How to Burp Weed

The act of “burping” cannabis nugs refers to releasing moisture and CO₂ from the sealed jars that the nugs are curing in. By relieving gaseous pressure, you also remove any harmful moisture present in the curing environment – making for tastier buds. Essentially, burping is key toEsuccessfully achieving potent buds.

The curing process is responsible for the quality of your final product. If not done correctly, it can result in lower potency, flavour, aroma, and appearance.

Burping is a key but often forgotten process in the curing stage that can vastly improve both the flavour and potency of your nugs. Continue reading to get some tips from experts on why burping weed is essential, as well as how to do it like a pro.

HARVESTING, DRYING AND CURING YOUR CANNABIS

The process of harvesting starts with telling when your plants are ready. But how do you know that they’re ripe for the picking? Most strains take 2 months into their flowering period. There are, however, other several methods to tell, like the colour changes in pistils and trichomes, or when some plant leaves start dying off.

There are two ways to harvest cannabis: dry trimming and wet trimming. Wet trimming is when you trimmed the buds before they have dried on the plant. Dry trimming is when you wait until the buds have been dried on the branches first. Both methods have advantages, so it usually just comes down to preference or how big your grow operation is.

The next step after trimming is drying, which normally takes 3-7 days depending on environmental conditions. If you dry trimmed your buds, they will need to hang upside down from racks or hangers. You’ll know the drying process is complete and your buds are ready for curing when the stems snap instead of bend when pressure is applied. When wet trimming, however, you simply lay the buds out on a rack to dry.

When buds have a moisture level of 30%–35%, the curing process should ideally begin. If there is more moisture than that, it puts buds at mildew and mould risk once they are sealed off. If buds are too dry, the final quality will suffer.

People can choose to cure their marijuana buds in paper bags or sealed glass jars. The curing process not only affects the potency of the buds but also their flavor. As the plant matter breaks down over time, its taste changes from earthy and grassy to more enjoyable flavors associated with marijuana.

WHAT IS BURPING AND WHY DO YOU NEED TO BURP YOUR BUDS?

Burping your nugs is extremely important for the curing process. “Burping” your nugs simply means to remove any air from the glass jars that they are being cured in. As marijuana buds are cured, moisture and CO₂ continually escape into their surroundings – in this case, into the mason jars they’re being stored in.

The process is similar to how gas builds up pressure in the human digestive system, culminating in a burp. If gas and moisture are not released from the sealed jar, it will negatively impact cure integrity of the cannabis.

However, burping is not unique to cannabis. In fact, it’s a common technique in any sealed fermentation or maturation process. For example, fruits left to ferment in jars will also require occasional burps.

HOW TO BURP

Discarding moisture and gas from the curing climate is essential to permitting the metabolic process to work. How this is exactly done has a tendency to fluctuate from grower to grower.

growNug reminds our customers that the easiest way to burp nugs is by removing the sealed lids of curing jars for a little while. If you use this method, it’s important to shake the buds inside of the jars gently so everything gets out. Some growers prefer to take their nugs out of jar entirely and spread them over a newspaper or something similar.

growers should open their containers of cured buds at least once per day for 10 seconds to let any built-up gas escape. This will help prevent the buds from going bad and allow them to be ready for consumption within 3 weeks to a month.

Nonetheless, you may have to change this amount of time, depending on several conditions. For example, some growers like to air out their nugs for a half-hour every day. Others think it’s better for the buds if they do it once or twice a week.

To check the moisture level inside their jars and how long to burp them, some growers use an RH (relative humidity) meter. If after burping, the buds still have an RH above 70%, they probably need to be taken out of the curing jar to dry more before trying to cure again.

Some growers believe that curing cannabis for a longer period of time makes it more potent and improves the quality, so they cure it for months or even years.