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.