Rosin Technique....Easy DIY Solventless

[miguelovic]

Does look like a spiffy straightener. The ones I broke that said titanium merely had a coating over ceramic.

I miss scabbing presses together. Don't mind me if I live vicariously through you for a moment.

 

[psychonaut]

Don't mind me if I live vicariously through you for a moment.

It is nostalgic and really the birth of it all. Seems like a pilgrimage that needs to be taken, of course I wouldn't fault anyone for going for the gold, literally, right out of the gate. These straighteners give a perspective unobtainable with current high tech advances in rosin.

 

[invertedisdead]

It is nostalgic and really the birth of it all. Seems like a pilgrimage that needs to be taken, of course I wouldn't fault anyone for going for the gold, literally, right out of the gate. These straighteners give a perspective unobtainable with current high tech advances in rosin.

It's the rite of passage! Nothing more fun than collecting a bunch of dabs off 20 little parchment squares!

 

[mc]

oh man, this brings me back. I have 3 pairs of broken straighteners laying around.

 

[Mondy]

It's the rite of passage! Nothing more fun than collecting a bunch of dabs off 20 little parchment squares!

Ha! OK, it sounds y'all have moved on to something fancier. I have watched videos on YouTube of someone squeezing an ounce at a time on a powerful, purpose-built press, but something that big and that expensive just ain't in the cards.

As soon as I'm done tending to the White Widow downstairs I'm going to finish my hair straightener rig--so much more fun that doing my taxes!

As simple as this rig is, it's a step up from stepping on the unit, or even the YouTube rig in which the guy squeezes a straightener in an arbor press with a leather glove and a folded-up license plate as padding.

 

[Mondy]

Success! Platinum Animal Cookies bud, 21% cannabinoids, about 6 sec at 300 F gives nice goo that tastes like Pine-Sol!

Here's a photo. Next to the vice jaws (light brown) is some fiber shim material as a thermal insulator so the vice doesn't work as a big heat sink. The black rectangle is a magnet that is epoxied to the steel backing plate so I can just drop the heaters in and they magnet-lock in place. Next is the steel backing and then the "nano Titanium" heat plate. They are epoxied together with JB Weld.

Works great!

 

[mc]

Nice, but back that heat up sailor!! You don't want to go above 220. Does it go that low? Maybe turn it off and start pressing around 220 then tunr it on if it goes below 200?

 

[Mondy]

Nice, but back that heat up sailor!! You don't want to go above 220. Does it go that low? Maybe turn it off and start pressing around 220 then tunr it on if it goes below 200?

Thanks for the advice. I haven't know what to use for time and temp, so I have been reading this thread and watching videos, and the temp advice is all over the map. One guy had his so hot it would sizzle and a cloud would come out after 3 seconds. At the other extreme, the Pure Pressure press people recommend 210-220 and discuss people who use much less.

300 worked well, so I lowered it 10% to 270 and that worked, so I lowered it another 10% to 240 and that worked too. (The straightener goes down to 170.)

So OK, next trial I'll drop it another 10% to 210. ** I assume that with lower temp, I can and will want to press for longer? How many seconds would you recommend? **

One more thing: now I understand the people use micro bags. My beautiful rosin is full of flakes of bud. Actually, I don't really mind that--it's natural -- but it would be fun to press some really clean rosin.

In any case, I'm really happy how this has turned out.

 

[mc]

Thanks for the advice. I haven't know what to use for time and temp, so I have been reading this thread and watching videos, and the temp advice is all over the map. One guy had his so hot it would sizzle and a cloud would come out after 3 seconds. At the other extreme, the Pure Pressure press people recommend 210-220 and discuss people who use much less.

300 worked well, so I lowered it 10% to 270 and that worked, so I lowered it another 10% to 240 and that worked too. (The straightener goes down to 170.)

So OK, next trial I'll drop it another 10% to 210. ** I assume that with lower temp, i can and will want to press for longer? How many seconds would you recommend?

One more thing: now I understand the people use micro bags. My beautiful rosin is full of flakes of bud. Actually, I don't really mind that--it's natural -- but it would be fun to press some really clean rosin.

In any case, I'm really happy how this has turned out.

This video is how you want to press, bottle tech, no pre-press. I like 190f avg, so 185-195f depending on the cultivar. This filter vertical style gives you the most material with the smallest footprint(puck) without making it too dense to express through. Oh and for times, I press between 2-3 minutes with about 1 minute of just ramping up the pressure slowly, maxing at about 1 minute, then holding for 1-2 more. I give it a little hit right before taking it off.

EDIT: I switched videos to a better example.

 

[Mondy]

Wow, that's great info. Thank you very much! (But of course now I want a NugSmasher. )



<edit later> Man, those poly bags don't come cheap--over a buck a pop!

 

[miguelovic]

Nylon teabags?

I use to press flower unfiltered until I had about 7g and then repressed at 150F with a folded coffee filter.

Be careful not to let the rosin have time to budder or you risk capturing small THCa crystals in the filter.

 

[Mondy]

Nylon teabags?

I use to press flower unfiltered until I had about 7g and then repressed at 150F with a folded coffee filter.

Be careful not to let the rosin have time to budder or you risk capturing small THCa crystals in the filter.

Thank you. I'm learning a lot here. Much appreciated!

 

[biohacker]

Be careful not to let the rosin have time to budder or you risk capturing small THCa crystals in the filter.

Any suggestions on how to get my sappy strains from I think too much moisture to "budder"? I've heard that time and air causes this but I see absolutely no signs of "buddering" and it's been a while.

 

[miguelovic]

If it has an overpowering smell the consistency is likely permanent as a result of high terpene content.

Does it crackle when dabbed? I have used one of those small travel desiccants to dry overly moist rosin. Roughly 7-10 days in an airtight container.

Sometimes you can force it with manipulation such as pulling like candy or whipping on a smooth nonporous surface.

THCa content may be too low if it is older cured flower.

It has crossed my mind one may be able to seed a buddering reaction. Say adding a gram of rosin from uncured bottoms (or the bead of autobudder that some hashes produce) to an unbuttering mass at a 1:10 or 1:20 ratio.

I believe it possible but have not tried. I have noticed on second presses that at times streaks will budder, but the paddy as a whole without further manipulation will marble rather than uniformly change.

While I prefer the consistency of budder, I believe it increases offgassing. Conjecture, my pallete is that of a chain smoker. Nuanced changes come to me as second hand information. Personally I have seen some budder weep a high terpene sap.

 

[mc]

I believe you will only trap THCa in the filter if you are pressing at very low temps since It melts when I press at 180f. So I "assume" it's all going through the filter. And I agree the more crumble it gets the faster is loses it's smell and taste but not a lot and it takes a while. I have a very sensitive pallete so I taste and smell every gland size differently.

I can't even be in a room with someone wearing perfume or cologne.

Any suggestions on how to get my sappy strains from I think too much moisture to "budder"? I've heard that time and air causes this but I see absolutely no signs of "buddering" and it's been a while.

Mig gave great suggestions for when you've already pressed, but the best solution is prevention. If you want it glassy you need to let it cure before pressing, the longer the better. And when you press it, you have to go hot, 220 will help it glass out, despite hurting flavour quality.

The more fresh it's pressed the more peanut butter it'll be. The crumble line is in between.

 

[psychonaut]

I have some rosin that I made a couple of weeks ago, it's been in my fridge at 36F the entire time and it's starting to budder up like frosting and is now grainy textured. It started out as sap. Pressed at 195F I believe. BHO folks will whip air into the concentrate to get it to budder up, that is worth a shot.

 

[mc]

I have some rosin that I made a couple of weeks ago, it's been in my fridge at 36F the entire time and it's starting to budder up like frosting and is now grainy textured. It started out as sap. Pressed at 195F I believe. BHO folks will whip air into the concentrate to get it to budder up, that is worth a shot.

ya I like this, if you can force it to nucleate, by action (whipping) or tempurature change, that will work as well.

 

[invertedisdead]

Used an aromatherapy "wax melter" the other day to force nucleation in some stained glass shatter I had that kept exploding all over the place. Stir it once in a while over low heat and it should nucleate.

 

[biohacker]

ok I did a bad job illustrating.... it's glassy, and really nice rosin pressed at 200 but it's from older material that I jarred for maybe 6 months. I just keep hearing about buddering like Psychonaut recent experience, yet never seen it myself on my own squished stuff. A lot of the store bought stuff I have is buddery. Every strain I squished definitely has a good aroma of the flower.

 

[psychonaut]

Here's my refer autobudder, you can see the little core of sap in the middle not yet buddered. This is DJC (Deadhead OG x TRUTH) rosin pressed at 190F, been in the fridge about a week and a half to two weeks. I really prefer the budder consistancy myself, but I'm getting good at the pull and snap method while cold out of the fridge.

 

[mc]

ok I did a bad job illustrating.... it's glassy, and really nice rosin pressed at 200 but it's from older material that I jarred for maybe 6 months. I just keep hearing about buddering like Psychonaut recent experience, yet never seen it myself on my own squished stuff. A lot of the store bought stuff I have is buddery. Every strain I squished definitely has a good aroma of the flower.

ok so heat it, whip it, freeze it, heat it, whipe it, freeze it. Repeat then leave for a day and see if it'll start to nucleate. Once it does, it all will.

 

[psychonaut]

Now that I think of it, the core in there is actually repress rosin, so now that makes more sense. You can see the dab tool marking going at about 12 o'clock with the darker rosin. So that squish was at 190 or 195F for 90 seconds (sorry I didnt fully document the temps). Perhaps go shorter on your initial press. I can't say how old that bud was, I bought it at my caregiver, but it's been stored under pristine conditions.

EDIT: Sorry I have another point on the press time, I had a failure during a squish that caused me to have to salvage the puck about 15-20 seconds in and the rosin that had already been generated was 100% budder and very pale. The finished product was more bronze and sappy.

 

[Mondy]

Nylon teabags?

At work we have chichi organic tea that comes in tetrahedral nylon mesh teabags. I brought a used bag home, dumped out the spent tea, and used it to squeeze about a quarter-gram bud of the Platinum Animal Cookies at 210 F for two minutes.

I got a very nice golden rosin, and with no flakes!

With y'all's kind assistance, my technique and results are advancing by leaps and bounds.

I must say that I'm really quite pleased with my bench vice hair straightener rosin press.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[psychonaut]

Enjoy your pressings @Mondy

 

[Mondy]

Enjoy your pressings @Mondy

I'm just switching over from production mode to consumption mode now. The terpene of the moment is pinene!