Dry Trim then Freeze or just freeze???

[bonvondon]

Hi all,

I have me some lovely crystally trim and have some bubble bags (4 bag set) and my question is do I need to dry my trim first or is it ok to just bag it and freeze it before I use it to make some bubble hash?

Thing is I have already placed all of my fresh trim in bags and in the freezer so do I need to dry this out first or can I use it as is?

Sorry for the noobish question folks!

Bon

[cannamancan]

I'd dry it 1st tbh that's wot I used to do .

[alwaystoned_1]

i use fresh frozen with mine i used to dry it first but now i dont and end up with a cleaner product when its dry it seems to break down more than when i use fresh frozen

[Poet]

Dry it first then freeze.

[bonvondon]

Thanks all for your suggestions, seeing as I have already frozen the fresh trim I will give that a go and see what happens, if all is well then I will carry on as is, if not I can always dry the frozen trim and then refreeze I suppose?

Thx again chaps

Bon

[bonvondon]

Right I just found this great article on making Bubble Hash and thought I would share it with you all as its a very good read! Again this is NOT MY article it was written by someone called grobag so a massive thx to him for all his research and time and great writing skills!

Bubbling:
I take a totally different approach with the bubble/water hash technique for extracting the resin. The reason is quite simple really - the resin glands are submersed in water and therefore aren’t brittle like with dry sift so a different approach is called for. How do you snap of and collect just the capitate heads when they are far from dry and brittle? The water hash technique relies on the fact that resin, being more dense than water will sink whilst the plant matter floats on the main, then the bubble bags are the screens that separate and filter the resin into grades as it works it’s way down to the bottom. All you need to concentrate on then again is trying to just separate those heads and not little particles of plant matter which will also inevitably become sodden and sink aswell into the awaiting catching sacks.

It’s best to decide what you are going to be doing before you crop so you go about doing things in the best way for your needs. When I first chop the plants I trim them straight away from fresh. This way will give you the most options of what to do with the trim (you can always dry it separately if you want). I first chop off all of the fan/shade leaves without any visible resin glands on them and throw them away. Along with the stems and roots, these are the only waste from the plant with which I do nothing. I then perform a second manicure of the buds, removing and collecting all of the frosty leaves and the lower down smaller and looser buds which don’t make for quite as good a smoke on their own. All of the buds I then hang to dry for around a couple of weeks in a cool dark place before jarring for a cure, but all of the collected trim/air bud I freeze from fresh without drying at all. This is a key point with strong reasons behind it. Again I see these as twofold; firstly from the aspect of making the resin glands brittle. With the higher moisture content within the capitate glands themselves (as opposed to being dried out) they both stand out prouder and freeze more readily, making them easier to snap off. As long as the water is at a low enough temperature containing lots of individual ice cubes the trim/air bud will remain frozen when added. I always add cold water from the tap and then add a load of ice to the bucket, plus setting up all the bags in order, so that the water is cold enough, before adding any cannabis matter. The key is keeping it cold enough the whole time so you want a load of ice on hand throughout so that there is always lots of solid chunks in there. These both keep the temps down and bash about the trim knocking off the heads. If trim stays frozen then the resin heads will remain brittle and can be removed easier. The second benefit of freezing the trim from fresh is that the plant matter is more likely to remain intact. If dried before freezing (or without freezing), the plant matter is more likely to break up when being bashed about in the bubbling process, and therefore more likely to make it through the screens with the resin glands. Full Melt Clear Dome (FMCD) Bubble Hash is only made from resin heads alone with minimal amounts of plant matter; mostly only achieved using freshly frozen trim.

Again though a lot depends on technique and FMCD hash can only really be made with a gentle approach as with dry sifting. Ultimately it is the same balance of quality vs. quantity and what you want from your labours. Me, I want the best, and find this is best achieved by doing things by hand. Using electric mixers, drills with mixer paddles, etc (I’ve tried quite a few ways) is the easiest way to bubble but even on the lowest settings they tend to be far to vigorous. By hand, and by that I mean using a plain wooden spoon or chopstick even, you can be far more gentle and increase the chance of breaking off the resin heads alone with minimal plant matter with them. Plus you can get into all the nooks and crannies easier, avoid clumping, and just generally do a better and more thorough job of exposing the surface area and knocking it about in the iced water - the basic aim. With a few bouts of stirring it about to knock off the heads and expose different areas, then letting it settle for equal amounts of time in between, you allow the resin a chance to break off, float free and sink through the grades of bags. Like with dry sift, you could always do a second, more vigorous run to get any missed resin heads along with more plant matter making a second lower grade of hash(s). Or you can do as I do and dry the trim out after bubbling (oddly after being submersed in water cannabis dries out quicker than if it was just dried straight from fresh!), then oil wash it for the remaining cannabinoids. Remember aswell that the capitate heads are not the only resin glands, and even the stalks of the capitate glands are left behind. After both dry sifting and bubbling, oil washing is the best way get at all the remaining resin whilst producing an even more superior product to the original hashes made. Definitely something worth baring in mind.

With both of these methods of making your own hash, dry sift and bubbling, and whether or not you decide to dry it out first, best results are achieved through not grinding the trim at all. If you grind it up you are just increasing by far the chance of plant matter getting through the screens with the resin glands and making all other techniques used pointless. If all you are after is a high quantity of low grade hash then grind up dried trim and be extremely vigorous with passing it over the screen. You’ll get a greener product that won’t bind as well due to the added plant matter, but you’ll still get a far better hash than most you see on the streets of Britain nowadays and you’ll get a lot more of it. Personally I don’t see the point though. I like to make as pure and strong a product as possible and just smoke less of it, it is far more enjoyable. I, like most of us here at UK420, come from the perspective of supplying myself with the best smoke possible rather than for any financial gain. It’s a passion for me - plus a bit more!

[iggypot]

Right I just found this great article
fuck me aint there a video version of that, lol

[Roid-smoker]

Good article! Im making ice this week :D

[M_C]

Nice find bonvondon :)

[taylor]

my flatmate and i have just watched a few videos on the subject, its great to know you can do more with the bits leftover, happy days :xmas:

[mogzy]

ive just trimmed my plant abit, its not fully matured yet but can i use the leaves to make hash or does it have to be from a harvested plant. ie fully matured? sorry for the daft question, noob

cheers

[cannamancan]

Ur better off with fully matured trim mate tbh , and fair play fir reading up instead of just starting a new thread .

[mogzy]

would there not be enough resin in the leaves to make hash, the plants about 5-6 weeks old now

[cannamancan]

Possibly , dry it and save it till u chop down the plants and make hash out of that and the rest of the trim at the same time or I doubt u will feel the benefit tbh pal.