Thumbs Up on Frigidare Drying Method

[Jimster]

Since I've been growing, nothing strikes fear in me more than the drying process. Curing is pretty easy and straightforward, but drying is walking a very thin line between drying too quickly and getting mold or mildew. Both can happen overnight and strike without warning. About 6 months ago I saw a post about drying in a refrigerator. It wasn't too popular of an idea from my memory, but it appealed to me.
I took a sizable raw branch from a freshly sacrificed plant and simply set on inside a frost free refrigerator I had. Over the course of about 2 weeks, I kept my eye on it and I removed it today. It is still not totally dried to the point it is ready for curing, but it has dried perfectly and totally free from mold or other problems.
I'm going to try this on a larger scale to try to recapture the old Piney taste that I remember from the late 80s, when Hawaiian made it's way to the NE at $125/Oz. I've tried to capture it, and it was almost uncured in appearance. Small, bright Green pointy buds, like tiny Christmas trees!. I'm hoping the fridge drying method helps to preserve the more sensitive Terps profile. I have some Hawaiian strains I'm going to try the dry with... hopefully I'll recapture the old Piney taste

 

[BloodShot]

I've read that same thread a while back and I am interested in how your refrigerator drying goes.
As I recall it wasn't a very popular/welcomed idea.

 

[Jimster]

I've read that same thread a while back and I am interested in how your refrigerator drying goes.
As I recall it wasn't a very popular/welcomed idea.

I seem to remember the same reaction among some members . For me, so far, it has worked great with no mold at all, and very slowly dried. It would probably take a month to fully dry in there, so I'm experimenting to see if pre drying a little before the fridge helps things a little.
Now, can anyone tell me a legitimate reason this is a bad idea?

 

[Buzzer777]

I also am very curious..The RH here is about 10-15% in the summer and I need 2x humidifiers going in the drying closet to get it up to 50%.

 

[Animal Chin]

I dont use a fridge but I use an ac along with a carbon air scrubber and hepa filter air purifier.
I drop the temps to the low 60s. RH is usually around 30-50% and it will take about 10-15 days to dry with no mold issues. I also cure my weed in a wine fridge set at 55 in containers with the air vacuumed out but with a few Boveda packs in the containers. I love the results all the cool temps and low RH deliver in the end

 

[xPeacePipex]

As long as the refrigerator is sterilized thoroughly it can be a great way to go low and slow ...

I have had to have the walk aside put half dried flowers in the refrigerator as well as germinating seeds due to being unexpectedly admitted in the hospital for a couple days. Yet I have never tried it from start to finish even though I have dried out tobacco and buds outside with around the same temp and RH in the fall months. Best smoke ever, and I suspect this is due to the fluctuations between day and night temp and humidity.

 

[Jimster]

I dont use a fridge but I use an ac along with a carbon air scrubber and hepa filter air purifier.
I drop the temps to the low 60s. RH is usually around 30-50% and it will take about 10-15 days to dry with no mold issues. I also cure my weed in a wine fridge set at 55 in containers with the air vacuumed out but with a few Boveda packs in the containers. I love the results all the cool temps and low RH deliver in the end

I have an old wine cave as well that I replaced the compressor on decades ago. It still works well but I'd be a bit nervous about the chance of picking up mold, since the air circulation is pretty poor. It wouldn't hurt to throw a branch in it to see if I get any mold issues or not... thee Frigidaire seems to work great. It dried everything evenly and slowly, although it still has the hay smell... next step is the cure. I might experiment with it as well to try to preserve the terp profiles. Curing gets rid of the chlorophyll, but also seems to take away the green color and some of the tastes. Don't get me wrong... I don't have any problems with drying and curing, but I am looking to get the old style flavors from decades ago. I guess it could also be my aging tastes and lack of variety or the incorrect strains that I'm using. My next try is going to include a few Hawaiian strains to see if it is me or the cure.

 

[Jimster]

Just an update. The buds have slowly dried to the point that I could remove and trim the buds easily. There was absolutely no evidence of mold or mildew and the buds were all uniformly dried. I'm not quite ready to jar them yet as I'm waiting for the internal moisture to wick out of the stems interior. The harsh hay smell and taste has disappeared and it is smokable in it's present form. After a month curing0aging, the flavor really seems to develop. Pictures will be forthcoming.

 

[Aqua Man]

Awesome it worked out then. Looking forward to giving it a try with some.

 

[Jimster]

Awesome it worked out then. Looking forward to giving it a try with some.

It worked great! Just lay them on newspapers open and stack them on the different shelves. I don't know what would happen if you used the vegetable drawers though... it might not get enough airflow.
The wife wasn't too keen on her desserts smelling a little, though! :)

 

[Aqua Man]

It worked great! Just lay them on newspapers open and stack them on the different shelves. I don't know what would happen if you used the vegetable drawers though... it might not get enough airflow.
The wife wasn't too keen on her desserts smelling a little, though! :)

Nice I was gonna do paper bags.

 

[Rikismom420]

Since I've been growing, nothing strikes fear in me more than the drying process. Curing is pretty easy and straightforward, but drying is walking a very thin line between drying too quickly and getting mold or mildew. Both can happen overnight and strike without warning. About 6 months ago I saw a post about drying in a refrigerator. It wasn't too popular of an idea from my memory, but it appealed to me.
I took a sizable raw branch from a freshly sacrificed plant and simply set on inside a frost free refrigerator I had. Over the course of about 2 weeks, I kept my eye on it and I removed it today. It is still not totally dried to the point it is ready for curing, but it has dried perfectly and totally free from mold or other problems.
I'm going to try this on a larger scale to try to recapture the old Piney taste that I remember from the late 80s, when Hawaiian made it's way to the NE at $125/Oz. I've tried to capture it, and it was almost uncured in appearance. Small, bright Green pointy buds, like tiny Christmas trees!. I'm hoping the fridge drying method helps to preserve the more sensitive Terps profile. I have some Hawaiian strains I'm going to try the dry with... hopefully I'll recapture the old Piney taste

I might try that also. Mine dry in a week , but I have more heat in my space then I should ..but that is good to know it worked...worth a try. Curing has changed the smell from new bud smell, to odd smell and back to piney Xmas tree smell. Will try it .been using my cannbutter for a awhile , which turned came out good from trim leaves and a few small buds uncured..but going for the fridge dry for sure
Happy growing

 

[Jack og]

Since I've been growing, nothing strikes fear in me more than the drying process. Curing is pretty easy and straightforward, but drying is walking a very thin line between drying too quickly and getting mold or mildew. Both can happen overnight and strike without warning. About 6 months ago I saw a post about drying in a refrigerator. It wasn't too popular of an idea from my memory, but it appealed to me.
I took a sizable raw branch from a freshly sacrificed plant and simply set on inside a frost free refrigerator I had. Over the course of about 2 weeks, I kept my eye on it and I removed it today. It is still not totally dried to the point it is ready for curing, but it has dried perfectly and totally free from mold or other problems.
I'm going to try this on a larger scale to try to recapture the old Piney taste that I remember from the late 80s, when Hawaiian made it's way to the NE at $125/Oz. I've tried to capture it, and it was almost uncured in appearance. Small, bright Green pointy buds, like tiny Christmas trees!. I'm hoping the fridge drying method helps to preserve the more sensitive Terps profile. I have some Hawaiian strains I'm going to try the dry with... hopefully I'll recapture the old Piney taste

I make live resin this way. Freeze dry and then a quick ethanol wash, soak. Then I put the open container of the ethanol that has the essence and thc full spectrum in it and I let the evaporative process remove the ethanol, takes a few weeks to where I have a gel like formation which under low low hot plate I remove the rest of the alcohol, vacuum and I ha e Golden live resin that has not been de carbed, smoke that and man that terpes are there along with the other minor cabinoids that would otherwise be destroyed, use a temp spec evaporator to get that full spectrum goodness, 250f seems to gain the best of both sides, higher temps bring on the thc so start the smoke at 215and ramp up to about 345f and it’s about the best smoke one can get

 

[PlumberSoCal]

It worked great! Just lay them on newspapers open and stack them on the different shelves. I don't know what would happen if you used the vegetable drawers though... it might not get enough airflow.
The wife wasn't too keen on her desserts smelling a little, though! :)

Count me in. Got a 4 cu ft fridge on my patio and this gives me an excuse to drink all the beer

 

[Jimster]

Nice I was gonna do paper bags.

I was considering keeping it in paper bags, as had been suggested. I tried, as an experiment, just laying them on the newspapers, to allow the air to circulate more. This is based on midnight snacking. If something isn't wrapped up, it dries out slowly in the fridge, at least the one I use. If it is wrapped, like cheese or something, I get mold from the slightly higher humidity and less airflow. I don't know if a paper bag would cause this problem or not, but I had great and even drying in about 14 days just laying them on the shelf. When I took the buds out of the fridge, they seemed almost too dry, but after sitting at room temp, they softened up to the perfect consistency for final trimming. Once I get them to degree of dryness, I'll put them in mason jars. FWIW, I just tried the 1st bowl of the "trial" buds and was very pleasantly surprised by the total lack of harshness and hay taste, even though this hasn't been cured, My curing isn't much more than putting the dried buds into jars once they are dry enough. No burping or anything, but the taste changes during the next month or two and the potency seems to increase, so something is happening even if it isn't a standard cure.
The goal of all of this experimenting is to recreate the taste of the Hawaiian buds I had in the early 80s. They were like little green Christmas trees and tasted great. Today's trial was encouraging and I'm hoping some of the other strains have the correct flavor.

 

[Jimster]

Count me in. Got a 4 cu ft fridge on my patio and this gives me an excuse to drink all the beer

Make sure it is an auto defrost refrigerator or it might cause some air circulation issues and lead to mold or mildew. The auto defrost units have pretty good air movement inside the fridge... the older ones that require manual defrosting can get pretty campy inside.

 

[Aqua Man]

I was considering keeping it in paper bags, as had been suggested. I tried, as an experiment, just laying them on the newspapers, to allow the air to circulate more. This is based on midnight snacking. If something isn't wrapped up, it dries out slowly in the fridge, at least the one I use. If it is wrapped, like cheese or something, I get mold from the slightly higher humidity and less airflow. I don't know if a paper bag would cause this problem or not, but I had great and even drying in about 14 days just laying them on the shelf. When I took the buds out of the fridge, they seemed almost too dry, but after sitting at room temp, they softened up to the perfect consistency for final trimming. Once I get them to degree of dryness, I'll put them in mason jars. FWIW, I just tried the 1st bowl of the "trial" buds and was very pleasantly surprised by the total lack of harshness and hay taste, even though this hasn't been cured, My curing isn't much more than putting the dried buds into jars once they are dry enough. No burping or anything, but the taste changes during the next month or two and the potency seems to increase, so something is happening even if it isn't a standard cure.
The goal of all of this experimenting is to recreate the taste of the Hawaiian buds I had in the early 80s. They were like little green Christmas trees and tasted great. Today's trial was encouraging and I'm hoping some of the other strains have the correct flavor.

Good point on the bags maybe I will try a little of both. I happy to hear positive results it will allow me to start my next run 2weeks faster as I use my controlled grow room to dry in.

 

[Jimster]

Good point on the bags maybe I will try a little of both. I happy to hear positive results it will allow me to start my next run 2weeks faster as I use my controlled grow room to dry in.

FWIW, I tried to accelerate the process a little by drying the fresh cuts branches for a day or two in order to remove more moisture a little faster and then finishing in the fridge. I didn't notice too much difference. The hay smell didn't really go away until the buds were taken out and given their final trim. Once they warmed up, the hay smell and taste were gone and I was left with a very pleasant taste that is much smoother than rapidly dried buds, but with more flavor than a regularly dried buds. If my success continues, this will be my new default drying system as it hasn't shown ANY mold or mildew, which was always a problem or fear. I can't wait to try some of the other strains that I branched out to this grow. The Train Wreck looks great, but is a real pain in the ass to trim!

 

[PlumberSoCal]

Make sure it is an auto defrost refrigerator or it might cause some air circulation issues and lead to mold or mildew. The auto defrost units have pretty good air movement inside the fridge... the older ones that require manual defrosting can get pretty campy inside.

It is not. I plan on defrosting, sterilizing and putting it on the lowest setting and put some thyme and oregano in and see how it does. 3 beers to go!

 

[Jimster]

Another update. I decided to fridge dry the remaining buds, or as many as would fit, into the fridge. The 1st batch turned out flawless and with just the perfect amount of residual moisture. Once trimmed and stemmed, they will go into zip lock bags for a few days to get their humidity just right and to remove some of the remaining chlorophyll, then into jars for storage. This is a slight variation of my longtime method, with the variation being the drying part. It always seemed to get too damp or dry too fast in previous years, but this worked great, tastes great, smells great (NOT like hay), and now it is time to enjoy it. I can't believe that I didn't do this earlier... hats off to the original poster who put this idea into my head!