempington (Jul 30, 2019)

Hydro247 said:


> Could you give me some more info on how you did this? I harvest 4-6lbs of medicine at a time and would love to give freeze drying a shot. What size unit and what settings etc would you recommend? Any tips or tricks would be appreciated!


I bought the smallest Harvest Right freeze dryer. It took 4-5 runs to dry what turned out to be 2.5 lb of finished product. Each run was about 8-9 hrs. Taking a que from the preppers who use this for food, I pre-froze the buds for a day or so. This reduces the machine run time by about half. Highly recommend the prefreeze. Use the custom settings and set your "shelf temp" around 70. Maybe even as high as 90. You'll need to play with time and temp to dial it in.

I like the machine, a lot, but I would not say it's the same as hanging a whole plant at 60% humidity, 60 degrees, two weeks, ect.. BUT it is a great tool when you can't create that perfect drying environment. This knocks out the basic drying stage and should prevent any mold issues, which was my main reason for choosing freeze drying to begin with. I still had to burp the jars and let the bud go through a curing. After about 4 weeks, it's ready.


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## HeatlessBBQ (Jul 30, 2019)

Freezing Cannabis [from My experience] makes the final product to smoke or eat 
taste like greenhouse water.


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## colleen dawn (Oct 2, 2019)

Danielle Sheridan said:


> Hello EVERYONE! I own a commercial freeze dryer, AND I have freeze dried medical cannabis. It was dried in less, than 12 hours and came out BEAUTIFUL!!! The color was electric, the smell was VERY fragrant, it broke up perfectly, AND THE TASTE WAS AMAZING!! Did NOT trim before hand, as you can trim after with ONLY using your fingers to easily break off the leaves, which are perfectly dried, IN A FRACTION(1/10th of the time) of the time needed doing it wet. The "clippings" were ready for making edibles. NO MOLD OR FUNGUS OR DANDER WORRIES ( compromised immune systems)/ NO WORRY OF SMELL WHILE DRYING/ NO TIME HARDLY/ NO WORRY OF TOO HIGH OF TEMP WHILE DRYING!!! THIS IS THE FUTURE!!! ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS????


Have you tested your terpene levels after freeze-drying?


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## herbganji (Feb 9, 2020)

Any updates on this tech? I am about to harvest and have a harvest right freeze dryer I'll be using for part of my drying. Just looking for insight.


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## catilio (Feb 21, 2020)

I've been freeze drying using the Ed Rosenthal's method, after read about it in ICMAG.

Basically, the same as some said above:

Harvest
start regular drying process and wait the stem a almost about to snap.
Put them in paper bags or cardboard boxes inside the freezer in my kitchen.
Wait 10-15 days
Thaw them
Jar them

Cleanest and harshless smoke from my buds.

Some ICMAG users also used coventional freezers (not no-frost ones) but I need to read more about it.

One thing that I liked is that when the process is well executed, the flowers will remain almost as if they were recently harvested...but they are dry...


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## mr. childs (Feb 21, 2020)

catilio said:


> I've been freeze drying using the Ed Rosenthal's method, after read about it in ICMAG.
> 
> Basically, the same as some said above:
> 
> ...


retains all the terpenes, sublimation i think is the science term & process. just doesnt smell as strong as room temp flower, but thats the point to keep the good stuff in the bud & not in the atmosphere volatizing


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## MindOnMyFlower (May 8, 2021)

There are no shortcuts or easy ways to freeze dry your marijuana any other way. You're either committed to spend at least about $3000 to buy a freeze dryer and get successful results!
Or you'll have to get used your flower the way it is, no matter how good of a grower you are or how the quality of your flower is.
Marijuana put in a freeze dryer completely changes the quality of the flower, like a whole new league. It'll be above the top shelf marijuana sold at dispensaries.
A fourth of 1 gram got be AND a friend STONED. Ridiculous!
I've been growing for years and never grew any flower that was as potent and tasting so fresh! 
The $3000 is definitely worth the investment to dry and cure the flower.
The quality of marijuana harvested without a freeze dryer simply can't be competed with the quality of marijuana harvested with a freeze dryer. 
In all honesty, your best chance is to actually buy the freeze dryer instead of making your own type of freeze dryer.
Be patient and save up money to spend on a freeze dryer. Instantly, you'll notice the quality difference after using a freeze dryer. You'll understand how impossible it is to find marijuana with better quality unless it's harvested with a freeze dryer too.


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## EhCndGrower (May 8, 2021)

Hefty bump of a thread but YES invest in one of these things. The buds are just amazing. Here’s a pic of some Lemonchello Haze I took down yesterday, freeze dried overnight and smoked this afternoon before walking my dog. Lovely sweet citrus peel taste with some creaminess, and she’s a lovely slightly energetic, happy and mellow strain


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## hempty (May 17, 2021)

EhCndGrower said:


> Hefty bump of a thread but YES invest in one of these things. The buds are just amazing. Here’s a pic of some Lemonchello Haze I took down yesterday, freeze dried overnight and smoked this afternoon before walking my dog. Lovely sweet citrus peel taste with some creaminess, and she’s a lovely slightly energetic, happy and mellow strain
> 
> View attachment 4897333


Just curious, what do you limit your shelf temps to? Ive had a harvest right freeze dryer for years doing all sorts of food, but have never used it to dry flower. Ive read wide ranges of temps from 35F to 70F. The problem with vacuum is that evaporation points of just about everything move down the temperature scale. A lot of people use freeze dryers for bubble hash and keep the shelf temps low, around 45-50F which is right in the middle of the range Ive seen people write about. Obviously terpene retention is really important. As far as curing, since the enzymes are still present in the freeze dried flower, when you bring it back up in RH, they will do their work to break down the chlorophyll etc, just much faster than with ordinary curing.


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## EhCndGrower (May 18, 2021)

hempty said:


> Just curious, what do you limit your shelf temps to? Ive had a harvest right freeze dryer for years doing all sorts of food, but have never used it to dry flower. Ive read wide ranges of temps from 35F to 70F. The problem with vacuum is that evaporation points of just about everything move down the temperature scale. A lot of people use freeze dryers for bubble hash and keep the shelf temps low, around 45-50F which is right in the middle of the range Ive seen people write about. Obviously terpene retention is really important. As far as curing, since the enzymes are still present in the freeze dried flower, when you bring it back up in RH, they will do their work to break down the chlorophyll etc, just much faster than with ordinary curing.



in all honesty I’m just throwing them in there freshly trimmed and leave it on default tempt setting (I think 125f) and really haven’t had many issues this way. They do come out like styrofoam and dry, but thrown in a paper bag for a few hours in my basement reconstitutes some moisture back in. If I’m patient I let stand in a paper bag for 6-8hours before jarring. It’s sometimes only a couple of hours if guests and other items need to be taken care of that day. I did try lowering my trays down to 80f 2 plants ago, but takes a bit longer to do and the product was pretty much going the same way for me had I left them in at their default setting. I just know that 9pm start at night usually means my buds are done around 12:30-1pm the next day. I let the FD go a little longer if I had my buds washed them or frozen because I didn’t have enough room on the trays for everyone. My terpenes are still VERY present doing the default, and the FD smells like weed for a day as the ice melts from the inside of the drum. Wish I could be more technical with my settings for you but I just don’t know more than that.


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## hempty (May 18, 2021)

EhCndGrower said:


> in all honesty I’m just throwing them in there freshly trimmed and leave it on default tempt setting (I think 125f) and really haven’t had many issues this way. They do come out like styrofoam and dry, but thrown in a paper bag for a few hours in my basement reconstitutes some moisture back in. If I’m patient I let stand in a paper bag for 6-8hours before jarring. It’s sometimes only a couple of hours if guests and other items need to be taken care of that day. I did try lowering my trays down to 80f 2 plants ago, but takes a bit longer to do and the product was pretty much going the same way for me had I left them in at their default setting. I just know that 9pm start at night usually means my buds are done around 12:30-1pm the next day. I let the FD go a little longer if I had my buds washed them or frozen because I didn’t have enough room on the trays for everyone. My terpenes are still VERY present doing the default, and the FD smells like weed for a day as the ice melts from the inside of the drum. Wish I could be more technical with my settings for you but I just don’t know more than that.


Thanks for the reply! Yea if the machine smells strongly of weed while the ice melts, it’s likely that terpenes evaporated and were captured in the ice. I know that at normal atmospheric pressure, volatile terpenes start evaporating at 70F. In vacuum, it is lower. I may try it at a lower temp setting to see how it turns out. I’m used to 36+ hour dry cycles so the wait doesn’t bother me lol


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## Cyah1990 (Jun 2, 2021)

EhCndGrower said:


> in all honesty I’m just throwing them in there freshly trimmed and leave it on default tempt setting (I think 125f) and really haven’t had many issues this way. They do come out like styrofoam and dry, but thrown in a paper bag for a few hours in my basement reconstitutes some moisture back in. If I’m patient I let stand in a paper bag for 6-8hours before jarring. It’s sometimes only a couple of hours if guests and other items need to be taken care of that day. I did try lowering my trays down to 80f 2 plants ago, but takes a bit longer to do and the product was pretty much going the same way for me had I left them in at their default setting. I just know that 9pm start at night usually means my buds are done around 12:30-1pm the next day. I let the FD go a little longer if I had my buds washed them or frozen because I didn’t have enough room on the trays for everyone. My terpenes are still VERY present doing the default, and the FD smells like weed for a day as the ice melts from the inside of the drum. Wish I could be more technical with my settings for you but I just don’t know more than that.


seen this on Amazon, wonder if it would work


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## EhCndGrower (Jun 2, 2021)

Cyah1990 said:


> seen this on Amazon, wonder if it would work
> 
> View attachment 4915128


completely different and doesn’t preserve the terp, and takes a longer time compare to a freeze dryer. I tried once with my first outdoor grow of some Fruity Pebbles and is pretty bad. Also had some mold issue on some buds but these were clean and still came out bad


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## hempty (Jun 5, 2021)

EhCndGrower said:


> completely different and doesn’t preserve the terp, and takes a longer time compare to a freeze dryer. I tried once with my first outdoor grow of some Fruity Pebbles and is pretty bad. Also had some mold issue on some buds but these were clean and still came out bad


So I did a little experiment. Did one batch 35F shelf limit (which gets as high as 42F on the tray heaters), 12 hours final dry. The machine automatically goes into small batch mode (25 cycles) because vapor pressure does not ever reach the default 500/600 mtorr annealing settings. Even after 12 hours the center of the buds still had some moisture which caused the buds to go from crispy to fairly moist all on their own. By the time I realized it, it was too late the machine had already been defrosted and I don't think there was enough moisture in the buds to freeze and run it through again. I think the stems inside the buds resist sublimation at that shelf temp. Almost no smell in the defrost water and only slight odor in the machine. Im going to have to cure those the standard way I think. 

Second batch, 40F shelf limit (which gets as high as 50F), 14 hours final dry. Buds came out COMPLETELY dried out and I noticed more terp smell in the water and in the machine after defrosting. So, I think next time Im going to go right in the middle. 37F shelf limit, 13 hours final dry, or maybe do 35F again with an even longer final dry (18 hours?)

Both of these batches had zero grassy chlorophyll smells at all. The first batch is super pungent, and jarred with bovedas the 2nd batch is starting to restore its smell as the bovedas do their work.

So to recap, I think 35F is the sweet spot if you want to retain as much terpene content as possible in the final product, just a longer final dry time is needed to squeeze out the core moisture. As shelf temperature rises, a noticeable amount of terpene smell is present in the machine and the defrost water, so there is terpene loss, but the buds dry much faster. In my case too fast.

Just thought I would post this up in case anyone else has a freeze dryer and thought about doing low shelf temp drying.


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## changarian (Aug 5, 2021)

Very interesting thread. 

Is every commercial producer using this? Is this why the product in the shop always looks so fresh, yet super dry and with a strong smell? 

Can someone help me to understand this (harvest right fd):

Food Per Batch
Fresh: 4-7 LBS
Freeze Dried: 1-1.5 GAL

Annually
Fresh: 840 LBS
Freeze Dried: 195 GAL

thanks!


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## EhCndGrower (Aug 5, 2021)

changarian said:


> Very interesting thread.
> 
> Is every commercial producer using this? Is this why the product in the shop always looks so fresh, yet super dry and with a strong smell?
> 
> ...


no idea on the shops, but yeah it does come out dry but smells amazing. Although 6-8 hours after drying in a paper bag will add some moisture back and soften the buds up a little. I just know I don't wanna go back to my regular drying method in paper bags. No guessing game anymore and no burping of the jars either.

I believe the “per batch weight“ is the wet weight it can handle on the trays. There isn’t that big of a space between the trays and can’t freeze too much liquids because of the tray depth height. I think I mentioned earlier that can fit roughly 900-950g of semi crammed wet bud on all 4 trays in total. Plus I think they are basically making the annual rate as if you are doing a load every other day, because it needs almost 24hrs to rest and defrost the ice on the inside of the machine.


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## changarian (Aug 5, 2021)

EhCndGrower said:


> no idea on the shops, but yeah it does come out dry but smells amazing. Although 6-8 hours after drying in a paper bag will add some moisture back and soften the buds up a little. I just know I don't wanna go back to my regular drying method in paper bags. No guessing game anymore and no burping of the jars either.
> 
> I believe the “per batch weight“ is the wet weight it can handle on the trays. There isn’t that big of a space between the trays and can’t freeze too much liquids because of the tray depth height. I think I mentioned earlier that can fit roughly 900-950g of semi crammed wet bud on all 4 trays in total. Plus I think they are basically making the annual rate as if you are doing a load every other day, because it needs almost 24hrs to rest and defrost the ice on the inside of the machine.


Thanks for the answer. 
This would save so much time and effort plus you get a good product?! I'm in. I guess. I emailed harvestright, shipping outside the US would add 200$
Problem with the small fd is they don't sell it with 220v only 110v. So I would need the medium size. And i have to pay 7% customs on the price incl. shipping and on that another 19% tax. This adds up to a price I have to think twice about. 
I looked into freeze dryer on the national market but what I found is only lab and industrial machines which cost as much as my car and beyond. 
Maybe I get lucky and find a used one!

cheers!


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## EhCndGrower (Aug 5, 2021)

changarian said:


> Thanks for the answer.
> This would save so much time and effort plus you get a good product?! I'm in. I guess. I emailed harvestright, shipping outside the US would add 200$
> Problem with the small fd is they don't sell it with 220v only 110v. So I would need the medium size. And i have to pay 7% customs on the price incl. shipping and on that another 19% tax. This adds up to a price I have to think twice about.
> I looked into freeze dryer on the national market but what I found is only lab and industrial machines which cost as much as my car and beyond.
> ...


Are you a fellow Canuck? If so, we went through the Canadian distributor Juicerville.ca I do believe because of the whole Covid thing, that they are behind on orders by a couple months. Got our medium size ordered in late Feb and didn’t get it until mid April, but didn’t use until last September because we didn’t have a 20Amp plug for the unit. Still on an old fuse box, and finally upgraded to a breaker switch panel and got her working.

The product is amazing from smell, taste and a better high I find to my old method.


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## changarian (Aug 6, 2021)

EhCndGrower said:


> Are you a fellow Canuck? If so, we went through the Canadian distributor Juicerville.ca I do believe because of the whole Covid thing, that they are behind on orders by a couple months. Got our medium size ordered in late Feb and didn’t get it until mid April, but didn’t use until last September because we didn’t have a 20Amp plug for the unit. Still on an old fuse box, and finally upgraded to a breaker switch panel and got her working.
> 
> The product is amazing from smell, taste and a better high I find to my old method.
> 
> ...


Unfortunately no Canadian, I'm from Europe and usually not active in any forum but since laws have changed in the U.S. and Canada, you guys are a great source for information and facts. 
We are not very progressive and do things like we always do, never tried to change my running system myself. Until now. 
This freeze drying topic really got me hooked. I still didn't find anything affordable in europe or it has the same price and design like the harvestright but is from China (alibabaCOM). 
I did the math for the medium harvest right (~2700$), it would cost me 4300$ w shipping, custom and tax. 
But if I see your fresh looking product I really have to think about it. Looks very good, not brownish at all. And this would save me ~2weeks between grows, because I only have one room available to work in. 

Thanks for the Infos!


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## EhCndGrower (Aug 6, 2021)

changarian said:


> Unfortunately no Canadian, I'm from Europe and usually not active in any forum but since laws have changed in the U.S. and Canada, you guys are a great source for information and facts.
> We are not very progressive and do things like we always do, never tried to change my running system myself. Until now.
> This freeze drying topic really got me hooked. I still didn't find anything affordable in europe or it has the same price and design like the harvestright but is from China (alibabaCOM).
> I did the math for the medium harvest right (~2700$), it would cost me 4300$ w shipping, custom and tax.
> ...


Well I wish you the best of luck in finding one eventually. Just make sure you don’t buy their medical line freeze dryer because the trays are closer spaced and won’t allow your bigger buds to fit on the tray to dry. Be a shame to break up a trophy nugg


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## cancerkiller (Aug 23, 2021)

EhCndGrower said:


> Are you a fellow Canuck? If so, we went through the Canadian distributor Juicerville.ca I do believe because of the whole Covid thing, that they are behind on orders by a couple months. Got our medium size ordered in late Feb and didn’t get it until mid April, but didn’t use until last September because we didn’t have a 20Amp plug for the unit. Still on an old fuse box, and finally upgraded to a breaker switch panel and got her working.
> 
> The product is amazing from smell, taste and a better high I find to my old method.
> 
> ...


that look's amazing!
i ordered a medium pharmaceutical one last night before i saw this thread.
thanks for the pictures.
i'm a medical oral user only and after freeze drying i'm gonna try dry sift in a pollen extractor and then press.
ur buds look beautiful and appreciate any tips.


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## EhCndGrower (Aug 23, 2021)

I just know that for my next attempt at drying I’m going to lower my tray temps for the final dry. I’ve left them at the default temps for my dries, except for one. I recently got a job at a local rec. cannabis store and lent out some sampls. They liked but they said it was missing the terps that would send them over the top. The default setting they think cooked some of them off, but I’ve enjoyed the default high I’ve gotten. Plus I’ve liked the taste/flavour I’ve been getting, but I’ve been smoking 3 years to their 20+ years of use. So I’m gonna try a lower and slower setting. I would usually put them on at 9pm and finish around 1-2pm the following afternoon. So I’m thinking of dropping the trays down to the 80-85, start at regular 9pm and let them go until 7pm. I tried lower temps on a Moby Dick harvest but pulled them too soon from the drier at that 2pm finish. Centre of my bigger buds were still cold/icy moist, and so I’m thinking a few more hours will be needed at that temp. See if there is any change with my buds and go from there.

best of luck when you get your unit and I will report back if I find the lower temp setting works better.


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## cancerkiller (Aug 23, 2021)

EhCndGrower said:


> I just know that for my next attempt at drying I’m going to lower my tray temps for the final dry. I’ve left them at the default temps for my dries, except for one. I recently got a job at a local rec. cannabis store and lent out some sampls. They liked but they said it was missing the terps that would send them over the top. The default setting they think cooked some of them off, but I’ve enjoyed the default high I’ve gotten. Plus I’ve liked the taste/flavour I’ve been getting, but I’ve been smoking 3 years to their 20+ years of use. So I’m gonna try a lower and slower setting. I would usually put them on at 9pm and finish around 1-2pm the following afternoon. So I’m thinking of dropping the trays down to the 80-85, start at regular 9pm and let them go until 7pm. I tried lower temps on a Moby Dick harvest but pulled them too soon from the drier at that 2pm finish. Centre of my bigger buds were still cold/icy moist, and so I’m thinking a few more hours will be needed at that temp. See if there is any change with my buds and go from there.
> 
> best of luck when you get your unit and I will report back if I find the lower temp setting works better.


thank you!
u made my day after dropping $2900 last nght. no more curing!

i'm like a little kid waiting for Christmas. i've got a plant that sb ready to try on as soon as it gets here!


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## GrowurownNewEngland (Aug 29, 2021)

Hello. I spotted this forum and joined to message you after buying a harvest right. Curious as to any tips you can give me. Currently harvesting and eager to sample. Have 1st run in now for 22 hrs at default.


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## EhCndGrower (Aug 30, 2021)

GrowurownNewEngland said:


> Hello. I spotted this forum and joined to message you after buying a harvest right. Curious as to any tips you can give me. Currently harvesting and eager to sample. Have 1st run in now for 22 hrs at default.


You're probably looking at 15-16hrs tops for drying at default tray temps. Unless you did a bud wash beforehand and loaded your trays. You can go closer to the 18-19hr mark. Just make sure you let your buds sit in a paper bag for a few hours, regain some moisture and then jar ‘em up


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## GrowurownNewEngland (Aug 30, 2021)

I appreciate your reply I had already run my first batch so I will take that into consideration on my next and adjust I have been looking forward to this for a long time as my environment for drying and curing are not the best I will post some pics to this thread tomorrow my first batch will be readyGood luck with your endeavors my friend I appreciate your time


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