So you may not have heard this term before, it’s certainly new to me. Apparently it is a method used during curing your nugs that can increase flavour and potency. We have covered a fair bit of curing and drying but this particular technique is quite new to me. I’ve heard nothing but good things so I think it would be a good idea to have a look into burping, what exactly it is, and how it can better your cannabis crop. 

What Is Burping?

As I mentioned this is a technique used during curing. During this process your nugs are usually happily slumbering in a sealed glass jar. Burping is the act of removing air from this jar intermittently. During the curing your buds are going to release moisture and C02 which can build up inside the container which can have a bunch of negative repercussions. Essentially burping releases the gases and moisture building up inside the jar to improve the curing process and give you a higher quality final result. 

This isn’t a technique that is specific to cannabis curing. It is actually used in a number of different processes such as food fermentation where gases etc build up inside the jar. The first thing to do before you get started is to figure out exactly how and when to burp your nugs for optimal curing. 

Harvesting and Curing

Let’s have a quick go over the actual process of harvesting and curing your plants before we talk about burping specifically. There’s not much point in using this technique if you’re not doing everything else properly. Once your plants go into the flowering period they will usually need about 2 months before they are harvested. Some people harvest without drying the plants and others hang them to fully dry before harvesting for the curing process. 

The drying process usually takes around a week depending on where the drying is taking place. Usually the branches will be hanging upside down on a rack and you’ll leave them there while you are trimming. You don’t want your buds bone dry when you start curing otherwise it’s just a little late to keep any of that amazing flavour in and you risk overall quality. You want them to still have about 30% moisture in the buds before you go onto the next stage. Any wetter than this and you are risking all sorts of complications during curing. 

So even if you prefer to harvest before drying make sure you dry your buds before you move on to the curing stage. 

Commonly people will go straight to curing in a sealed glass jar but some prefer in a paper bag so more moisture can escape while the buds might still be too damp. It’s the sealed jar stage of curing that we are going to look at for the burping process. 

Why Burping?

This is a pretty quick and easy answer. When you seal away plant matter that still has moisture inside it the plant matter will break down and release that moisture. If too much of the moisture builds up inside the jar you risk getting mould growing amongst your plants. Your plants will also release C02 while they are curing and if you aren’t careful this can really build up inside the jar. The last thing you want is your glass jar cracking or breaking into your buds. Even if your jar isn’t in danger of breaking and your plants don’t go mouldy it’s definitely true that your buds will likely not taste as good or be the best quality. 

How To Burp? 

Of course, we call this process burping because it releases gas and moisture from the sealed space, much like when our bodies do it. It’s definitely thought to be one of the most vital parts of the curing process. Better out than in, I always say. There is no strict way to burp your buds but here are a few different options. 

The easiest and most obvious method just involves opening the jar and letting the gas and moisture out for a little bit. When you’re doing this you want to shoogle the jar and let the nugs move around a bit to let everything out. However, some believe that this method isn’t thorough enough and can leave too much moisture amongst the buds. 

In this case some growers prefer to take out all of the buds and spread them out on a sheet of kitchen roll or a newspaper. This is probably a good idea if you are curing a large amount of weed at the same time and are worried that there are pockets of moisture that you won’t get to. 

As far as how often you need to burp your buds the general advice seems to be once a day for around 10 seconds. Obviously this will be a little longer if you are laying them all out together. However, most growers think that after the first week or so you should be able to burp them every couple of days as they won’t be producing as many gas or moisture byproducts by then. 

You should only need to cure your buds for around three weeks. However, a lot of growers say the longer you can leave it the better your buds are going to taste and the stronger they will be. So this part is really up to your discretion. 

As far as how long you need to keep burping for, basically as long as the weed is in a jar it needs to be burped. Though the amount of byproducts produced will go down it will never totally vanish. Plus it’s not like you’re sucking it out in a vacuum more moisture and so on is always going to get in when you open and close the jar. 

Conclusion

Do you need to burp your nugs? No I suppose not, lots of people don’t. But if you want to ensure the best buds and also make sure that your babies don’t get mouldy I would definitely recommend it. 

Written by Tasha Porritt

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