GrowFAQ

Can marijuana be frozen? Does that keep it fresh? (2 views)
Yes marijuana can be frozen. Typically, marijuana will be frozen if the goal is long term storage or if the climate is particularly humid. (ie. if you live in puerto rico/florida, and attempt long term storage, using the freezer could be a must to prevent mold).

One does not want to freeze their marijuana unless absolutely necessary. It doesn't necessarily keep it fresh, but it will prevent mold. Keep your MJ in the refridgerator if possible.

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ladybird1124

I freeze leaves from harvest time in a plastic bag for future uses.....
I do not freeze bud for future smoke. Grow well.

Puffin Tuff

Freezing trim is a great idea as the trichomes becomes brittle for easier collection with less agitation in the hash makin' process.

Obviously it's also good because in case you're hangin' onto that trim for the long haul, you wont have to worry about mold.

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8,000 Watt Organic Medical Grow - current

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afterburner

Dont freeze fresh wet trim though, It should be dry!

Freezing fresh wet trim will explode the trich's, moisture will expand and cause potency loss!

alleycat

I've put jars into the freezer if they needed daily burping, but I was gonna be out of town. I used to make a practice out of freezing marijuana before I was able to fine tune on the curing part of things. I would store them mostly dried in mason jars in the fridge and take out a jar the day before I was wanting to smoke any out of it for the final quick dry before smoking.

I used to be the one that knew every way possible to quick dry marijuana. Finally I'm far enough ahead that I've been working on the way I like best for the final dry/cure. Time definately makes a difference on smoothness for my smoke. Quick dry still has it's time and place in my schedule of things, but don't have anything in the freezer but seeds anymore. I don't believe freezing has any damaging effects to marijuana, but I don't happen to do it anymore.



Happy Freezing

Alley

penguin

Freezing breaks the cell walls and may break open the gland heads, turning the bud to mush or powder, depending on moisture content. This is especially true of frost-free freezers because of the frequent freeze/thaw cycles. Not recommended.


penguin

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HydroSan

I do alot of freezing. I used to freeze alot of dry bud, but now it's only fresh wet bud trim, and all leafage except the big fans which go straight to compost.
It goes straight in the freezer during the wet trim. Once frozen it's sliced with a breadknife into a bucket with more ice, mixed, and then put through the bubble bags a few times.

If there were alot of gland heads broken by this process, one would expect a glutinous lump at the bottom of the bubble bags. Even once the gland heads are dry they break apart easily. Only if you heat the gland heads, or compress them into blocks, do you see them coagulating into a sticky glutinous lumpage where the glands have split and refuse to break apart easily.

I think it was Mel Frank who mentions something derogotory about freezing bud in one of his books (rockclimber step in anytime ) However I have never found any degredation to quality. I'm sure someone could make their stash degrade in the freezer, just that I've never managed it

I honestly think there's a bit of urban myth going on here There's the famous grower quote in one of his books, but thats about it as far as I can see for evidence.
People who swear blind that freezing damages buds won't have a lot of experiance in the matter eh, unless they're not practicing what they preach
Freezing helps gland heads detach from their stalk as it makes em more brittle, so if you froze some bud, shook it up a bit, and then tried it against a non frozen sample; it wouldn't be as potent would it? There is also some research about frost damage on growing crops regarding the "purple" revolution in the 70's where growers were trying to induce purple colouring because dutch smokers had a preferance for purple weed under the misaprehention it was more potent (hendrix refenance) the research showed frost treated crops were less potent. I think those are the most likely roots of the denegration freezing gets.

If the bud is sufficiently dry, I honestly can't see an issue. Maybe bud has to be "drier" for the freezer, or maybe some growers don't dry their bud as much as me

San

penguin

Hi San, nice to see you! Thanks for posting your comments.

Can I ask why you no longer freeze bud?

Obviously you're describing freezing material that is destined to produce ice hash. Breaking down the material, detaching glands, and breaking the gland heads are all necessary for hash production. They are not desirable for bud that is to be consumed as bud.

To address a few of your points:
The contents of the secretory vesicle in the gland head is oil, which floats. The fragments of the broken gland heads are smaller than the mesh of the hash bags.

Perhaps, but Robert C. Clarke definitely talked about it in Marijuana Botany. I came to the the same conclusions independently, long before I ever read it in Clarke.

Blind? I tried it a long time ago, and found that there are better ways to store bud. So it's true that I haven't done it recently. Unless the laws of physics have changed in the meanwhile....

Even very dry bud is not completely free of water. Too dry, too fast inhibits the biochemistry of curing, reducing bud quality (including potency, aroma, and flavor). Of course it's possible to maintain enough moisture content to allow proper curing and then dry it out further. Personally I think that any bud that needs to be rehydrated for the vaporizer has been over-dried, and most of the smokers I know seem to agree.

In terms of storage, bud that has been dried beyond the risk of mold, properly cured, sealed in air-tight containers, and stored in the dark at room temperature has a shelf-life of 2-3 years. Storing at cellar temperature can extend that by quite a lot. So unless the goal is very long-term storage, there is no need to put it in the freezer, and it is better to avoid doing so.


penguin

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HydroSan

Hey Pen

I no longer freeze bud because I don't need to store it for long periods. I semi cure in 1/2kg tupperware boxes with the lid skewed after hanging to dry.

The point about bubblehash was really to get people thinking about this supposed drop in potency when glands are frozen. Bubble has to be the most potent form, yet all the glands have been frozen for up to a year in my case, I can test a fresh bud sample next to a fresh bubble sample of the same crop and the bubble will be stronger as it's more concentrated, the long term frozen trim is just as good as the short term stuff

If freezing did split all the gland heads, I don't think bubble bags would work as well as they do. You can see that the heads are intact as you're scooping them out, and as you say the oil would come out if they were broken, the bits would fall thru and nothing would be left in the bag. I'm sure some does, but I maintain most of the heads are intact even after a good mixing in ice water. Surley if bubblehash were only broken gland heads it would either be reminicent of soap bar, or nothing in the bags

I just looked up RC-Clarkes remarks in MJ Botany (knew I read something somewhere) May harm resins secreted on the surface? so all me bubble has harmed resins? it doesn't add up for me.

Maybe someone got freezer burn once, or maybe someone tried freezing fresh bud with the intention of drying it later only to find mush, maybe after expertly curing someone tried a freezer sample of the same crop and maybe they're expertly making assumptions on potency based on flavour

I think in some instances freezing may be the best option, say if you lived in a high humidity area and can't gaurentee the moisture content is low enough before curing, I'd be tempted to freeze rather than risk mold.

If we were comparing freezing to curing, there would definately be quality of flavour issues, and maybe even cannabinoid profile differences, but only enough to effect flavour and not enough so I could tell the difference in potency between the two samples. This is probably another root of the denegration freezing gets.

Curing is best for a fuller flavour, but that doesn't make freezing bad, just different. The freezer can be a handy tool as you know for a fact it won't mold, if I ever have to clear away a drying crop before it was propper done, the freezer would be my first thought, I woldn't give potency loss a second thought because I don't subscribe to it.

I wasn't comparing freezing to curing tho, just saying freezing ain't so bad and doesn't deserve the denigration it gets IMO.

not the best anaogy but here goes...Just because a 12 year old single malt beats a 4yo blend on flavour, it doesn't make the belnd wrong or bad or substandard or lower strength, just different.

originally I read this And thought that anyone who just used a freezer for the first time would be panicing about now since I do so much bubble, I just can't see the "broken gland heads" thing at all, where is the root of that Pen?

San

plainsman1963

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