Automated Curing Method

Anyone know of such a thing?

Basically it's because I'll be out of town for 5 days soon after a harvest and I'm worried about leaving buds too moist inside a mason jar without being able to burp them occasionally. On the flip side I don't want to hang too long and over-dry harvested plants leaving not enough moisture within the buds to cure.

I've toyed around with the idea of putting ready to cure buds into large Mason jars with 2 tubes drilled into the top and an air pump timed to run for like a minute every 12 hours or so.

Does anyone else have suggestions or ideas or maybe even links to existing curing systems that are automatic?

The trick is to control humidity and temperature. Assuming you can keep the room where you will be drying at 65-70 while you're gone, you could rig up a drying box in conjunction with a humidity controller connected to some kind of exhaust fan. (http://www.smarthome.com/97811/TrickleStar-601CC-US-W-Plug-in-Temperature-Controller/p.aspx ). think something like a rubbermaid container with strings tied across the top to hang your buds on. Then a small hole cut in one side with a computer fan connected to the humidity controller. If the humidity gets above 65% the controller should switch on the computer fan to vent out the moisture. You'll get a nice slow dry which should last 6-10 days.

pixelpusher said:

The trick is to control humidity and temperature. Assuming you can keep the room where you will be drying at 65-70 while you're gone, you could rig up a drying box in conjunction with a humidity controller connected to some kind of exhaust fan. (http://www.smarthome.com/97811/TrickleStar-601CC-US-W-Plug-in-Temperature-Controller/p.aspx ). think something like a rubbermaid container with strings tied across the top to hang your buds on. Then a small hole cut in one side with a computer fan connected to the humidity controller. If the humidity gets above 65% the controller should switch on the computer fan to vent out the moisture. You'll get a nice slow dry which should last 6-10 days.

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I like the idea of a drying box but I'm worried about over-drying as well especially in the stage I'll be at when I leave. For my last plant, not yet chopped, she'll have 11 days to hang dry and jar cure. I was thinking that the 6-8 days of burping in the jars wouldn't be enough for the RH to have lowered to an ideal range for long term storage. Allowing a minimal amount of air from the air pump tubing into mason jars would be OK provided that I could mimic the "burping" effect that a jar cured bud would get by putting an air-pump on a digital timer for 5 minutes every 6 hours for example.

As it stands right now I have enough time to hang dry my plants and get them started in jars but not enough time to properly ensure an exchange of air and the expulsion of overly humid air from the jars while I'm gone (for 5 days).

Ok, gottcha. I put one of these in each of my curing jars so I know exactly what the RH is. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001CZLO5W/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B004YXSX94&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=15V9SREDEC261GCSS1XT

Using the hygrometer you can tell if the humidity is too high to leave them in the jars. I've also had good results putting the buds in the jars, but instead of using the metal disc center part of the lid (canning jar lids), I put a piece of paper towel over the jar and screw on the ring part of the lid. That way the jar can breathe a bit, but it is very slow. When used with properly dried buds, the humidity stays right around 60%,perfect for curing and no need to burp.

I think your air pump idea would work great, but you might want to use a hygrometer to help you figure out the proper amount of time to leave the pump on so as to get the right humidity level.

Thanks man. Yea I have a small digital hygrometer that I plan to use for this little project and I agree that this will be integral in adjusting an air pump timer to get the right RH.

I think I'll just have the one tube going into the top of the mason jar and then a bunch of tiny hole poked into the lid of the jar to allow a small amount of air to ventilate out.

I'll use your paper towel idea as well as moisture will likely collect near any fresh air openings like the tube openings near the top.

Since I'm only gone for 4-5 days it doesn't have to be perfect but I just don't want my buds to get mold from sitting in a jar w/out fresh air while I'm gone. Additionally since I'm only gone a short while I can dial in exact times for air exchange using a digital timer.

Since I have 2 plants that will be ready to jar in the next few days I'll set up something and post pics.

I'm eager to see what you come up with as I've been searching for such a device for sometime now.

Well I pieced together what I'll be using to "auto-cure" a small amount of buds. Initial testing done on a few small buds in a large 1/2 gallon jar makes me think this will work great.

Here's what I used:

1. Large 1/2 gallon jar. It's not exactly a "mason" jar but it is glass and it does have a metal lid that screws on. About 10 inches of air-tubing (same kind used with air-stones). Small hygrometer. Air pump and digital timer.

2. Poked 2 holes in the lid using a small nail. One hole I pushed the nail in to increase the width enough to push an air-tube in and the other hole just large enough to let air out. The larger hole I had to push the air tubing in even though the tubing was a larger diameter than the hole. To push the tubing in the smaller hole I cut the end of the tubing diagonally and worked it in.

That's pretty much it for set up. I placed the hygrometer inside the jar with a few small buds and screwed on the top of the jar. After about 20 minutes or so my RH jumped to 70% so I plugged in my air pump that was attached to the tubing and let it run for a few minutes. After 2-3 minutes my RH dropped to 58% and I unplugged my air pump. Again after about 15 minutes the RH rose again to around 70% so I plugged in the air pump again for a few minutes.

After the first few runs of the air pump it seems to do exactly what I want. The timer is thrown in so, depending on the RH of the buds that are in there I am able to exchange the air at precise intervals without me being there. I estimate that for my time gone I can get away with "autoburping" every 6 hours or so. I'll be doing more testing tonight and will post pics as well.

seems interesting, the small hole to vent out doesnt prevent the moisture from building up?

I'm sure that the 2nd exhaust hole allows a small amount of moisture be released as this rigged system isn't air tight. From my 1st few tests I found the RH to peak and stabilize at 70% so moisture is being retained somewhat.

Well here are some pics of what I rigged up for my auto curer. This thing is very basic but seems to be able to do what I want it to do. Might have some problems on volume though and I'm kinda worried about the buds not being moved about a bit.



Basically it's a 1/2 gallon jar with 2 small holes in the lid. I inserted some air tube tubing in the larger hole and left the other hole as is. The tubing is connected to an air pump that's plugged into a digital timer. I took a small amount of popcorn buds that had been drying for 3 days and placed them into the jar and sealed the lid. After about 30 minutes the RH rose to 70%. I turned the pump on and left it on for 15-20 minutes and the RH fell to 60%.

Simple as that. The digital timer is now set for every 6 hours for 20-30 minutes. I can fine tune the timings down a bit depending on the amount of buds placed in there as well as their relative dryness.

Woah that is some sweet Setup nicccee

Arjan does it a nice way I saw him do it in a box dugged up in the floor in his basement.
He leaves it there like 2 months but for a few days would be perfect for you.

If you've got a little programming knowledge or the will to learn you could hook up a micro controller to a humidity sensor with your setup to take the guess work out of the timing. You could even have it control multiple jars and pumps or some solenoid valves to control which jar it goes to... The only limit is your imagination ( and soldering skills I spose)


im an idiot opening a 2 year old thread

I see this is an old thread but I'm really curious if this worked or not? I'm in a similar boat but I have had my nugs hanging for 6 days in a controlled dry. Now I need to cure and I have to leave for 4 days. Don't want to over dry and don't want to mold. I have a humidity controller (that's pretty accurate) that can kick on a fan when it reaches certain highs and lows.. I was going to try to rig up something... Similar to this but on a larger scale. I think i'm going to have to use a large plastic bin.


Did this work???? the issues I can see is the buds not being moved around and air in between them going stagnant... I think I was going to run the line off my air pump to the bottom of the bucket and line it back and forth with a bunch of holes in it to try to equally disperse the air.

I will post my results either way but any feedback would be appreciated.

Freezy_ said:

I see this is an old thread but I'm really curious if this worked or not? I'm in a similar boat but I have had my nugs hanging for 6 days in a controlled dry. Now I need to cure and I have to leave for 4 days. Don't want to over dry and don't want to mold. I have a humidity controller (that's pretty accurate) that can kick on a fan when it reaches certain highs and lows.. I was going to try to rig up something... Similar to this but on a larger scale. I think i'm going to have to use a large plastic bin.


Did this work???? the issues I can see is the buds not being moved around and air in between them going stagnant... I think I was going to run the line off my air pump to the bottom of the bucket and line it back and forth with a bunch of holes in it to try to equally disperse the air.

I will post my results either way but any feedback would be appreciated.

Click to expand...

Just let it dry for 4 more days.. People really overthink curing...

wow, some cool ideas here.
Intstead of a jar I use a dedicated grow tent. the room its in is equipped with a dehumidifier, ac, heat, meters, stink sock.
my buds rest on a drying rack for about 2 weeks, then the twigs snap, Usually gets consumed shortly after delivery then.
stays good for a couple months if it last that long. I hate on fermented weed.