GanjaGardener

I placed the pictured buds* on 2.7 lbs of dry ice @ 9:15 PM last night. (*along w/ 3 or 4 additional loose/bunk colas around edges.) With this first test I'm basically looking at efficacy and am just trying to get a feel for the process- timing, avg. % of moisture lost, etc. The early results may not be conclusive but it's a starting point.

Before:

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Underarock

quick freezing of green plant material can burst the cell walls
which causes the powdery remains when dry

if you have already dryed them some....I don't see any problem
maybe burning if they get too cold

good luck !

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GanjaGardener

Phew! Howdy folks. I've spent the past 4 days harvesting, drying, and manicuring my first OD crop of the year and I haven't been able to stop the snip~snip dreams of clipping shears and mini-twigs popping away from bud... after bud... after bud.

My little experiment didn't produce the definitive answers I was looking for but it did manage to uncover a few basics that can be used as a reference point for future trials.

• It took approx. 15 hrs** for 1 ¾ lbs of dry ice to evaporate inside a cooler (pictured) w/ the door cracked open 1" for ventilation. (** At 11:30 AM (14½ hrs) the dry ice was still active. When I returned from an appointment @ 2:30 PM, the dry ice had evaporated.)
• The mj should be removed before the dry ice evaporates. When I opened the cooler @ 2:30 PM the ice had evaporated leaving behind a small (1-2 tsp) pool of water. The buds had drawn up a fair amount of the water that had "re-condensed" onto the mj which in turn threw off the weight measurements . However, the condensed water on the processed bud is different in character from the water that is retained in the plant's cells- a significant amount of "re-condensed", "surface" water evaporated in a day giving the di processed bud about a 3 day head start on the bud that began air drying at the same time. The dry ice dried bud cells had already been "sweated" of moisture.
• Dry ice dries the bud uniformly, inside and out. When I opened up a bud (see pic) I was pleasantly surprised to find the moisture in the internal leafy seams to be about at the same level as the bud's exterior. The buds were dry and ready for curing after 3 days of drying whereas buds of comparable size that were harvested at the same time needed 7-10 days to complete drying.The di processed bud has a darker, rustier look which, according to personal taste/aesthetics, could be a plus or minus.
• I smoked a sample of the processed bud last night. It burns smooth, tastes the same and gave me the same buzz as the air dried.

Results:
Total Beginning Weight- 50.3 gr
Total After Process Weight #1**- 41.8 gr
Total Weight #2 (After 24 hrs Drying)***- 31.1 gr
** This figure is likely inflated due to the condensation that gathered on the mj buds during the hour or two that they sat in the cooler after the dry ice had evaporated.
*** This weight is probably truer to use for evaluation.

Going in, I figured that the dry ice was going to act as a super fast drying agent and evaporate quickly. The process was slower than expected. This could be due, in part, to the size of the cooler relative to the amount of dry ice used. Next time I'll purchase more dry ice for the cooler or go w/ a smaller container. The speed of evaporation could also be stepped up by opening the container to allow more oxygen in to react w/ the frozen CO2.

Although the results of this experiment are inconclusive, my best guess is that, if done properly, one could expect to knock off between one third to one half of the mj's water weight in a 12 hr session. The most critical time is the final hour of evaporation and, (unlike me), one should schedule themselves to be around as the di finishes evaporating and before the H2O condensation begins.

I see this as a viable application that will work well for the small grower w/ a few oz's to dry or, perhaps, for the large operation that has the space and finances to process their own dry ice. It's the grower in the middle, (like me) that I'm not so sure about. The results, particularly the uniformity of the dried bud, were encouraging enough to continue working w/ the process, but admittedly, I've only touched the tip of the (dry) iceberg.

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Turtle Hermit

Nice job man.
Thanks for the great report, very intriguing. I'll have to try this out with a bit next harvest.

GanjaGardener

Thank you for getting back TH. The positive feedback is helpful particularly when one finds oneself sitting out on a limb whilst playing around w/ an unorthodox procedure. Good luck w/ your trial.

Thanks to Futuregrower, PipeWorks, Underarock as well. I'm glad you found the topic useful/helpful.

I was at a party w/ a dozen or so experienced smokers this weekend and I took the opportunity to run a blind test using di dried in one pipe and air dried in the other. Most of the smokers couldn't distinguish a difference in the taste, smoothness or psychoactive attributes of the two.

My next harvest happens in about 6 weeks. I'm going to up the di to 10 lbs and see how far that takes an oz. I'll also start it in the AM so I can be there to turn the bud and keep a closer watch on the process.

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ThomasJefferson

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