two questions about cannabutter

hi, first, an introduction. i've been looking around on this forum for a while. i've been smoking heavily for almost three years.

my first question is about butter yield. i made a batch of brownies yesterday, with 1 ounce of shwag and 1 lb (2 cups) of butter. i simmered them in water for about 3 hours. when i strained all the material i was left with 1 cup of cannabutter! is this supposed to happen or did i somehow f*ck up royally?

my second question is, last time i made brownies, they were VERY effective. after sitting in my freezer for a week, they seemed to lose a lot of potency. why is that?

thanks for any help!

I'm not sure about them loosing potency in the freezer, but you made cannabutter with water? I also just use the butter, melt it, and grind the pot and put it in for 15 min on low or so.

Not sure about the yield, when i make cookies or whatever, i dont strain it, i just leave the ground up herb in.

i do strain mine...but simmer way more than fifteen mins

i've never heard of using h20 though..

Using water works, but sadly I never have the patience that such a process entails. boiling THEN waiting for it to harden and separate? No sir. I'm a fan of simmering the ground up material in butter for an extended period of time, then straining it through at least one metal strainer and collecting the prize.

i hope you don't think i'm using only water to try to cook.... i mix water with butter. when you see and smell all the nasty stuff that the water picks up and keeps separate from the butter, it's pretty encouraging to keep using the water/butter mixture...

so does anyone know about the lost butter? does it evaporate?

thanks for the replies.

I know what you mean, no worries. As I said, I just don't have the patience to wait for the water to separate from the butter before I can extract it. From what I've gathered, however, you really shouldn't see a major loss in the amount of butter. As for storage, just use tupperware or cheap equivalent.

hmm... i get the feeling i lost a lot of butter when straining the mixture through many paper towels. if using the water method, and the mixture was unstrained, would the water keep all the solids from the butter while they are separating in the fridge?

thanks again for the help.

Perhaps this might answer your questions:
http://boards.cannabis.com/recipes/8...utter-how.html

I cook mine with water too. 1 1/2 oz good bud, 1 1/4 lb claified butter, and a cup or two of water. I strain it trouigh an old clean t shirt. and then squize the shit out of it and get 1 lb of butter.

One of the reasons is Commercial butter is about 80% butterfat and 15% water; traditionally made butter may have as little as 65% fat and 30% water...

The other is in your mash/cloth, you must squeeze all the butter out...

analogger I make lots of butter. It is typical to loose about 25% of the butter. It just gets stuck in the mash. I use cheesecloth to get a good squeeze on the mix then put the mix into my potato ricer and squeeze all I can out of it.

The last batch of cannabutter I made I used 8 lbs of butter (it does not matter if it is clarified or salted the whey and salt will get filtered out) and just over 1 lb of quality trim that is 25% popcorn buds. I threw in 1/4 oz of Chem Dawg for good measure. I slowly melt the butter then add the weed, then I fill the pot to about 1" from the top with water. I increase the heat until I see just one or two bubbles. Then I cover the pot and reduce the heat to simmer on the smallest burner and let it cook for 22-24 hours. Then I strain with the cheesecloth and potato ricer. I let the butter and water cool in the fridge until the butter is hardened. I make a hole and pour off the water. I put the cannabutter in 1 cup measures in sandwich bags in the freezer until needed. From my 8 lbs of butter I retrieved 6 lbs of cannabutter. I have tried boiling the remaining stuff but only retrieved a tiny bit of butter for the additional effort.

I used to cook my butter 8-10 hours and was happy with the results. But when I did a side by side test on cannabutter cooked 8-10 hour compared with cannabutter cooked 22-24 hours it was clear that the longer cook time was much better. Everyone who has tried my medibles says they are the best they have ever eaten.

If you use the stove like I do make sure the mixture does not get above 300 degrees F. The water not only removes impurities it also keeps the butter from burning. You can do the triple rinse and remove all the green color and weed taste. That is just too much work for me though and I kind of like the cannabis taste in the butter.

Cooking anything for 24 hours seems insane. I am still looking for some solid science on cannabinoid solubility in oils, but I have a strong suspicion that the extraction doesn't take anywhere near 24 hours. Who has that kind of time anyway?