What's up everyone, I found this thread on google and registered just to ask a couple questions Alright so here's the deal, the last batch of bud i bought was really bad because they buds would sizzle and sparkle when you smoke em. Just really terribly harsh. They looked and smelled nice, but the smoke was unbearable to me. So I remembered reading about water curing years ago and decided a good soak might do the trick I submerged about 7 grams on sunday (5 days ago). However I was kind of stupid and didn't follow any directions on what you're supposed to do, I was just going off what I remember from reading years ago. So anyway I haven't changed the water at all until today. The water was realllyyyy cloudy and greenish, and smelled like funky kush. Did i already completely screw everything up by not changing the water daily, you think? Seems to me like the water i just dumped out was FULL of nasty undesirables, so surely it did some good, right? (By the way I'm using about a gallon of water for this small amount of bud) So anyway I'm gonna let it soak for a couple more days in this clean water, and see what i'm left with My main question is: what's the best method for drying? I was thinking lay the buds out on a thick layer of paper towels and put it on a cookie sheet in the oven on the lowest heat possible. Is that a bad idea? Do I need to dry them more slowly? I haven't seen anybody say anything about drying. Alright sorry for the long-ish post. I hope people still post on this board lol
By the way, is anybody here from Overgrow? I used to post there religiously before it went down. I miss that place!
Not saying anyone is wrong or right because water-curing is still a relatively new method but all the guides I have read on it instructed the user to leave the lid off. On a related note, to increase chlorohyll breakdown in your water cure, use an aquarium heater on a very low setting. Air drying is always the best option, any heat whatsoever will degrade your THC. A dehydrator is what most people recommend since it dries very slowly at low heat. While I don't think your water-cured bud is ruined, it was very silly to leave it in there all 7 days. This means it has been marinating in a chlorophyll soup and could very well taste terrible once you get to smoking it.
so with this method of curing will flushing your plants before harvest still be necesary and would you get a higher yield by keeping your plants healthy untill the day they get cut down
With water cure, flushing is not necessary but I recommend it at least for a week. It's logical to infer that giving your plant nutrients up until the final day would increase bud mass. By how much? I'm not sure. I've heard that the last two weeks are the weeks where a plant puts on the most bud weight. With nutrients up until the chop it would certainly be fat - with nutrients. So a flush would be necessary or that could be some harsh shit.
I read this forum a few weeks ago and did some further research on Google. I had just started harvesting, so I decided to give it a try on some buds, as well as some sugar leaves I plan to use for tinctures. I put them in some jars and emptied the water 1-2 times a day for 7 days, then dried. Verdict? I'm going to stick to air/jar curing. The bud tasted like crap... a flavor similar to swamp water. The leaves deteriorated into mush. After drying the leaves they resembled mexican brick weed. Don't think I'm going to use them in my tinctures, as I suspect it will give them a swamp-like flavor. *blech* I will say... water-cure would be perfect for some crappy tasting bud, or bud that hasn't been flushed of fertilizers. Otherwise, I prefer the sweet smelling air-dried bud. mmmm!
Looks nice! There's also another form of water curing called FLUE curing. This is done in a double boiler set up. Fill a pot or pan with water and heat it up to about 100 degrees. Take your jar of bud and set it in the warm/hot water. The buds should not be submerged but just sitting in a glass jar. The heat from the water will cause the buds to sweat releasing chlrophyl from the buds. I've only read about it so if interested you should look it up and find out how long you flue cure the buds.
Last night I did a bit or early cutting, only by a week. Due to the circumstance of me going to run out of meds, prior to the harest being ready. Since I like new, atleast to me, ideas and concepts (and the time constraint ) Im giving a water cure a shot. I'll update and let all know how it goes. Today: water is still clear, distilled btw, but starting to smell a bit of the funk.
I would recommend changing the water a couple times a day. I attempted the water-cure method and only changed the water once a day for a week. I was not happy with the flavor in the end. The smoke was reminiscent of swamp water, or bong water. But I'm thinking... maybe if I changed the water more it wouldn't get that nasty swampy smell?
Day 5: Coudiness and smell is starting to subside. Changed water twice a day. Smell is that of cuccumbers that are just getting the slime coat before rot.
I'm thoroughly disappointed with this method. The product has damned near zero bag appeal. It looks like mexican brickweed. Like that stuff some guy in apprentice tokers forum posted and everyone was telling him to throw away. The smoke has very little flavor or odor - it's stealthy, yeah, but it has little flavor, and what flavor it has is actively bad (gasoline, with a hint of swamp water) - air-cured product was delicious, dominated by pine and citrus flavors. Water cured was a lot harsher as well. Weight was lost and potency increased somewhat, but not as much as would be expected based on weight loss. Weight went from 1.98g to 1.23g, (40%). I think this method has relevance only to people trying to make terrible shitty weed tolerable...
The laws in my state only allow a MMJ user to have an ounce at a time. This effectivly takes away my ability to do an extended jar cure. Just another situation which would carry revelence.
What if u like buds that r stinky and tasty but really potent? I don't think I'm alone there lol could u water cure to up the potency then dry and jar cure it as well?
Why would you bother to jar cure it? The flavor and aroma components are already washed away; further curing will do nothing for it.
That's why I was asking I like the taste of good maryjane it seems water curing ups potency but gets rid of smells and taste I was thinking if it was possible to get the best of both worlds the potency of water cure the great smell and seasoned taste of a jar cure following me?
There a couple points to water cure. 1. Speed. Unlike air/jar cure you are at a final product as soon as you take it out of the water and dry it, dehydrrator, fan, whatnot. When you air cure it can take upwards of 2 months in the jar to obtain optimal flavor and smell. 2.Stealth. with the removal of the thick dank smell, the stealth aspect is raised. I lump removal of 'harshness' here too. If you get rid of the 'stink' one can roll spliffs and basicly smoke them anywhere, well as long as its designated 'smoking'. This effect also lowers the harshness of a poor cure or poor flush. Water cure is not really about taste and smell, well I guess it is..but its about the lack thereof
I've been water curing my buds in the fridge, I found it smooths out the smoke and still maintains flavor. I change the water twice a day for a week. Afterards I air dry them and it's ready to be vaped or smoked.
brownie9091 - Water curing removes pretty much ALL the flavor from the bud, and replaces it with a swampy flavor. Even a jar cure afterwords will not bring back the flavanoids rinsed off by the water. Want potent and flavorful buds? Grow it right, hang it to dry, brown bag it and jar it. Muuuuuch better! I live in a very dry area, so drying and bag curing takes about a week total and the bud's have been smooth and super tasty. I will never try jar cure again unless I'm gifted some really shitty weed.
There are several reasons that one would want to water cure. none of my water cure has come out 'swampy', I dont do it all the time but there are times I do. You should ALWAYS place teh bud in a jar to cure. After you 'dry' it, with hang and paper bag, then you begin the 'cure'. Done in an airtight jar.