Can we have a discussion in 2019 about how home growers should be processing?

IIReignManII

Well-Known Member
I'm about 30 days out from harvest, and I'm having the age old dilemma of what form of concentrate to make. I can spend about $200 on a bubblebag set up and be done with it, which is what I'm learning towards. Another option is something like butane or Mz12x which interest me for the yield benefits and I do enjoy that consistency too. I looked into dry ice sifting and didn't really like what I saw. Rosin is easy, I'm already going to do this with some nugs and potentially the bubble hash and kief I make. If I make bho or zho, I dont have any sort of vac purging ability, so we'd have to just use the old warm water bath and scrape method to purge it. I've looked into proper dry sift and it looks really nice but I'm not sure what the cost for something like that would be yet...For delivery I really prefer smoking to dabs, but I do enjoy dabs from time to time. I like something I can melt on top of a bowl...I enjoy all forms of concentrate but I can say I've never had legitimate full melt bubble hash in my life. I just want something clean thats going to taste as close to the original product as possible.
 

A Viking

Well-Known Member
I don't know if there is any "should" involved here. There's just so much variety and so many personal preferences when it comes to extracts.

My preference is for the final product to have no toxic solvents, so that leaves few options for me without spending a ton of cash: QWET, dry ice kief, dry sift kief, bubble hash, and rosin. Also, I suppose, tinctures and butter/oil extracts for edibles.

Last week I made bubble hash from the trim of my first grow. I learned that I fucking love bubble hash lol!

I quit smoking cigs 6 years ago, after having the addiction for 35 years. I do not smoke weed, only vape flower, kief, or rosin, plus bubble hash now, haha. Rosin and bubble both seem to me to keep sufficient terpenes to maintain taste and aroma. Have not tried larger scale kief extraction yet, just what lands in the grinder.

I'm in the process of making a rosin press - have the PID controller, 8 ton hydraulic jack, aluminum bar stock for plates, and the cartridge heaters will eventually get here from China. I've started cutting the steel pieces for the press frame, and should be welding things up this weekend. I like that you can make rosin direct from flower, from kief (however extracted), or bubble.

I suppose there is also a discussion between processing fresh frozen product or a dried and cured product. I have never tried any fresh frozen extracts. Maybe next grow I'll set some aside for testing.
 

bartow

Well-Known Member
I will tell you what I do. We use a Magic Butter machine. It has been well worth the price. We use it for infused coconut oil but have not yet tried anything else. Before, we used to use a crock pot and have tried a number of other approaches. With the magic butter machine our result is at least twice as potent as what we were getting out of a crock pot. But, that is not all.

I like a real strong oil because I take it straight and prefer to swallow more extract relative to oil. To accomplish this, I will make one batch from an ounce of buds and make infused oil out of that. I will then take that batch of infussed oil, add another ounce of buds, replace any coconut oil lost during the first process. I then run that through the Magic Butter machine. That process can be repeated until the oil is so strong that it needs a label on it saying so.

This is not as strong as Rick Simpson oil but I don't have cancer. It takes a lot of weed to do it this way. Even thought I live in a very unfriendly cannabis state, I grow the stuff year round and already have a several lifetimes supply on hand. So, I am fortunate enough to have more than I need.

Even in an unfriendly cannabis state, there is little to no risk to a retired person growing provided it is an absolute secret and none of it ever leaves the house. The health benefits are so enormous, it is worth the risk anyway. The state should appreciate all of us who do it this way. If they sent me to prison the state would have to pay for my health care which would cost them a lot of money.
 

skuba

Well-Known Member
Bubble hash or hash rosin sounds like what you want. Although I don’t know about a $200 bubble bag setup, that sounds awful cheap. There are screens you can buy for refining kief as well if that’s what you want to do, and you can even refine it to 99% trichome heads by using static electricity (wrapping a paint roller in parchment and dragging across your kief piles - if done correctly will separate trich heads from stalks.)
I wouldn’t recommend making extracts with solvents without the proper purging equipment, no bueno for your lungs.
 

purplehays1

Well-Known Member
I'm about 30 days out from harvest, and I'm having the age old dilemma of what form of concentrate to make. I can spend about $200 on a bubblebag set up and be done with it, which is what I'm learning towards. Another option is something like butane or Mz12x which interest me for the yield benefits and I do enjoy that consistency too. I looked into dry ice sifting and didn't really like what I saw. Rosin is easy, I'm already going to do this with some nugs and potentially the bubble hash and kief I make. If I make bho or zho, I dont have any sort of vac purging ability, so we'd have to just use the old warm water bath and scrape method to purge it. I've looked into proper dry sift and it looks really nice but I'm not sure what the cost for something like that would be yet...For delivery I really prefer smoking to dabs, but I do enjoy dabs from time to time. I like something I can melt on top of a bowl...I enjoy all forms of concentrate but I can say I've never had legitimate full melt bubble hash in my life. I just want something clean thats going to taste as close to the original product as possible.
The easiest method is ISO, though in my exp the yield is better with butane. All of the solvent less options will have very small yields compared to butane or even ISO. I have found the quality of all methods mentioned can be top notch, as long as the process and the plant matter being used is good.

Also ISO does not require any specific tool to purge, it will purge itself in normal room temperature you just must be patient, when in doubt let it evaporate another day.
 

dabbindylan

Well-Known Member
so iso is toxic and if you consume as is with adding another "weathering agent"/ solvent its putting alot of stress on your organs try ethanol and reclaiming with a still
 

Thundercat

Well-Known Member
so iso is toxic and if you consume as is with adding another "weathering agent"/ solvent its putting alot of stress on your organs try ethanol and reclaiming with a still
Iso is only toxic if you drink or injest it. If you make the extract correctly there is going to be zero residual iso that you are consuming. Stop spreading bad info.

Qwiso OR QWET are my methods of choice. If you do the process correctly you can get a beautiful golden clean extract. If you do it like a lazy stoner you will get darker harsh extracts. Its all in the process. Qwiso is fast, simple, super cheap.

Here is a tutorial on how I make my qwiso. Many have followed the process, and the closer you follow the instructions the nicer your extract will turn out! https://www.rollitup.org/t/thundercats-groooooooow.131193/page-134
 

A Viking

Well-Known Member
So it's been just about three months since I last posted here. Finally finished the bubble hash, had been vaping that almost exclusively for twelve weeks. RIP my tolerance.

Finally finished my rosin press and did a flower squish tonight.
Press: Homemade 8 ton w/ 3x5 plates. 4-100W heaters, InkBird PID controller
7 grams of my homegrown Candy Cane, cured three months.
2x4 160 micron bag, bottle bag style.
93C (200F)
30 second warm up, 3 min squish, ramping up over 2 min, max with 30 sec left
Yield: 1.15g (16.4%) Not that great, but I finished the press yesterday, so still have a lot to learn!​
Here it is:
squish.jpg

Received the TVRP waxpen in the mail yesterday, and got to try it out with this rosin. The atomizer is mounted on an eVic Primo box mod. At 17 watts, this thing produces instant vapour. (I'm just blazed right now, this post took forever, lol.)
 

Sunbiz1

Well-Known Member
I will tell you what I do. We use a Magic Butter machine. It has been well worth the price. We use it for infused coconut oil but have not yet tried anything else. Before, we used to use a crock pot and have tried a number of other approaches. With the magic butter machine our result is at least twice as potent as what we were getting out of a crock pot. But, that is not all.
Haven't seen 1 bad review on this product,
I now know what I want for my Birthday.:D
 
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