Drying in an apartment - what works for me

I'm a medical grower and though my herb is legal I certainly don't want to attract the attention of my neighbors or the passer-by. So here's what I do...

I purchased three food dehydrators (NESCO American Harvest - $50 each @ Bi-Mart) And several sets of additional trays. On two of the dehydrators I disconnected the wiring from the heating element so only the fan works when the unit is turned on. I lined the bottom trays with quilt batting (fabric store) and then poured as much activated carbon (pet supply store) as I could on top of batting.

I take approx a half pound of buds at a time from my plants. I manicure on site and take the individual buds off the branch. I evenly lay out the buds on the dehydrator trays - stacking 8 trays on each machine. every 12 hours I rotate the order of the trays (as the fan is in the top of the unit)

VERY IMPORTANT ~ In the 3rd machine ( the one that still has a working heating element) I use only one tray and fill it with a generous handful of freshly crushed garlic cloves. I turn the dryer onto medium heat. The garlic needs to be replaced as it dries out. When I refill with fresh garlic I also put the dried garlic in a shallow dish of water and leave that, too, in the dehydrator. My home smells pleasantly like an Italian restaurant and the smell of weed is virtually undetectable.

After 2-3 DAYS the buds are ready to be put in jars and cured. Some of the larger buds may have to be left in a paper sack for a day to sweat excess moisture out. I jar cure in the normal fashion and after about a week the herb begins to lose its grassy smell and stink like it should.

For those of you who are impatient - My husband is a weed-snob and though he doesn't care for the grassy smell of the newly dried herb, he is quite happy with the high produced from the buds fresh outta the dryer sans the curing process. However, curing the bud just makes the finished product better and better.

If you want extra blessings from your harvest, I suggest you make a First Fruits Offering as Yahweh commands - get in touch with a cancer support group or something of the like in your area and give to someone who can't afford their meds..If you live in a medical-unfriendly area and are growing for profit then donate a portion of your take to a toy-drive or what not. Remember, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy"

Shalom
Hope this Helps

Wow, I can't believe you're going to all that effort to grow quality buds only to ruin the aroma/flavor in those dehydrators. I'm not bashing on you for it, as I fully understand your concerns about the neighbors and whatnot. But if you are legal, you should not be worried. If you do want your privacy from them, then your best option would have been to buy a CARBON FILTER with a built-in fan, or you can always buy one seperate and use your own vortex fan/blower to run thru it if you have one. As long as you have your buds in a dark, closed off room or closet with this filter running inside, you should have no problem with scents at all. Prob won't even notice it much in your own place. Anyway, hope you can get away from those dehydrators in the future, as I'm a connessuer and feel aroma, smoke, & final flavor is a HUGE factor for what makes bud a truely quality smoke.

Cheers!

Truly, it WOULD degrade the herb if it was drying in a conventional dehydrator. However, because the heating elements has been disabled, buds are drying in a light-proof, multi-tiered unit designed for excellent and gentle air-circulation with the built in fans. Temperature inside the units I use for herb remains at a balmy 72F. The only heat being put out is that in the 3rd dehydrator where only garlic is being dried.

The only problem is that you are drying them way too fast with all those fans in such a small enclosed area

2-3 days for drying buds is too short of a time. If you want a lot of the leftover chlorophyll & chemicals in your bud to sweat out and leave you with sweet, smoothe tasting buds, aside from flushing properly with water only or water/flushing formula, you need to allow them to slowly dry over the course of 5-6 days before putting them in the jars. You're doing it in half that time. I think you would be shocked to see the difference in overall flavor if you let it run it's course a bit longer.

Maybe run the dehydrator the first day, as it loses about 30% of it's moisture in the first day, and using that system would help pull it out and prevent mold & disease. But then day 2 I would take them out of the dehydrator (again, this is a scenario, if it were me I wouldn't be using it period), and put them either back on a hanger or wire to hang upside down, OR, you can toss them in a brown paper bag with nice spacing and then staple the top closed. Continue this til day 3 or 4. Then maybe toss them back in the dehydrator to finish up before jarring them.

Just my opinion, but I would bet my life savings you'll see a HUGE improvement if you take my advise ... =)

Cheers

I'll give it a go! Thanks!