Hey there, I've decided to make an easy guide to making some nice earwax from your harvest waste / trim, or if you feel a bit extravagant some bud!
What is Earwax?
The process that makes ear wax hash pretty much removes all plant parts from your cannabis matter and makes your concentrate a near pure concoction of cannabinoid chemicals derived straight from your favorite strain.
We pass butane gas through dried plant matter packed into a cylinder, which strips the matter of all oils and goodness, then is filtered through a coffee filter on the end, into a Pyrex dish, then the gas evaporates off leaving us with a residue, which we treat in a certain way to make earwax.
What you need:
Extraction cylinder: - these can be bought online, but its better and easier to make your own. I made mine from some 2 inch plastic tubing, cut to a length of 30 cm approximately, with a wine making cork in 1 end and I fitted a
fitting from the butane bottle cap to it using a biro. Other side I made a line of blu-tak / putty around the bottom rim of the tubing then tightly wrapped a coffee filter to cover the end, then secured with some duct tape + jubilee clip (like a gasket) (See Picture)
Dried Trim / bud :- I always use high quality trim (trim from the buds and the straggly buds from bottom of plants), but you can use bud too, better the material used the better quality end product. Best results from dried material.
Butane :- lighter refill gas from your local store, or camping gas if you can find the right attachment.
Mixing instrument :- I use a Thick E guitar string, or/and a small mini screwdriver you use to open screws on glasses
Latex gloves (optional) : - I use these to gather and press the wax into a ball in the end, saves getting it on your fingers
Heat Source :- cooker hob, portable stove etc, I use my halogen cooker hob.
Clean new blades :- Stanley / razorblades will do
Large Pyrex dish : - make sure its nice n clean.
Instructions
First things first, prep everything you need and get everything set out ready, and ready to go, so you don't scramble for it during the process, its time sensitive.
VENTILATE THE AREA WELL SO BUTANE CAN ESCAPE
1. Pack your tube with dried plant matter not too packed but not too loose, and use a poker to make sure you have no air pockets in there.
2. Seal the end with the cork or cap whichever you use
3. Run hot water into your kitchen sink so its a few inches deep, and carefully place your pyrex dish to float in it without getting inside the Pyrex wet. If this isn't possible for you, you can fill a bigger container with hot water to accommodate your Pyrex.
4. After a minute or so when the Pyrex dish has warmed up, shake a bottle of butane and pop the lid, and place the nozzle into your cap fitting and hold the device over the Pyrex dish, and then force the bottle down to push the
butane through the tube
5. Keep the gas passing through the material until the gas bottle has finished or until its clear. It should be a golden yellow / green as it first comes out.
6. IMPORTANT: DO NOT REMOVE THE PYREX FROM THE WARM WATER YET
Let the butane evaporate out of the mixture, it will leave a sticky residue like treacle when its done, with slow bubbles.
7. Still with the Pyrex in the warm water, use the Guitar string / Whipping device to agitate the residue, scratch the surface and scrape through all the bubbles, bursting as much bubbles as you can, you'll notice it going a bit milky and honeycomby, this is good. Do this for about a minute.
Warm up your hob to a low to medium level so it's ready
8. Once you've agitated as much bubbles as possible and the oil is milky frothy golden color, carefully remove the Pyrex from the water. DO NOT GET WATER ON THE OIL.
9. Gather the oil up quickly into 1 pile in the middle of the Pyrex. Using 2 blades to work together makes things easier.
10. Place the pyrex dish over the heat source where the pile of oil is.
11. Heat the oil very gently, pulling off and on the Pyrex dish a bit at a time if needed to control the heat, you just need to tickle it. When it becomes softer and runnier, remove it from the heat and whip it like an egg with the guitar string whipping air into the oil. Really get in there and whisk it good.
Heat the oil till it slightly bubbles like a pancake like this:
then remove from heat and whip till it thickens again.
12. When the oil begins to cool down again and go thicker, repeat step 11. Remember to never let it cool down too much, and DO NOT OVERHEAT it else you will ruin it and wont get wax.
13. After repeating step 11 a few times, the oil will change consistency, it will crystallize and go milky like a paste almost, when this happens, the wax is ready to collect. (see pictures)
note: after heating it and whipping it, let it cool down before reheating, see if it turns into a paste.
Note: Sometimes it takes a few Step 11's of heating and whipping and cooling, so don't give up, sometimes it does it in 3 heating's for me, or sometimes 6, but it will eventually get to the state you want. If the substance is milky in color then you're OK, if it goes clear then you have overheated it, and you may as well leave it set to some shatter.
14. Using the blades, gather the wax into 1 pile in the middle.
15. Put on the latex gloves and pres the mound into a little pyramid type shape on the pyrex like so:
16. Get under the mound of goodness with the blade, and then mold it into a ball in your fingers using the latex gloves.
ENJOY YOUR SMOKE!
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