How I make 'clean' cannabutter- a tutorial

[grumio]

Here'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... 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... 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?