Efficient jar curing

When curing, where along the RH range do You operate?

What's your typical Day 1 jar RH, Week 1 jar RH, Week 2 jar RH, Week 3 jar RH?

And what about buds tell you they are done curing?

The RH in the drying/curing area and the bud are both between 45 and 65%. If I dry until a drywall meter indicates the biggest buds are between 6 and 10%, I can pretty much tell where Day 1 curing RH will be. So, I'm getting closer to being able to consistently start curing where I want RH. Recently, I've been aiming for 52-55% RH for Day 1 curing.

I could be wrong, but it seems like a Day 1 curing RH of 60-65% in the jar just adds time to the cure. And I don't think it's necessary to burp across the entire curing RH range (45-65%). Letting a plant hang an extra day or two is a lot less labor than burping throughout a week. Also, burping just seems like a means to an end -- being able to keep the lid shut on a stable RH at or near 50% (where mold is avoided) appears to be the primary goal. Within a few days of burping once or twice daily, I should be able to confirm a relatively stable jar RH and then seal the jar until curing's complete (occasionally rolling/tumbling the jar).

YouTube and even Rollitup threads that I've read provide general ranges with wide variations in curing time.

Put another way, I feel like I'm kicking it between the goal posts but I want to be shooting a high caliber weapon at a bullseye from close range.

I hang dry for 10 -14 days until the small stems snap.
Then I jar up with a 58% #8 boveda and forget it. No burping- everything has been great.
I prefer the 58% over the 62 as the 62 weed has to be broken up and left in the tray a bit to smoke good. The 58 is perfect right out of the jar.
I have also used a moisture meter into a big stem- I have found 11-12% is a good target but honestly I only used it once and now go by experience.

i've been drying until the leaves are crispy but stems bendy. at this point i take the weed out of the drying space for trimming, which i spread out over a couple of days. when i'm trimming, the buds are exposed to the humidity of the house, which is about 53-55%. as i trim, i pop the nugs in a jar with a humidity meter so i can keep an eye on things. this method has given me trimmed weed at about 58-63% according to the meters. at this point i keep the jars in a space that i pass by multiple time a day so i can burp and continue to monitor the readings. i find i'm burping about 2-3x a day over the course of a few days. when the jar reads 60% consistently for two days straight, i move the weed to grove bags for curing. after two weeks in the bags, i will break ounces down into smaller bags for personal use and gifting, and heat-seal the extra grove bags for longer term storage.

They are never done. Long term storage is still curing. In general tho the buds rock up, condense and are much harder to break up also burn much slower

Bud man 43 said:

I hang dry for 10 -14 days until the small stems snap.
Then I jar up with a 58% #8 boveda and forget it. No burping- everything has been great.
I prefer the 58% over the 62 as the 62 weed has to be broken up and left in the tray a bit to smoke good. The 58 is perfect right out of the jar.
I have also used a moisture meter into a big stem- I have found 11-12% is a good target but honestly I only used it once and now go by experience.

Click to expand...

I have no doubt that you can cure effectively at 10% moisture -- some online sellers advertise that they do. But, at least in my climate, you're not finishing (i.e., unlocking the flavors) within a month.

Unlike common retail bud, apparently competition bud is dried to ~5% moisture. It just so happens that when I dry until all big colas are dried down to at least 6% moisture (using a 2-pin drywall meter), Day 1 RH in whatever container you use is ~52%. At least for me. Within a day or two, I can seal it and forget about, aside from the occasional tumble. That's how I will ensure that smell, flavor, and texture are how I want them -- within a month.

I'm trying my approach on 4 Cherry Pound Cake that are finishing now (much eaelier than the rest of this round because I started them 1/2-way through the previous round...).

It also helps that mold is virtually eliminated at 50% RH and I'm already at 52% on Day 1 and finishing between 46 and 49% RH.

I recently finished a round dried to ~ 6-10% moisture and it had to air out for a few days before that last bit of RH/vapor around it evaporated, unlocking more of the flavor. Smelled great though.

Does curing help the potency?

Hiroller718 said:

Does curing help the potency?

Click to expand...

Generally no- makes the smoke smoother