How I make 'clean' cannabutter- a tutorial

[stinkyattic]

I like to turn my 'popcorn buds' and shake into cannabutter for making caramels and chocolate truffles. A problem with confectionery is the high temperatures that one needs to bring the sugar to before it is at the correct stage for making candy. Typically, caramels will be brought to 245 degrees F, and if there is any plant material or even excess chlorophyll in the butter, it will have a scorched and very unpleasant flavor.

So this is a little tutorial on the process by which I make my washed cannabutter.

Step 1 is to grind up the herb. I just run it through a hand grinder but if you feel sassy, a $15 coffee grinder just for your pot is really trick. Next, I weigh it out and decide what I want my dosage to be. I like to dose butter at 2 grams per tablespoon. The butter should be of decent quality. It doesn't matter if it is salted, because we are going to 'wash' it later.

Next, take your butter and ground herb and put it in a wide-mouthed canning jar. Add enough water to fully wet the herb.

Put the jar with the butter, water, and cannabis in a large stockpot with enough hot water to reach up to the shoulders of the jar. Screw on the band but don't tighten it down- hot air and water vapor must be able to escape. Bring the water bath just to BARELY a simmer.

Periodically, remove the jar from the water bath, tighten the lid, and gently shake the contents to re-mix, as they tend to stratify. Loosen the band again before returning the jar to the water bath. Heat for about 2 hours, then pour into a second jar, through a potato ricer to strain, and squeeze out ALL the liquid.

Place this jar in the refrigerator until the two phases stratify and the butter sets into a solid mass. Poke a large hole through the butter and pour out all the water through a strainer to catch any butter pieces floating in the water. Re-fill with clean water and return to the hot water bath. HOT WATER ON COLD GLASS WILL CRACK THE GLASS! Bring the bath back to temperature gradually.

Now repeat the heating and shaking process. You will see that the water becomes cloudy. This is all contamination leaving the butter. Chlorophyll, plant matter, even excess fertilizer salts are washed away, leaving pure butter with the psychoactive compounds.

This is called a liquid-liquid extraction, and takes advantage of the different solubilities of polar (salts) vs nonpolar (hydrocarbons) compounds in polar (water) vs nonpolar (oil) solvents.

Repeat the chilling and separating process, re-fill with water, heat again. The third time, the water should remain quite clear, and when you pour it out, pour it through a permanent coffee filter (the metal kind) to remove any large particles still remaining. This time when you chill it, you will notice what a lovely pale green color it is, and also that it smells like sweet butter and hash, but not really like pot.

When you cook with washed butter, the cannabis flavors are very subdued, to the point where you may not even notice any at all. Nice stuff.

Here's a couple pics of different techniques and pieces of equipment- note that in some pics, the product I'm making is actually heavy cream, but the straining technique is the same.

[stinkyattic]

The last set of pics are:
1- Ground bud, shake, and the best butter ever, from Cabot in Vermont! :D
2- A nice big pan of nice hot water
3- The potato ricer. Brilliant invention- WAY better for making cannabutter than ricing potatoes, lol!
4- Pouring heavy cream through a permanent coffee filter
5- Pouring heavy cream and plant material into the ricer to be pressed

Pics of the chilled butter and water showing separation of the aqueous and lipid phases, as well as finished product, to come later!

[the image reaper]

I really like your method :thumbsup: ... I've gotten lazy, and been doing the crockpot way, but the cleanup and straining is still a pain ... I like your way better (except when ya had to throw in that 'solubility' and 'non-polar' talk, made me feel dumb again :wtf:) ... :S2:

[Storm Crow]

PFlover is the QUEEN of cannabutter! Check her out!

No-Ick Ghee/cannabutter/cannola oil - TreatingYourself.COM Online Community (http://www.treatingyourself.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=1586&highlight=pflover+cannabutter)

[daihashi]

Would this be necessary if one were to make gummy hash and then mix that in with the cannabutter. Or would it still leave a strong/bad taste?

Just curious which method would be easier or more effective.

[stinkyattic]

I've never made water gumby hash. If you are talking about isopropanol hash, I'd skip that step and go right into butter, not isopropanol. The point is the liquid-liquid extraction takes a lot of contaminants out of the lipid phase and into the aqueous phase to minimize unwanted flavors.

[daihashi]

I've never made water gumby hash. If you are talking about isopropanol hash, I'd skip that step and go right into butter, not isopropanol. The point is the liquid-liquid extraction takes a lot of contaminants out of the lipid phase and into the aqueous phase to minimize unwanted flavors.

nope, I meant gumby hash; AKA ghetto bubble hash.

I'll definitely be giving this a go (liquid - liquid extraction) with my trimmings and popcorn budlets.

I find I usually need a fix around middle of the day at work to lower anxiety and stress levels.

I would love to use this method to make some candy or something I can snack on discretely. Thanks for yet another excellent post

[stinkyattic]

Cool, glad you like it. I really recommend doing caramels. They are pretty freaking easy, and come out delicious- use a touch more almond extract than a normal caramel recipe recommends, because you still get just a slight 'toasted' flavor to the finished product, and the almond is very complementary. I think I posted my recipe, adapted from PharmaPharmer, around here somewhere. It might even be in my Donkey Dick grow log.
In fact, I am eating one right now!

[daihashi]

When you say earlier to add enough water to wet the herb, do you literally mean JUST to wet it.. to make sure it's evenly wet?

OR

Do you mean to get it wet and have the water slightly pool/ super saturate the herb?

I'm pretty bad in the kitchen so excuse the dumb questions.

[stinkyattic]

Saturate the herb. Then the sticks of butter will melt and further float it. Don't forget to gently agitate it periodically during heating.

[daihashi]

Saturate the herb. Then the sticks of butter will melt and further float it. Don't forget to gently agitate it periodically during heating.

What would you suggest for ratio when using shwag?

I picked up some shwag last night (don't have any quality hook ups) and wanted to use a bit to make butter and pump out like 7 cookies or so. 1 for each day of the week. I was thinking 7-8 grams split between 2 tablespoons.

I will probably be doing this tomorrow, but I'll probably try to obtain another ounce to make a more suitable quantity of butter.

How would you personally dose when using shwag?

[daihashi]

oh man.. what a weird experience.

So I made some cannabutter this past weekend using this method. Only I wanted to do it in a hurry and didn't have any of the supplies. So I head down to the chain store "99 cents". Some of you may have them in your city/state.

I buy 2 glass jars, not mason jars but I figure they'll do.
1 container with 4 sticks of butter.
some sink wiremesh strainer things to replace the potato ricer and the permanent coffee filter (use overlapping strainers for the coffee filter portion).

I got through the first portion just fine. Used 10-12g of shwag and 2 tbsp of butter. Let it simmer for 2 hours; taking the time to stir vigorously about once every 15-20 minutes.

Butter came out a nice pale green. Although this looked good enough for me I decided I should probaby do it again. Stinky is just about always dead on about everything so I wanted to do it right.

Well the second time it didn't go so well. I got through simmering it a second time after it hard hardened from the first time. Afterwards I thought it would be smart to give a luke warm water bath and then a cool water bath to help aid the stratisfying process... well bad idea. I accidentally let the water run while I was trying to pull a trashbag out of my trash can and it filled into my jar some how.. I lost a signifigant amount of melted butter and probably thc.. I would say roughly half of it was lost..


well I decide to trek forward.. after losing half my batch I decide to go ahead and cook it a third time. No reason to let my own mistakes hold me back.

The third time it's simmering I notice a crack form in the bottom of the glass jar. I take the entire pot off the burner and let it cool slightly. I pull the glass jar out of the pot I'm using to simmer it in and the entire bottom circular part of the jar falls out... WTF.

So after about 12 morehours of attempting to let that entire pot cool and the jar cool and doing what I can to salvage something I was left with slightly less than 1 Tbsp of cannabutter. probably about 60% less thc than when I started.

I went ahead and baked my cookies. I made half the package.. which stated I would get 9 cookies.. I used the slightly less than 1 tbsp of cannabutter I had and 1 tbsp of normal butter. I cooked my cookies for 10 minutes.. let them cool for about 3 minutes and ate 2 of them initially. I got a slight buzz but it didn't really do much. waited a few hours and had 2 more... waited another hour and had 3 more.. There we go. It finally hit me. the high was very weird. Very alert and focused high, but I could only maintain focus on one thing at a time.

I was overall very happy and in a great mood. The high was definitely an uppity high, but at the same time I could feel some tingling throughout my body.. so it was almost like taking a pain killer at the same time.

Definitely both interesting and a disappointing weekend for sure.

I'm going to give it another try though this coming weekend hopefully.

I have my mason jars and will be getting a potato ricer as well as a permanent coffee filter.

With as many mistakes I made early on in my grow you would think I would learn not to half ass things

Better luck to me next time... :jointsmile:


Oh... on a side note.. the cookies did not taste like weed at all. I had to stop my non weed smoking buddy from eating one becase he didn't know they were special.. heh :thumbsup:

[stinkyattic]

Hi Daihashi! Thanks for sharing! Yeah, the 'head' effect surprised me too- I was expecting all 'body' but the warm tingly feeling was about it- pleasant, but not debilitating. I also find that a sub-recreational dose keeps me very focused at work, despite feeling NO 'high' effect at all.
Thermal shock sucks. Always put your glass down on potholders- hot liquid + cold surface = cracking. Even mason jars do it if the difference is great enough.
As for the schwag ratio, if you collect shake for cooking, it should be pretty close. 2 grams per tablespoon butter is easy to work with. Take out seeds; they don't count as bud weight. I've been buying shake cheap from a couple folks who go through a lot of brick. It's very nice to work with.

[daihashi]

Trying it again with 29 grams of vape left overs, 5 grams of trimmings and 2 grams of shwag mixed with 3 tbsp of butter.

We'll see how it goes. I read you can make cannabutter with left over vape duff. Let's see how well it works.

Can't be any worse than my 10-12grams that probably got reduced to 4-5 grams.

[stinkyattic]

That ratio among all the things in there sounds just about right. The bonus of the wash step is that you can remove most of the scorched taste of vape duff too.

[veggii]

Hi stinky nice washing recipe! I have gotton confused on the extraction of thc. I wanted to find out proper temps and time
the extract the thc from the plantmatter to the oil
I have been a chef my whole life and proper temps and time is essential for every recipe. So I have seen that some say you have to heat it to 325 to 350 for 5-15min to convert the thca to thc, then simmer for ??minutes to extract it
what temp do bring it too? for how long?
some say that heating it that high will ruin the thc
and too not let the heat get above 250 and let cook 24hrs.
now I am so confused I should've only read one recipe.:(
Have you ever made BB. I'm going to make some, but put in some ground cannabis. the BB has a nutty flavor so pick a strain that taste good with nutts.=BrownButter=
must go I gotta take my meds I'm gettin nutty here.
ps: tryin to figur out how to pm u:D

[stinkyattic]

I certainly do my share of cooking, including restaurant line and also ships galley experience, but I have no formal training, and rely more on instinct than thermometers. Maybe that is why I rarely venture into pastries or confectionery, haha! But I'll try to answer as best I can.

I've just been putting it either in my crock pot on 'low' overnight, or over a double boiler held at ~180-200'F for a couple hours to do the initial extraction. IMHO while it CAN be as exact a science as you would like to make it, you have plenty of leeway to work within and still reap the benefits of the psychoactives in your original plant material.

If you are going through the brown butter process, I would do the 'browning' step of the butter first, and then just treat it [the brown butter] as if you'd just opened a fresh box of butter and do the longer cooking with the herb after that. I try to avoid taking the cannabutter up too hot (hot enough to brown butter) because yes, I'm afraid of breaking down the compunds. Caramel, for reference, goes to 245'F. But you knew that ;)

I've tried infusing my pot butter with a few things- cardamom is one that comes out VERY powerful- rosemary is another, if you like savory rather than sweet. I just toss some cracked cardamom pods in however much I need for a recipe and heat it again for long enough to extract THOSE oils. lol... gotta make it super complicated, right?

There's no pm here, but check your rep messages in a sec, okay?

[daihashi]

Well.. reporting back.

So last night I load up about 36 grams worth of vape duff, trim and a little budlet I found under my couch into a jar along with 3 Tbsp of butter.

I was trying to compensate for the 25% shrinkage my last batch had.

I only did two washing steps as I had to get to sleep. So I left it at that over night to harden. In the morning I scooped it all out and it came out to 1.5 tbsp worth.. wow that butter must've really sucked compared to the last butter I had.

In any case I mixd it up into some chocolate chip cookies.

Well my last batch was dissappointing to me so I figured this duff would be on par with that. So I ate 1 cookie.. didn't feel much of anything.. 30minutes ate another one... slight buzz.. Waited an hour... still slight buzz... so I ate another one...

OMFG I AM SO HIGH RGHT NOW IT'S RIDICULOUS!!!! I am never throwing away my vape duff again.

I manged to make 12 cookies and it's look like like 3 cookies is a recreational dose and 2 cookies would be a mild high. Luckily for me this is a real uppity focused high. So I'm being very productive at work... Man I love my vaporizer so much more now.

I feel like I'm getting two bags of shwag for the price of one. :thumbsup:

[stinkyattic]

Daihashi, you will have less 'shrinkage' if you do three things:
-Make larger batches (it's more efficient)
-Get that potato ricer- that's exactly why you use it- to squeeze out every last drop of stony goodness
-Stay out of the pool if it's too cold ;)

[daihashi]

Well 6 hours after the initial onset of getting buzzed I've finally am pretty close to being back sober. Not bad at all. It's a great way to get through my work day.

Who would've thought that vape duff would work so well.

Thanks for taking the time to type up this technique. I don't think I would've bothered with the vape duff without it. I'd hate to taste burnt/scorched weed in my food and this solved all those problems. :thumbsup:



-Stay out of the pool if it's too cold ;)


:( *hangs his head in shame*

[daihashi]

I finally broke down and bought a potato ricer. This is probably my new favorite tool in the house.

In the pictures the potato ricer just looked like a strainer of some sort. I didn't realize what it actually was. I found myself at target, stoned, wishing that someone made a really big version of a garlic press so I could strain my stuff after cooking it and there it was.... the potato ricer.

It was then that I felt pretty dumb. Best $10 spent in a long time. :thumbsup:

[stinkyattic]

Haha! Isn't it great? It's a hell of a lot easier to clean than a garlic press too. Mine is so filthy that I'm half afraid to use it- all the tiny bits of garlic stuck in the holes... yuck. And honestly, who has the time to sit there with a toothpick, poking out each one individually? IMHO if you know how to use a knife properly and have a decent one, it's faster just to mince it by hand!
Now if someone would just post up a spaetzle tutorial... I dig that shit with a SHOVEL and still haven't attempted it with the potato ricer,a nd that's one of the other main uses for the thing. I bet it would be a GREAT use for your cannabutter, too! And what's the Polish equivalent? It's like pierogi dough but pressed out spaetzle-stlyle and cooked in butter and milk. I can't remember the name. But DAYUM as a munchie food it's straight DANGEROUS! :D

[daihashi]

Haha! Isn't it great? It's a hell of a lot easier to clean than a garlic press too. Mine is so filthy that I'm half afraid to use it- all the tiny bits of garlic stuck in the holes... yuck. And honestly, who has the time to sit there with a toothpick, poking out each one individually? IMHO if you know how to use a knife properly and have a decent one, it's faster just to mince it by hand!
Now if someone would just post up a spaetzle tutorial... I dig that shit with a SHOVEL and still haven't attempted it with the potato ricer,a nd that's one of the other main uses for the thing. I bet it would be a GREAT use for your cannabutter, too! And what's the Polish equivalent? It's like pierogi dough but pressed out spaetzle-stlyle and cooked in butter and milk. I can't remember the name. But DAYUM as a munchie food it's straight DANGEROUS! :D

ugh, I was in germany last year and I think I ate enough spaetzle to last me a life time.

However I can't get enough of the bratwurst. Bratwurst here in the states just doesn't compare. I loved being able to walk down the street in Germany and having bratwurst stands everywhere (like how we have.. at least where I'm at.. taco stands everywhere). 1 euro would get your a 2 ft llong (well maybe 1.5ft) wurst on a tiny tiny bun. God that stuff was so tasty. :thumbsup:

[allrollsin21]

How much herb can be used with this method at a time? I have a rather large bag of popcorn and trim that is ready to become food-fuel.

I am thinking the half gallon mason jars are probably the best size because they will fit in the pot, but will only hold a limited amount.

Can i assume that ball jars are lead free?

Thanks, i am excited to try this recipe

[stinkyattic]

Yes, canning jars are lead free.
Make sure to prop the jar up off the bottom of the pot, and never expose it to rapid temperature changes. Let it air-cool. Place it on a dish towel when you take it out of the pot.

Use as much herb as you can get in there and still have it loose enough to stir or shake.

[NaughtyDreadz]

How much herb can be used with this method at a time? I have a rather large bag of popcorn and trim that is ready to become food-fuel.

I am thinking the half gallon mason jars are probably the best size because they will fit in the pot, but will only hold a limited amount.

Can i assume that ball jars are lead free?

Thanks, i am excited to try this recipe

I just cooked a shitload yesterday... like a fuckin shitload...

I think I made my fudge a lil too strong..

I used a 112 g of shake - 500 g of butter... I have a cheese store on my block, so I get organic butter (it doesn't sit well in the fridge for too long, but it has more fat than the stuff in the supermarket) except my butter looks deep green... I slow boil it for a few hours and then cheesecloth that biotch... (when I don't have cheesecloth white cotton T works even better )

man had two tea spoons of fudge.. maybe three.. I woke up red blazed..

[allrollsin21]

by propping it up., you mean placing something in the pot between the jar and the pot. hmm...maybe like a vegetable steamer??

[stinkyattic]

Veggie steamer ftw! Or a wire rack that fits inside the pot, like one for drying cookies, or if you are all fancy and have a canning pot, there should be a rack that came with it.

Be very careful; it is REALLY hot, and you have to remember to tighten and loosen the ring around the cap at the proper times- loose while it is in the hot water bath, tight while you are agitating it, and don't shake it too hard.

[daihashi]

I use a pint size Ball brand mason jar and place it in a pot that holds 1 gallon of water with some room to spare.

I put up to half the jar filled with herb and 1 stick of butter.. Put enough water to cover the herb completely and then add about another half cup for good measure.

I then place the jar with the band and lid on (not tightened down but not completely unscrewed either) and let it sit in a pot of simmering water (occasional bubbles) for 2 hours.

I shake the jar about once every 20 minutes. Not too vigorous (hot water will come spurting out even with the lid tightened all the way) and not to soft either. The butter and water will constantly seperate, this is ok.. just make sure to shake it once every 20 minutes pretty well to ensure that the thc is binding with the fat in the butter and not stuck beneath the herb and melted butter.

I love this method and if I ever met the stinkster I'd probably give her a big hug for teaching me the way to make cannabutter that doesn't taste like burned weed. All my baked goods taste so good.. you can only notice it was made by cannabutter if someone were to tell you. Very very very very slight background taste, not noticeable unless you're looking for it.

Great tutorial. I'm glad more people have started looking into this method. It takes longer but well worth the hassle. :thumbsup:

[grumio]

Is there still some room for me on this bandwagon?

First, a question for Stinkyattic, who is worshipped as a minor deity by all right-thinking people: In the OP, you say to "repeat the heating & shaking process" for the two "washes" after the initial extraction. Should each of those washes last ~2 hours? I got a little impatient on those & only gave the first wash about 1 1/2 hours & the second wash one hour.

There was very little change in the color. I saved a bit of butter from each stage to compare, & I couldn't really tell them apart either by color or flavor.

I also tasted the water at each stage. The water from the initial extraction was fairly vile, but not nearly as bad I expected - actually, it reminded me of Cynar or one of those European herbal digestifs. The water from the first wash had very little flavor, color or cloudiness; the second even less (still had some taste & cloudiness).

You are meant to toss the plant matter after the initial extraction/straining/squeezing, aren't you? I did.

Anyway. ~1 oz dried fan leaves & 1/2 oz vapo-poo into ~7 oz haphazardly clarified butter (Plugra); ~3 hours @ simmer in a small slow-cooker for the initial extraction, then the 2 washes - mason jar/water bath. Straining tek - fine mesh stainless, then nylon hose & a lime squeezer (in lieu of a potato ricer).

Didn't know what to expect re potency at all. This was my first plant since '92 & was just grown like a houseplant in the window. This was also my first use of vapo-poo. The butter is fairly dark green & tastes distinctly grassy (in both senses). I like the flavor.

Yesterday afternoon (empty stomach) I ate a tablespoon of it spread on a biscuit.

Disassembled. ratfucked. I was walking home while I was peaking, & especially while walking up a very steep hill, I had the very strong sensation that I was sort of floating still, & my feet were pushing the earth behind me as I "walked."

Of course according to Einstein that's a perfectly reasonable way of looking at walking.

I'm fairly experienced with edibles, too. I had been using store-bought cannabutter, & then I became a tincture fanatic.

Good stuff!!!

[stinkyattic]

Lol@ deity! :D

You don't have to do a long cook on the wash steps. I get it up to a light simmer, shake it a bit, let it sit, shake it a bit more, and call it good. The wash water will get progressively clearer and gentler in flavor as your butter gets cleaner. The dark green product means it's got a lot of chlorophyll in it still, but as long as you get as much contamination/fert salts out as possible, you will still have a very pleasant tasting product. I don't know about you guys, but I really like the mild earthy/incense/hash taste of a well-cleaned butter extraction. I have plans to work up a recipe for a less-sweetened cookie/biscuit made with whole oat flour and maybe sage and lemon, or whole oat and grapefruit peel, undecided as yet, but I'd like to find some way to incorporate the hash flavor into the overall taste experience too. We shall see.

I like your description of the high. That sounds about right for a good edibles dose. A neat thing about good cannabutter is that at higher dosages you can actually get into a trippy state. I don't go that far personally, but a couple of my friends have been enjoying my caramels just a LITTLE too much, hahaha!!! Woo hoo... :jointsmile:

[grumio]

First time I've tried uploading a picture, don't know how it'll turn out.

Anyhow, this is what became of my plant, who was named Cat Food.

QWISO, cannabutter, Green Dragon, & bud (such as it is).

I won't know how well you can see the color of the butter until I see the post.

Anyway, I was expecting it to be loaded with chlorophyll - it was made with fan leaves, after all.

The taste is fine for me. I'll probably consume it straight (just had some on banana bread). I've kind of turned around on eating mj. I would rather get high & then eat the most amazing stuff I can come up with. Eg, cannabuttered popcorn. Great idea! Works like a charm! Only problem is you want the buttered popcorn after you're stoned, & if you have another batch then, well, say goodnight, Gracie...

[PlantHeadJ]

Thanks for the post Stinky, gonna be in the kitchen for the next week!!

[stinkyattic]

Here's something to keep ya busy...
http://boards.cannabis.com/grow-log/149439-donkey-dick-vt-local-ibl-indoor-outdoor-2008-a-8.html#post1837597
That's the caramel recipe. I can't stress enough:
-Use a pot bigger than you think you need
-Wear long sleeves, eye protection, and dish washing gloves- molten sugar is like fucking fresh lava. OW!

[grumio]

That looks very nice, Stinky. Reckon I'll give it a whirl sometime.

Speaking of caramel, I did a Tarte Tatin with c-butter for both the apples & the crust once. That's a nice one to impress company with.

Hmmm... Canna-Tarte Tatin with Green Dragon whipped cream....

[stinkyattic]

O. M. G. That sounds droolsome. I've got all the gear to make all SORTS of French desserts (madeline molds, assorted tart pans with removeable bottoms, Charlotte pans, you name it) but I'm only now just getting really into baking. I have no sweet tooth so it's been a matter of finding stuff that's not too sweet, and any apple tarts are good to go as far as I'm concerned! Learning cannagoodies has been a ton of fun for me, because my whole cooking background up to this point has been focused on Indian and Mediterranean styles, completely ignoring sweets, with the exception of Biscotti, to which I'm addicted. Someday I'm going to have a catering service/small commercial bakery... just watch...

[grumio]

Well, pastry will sure test your kitchen mojo.

Do you ever read Cook's Illustrated? They had a pie crust recipe that's pretty ingenious - uses vodka as part of the liquid. Why? Water + flour = gluten = tough crust. Alcohol & flour doesn't create gluten, so you get more liquid into the dough, making it easier to handle & roll out, without making it tough.

Probably the sickest thing I've done with c- butter was puff pastry. & even then I didn't go the whole hog, I made the blitz puff pastry (pate feuilletee rapide).

Tell you something for free: making puff pastry is an acquired skill...

Funny - I got started cooking on Indian food too...

[stinkyattic]

...They had a pie crust recipe that's pretty ingenious - uses vodka as part of the liquid. Why? Water + flour = gluten = tough crust. Alcohol & flour doesn't create gluten, so you get more liquid into the dough, making it easier to handle & roll out, without making it tough.
PURE genius. I'ma try that with Applejack and make turnovers. Mmm.

Probably the sickest thing I've done with c- butter was puff pastry. ...: making puff pastry is an acquired skill...(in best action comic voice:)
PUFF PASTRY SKILLS ACQUIRED!!!! *shoop

Funny - I got started cooking on Indian food too...IMVHO, the collected cuisines of the Indian subcontinent make the most rich, delicious, ingenious and diverse culinary contribution the world has ever seen. The creative ways of using complementary grains, pulses, and spices to promote health and overcome spiritual or economic dietary restrictions are astonishing, and no matter what you do or do not eat, within Indian cuisine you will never want for a good hearty meal. And the methods of preservation that cope with weather that can be quite hot and humid are clever. Yoghurts and pickles and chutneys, oh my!
And then next in line would be the Mediterranean coasts' dishes.

[grumio]

ROFL - isn't there some program you can jack into where Laurence Fishburne teaches you how to make puff pastry?

Ok you have GOT to check this (http://indianfoodrocks.blogspot.com/2006/08/make-lime-pickle-sans-oil-while-sun.html)out. I did the lime pickle with ginger. Fantastic. Not quite hot enough. Which is not something I expect to say about a recipe which calls for THIRTY THAI BIRDSEYE CHILIS.

I'm with you - my desert island cuisine is Indian. Also, I have a theory - Indian vegetarian cuisines work so well because they never had meat in them in the first place, as opposed to some other vegetarian cuisines which always seem to be trying to make up for or work around the fact that they can't use meat.

You want details on the vodka pastry crust?

Oh & re the lime pickle recipe, regardless of what the OP says, it is in fact fermentation that makes pickles, and not the "goodness of the sun."

You have McGee?

[stinkyattic]

That's not a bad looking pickle! Yup, fermentation and other actions of yeast and bacteria are the KEY to hot-climate food preservation.
And I think you are dead on the money about the traditional vs. modern vegetarianism being the reason behind the seeming effortlessness of it all.

Pastry crust details would be great; you should start a pastry and pie crust thread. The crust itself opens up a whole new avenue for THC infusion into recipes... think about it... for us traditionalists, a short-pastry pie crust with THC-infused LARD and applejack? Mmm! And for the Betty Crocker generation, Chocolate cream pie with a Mint Green Dragon oreo cookie crust?

[grumio]

Here (http://www.cooksillustrated.com/login.asp?name=&did=4629&LoginForm=recipe&iseason=)'s a link to the original Cook's Illustrated recipe. You'll need to sign up for their 14-day free trial, & there's tons of great stuff on their site. If that doesn't work I'll be happy to type it up for you.

Prepping for a bbq this afternoon (made the pulled pork yesterday & it is unbelievably good), more later.

[dragonrider]

I made a bit of this clean cannabutter yesterday. I didn't use the recommended 2 grams per tablespoon, only about half that --- used 4 grams of bud with a half stick (4 tbs) of butter.

The washing process really does clean it up a lot! The first wash water got very cloudy, but each wash was progreessively cleaner, and the resulting butter got progressively less opaque each time. Even using the coffee filter, I was not able to get absolutely ALL of the plant material out. There must be some amount of extremely small plant "dust" in the butter that makes it through the filter screen. And not all of the smell is gone either --- there is still a kind of herbal smell. In fact it reminds me a bit of a sage butter I made the other day for a delicious herb-crusted pork loin. Mmmmmmm...pork.

One difference that I tried was to do a first extraction using 2 tbs butter and the 4 grams of herb. Then filter that, save the butter and wash water in one container, throw the "mash" back in the extraction jar with a second 2 tbs of butter and new wash water for a second extraction, then combine both portions of extracted butter and wash water. I always hate to think there might be any good stuff left in the mash, so for almost evey kind of extraction I do, I extract twice and combine the extracts.

Another difference was that instead of using the jar, I used a pyrex measuring cup. I didn't have any glass jars that I trusted enough to shake when full of scalding hot water, so I used the cup and just stirred it really well now and then.

I have a few questions:

Will the small amount of organic stuff still in the butter be a problem if I try a caramel recipe? It really is very little material left in the butter, but I can see it, and I don't want to blow a batch. If I do need to get rid of it, what do you recommend? I could do one more wash and try the coffee filter again, but this stuff already made it through the filter once.

If the caramels aren't going to work out, I will triy a batch of brownies. I tried a new brownie truffle mix from Trader Joes the other day (just the regular brownies, not "special" in any way) and it was delicious! The recipe calls for butter, instead of oil like many mixes do, so it would be perfect I think for using the cannabutter.

If I do make the caramels, how is that usually dosed? For example, I have a recipe for caramels that uses the 1/2 stick of butter that I have made, and it makes a bit more than a pound of caramels. I've never made this recipe, so I'm not even sure what a pound of caramels looks like --- are caramels usually served in 1-ounce pieces? Or maybe 1/2 ounce? Does anyone know how many normal-sized pieces of caramel a pound of caramel makes, and is cannabutter from 4 grams of good weed going to make a reasonable dose per caramel? I'm trying to get somewhere in between having to each a ton of candy to feel the effects, but not so strong that if you each just a tiny piece you end up in outer space. Any advice on that would be great.

[stinkyattic]

The residue left behind after a coffee filter strain is no biggie. You'll need double dose for caramels but that's still also totally fine, especially if you have a sweet tooth- they taste SO yummy that you will probably wnat to pop a couple lol! Just DON'T LET THE SUGAR SCORCH!!!

[dragonrider]

The residue left behind after a coffee filter strain is no biggie. You'll need double dose for caramels but that's still also totally fine, especially if you have a sweet tooth- they taste SO yummy that you will probably wnat to pop a couple lol! Just DON'T LET THE SUGAR SCORCH!!!

Thanks for the info. Now I'm torn. I'll have to decide between caramels and brownies. I hope people feel sorry for me.

One more question about caramels: How well do they store? And what is the best method of long-term storage? The recipe I have says they keep for weeks but are best right away. One batch would last me a LONG time. Would it be OK to freeze or refrigerate some portion of them? Seems like there might be some kind of problem with condensation whan pulling them back out of the freezer.

I will definitely avoid scorching! If I'm going to make caramels, I'll need to get a candy thermometer.

[stinkyattic]

Make them on a day when the air is quite dry, or in an air-conditioned room.
Wrap them individually in waxed paper immediately, and put them in mason jars with some rice in the bottom, then put them in the refrigerator. They get melty at room temperature, and tend to scavenge humidity from the air.
Yeah. I feel sorry for you... :rolleyes: lol

[daihashi]

Just wanted to add this little tidbit:

Yesterday I went to make some Cannabutter when I realized I had broken my potato ricer the last time I made butter (squeezed too hard) so to the store I went to find a replacement. After going to 4 different stores I could not buy a potato ricer.

Then I came across a french press. I bought it up and put it to use. The very fine screen in the french press filters out nearly 100% of all the plant matieral.

I also bought a permanent coffee filter that was more like a silk screen as opposed to metal.

The result is a 100% clean cannabutter. No plant material what so ever. It is a beautiful pale green/pale yellow green (I haven't even washed it yet. Just the initial cooking) and will probably get even lighter.

I will be making some cookies for a trip I'm taking this weekend and I'll report back with pictures of the butter and the results of my latest batch. Wish my luck.

:thumbsup:

[Bsmack]

Stinky, i had a question about the type of bud i use in my cannabutter. If i use a high quality bud, (around here in CT i get something called beasters which is equavlent to probably decent headies, its indoor indica strain im pretty sure) then can i use less bud and a larger amount of butter then the ratio you suggested? Would this give me a decent, long lasting high still? Or is it just worth it buying an ounce of mids and using that to make cannabutter at the ratio you suggested. I fear that im not going to feel the effects of the cannabutter and not make my butter potent enough.

Thanks :rastasmoke:

[dragonrider]

Make them on a day when the air is quite dry, or in an air-conditioned room.
Wrap them individually in waxed paper immediately, and put them in mason jars with some rice in the bottom, then put them in the refrigerator. They get melty at room temperature, and tend to scavenge humidity from the air.
Yeah. I feel sorry for you... :rolleyes: lol

Thanks for the advice. I'm leaning toward the caramels, not the brownies. I think I'll make the special caramels and a batch of just regular brownies to eat when I get the munchies. I'm gonna get fat.

[stinkyattic]

Hi bsmack and welcome!
Let's talk Beasters. I loathe them- really, truly, despise the damn stuff. Now, I'm up in MA and what we get as 'Beasters' can mean one of 2 grades of Canadian, and only one is correct:
Both are smei-compacted, but not bricked.
Both have a very uniform and rather furry appearance.
Both are grown indoors in Canada, but there the similarities end.

There's a grade of bud I've seen tagged as the Beast that is actually really nice, with VISIBLE SURFACE CRYSTALS and a perfectly nice high. It's actually not Beasters at all; it is grown further East and comes over in the St. LAwrence region. I like it, and I have a couple zips right now, lol! It's not really 'Nooks' because it is indoor herb, but it's desirable. I pay $800/qp for it and consider it a really respectable substitute for when I run out of homegrown.

The one that is TRULY Beasters looks pretty but if you inspect it carefully, you see that the surface seems to have few to no crystals on it, but if you break it open, you find that some ARE visible... WTF! you might ask? Simple. These things are grown by mostly gangs of SE Asian immigrants in British Columbia, in warehouses, from a strain called M39, which was bred for yield yield yield- did I mention yield?- and is actually upposed to run 9 weeks, but they chop as soon as bulk is attained, dry kinda half-assed, and then -this is the kicker- tumble the buds in screen drums to let the trichomes fall through. Basically, real Beasters are a byproduct of the hash trade, if you look at it that way, lol! Also, the early harvest means an uneasy up high with a hard crash.

If you have the former, save it for smoking.
If you have the latter... yeah. Go ahead and cook that shit like Iron Chef. And the ratios of butter:bud weight will actually me the same. While that STRAIN may be a higher % THC than a birck commercial strain, the trichome removal evens the playing field a bit.
Otherwise, I'd go with a lower-priced brick product of your choice.

[Bsmack]

Thanks a lot for the info. Damn i wish i would have the knowledge about them as you apparently do lol. Im pretty sure the beasters i get are the ones that you said you buy when you run out of homegrown. The beasters that i get i know are grown in the USA and go for about 850 a QP so it sounds about right. You can also see the trichroms all around the bud and inside so im not too sure if its tumbled to make hash before i buy it lol. Ill post a good picture when i grab some next time and let you decide. I wish i could get some better quality bud but for the price its a deal imo. So if i used an ounce of mids then i would be using about 14 grams of butter correct?

[PopaBean]

All of this talk of caramels, brownies etc is making me hungry.

Might throw the chef's hat on tnight...Belieeeee' Dat':jointsmile:

Stinky you are my idol :thumbsup:

All hail Her Dankness!!!:jointsmile:

[LolaGal]

mmmmm...cannabutter... sounds so good! When one gets the butter made, can you bake with it? :0 Does the Thc evaporate in temps of 350 F in the oven? I know people are saying this works. I really want to try this. Thanks Stinky.

[FourTwenty4Life]

What if you don't have a potato ricer or cheesecloth? Basically the step where I go from 1 jar to the other, what else can I use? Thanks for this genius method Stinky, I can't wait to cook.:hippy:

[FourTwenty4Life]

What if you don't have a potato ricer or cheesecloth? Basically the step where I go from 1 jar to the other, what else can I use? Thanks for this genius method Stinky, I can't wait to cook.:hippy:

Any help? I wanted to make this today but not until I get some advice. PLEASE?! :hippy:

[dragonrider]

Any help? I wanted to make this today but not until I get some advice. PLEASE?! :hippy:

I used a permanent coffee filter, the kind that looks like it is made from a gold-plated screen.

[dduo420]

Hi Daihashi! Thanks for sharing! Yeah, the 'head' effect surprised me too- I was expecting all 'body' but the warm tingly feeling was about it- pleasant, but not debilitating. I also find that a sub-recreational dose keeps me very focused at work, despite feeling NO 'high' effect at all.
Thermal shock sucks. Always put your glass down on potholders- hot liquid + cold surface = cracking. Even mason jars do it if the difference is great enough.
As for the schwag ratio, if you collect shake for cooking, it should be pretty close. 2 grams per tablespoon butter is easy to work with. Take out seeds; they don't count as bud weight. I've been buying shake cheap from a couple folks who go through a lot of brick. It's very nice to work with.

Do the cuttings need to be totally dry to make cannabutter?

[HeadieMan11]

To dduo, no the weed doesnt nesicarily have to be completely dry, but most like after you decarboxylize it it will be pretty dried out my friend. I would recommend decarboxylizing it as it causes all the carboxyl groups attached to the thc to evaporate(or whatever) and that inactive thc-a becomes active thc!
So, if you decarboxylate your weed, you sohuld have no worries abour the dampness of the weed. Usually, the not so dried weed isnt properly cured, as the carboxyle groups actually evaporate over time. But either way, dampness of your weed is completely irrelevant, because if you can smoke not so dried weed and get baked, then you can certainly cook with it :jointsmile:

[ZBeebs]

I don't know what I did wrong, but this didn't work for me.

I followed the recipe, except I used what I am guessing are smaller canning jars than you use (1 pint, I used two). I used at least 14 grams of low-grade bud as well as an equal amount of vape duff with 1.5 sticks (12 tablespoons) of butter. I used a potato ricer as well as a permanent coffee filter to strain.

The only thing I did differently is I let it go an extra hour or so on the extraction, still shaking the container every 20 minutes or so. (I couldn't remember what time I started and figured I'd be better off going too long than too short). I never let it get past a gentle simmer. I also did the separating in the fridge in a pyrex container instead of the canning jars, but that shouldn't affect anything.

I ended up with around 8 tablespoons of very "grassy" smelling green butter. By grassy I don't mean weedy, I mean the smell was more like lawn clippings than marijuana.

Since this is the first time I've ever done this, and I thought I'd have pretty good potency, I began by eating 1 teaspoon on toast a half hour apart until I felt effects. By four hours I was up to 2 tablespoons and I was feeling nothing. I then ate another tablespoon by making little balls with it and swallowing it with a gulp of water. In the end I ate about half the butter, and at best effects were very mild, and might have even been wishful thinking. By the 4th hour of feeling nothing I started hitting my vaporizer.

Tonight I decided to finish off the butter a little faster, and I hadn't eaten anything in about 8 hours. With half the butter left, I ate two tablespoons at once on toast (instead of spreading it over two hours), then about 45 minutes later another tablespoon, and about 45 minutes after that I ate the last tablespoon.

Effects, if any, are extremely mild. I'm warming the vape as I type this.

What could I possibly have done wrong?

[radtek]

I tried this with 74g of vape leavings and 2 sticks of butter approx- 227g.

Since 74g is actually quite a lot I had to use a large double boiler. I just put a trivet in a pot and covered it with water. Then placed the pot with the h2o saturated VL and melted butter and simmered. Stir. Stir. Stir every time I walked by.

Which was easy as I was making gumbo too...

I did four "washings" and ran the resulting tea through a French-press each time. Each was chilled and butter lifted away. The first run returned 70g of dark-olive green butter. The next three progressively less but with the same green hue.

I've ended up with 128g of butter so far. This morning the VL went back into the boiler but was boiled with more water to try and extract the remainder of the fat. Chilling now in an ice-bath. Looks like I'll get more out.

I tried about a 1/2 tsp licked off my fingers last night. Washed it down with some home-brewed Pale Ale. Wow. Even though I was already "vaped" I definitely felt effects from this. Despite the deep green color the butter is fairly neutral in flavor with a pleasant "nuttiness" present...

This is a real boon to those that vape. Tried smoking the crumbs before and it is a disgusting experience. Had heard of cannabutter but was unsure about it being very clean tasting because of the nastiness of the VL. LOL Now I can extract the remaining 15% or so out and eliminate waste.

Probably won't cook with the butter as there are concerns about exposing my precious THC to 300+ temps. Ideas on this?

Thanks guys! I'm gonna pass it on to my friends who vape...

[jebus2029]

An option to baking it at over 300 degrees is to bake at a lower temp for a longer period. So if a brownie recipe calls for a bake time of 20 minutes at 375 degrees. Do it at 250 for 35 minutes, or however long it would take. I've never tried this myself but I have read other posts recommending this.

[zchgla]

Probably won't cook with the butter as there are concerns about exposing my precious THC to 300+ temps. Ideas on this?


I've done the same thing as you, only baked the butter with brownies. The brownies were quite potent. Maybe the high heat kills some of the THC, but I can assure you these still had enough.

Personally, I found the extreme "grassy" "weedy" taste to be sort of overwhelming. I'm wondering if there's a good recipe or method to reduce this greeny taste.

This is a great thread and needs way more action.

[GetThisOrDie]

So if I were to make some of this goodness.... How is the odor while making it? what about when baking with it?

[VirginFarmer]

The last set of pics are:
1- Ground bud, shake, and the best butter ever, from Cabot in Vermont! :D
2- A nice big pan of nice hot water
3- The potato ricer. Brilliant invention- WAY better for making cannabutter than ricing potatoes, lol!
4- Pouring heavy cream through a permanent coffee filter
5- Pouring heavy cream and plant material into the ricer to be pressed

Pics of the chilled butter and water showing separation of the aqueous and lipid phases, as well as finished product, to come later!

Hello StinkyAttic,
I have a question about washing the cannabutter. By washing it, will it lose it potency as well? Since you're washing away the chlorophyll and plant matter are you washing away the potency?

Thanks!
-VF

Be Safe.

[VapedG13]

I can answer that for ya bro:D

NO... thc is absorded into the fat of the butter not the water ...the water is used as the filter

[VirginFarmer]

Hell yeah! Thanks alot VapedG13.

-VF

Be Safe!

[Caution]

This cannabutter recipe worked great for me. I like it because it uses canning jars while processing. In other recipes, you have it all out in a pot or pan, and not as easy to manage. However, I used two pint jars in a large double boiler. Instead of one huge jar in a stockpot. I got a potato ricer but ended up shooting out hot streams of my slurry as it escaped around the edge of the plunger when compressing, not fun! Save your money if you don't already have a potato ricer, just squeeze it well through some cheesecloth, much better control.

One great trick I thought of while doing this that worked great:

When you are putting the canning jar in the fridge to allow the butter to solidify, tighten the lid and set it upside down so that when the butter hardens, you can pour out the water, which will now be on top, without requiring you to poke a hole through the mass of butter. It also allows you to scrape/wipe away any patches of nastiness that get through the coffee filter, which should've settled at the water/butter interface, which is now on the top side of the butter, where you can simply reach into the jar and access it.

Thanks again!

[rudy2010]

Hey just glad to see the forum back up. The cheese cloth is good for the initial squeeze but the potato ricer does get a lot more butter out. I used 8 lbs of butter in the most recent batch of cannautter I made. After using a cheese cloth and a potato ricer I was able to retrieve 6 lbs of cannabutter. I think the ricer is pretty important when your are making a lot of butter at one time.

I use 2 oz of quality trim that is 25% popcorn buds per lb of butter.

[pipesdaddy]

Keep posting these types of useful tips for the connoisseurs. the real connoisseurs will be really greateful. The charm of the cannabutter can really be enjoyed with the tips.

[Cannabutter_Boy]

I'm wondering if there's a good recipe or method to reduce this greeny taste.

The key is to wash your butter. It takes time, but well worth the time spent.

Go to the beginning of the thread and there's a tutorial on making the washed butter. I'd wash it 3 times...still every bit at potent and those I've given the edibles to cannot taste the budder. I speed up the washing process by pouring my washed budder into freezer containers and enslaving my chest freezer for about 3 hours. Still, it takes me about 2 days to make a batch of budder.

I even go so far as to slowly remelt the budder and make 1/4 cup pucks of budder with muffin tins and a double liner. Makes for easy storage and easier from the freezer taking only the amount you need.

Good luck.

[Cannabutter_Boy]

When I make a batch with shake it smells far worse than with pure bud.

No one ever talks about the smell, so it's best if there's some open windows. Please take the time to wash the budder, you'll be thankful you did and I'd wash it the 3 times as suggested in the start of this thread.

I confess I'm new to making budder. My first batch I couldn't even eat the stuff I made with it. I should have gone online and didn't and threw it out. I was stupid and threw out a second batch because again I couldn't stand the taste of it. When it takes a stoner an hour to eat a piece of cake, there's a problem. By the third washing, it'll be so mild you may still have some taste, but it will be very mellow retaining every bit of potency.

I only bake with my budder. When I've washed it 3 times, I slowly melt it again and make 1/4 cup pucks with double-lined muffin tins.

[onegreenday]

so I take it you use the dooble-boiler method to reduce the extraction temperature.
simmer your trim on low with a cover is only a few degrees higher and much easier than the double-boiler (you don't have to top with water)
method and a crock-pot is very easy to do while at work. I like 24 hours of simmer time. Remember the graph for conversion of THC-acid to THC is time & temperature.
So 24 hours cook time gives a good amount of conversion (may be over-kill) Instead of the ricer they make stronger fruit presses but they run around $100. I simmer the leaf a second time in fresh water to remove more butter. I seem to loose too much butter. I just used 2 sticks but only got back one stick when all done. That's 50% loss of the butter and THC I expect.

yah the smell can be real strong and in winter it's tough to open the windows but trim is a stinky cook. this method should help with the closed top but a stove-top simmer is stinky, almost gagging.

[Esteban1]

There are at least a dozen methods I've seen in the past few years but prefer the "double boil" method 294746 Don't get me wrong, Stinkyattics' method is very good! Like the double boil cuz it works & way too lazy to change esp @ my age...... he he. My cooking bud is pretty clean & not to many worries on the chlorophyll so. Making a 1.5 pound batch today, any decent recipes that you'd like to share? Peace:thumbsup:

[tlranger]

There are at least a dozen methods I've seen in the past few years but prefer the "double boil" method 294746 Don't get me wrong, Stinkyattics' method is very good! Like the double boil cuz it works & way too lazy to change esp @ my age...... he he. My cooking bud is pretty clean & not to many worries on the chlorophyll so. Making a 1.5 pound batch today, any decent recipes that you'd like to share? Peace:thumbsup:

:eat: cooking again, alright, keep some in the marked butter tub,:eat:

[catbuds]

Has any one tried doing this with a canner? (Big pot, comes with a rack to hold& raise a bunch of canning jars off the bottom. Fill pot with water to recomended level). Preforms same service as double boiler, takes less space, ease of use at sm expence. Never made butter my self, just came from long line of good southern cooks & seems to me mightbe a work/space saver. They usually come with tongs shaped to grasp & hold canning jars.
PEACE

[Esteban1]

Never tried any other technique. This works so very well don't think I'll try alternate methods. This was my second run & there wasn't one spec of leaf in the butter! Would name it "Budderer" but sure it's taken lol

[catbuds]

You could call it 'Estes better budder'. ;-)


~~~~~~PEACE!~~~~~~

[DrDJM]

I wash cannabutter or coconut oil three times to help get rid of the smell in the oil. I also take 2lbs of butter, heat to 150 or so and only use the clarified butter that results. I toss all the milk solids....it tends to taste funny. I usually use 40 grams or so of the best pot I can find, the last batch was 900 per 1/4 lb. Thats about 200 more than usual, but miles better than usual. I made 70 cookies from 40 grams last batch....thats about .58 grams per cookie or about 112 mgs of THC per cookie. I also had great luck making caramels as well...you can hardy taste the maryjane in the treat. Also always use lecithin in the treats.....it gives a kick, hard, quick to the head, but its about 2/3 as long a buzz. The caramels had too much THC....about 175mg per caramel....two is too many!