Some awesome info Matt. I may be switching out my old wooden spoon in favor of a large silver one. Still not 100% on machines. I like doing work sometimes.
But the machine gives me time on rollitup
Do you dry and cure while the hash is separated? Do you press your hash after the cure? How long of a cure? Or do you prefer unpressed? Just curious. Also a little confused... after you remove hash from the bags... you place the glob on the drying screen... is that how you leave it over night? Or do you break it up first? I immidiately begin breaking the hash down into sand-like texture out of fear of water/mold/funk.
Great questions.
I dry the blob as-is overnight, mold/mildew won't grow that fast on bubble that is exposed. By the next day the blob has completely changed texture, and at this point I can already judge the overall qualities of the hash. I can judge the purity by color, which is related to my separation process. I can also judge how melty the hash will be when cured, which mostly depends on strain an if you did a wet or dry trim and separation. By the next day this oily mass doesn't want to crumble, it has melted into a solid. This allows me to really grate the hash into a powder (because it won't crumble), which ensures 100% mold/mildew free bubble hash... and frankly the hashes get the best colors from this drying method.
My blackberry hash picts show both drying methods together. The brown candy is simply broken up by hand, the gold powder was grated, then combined to make this image. That was my secret, but now it is everyones
These are grated/dried/cured hashes: The top pict (romulan) is half melt, and the lower (sour d) is full melt. Same trichome sizes, same methods. The oil soluble terpenes are what makes hash melt, and sour d is a full melt strain. Romulan is not. They are equally potent.
As for pressing, that depends on where it is going... if you feel me
. I prefer to smoke unpressed/untouched hash, as it is perfectly pure and smokeable after curing. Dispensary buyers operate on false beliefs surrounding hash, and unfortunately I have to cater to these falsehoods.
This is some of that same romulan bubble, but pressed and sprinkled with unpressed romulan bubble. Just for comparison.
Any more to add on the wet vs. dry trim? You say you use dry? If you were to use wet, do you bag it and freeze while wet?
I know I have more questions... Just not thinking of em right now. Thanks for sharing the knowledge brother. It's appreciated.
I am learning, thanks to Bubbleman, that processing wet trim hold the most potential for full melt hash. BUT both are equally potent, and melt has nothing to do with overall potency. I've been doing both, as it works into my life. To best freeze fresh trim I lay it out on sheet trays and quick freeze it, then combine it all in a bag after being frozen. If you freeze it all together you will have to break it all up to process... so cold on the hands.