Dabpress Rosin Plates

[MinnBobber]

As for temps, I never understood why peeps pressed so low (under 200F). I never saw any better quality and only less yield than 200F+. I always pressed at 240F in the past and the rosin came screaming out of the press. Real thin but nice and sticky. The consistency was real easy to collect. Only recently have I started pressing at 210F.

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My try at 170 was an attempt to (maybe) preserve as many terps etc as possible/ try to make the best flavored rosin possible.
Next will be 210 and maybe higher for a repress, to see how that works.

Wonder what powder will do ????

 

[psychonaut]

I was shocked at the quality @ 210F pressing I had. @invertedisdead 210-220F efforts got me curious. I guess I haven't pressed any fresher/stankier material in a while. I am going up to 220F to start getting baseline yields for dabbable rosin. Also, it will give me an idea if there is even a need to press lower?

I'm curious on the ground up herb. There is a thought out there that grinding the herb will release a some of terpenes, so would be worth considering that before pressing to compare flavor/quality.

 

[Abysmal Vapor]

Well I'd love to see a video of it being pumped up to 5-6 tons. I bet it flexes quite a bit.

https://dabpress.com/collections/hydraulic-presses/products/dp-hp10t257-hydraulic-press-extractor
well i guess @dabpress.com can tell us if they flex or not ,it is a setup very similar to what they offer.

 

[elmomuzz]

They don’t look that similar. One is made with old bed frame material.

 

[Grifo]

https://dabpress.com/collections/hydraulic-presses/products/dp-hp10t257-hydraulic-press-extractor
well i guess @dabpress.com can tell us if they flex or not ,it is a setup very similar to what they offer.

oh wow i didnt see that seems like i could just convert the plates i have to that

 

[invertedisdead]

180F for sift

 

[elmomuzz]

Nice macro shot. Was that with a phone?

 

[Hackerman]

It looks 'waxy'. Is it better to have it waxy like that? Or, more clear and shiny. I always went for clear and shiny but that was just because it was prettier to me. LMAO

Which one actually has more terps and is more what we want?

Since that is lower temp, I almost have to assume that waxy is what we want. I am thinking, more terps retained the better.

Either way, sure looks pretty. Butterscotch cake icing. LOL

 

[invertedisdead]

Nice macro shot. Was that with a phone?

Thanks! Yes, old iPhone.

It looks 'waxy'. Is it better to have it waxy like that? Or, more clear and shiny. I always went for clear and shiny but that was just because it was prettier to me. LMAO

The budders and taffy's do tend to look waxy. I don't mind the waxy look cause it reminds me of traditional hashish, but I think you can get more translucent shatters at higher temps; of course genetics has a lot to do with it also. There's a lot of micro variables with rosin.

Which one actually has more terps and is more what we want?

Since that is lower temp, I almost have to assume that waxy is what we want. I am thinking, more terps retained the better.

Lower temps do preserve flavor to some degree but I try not to get too caught up in the terp chaser thing cause I feel it has more to do with the starting material quality than minor differences in plate temperature.

I've had budders and saps that were both tasty, again I see genetics having a lot to do with it.

 

[psychonaut]

I just pressed out an extra 4% yield going up in temps 25F, and while I can taste a little bit of a loss of flavor, the method I used was not identical, as in no filter so the resulting puck was rather thin compared to my bottle tech runs. I have a theory that the more thin your puck is, the hotter the rosin is sitting in-between the plates because there is little room for air to act as an insulator to the temps within the gap between the plates. It's just a theory but curious if anyone has any thoughts on that.

Anyhow, here's my squish tonight I did using a 1.5" cylinder pre-press mold for 4g of nice tops. A few things I learned, needs more pressure for 2.5" puck, but more importantly, need perhaps less pressure as I got rosin bleeding through to the 2nd layer of parchment. So I am starting to see some benefits to using a filter as I dont experience that bleeding through even with 1000 more PSI.

I agree with @invertedisdead on the starting material quality. It's just like hash making or BHO, can only just concentrate whats there. I have some herb that smells good, tastes good, but when I make the rosin it's not so good. In fact, it tastes generic. I'm guessing there wasn't much terps to begin with, or perhaps it's old material.

 

[MinnBobber]

I have a theory that the more thin your puck is, the hotter the rosin is sitting in-between the plates because there is little room for air to act as an insulator to the temps within the gap between the plates. It's just a theory but curious if anyone has any thoughts on that.

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My theory is the "sponge-Bob theory"
You want your cannabis to act like a sponge, feel like a sponge, be the sponge. It starts with curing/storage as you seek that "sponge-like feel" where if gently squeezed, it slows reverts back to orig shape.

The sponge-Bob sub-theory:
the thinner you compress your sponge (cannabis puck), the more you are going to wring out the goodies, just like with
a real sponge.

Part 2--- the less distance your rosin has to flow thru puck, the better (for yield and quality)
Part 2A. sub-section c smaller loads/pucks could make better quality BUT balanced with how many
tiny loads do you want to mess with??

Like to see: a long and very narrow pre-press , small cylinder shape. Make a long cigarette shaped puck, no bag, just parchment. Interested in seeing how well that works. Does the puck stay together or blow apart as pressure is added??

How did you pre-press the 4 gram puck? Just a hand compression?
I'd like to experiment with a little extra pressure--nothing radical but a little push with a press.
Would that help to "get the party started"?

 

[psychonaut]

Deep theory, I dig it. Sub theory getting deeper, but I am curious of a sweet spot, say 7g?

I like the idea of a cigarette shaped puck, you're thinking of running it up against the edge of the plates and ooze it all out the front? That'd be pretty slick, but I would only be concerned if it may act like a dam so whatever flows out the back would have a long way to go if it were to find it's way out the front. I'm thinking a small 1" round diameter tall vertical build puck, smashed down into a footprint maybe 150% larger. It may make it easier/faster for the rosin to move out the front?

Sub theory on that would be every time I smash a 1.75" footprint, I'll get 2-4 nice runs down the front of the plates, but with the larger footprints, it seems to not have as much. This one still needs more experimenting.

I just used my hand to compress it, 4g actually compressed down nice and full inside the mold, I had to use my lil glass dab container to help push the puck out. I think the new dabpress cylinder mold will be a lot better for the size runs I'm doing now.

 

[elmomuzz]

Me theory is you have to squish the material hard and thin to get out all the rosin. Bottle tek leaves quite a bit behind because you never squeeze the puck down to a thin disk. I get a tiny bit of bleed through onto my 2nd layer of parchment but always a very small amount. Less then what I’m sure remains in a bottle tek load.

 

[Hackerman]

I have been busy but when I get time, I'll up the vids and pics from yesterday's press but..... no good news.

At least I learned one thing.... DO NOT grind your weed before pressing it. LOL I use a slow grind but, I guess the action of grinding, itself, fractures the chlorophyll cells because the press came out all dark green and funky. And, I did use a filter bag.

The pre-pressed puck and the loose buds came out about the same. However, they all came out less than 10% which is not great.

So, I have to ASSume that it was the size of the 1x4 load in general that provided poor yield.

This would indicate that your guys' idea of a long thin load is not a great idea. It would be great if you ran the long skinny loads and confirmed my results. Then, we could toss out the 'long and skinny' idea and go back to bottle tek.

I never felt bottle tek was a great idea for the reason elmo said.... it never gets pressed out 100%.

On a couple of the bottle tek runs that I did, I pressed the load lightly until it was 'done' and then I pressed it flat (naturally, bursting the filter/bag) and what I got extra from that last burst really wasn't all that much.

I will try to get the pics up later.

 

[elmomuzz]

I guess I just don't get bottle tek or using filters for flower. My routine is I insert my cured bud or pre pressed puck directly into the plates and slowly apply pressure ramping up to as high as I feel comfortable with my press. I never get any debris in my rosin and there is no actives left in my pucks as confirmed by trying both iso washing and butane washing of large amounts of pucks.

 

[Hogni]

With or w/o parchment?

 

[invertedisdead]

Me theory is you have to squish the material hard and thin to get out all the rosin. Bottle tek leaves quite a bit behind because you never squeeze the puck down to a thin disk.

My pucks are extremely thin as the PSI is increased when pressing bottle tek.

 

[Hackerman]

I always agreed with @elmomuzz but I may be changing my tune.

Why filters (with flowers)? Like elmo said, I never get specks (well, a few tiny ones) and the filters definitely eat yield. I just recently started using them. They do maintain the puck size somewhat so that is a good thing.

With bottle tek, you almost have to use a filter bag or the flowers will come squeezing out the sides of the plates as the puck grows bigger than the plates.

One thing for sure, the long skinny puck sure didn't work like I expected in a filter.

 

[psychonaut]

Have ya'll measured the difference in yields filter vs no filter? I've been using them so much lately I am in the dark. If we're just talking like a sessions worth of rosin left, I can understand wanting to preserve that. You can go to great lengths to extract everything in one way or another. I guess it depends on what you're looking to get out of it. I'm fine salvaging those trapped dabs to the edibles pile as they make great gifts for friends (out here we have a lot of edible patients), and good meds too if you're into the deeper levels of medicating (edibles + dabs).

Once I get that new dabpress pre-press mold I am going to do some tests with filters vs no filters. I'm not only looking at yields but how much the puck expands, how much of the rosin is influenced off of the plates versus on them, does the rosin autobudder after some time or remain stable? I also want to be putting rosin eventually into pen tanks, it needs to be very clean in order to prolong the life of the heating element. If there is a possibility of cleaning up some of the product, why not.

For some reason when I think of bottle tech I always think of Gallagher

 

[elmomuzz]

My pucks are extremely thin as the PSI is increased when pressing bottle tek.

I always seem to burst through the filter once I really start squishing. I'll try again today though.

 

[invertedisdead]

I always seem to burst through the filter once I really start squishing. I'll try again today though.

How much do you normally pre-press with your regular squishes?

 

[elmomuzz]

Since it's essentially for personal use I usually squish 1-2 grams at a time but I have done quite a few presses in the 3-7 gram range as well. I'll snap some pics tomorrow of my before and after.

 

[EmDeemo]

Hello thread! Think I'm gonna have to start posting in this thread now I've spent a few months getting my squish on. 20 ton hydraulic press, all manual and cheap tho, no pressure gauge or any of that business, combined with a gifted pair of NV round press plates.

I always seem to burst through the filter once I really start squishing. I'll try again today though.

Yeah, I rarely DONT destroy the bags. I have a problem over squishing I think Plus my set up moves about a bit too much, tho its much better now that I locked everything into a fully pressed position and re-attached the press/NV plate adapter. Part of the problem is also my lack of a pressure gauge. I'm flying blind here!

BTW, a slightly broken Aeropress (coffee maker) is great as a pre-press for round pucks

EDIT: WRONG THREAD! Oops!

 

[psychonaut]

I just did a run using a 2.5x3.5" 160u filter with 7g packed in bottle tech style. Pura Vida x Jesus OG. I have 21g of this left so going to do another comparison. I can see that the 160u filters seem worse at holding onto the oil versus the 90u's I've been using. Perhaps the larger holes allow the rosin to get trapped.

The finished puck was 2.25", which is really close to the 2.5" puck I made with my pre-press and no filter.

I know the yields wont be the same, but I am curious how the same pressure with the same temps measures up, so I'll do a pre-press with 7g and do a run with no filter.

I used 4 tons of pressure, which comes out to be about just a hair over 2000 PSI. Knowing the un- filter puck will be 2.5", I'll be able to do a good comparison 7g vs 7g filter vs no filter.

The cultivar squished out 23% at 210F. I'll report back once I get through this 1.6 grams of fresh squeeze

 

[psychonaut]

My isolation efforts are delayed, got too much going on at the moment. I did do an ethanol extraction on some pucks early this week and have been letting it purge. 4oz of pucks pressed avg at 190F using filters, got almost 5 grams out of it (4.4% yield), decarbed it @275F in the oven in a pyrex dish until the bubbling stopped, and put it in the freezer so I can infuse it in butter and begin washing the green out when I have time. I didn't winterize this extraction. The last extraction like this that I did, which I winterized was very good and potency seemed to be on point.