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Blender Bubble Hash (And Gumby Hash)


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I don't pulverize or dry-grind my pot before making bubble hash. I blend it into a smoothy like consistency, then bubble bag it like normal, but needing little or no additional agitation after in the bucket or bubble bag.

 

Here's how:

Add about one ounce of pot to the blender. Cover the pot with very cold water leaving 2 or 3 inches of air so the lid won't be pushed off. Add 4 or 5 ice cubes (I grow my own ice). Add more ice if you are using room-temperature water. Let stand for a minute or SLOWLY agitate, so the trichomes have time to freeze and harden before blending vigorously.

 

The ice and pot will both shred together, eliminating the need to pulverize your dry pot beforehand.

 

I've even used recently harvested green undried uncured pot and gotten good results.

 

I spin the blender at high speeds, and the trichomes seem to be unharmed and extract the same as when I've agitated the pot more gently in a bucket with a hand beater, or a paint stirrer on a hand drill.

 

I'm getting at least 3 grams of “full melt” dark brown, flexible moldable hash from an ounce of nugs (a bit less if using trim, of course). That's the 10% result you'd expect from an extraction. The 90 micron bubble bag just above the 25 micron bag produces blond sticky hash that when dry, will roll into a ball when pinched, rather than crumbling between your fingers.

 

The bubble bags above that will yield crumbly crap that needs to be used in cooking since it's pretty weak. You could smoke the stuff if you want to learn to blow smoke rings rather than hold it in your lungs.

 

That's pretty typical for making bubble hash, tho. Perhaps using a blender sheds the pot finer, producing more junk in those upper bubble bags.

 

I discovered “blender hash” independently of the Internet, since I used to dry-grind my pot in the blender. The dry grinding blender method may smash a lot of trichomes, evidenced by their melting onto the blender blade. The dry pot heats up from the friction if you blend it too quickly or vigorously. So it occurred to me to grind it with ice and water to keep it cool. It worked so well, I figured someone on the Net must have already tried it.

 

The Net mentions blending the pot similarly, but making “gravity hash” or “gumby hash” without the bubble bags. You just let the ground-up pot and ice quietly float in a bucket for a few hours, allowing the trichomes to settle on the bottom of the bucket. Then carefully pour or siphon off the water to get to the muddy looking extract at the bottom of the bucket.

 

You could make “hybrid” gravity hash, by using the top bubble bags (with the larger holes), omitting the 90 and 25 micron bubble bags. The top bags will sift out the “crap” and you are left with dark hash but including the blond stuff that would have been caught by the 90 micron bag.

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Hey, I'm trying to eliminate steps, not add one more!

 

What charmed me most is dumping the blender contents into a bubble bag and sifting out hash immediately. Usable pot to hash (albeit very wet hash) in a matter of minutes.

 

But, yes, you could freeze it beforehand, and you'd be assured to have the whole thing very cold before you start.

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dry ice would just be colder than ice. i guess dry ice just melts into gas? so it wouldnt have any water (except condensation from the air)

 

dry ice and water makes a lot of co2 gas bubbles. just dont put it in sealed container, otherwise gas will build up pressure.

 

dry ice will also freezer burn skin , so please be careful.

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Yes, at room or "sea level" atmospheric pressure CO2 can only exist as a gas or a solid. So it sublimates from a solid directly into a gas. Inside a CO2 fire extinguisher, it is pressurized to 870 pounds/square inch (psi), and exists as a liquid as evidenced by the sloshing when you shake the tank. For comparison, if a typical Scuba diving tank is pressurized to around 90 atmospheres, that is 1300 psi. At room temperature, both air and CO2 exist as a liquid at these "tank" pressures so both tanks will "slosh" when shaken.

 

If you are interested in how pressure and temperature affect substances, Google "triple point". The triple point is a pressure and temperature where small changes to those pressure and temperatures will change the substance's "phase" or "state" between a solid, liquid or gas; all within very similar pressures and temperatures. Everything has a triple point, even carbon dioxide which is -70 deg F and 75 psi. Remember that 30 psi is about what your auto tire is inflated to, while high-pressure bicycle tires are inflated to 70 psi.

 

And yes, the pressure built up in an closed container of dry ice can break a household container made of glass or plastic, creating a small, non-flammable explosion due to the rapid pressure release. In a dry ice "bomb", water is added to a bottle of dry ice to accelerate the warming and pressure build up which can reach 870 psi, as mentioned in the first paragraph here. That's 30 times the pressure of an auto tire, which would obviously rupture if filled with dry ice. Tires are said to be in danger of popping at only over double the recommended inflation pressure.

 

edit: changed triple point example from mercury to carbon dioxide (CO2)

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The violence of the spinning blender dislodges many trichomes without necessarily pulverizing the pot into powder. So the spinning can be pretty brief.

 
Oh, and I wear hearing protection since the blender is loud.
 

I spin slowly at first for a minimum of 20 seconds to chill the trichomes. Longer can't hurt. I then punch the "pulse" button and increase the speed, blending at high speed for under a minute, but you can blend a little longer. 

 

I'm using an old Osterizer blender with a typical 5-cup glass pitcher. A larger blender can't be too different in making smoothies (or hash).

 

If you've made smoothies before, the ice initially gets smacked around making loud "clanging" noises. As the ice and pot are shredded, the blender spins more freely and the noise changes to a smooth whine.

 

Don't try this with your cell phone (as Lindsey Graham did after Trump gave out his cell phone number). The glass pitcher shattered, instead of "blending" the phone as Lindsey expected.

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How would you go about heating wet trichomes if you wanted to forcibly decarboxylate? Strain to remove as much water as possible then heat in the oven perhaps? Any idea what temperature and for how long that might take?

 

This is the kief decarb method used by BadKat Smiles

 

Find your oven safe ceramic dish, mine is used heavily and often so you'll notice

throughout my tutorials that I don't bother cleaning it.. why remove those glands after all,when I can reduce their loss by leaving the same amount behind with each use.  I just pop it in the fridge when I'm done with it, knowing I'll be using it again in a few days or a  week.

 

Preheat oven, to 220 f.

 

Sprinkle your hash evenly over the dish, and double seal WELL, with aluminum foil. Set a timer for 20 minutes, place the sealed dish on a baking sheet, in the oven, during pre-heat.. it isn't entirely necessary, but heating slowly reduces the risk of shattering your dish, and losing your precious material.

 

The same applies to the end of the heating, turn off the oven, open it briefly, then close it and allow it to cool slowly within the oven for 10 minutes.

 

Total decarb time, 30 minutes (20 of which, the oven is ‘on’).

 

-----

 

Decarbing is a touchy issue for many folks, some know they need it but don't know the methods and practices that cause decarbing, some aren't aware of it at all, others think it's unnecessary and 'know' they get some amount of effect from eating bud on its own, here's why: some herb, if it's old, commercial, over-dry, whatever the reason, for a variety of reasons, some herb is already partially, or even full decarbed.

 

The process begins happening, very gradually, the moment you cut a plant down and begin depriving it of water. The older the bud is, and the drier it gets, the more carbon dioxide and water vapor is released, and the closer it is to removing the carboxyl group. It's something that is almost never discussed publicly, but is frequently known in professional kitchens.

 

 

The fresher the herb, or the more moist the storage conditions, the more necessary and extensive the decarbing process needs to be. Loose hash, separated from plant matter, in general needs a bit less decarbing. With herb, depending on the age, I decarb for a full 20 minutes after the preheat, rather than including that warm up in my 20 minute time frame. Crack oven and wait until it is cool enough to touch before removing the dish; an additional 10 or so minutes.

 

Once cooled, remove your dish.

 

In every step of the way, in order to prevent the loss of potency via vapor escape, you MUST wait for your sealed container to fully cool, prior to opening.

 

Unwrap your foil covered dish. Your hash should now have gone from a very pale sandy amber, to a light but somewhat golden brown.

 

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This thread should be titled "How to Prepare Dry (or Freshly Harvested!) Marijuana for Medical Use" and made sticky. It's that good. ...

 

...

 

I've used a blender to chop-up pot in water before making canna butter.

 

I blend in water (with no ice since I don't care if I smash or distort the trichomes as I might with bubble bags), then add to a pot or double boiler with butter. 

 

So the blender sheds dry or green pot in water, pre-extraction. The actual extraction is via either bubble bags or "gravity hash", or to make canna butter.

 

I suppose you could blend pot in glycerine (or "glycerol") or another non-flammable solvent.

 

Can anyone think of another liquid you could safely grind up pot in a blender, such as milk or cream to make "canna moo" or whatever. 

 

The blender produces electrical sparks at the motor's brushes, so don't use alcohol, iso, hexane or any flammable liquid in a blender.

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...

 

How would you go about heating wet trichomes if you wanted to forcibly decarboxylate? Strain to remove as much water as possible then heat in the oven perhaps? Any idea what temperature and for how long that might take?

 

If you wanted to keep everything fresh, what is the next processing step after straining?

 

Dry bubble hash thoroughly as soon as possible to keep mold from growing on it. Only after it's very dry, refrigerate or even freeze it in an air-tight vacuum bag or a small mason jar.

 

Here's how:

After scooping the wet hash from the bubble bag, press out excess water through the "pressing screen" with a towel or cloth. Then spread the semi-wet bubble hash onto a piece of cardboard to dry either:

- at room temperature for at least five (5) days or

- if your room is humid or cold, dry it for two (2) days in an oven set very low (90 to 120 degrees).

 

The dry time also depends on how big the piles of wet hash are, so spread the hash evenly for a better dry.

 

I have a gas oven so the pilot light keeps my oven at 90 degrees or so. Lately instead of cardboard, I put the semi-wet hash on parchment paper used to line baking pans.

 

Decarboxylating hash you plan on eating:

For hash that I don't plan on smoking, I decarboxylate it for 30 minutes in a "warm" oven (175 to 185 deg F) wrapped in parchment paper with some weight on it (although the weight may not be necessary). A tiny amount of oil may be pressed out of the hash onto the parchment paper. 

 

To release the sticky hash when I unfold the parchment paper, I cool in the freezer for 30 seconds or so just to harden the outside layer of hash closest to the parchment paper.

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I've used a blender to chop-up pot in water before making canna butter.

 

I blend in water (with no ice since I don't care if I smash or distort the trichomes as I might with bubble bags), then add to a pot or double boiler with butter. 

 

So the blender sheds dry or green pot in water, pre-extraction. The actual extraction is via either bubble bags or "gravity hash", or to make canna butter.

 

I suppose you could blend pot in glycerine (or "glycerol") or another non-flammable solvent.

 

Can anyone think of another liquid you could safely grind up pot in a blender, such as milk or cream to make "canna moo" or whatever. 

 

The blender produces electrical sparks at the motor's brushes, so don't use alcohol, iso, hexane or any flammable liquid in a blender.

 

Are you extracting more trichomes by blending with water?

 

For butter, I normally use 2 cups water, 1 lb of butter, and add trim or bud. Then cook on low for 8 - 10 hours, stirring occasionally.

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I'd say most of the trichomes are extracted into the butter, so no, don't expect better extraction by using a blender.

 

Most likely, any loss you'd experience when making canna butter would be if you didn't manage to squeeze or otherwise recover all the butter, leaving some lingering butter in the wet mash of pot you trash at the end of the process. The nearly complete extraction into the butter has occurred, it's then just a matter of separating the wet pot from the butter.

 

Cooking for 8 hours is way too long, IMO. You might start getting deterioration of the active ingredients with exposure to elevated temperatures for so long. I cook canna butter for 45 minutes to an hour. A long cook time might help break down the vegetable material, but the trichomes aren't buried down in the plant structures, but are on the surface of the leaves/buds. So finely grinding your pot first might not matter that much when making canna butter. Of course if you don't grind your pot at all, your butter may have a harder time reaching the trichomes.

 

You can search for many posts here about making canna butter. 

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