Let’s Get Bubbly Making Hash

Water extracted making bubble hash is known as water-making bubble hash, ice-making bubble hash, THC crystal, etc. When making bubble hash is very pure, it will bubble releasing volatile resins when exposed to a flame, hence the name here’s how to make bubble hash.

Plant material is light and will float in water, while heavy, oil-soluble resin glands will not dissolve in water, and settle in the bottom of a container of water. Water-soluble terpenoids found in cannabis resin contribute to fragrance and taste.

Plant materials and ice are first placed in a bag, inside a bucket of cold water. Once they are in the mix, the mixture must be stirred vigorously with either a stick or a mixer. After mixing for about five to twenty minutes, most of the resin glands will have fallen off and separated through the different sieve filtration levels and collect making bubble hash of different purity.

Cold water is essential because warm water softens resin and makes them stick together and to other things, while cold water allows them to separate from the plant material and fall. Ice-cold water extraction combined with the dry sieving process gives you a better way to process your plant materials and collect making bubble hash, the outcome is Ice-O-Lator® bags or Bubble Bags®.

Cannabis is chopped and placed in ice-cold water in bags. The water-soluble terpenoids in cannabis are washed out when extracting resin with water.

Your time and budget will dictate how many bags you want to use to make making bubble hash. If you are using a three-bag system, process the mix twice, or if you are using five or more bags, you can do a single run.

Many people will use a mixer with paddles, instead of mixing by hand, as this can be very tiresome. Ice-cold water makes trichomes brittle, and agitation knocks off the trichomes very well and thoroughly.

Bubble Bags & Ice-O-Lator Instructions

Bubble Bags and Ice-O-Lator are two of a variety of bag systems that use water extraction for a simple and effective method of extracting resin glands. To start the process of water extraction, you will first need to have a few things to do this process, you will need:

• Ice-O-Lator or Bubble Bag set
• 5-gallon (20–25 liters) bucket with lid
• Kitchen mixer
• Paper towels
• Dinner Plate
• Large mixing spoon
• 4.5 – 11 pounds (2–5 kg) of ice cubes

You will first put your frozen, resinous trimmings into the right bag in your system; make sure it does not contain any stems or sharp parts of plants that can cut the bags.

Make sure you place the trimmings into the correct bag, as this process will not work correctly if it is in the wrong bag. Read the instructions on the bag to see which one you place the trimmings into.

Next, you will need to make sure the temperature of the water is just above freezing at about 41°F (5°C), you can run the water until it is as cold as possible, and then add it to your five-gallon bucket to about six inches (15 cm) below the rim.

Then you will place the bags (in order) into the bucket, one at a time, making sure that the bags hang straight down and leveled out on the bottoms, while the top of the bag is pulled and rolled over the top of the bucket to hold it down and in place.

Now, you are ready to place the frozen cannabis materials in the correct bag, into the bucket full of the rest of the bags (in the proper order).

You can put up to seven ounces (250 gm) into the top bag that is full of water, be sure to not place too much, as there will not be enough room for ice to be added, and the amount of making bubble hash harvested will be diminished with too much material, less is best.

Once the material is in the top bag, you will then place enough ice to top it off about two to three inches or so from the top of the bucket, then add more cold water over the ice and material. You will then allow the bucket to sit for about 15 minutes to allow the ice to chill the water down to about 41°F (5°C).

If you need to add more ice, do so.

Mixing Bubble Hash Batch

Next, you can either cut a hole in the lid of the bucket or through a wooden board for the mixer to rest on while mixing or better yet, save the lid and board and just do it by hand.

To speed up the process, you can hold the bag and swish it around, above the next bag and this will un-clog the holes that are filled with resin, allowing the water to drain. Once water is gone from the bag, only the making bubble hash remains on the sieve in the bottom of the bag.

You will mix the water/ice/plant material for about 15 minutes and let it soak for 5 minutes.

You will then take a spatula and stir the debris around and off the sizes of the bag to remove materials from the sides and allow it all to mix thoroughly. Then let the mix sit for another 5 minutes.

The setting allows for the trichomes to fall to the bottom of the bag. If you need to add more ice, to top it off do so. Now, you will mix it again for another 15 minutes with your mixer. Then let it sit for another 5 minutes to settle.

You can continue doing this for an hour if you would like, but after the two times of 15-minute mixes, you can stop if you would like. After letting it sit for 5 minutes, you will then remove the top bag that is full of the plant material, close the top of the bag and hang it where you can have the excess ice and water drain off.

If you want, you can run water through the bag to further collect more resin that did not fall through, be sure to do this over the other bags for them to collect what falls. Cleanliness is important for the om beginning to end, from the plants being un-sprayed for the last month of plant growth, to the tools, and everything else in the process.

Everything in the remaining bags will end up, in the end, in the process when making bubble hash. Remove each bag, and allow the water to drip out, it tends to be slow.

During this process, remember that it is a rinsing and separating process to remove the resin. You will do this with every bag that you have in the bucket. Depending on which set you purchased you can have three or more to go through.

Each bag will progressively take longer and longer to drain as the mesh gets finer and finer. Be sure to squeeze the bags and swish them around to get the water out.

Separating & Drying Hash Batch

When all that’s left is to make bubble hash, you will then set out your plate and paper towel on the plate, then scoop up the making bubble hash from the bags with a spoon and place them on the paper towels.

You can keep each of the different sizes of making bubble hash separate or mix them if you want. When you have the making bubble hash on the towels, you can squeeze them together between the towels to press much of the water out.

Be sure not to waste the cold water in the bucket, if you have more plant material, start another batch. When you are done making bubble hash you can use the water for your plants.

When you are rinsing out all of the bags to remove resin and debris, you will want to clean the screens with 96 percent pure alcohol so no oil-based resin remains on the screens. Then place them up to dry.

The making bubble hash must be dried quickly as to prevent mold from taking hold of the making bubble hash.

You should remove them from the paper towels and place them on a flat plate or surface and move them around now and then, breaking them up.

Another option is to press the resin into a round ball; the more you press the more moisture is released. When making bubble hash is pressed, the resin crystals break and release oil that will then darken in color due to oxidization.

Resin crystals from the fresh material will remain white, which is very high quality. Another way is to press it flat, which will remove most of the water and you can also freeze the making bubble hash ball.

By doing this the water will expand and will appear on the surface of the ball and freeze. Simply remove the ball and wipe it off.

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