Freeze Drying Bud and Commercial Freeze Dryers

Possum1

Well-Known Member
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!
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.
 

hd deuce

Member
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
 

Uncle Reefer

Well-Known Member
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.
 

sadanimalknight

Active Member
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.
 

KENTA

Well-Known Member
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!
 

Possum1

Well-Known Member
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?
 

Raudhbjorn

Member
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?
 

Realbax

Well-Known Member
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?
 

Dr.J20

Well-Known Member
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 :leaf:

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.
 

OPfarmer

Well-Known Member
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.
 

LinguaPeel

Well-Known Member
cold means a lot when it comes to taste,, and preserving it. :cool:
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

New Member
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???? :)
 

maysgma

New Member
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
 

maysgma

New Member
hiw
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...View attachment 4069312

And the other half in my freeze drier.
View attachment 4069313

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

sadanimalknight

Active Member
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.
 

Attachments

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.

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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