Trimming

[phaquetoo]

Seems like those auto trimmers would knock off a good percentage of the trichomes. 

Might be fine if you want to use the kief I guess.  Not so lovely buds result from any I've seen.

I just seen my c.g yesterday!  He just bought a bowl trimmer!  I works realy nice, he does it while the mmj is still wet, he said he tried it once dry and it hacked em up to much to look pretty!  He collects the keif and uses it, (im bettting lots do) He dont trim mine, I dont like how he does it and he dont cure it, so I hang, dry and cure it, I guess I should use up the sputnick I got 2 wks before christmas since I will have plenty dry and curing!

 

I cant justify a bowl trimmer for one plant each time I get it, But it would be sweet to not have to trim it lol!

 

Maybe santa clause will bring me one this yr!

 

Peace

 

edit= using the bowl trimmer wet makes the tric's stay on the budds!

Edited June 7, 2016 by phaquetoo

[imiubu]

did this yesterday. Holy crap!! Why didn't I ever think of this. My mind is blown. Good call, man!

Thanks for letting us know! IKR!  I always think... gee that is sooo simple "Why didn't I think of that!?" haha

 

I do get sticky fingers, I guess im used to using my knuckles to rub my eyes when my hands are dirty!

 

I dont like coconuts but im willing to try anything once!  well almost anything lol!

 

Peace

 

edit= I just hung a green crack, so I will be trimming soon, I have never had green crack, I know it stunk my car up bad, cruise control and back roads all the way home from c.g's,,,,,,I need to load a pic, man Im blessed to have the c.g I have, my grow equipment is getting old just sitting back in its original boxes waiting for me to use it!  I have no reason to grow at this time, We should do a thread about good/great/awsome c.g's for a change! not bad ones!  I had a bad one briefly lol! last 5 yrs, well I would have to be an idiot to complain!

 

I do not like coconut meat or oil, no way no how, never have.  I do however consume copious amounts of it daily for it's health benefits.

I also use it for dental care (pulling), skin/ hair care.  All I can say is YUCK!  BUT, it is over and done w/ in a few minutes and life carries on.

Toasted coconut marshmallows though... it's on! 

 

@dutchfarm... I would save the c'nut oil for frying if I enjoyed the taste of it

Such an awesome tip for cleaning up after trimming, thanks for sharing.

[pergamum362]

My wife uses coconut oil for all kinds of things. She makes our soap, shampoo, lotion etc. im going to mention this to her.

[phaquetoo]

Thanks for letting us know! IKR!  I always think... gee that is sooo simple "Why didn't I think of that!?" haha

 

 

I do not like coconut meat or oil, no way no how, never have.  I do however consume copious amounts of it daily for it's health benefits.

I also use it for dental care (pulling), skin/ hair care.  All I can say is YUCK!  BUT, it is over and done w/ in a few minutes and life carries on.

Toasted coconut marshmallows though... it's on! 

 

@dutchfarm... I would save the c'nut oil for frying if I enjoyed the taste of it

Such an awesome tip for cleaning up after trimming, thanks for sharing.

once you have your product, be it coconut oil, butter, I dont like to bake with it or use it to fry something, the product has already been carbalized and dont need to be heated to activate anything,  I honestly beleive when you bake or fry with infused butter or oil it makes it weaker!

 

I only say it because of my own personal experience, I can make brownies the old fashion way, put the mm right in the brownie mix and bake, I dont mind the gritty mm in my brownie and I especialy like the effects it brings, I have made brownies both ways at the same time, with the same strain and amount of mm and found the straight up mm mixed in to be stronger than making it with my cannabutter!

 

this is just from my own personal experience, I would like to see more people try the same thing and read what you think!

 

Peace

[Tigersfann420]

I have only done one grow and I wet trimmed it was fun at first but then it wore off real quick lol. Cant wait to grow again.

[Tigersfann420]

I like when people hand trim meds and not use a machine.

[MrShpongle]

Has anyone used the electric scissors like the Bonsai Hero ($500) or Testarossa ($180)?  One grower I know swears by them, but the price is insane.  He insists that they pay for themselves over time.  I'd like to hear more first-hand testimonials before dropping that sort of money.

[phaquetoo]

Has anyone used the electric scissors like the Bonsai Hero ($500) or Testarossa ($180)?  One grower I know swears by them, but the price is insane.  He insists that they pay for themselves over time.  I'd like to hear more first-hand testimonials before dropping that sort of money.

you would still have to clean the scissors, I would imagine it is quicker untill you have to stop every 5 mins to wipe off the scissors!

 

I realy hate trimming, But If I have my c.g trim it he gives me an oz, if I trim it I get a suprise inside of every plant lol!  I can see why he would rather give me a whole plant then trim it and dry it for me, my c.g dont cure, he puts it on a dry rack and dumps it as quick as he can lol!

 

It is worth the 4 hrs I spent upstairs in the garage the other nite, I prob have 1k of mm or more street value!

Plus I get all of the lil popcorn budds that are not worth trimming, I dont even trim branches that dont have meaty budds on them, It all goes in the sugar leaf pile for butter or oil, and I beleive im done making oil, I love the feeling but I dont like how it makes me cough my lungs out, when I cure my mm I can make it all mellow!

 

one time my c.g stopped by to drop off my meds, I had one rolled, I shared with him, he was like wow this taistes realy good, nice heady buzz and so mellow, Where did you get this from?  I told him I got it from him, I dried and cured it!  he called me a liar lol!

 

Peace

 

p.s I just take a bic to my scissors and wipe them with a paper towel, I have 3 pairs I trim with, once they all need to be cleaned I have a smoke break and maybe even a glass of wine

 

Than I go back at it untill they are all to sticky to cut any more!  If I have a realy large plant I may even get silly from the wine!

 

edit= I guess that make me a whinner about trimming!

Edited June 9, 2016 by phaquetoo

[Wild Bill]

I liked Grassmatch's suggestion in another thread. Make a big bowl of hot buttered popcorn and the resin will come off in the butter as you eat the popcorn.

[pic book]

Has anyone used the electric scissors like the Bonsai Hero ($500) or Testarossa ($180)?  One grower I know swears by them, but the price is insane.  He insists that they pay for themselves over time.  I'd like to hear more first-hand testimonials before dropping that sort of money.

the one grower i know who is automated says he gets 4 HOURS  of work cut his trim time.. hIS TRIM TIME IS DOWN from 5 hours to one.  i tried them and found that i caaaaaaaaaaan't roll a joint and that level of finger dexterity is MANDitory to use the bomsai.

[medmanmike]

My buds are so sticky that when those little leaves curl in they become part of the bud. Not a good thing.

 

Why not? Not trying to be funny, just wondering reason behind your method. I know many who like to roll their j's with sugar leaves. Resin coated, of course.

[Kingdiamond]

Why not? Not trying to be funny, just wondering reason behind your method. I know many who like to roll their j's with sugar leaves. Resin coated, of course.

Sugar leaves take away from the pure taste of the bud for me.

[+Malamute]

Nothing i hate worse than people leaving a plant for dry trimming. Ick. Messes up flavor, changes the burn just isn't the right way to do it.  :-)

 

As far as hands... Olive oil and dawn dish soap. Works great. Scrub down with olive oil and rinse it all off with Dawn.

 

Bowl trimmers are blasphemy and only scumballs use them.  Total ripoff if it is for someone else.  They should be ashamed.

 

What I can say about trimming in general,i tend to grow plants that are easier to trim. :-)  Duh. Hahaha.  QP an hour no problem. Quick fingers.

 

One time i had this plant, sativa dom, that had all those little tiny leaves, OMFG. It took me 10 hours to trim 6 oz's..... Needless to say that strain is very dead and hopefully gone from the world forever. 

[Restorium2]

Why not? Not trying to be funny, just wondering reason behind your method. I know many who like to roll their j's with sugar leaves. Resin coated, of course.

Leaves have a lot of fats and waxes that can make smoke harsh, no matter how nice they look with those crystals on them. I would have to make oil out of buds with leaves and then subtract the fats and waxes by winterization to get the smooth smoke and vapor I like. 

Edited September 22, 2016 by Restorium2

[WET]

Leaves have a lot of fats and waxes that can make smoke harsh, no matter how nice they look with those crystals on them. I would have to make oil out of buds with leaves and then subtract the fats and waxes by winterization to get the smooth smoke and vapor I like.

 

what is your winterization method? Freezer or is there an extra something I've missed?

 

Wet

[+Malamute]

Why winterize your extract? Stability.

 

Winterization removes impurities – specifically plant lipids and waxes. This is a very important step if you’re trying to make shatter because the lipids will soften up the extract, giving it a pull-and-snap consistency and increase the tendency to auto butter.

 

Who needs to winterize?

 

People go through great lengths on their butane extraction system to have in-line dewaxing (winterization). Even with in-line dewaxing, you will not get a fully dewaxed product. Not all extractors have this built in capability so the alternative is to winterize with ethanol – this is particularly true with CO2 extraction rigs, where high temperatures and pressures prevail. If you want to remove plant waxes, you either have to winterize in-line or do winterization after extraction.

 

Four steps to winterize.

 

The process is simple to do. Specialized equipment stops with a freezer and a simple laboratory funnel/filtration system. The process roughly looks like this: fully dissolve the extract in warm ethanol by stirring; freeze the extract for 36-48 hours; filter the extract; purge the extract of ethanol. Sounds simple right? This guide will try to help you along the way.

 

Step 1: dissolve your extract in a 10mL:1g (ethanol:extract) ratio.

 

First, it’s not blasphemous to use warm ethanol. My first job as chemist was rife with lessons in solubility. As you’ll see on the Wiki article, temperature is one of the few variables that can be easily controlled and used to make your life easier. The lowest terpene boiling point is Beta-Caryophyllene at 119C; that said, you’re well below that temperature to get your extract to dissolve. Anything over 30C and below 60C will serve your needs, but the lower the temperature to dissolve, the better.

 

Once your ethanol is warmed it can be used to dissolve your extract. Choosing the amount of ethanol used is up to you, but keep it simple with a 10mL to 1g ratio by weight of ethanol to extract. Simply put, for every 1g of extract, add 10mL of warm ethanol. Once you’ve added the ethanol, you can stir manually with a small lab spatula or put it on a stir plate with a stir bar until the extract is fully dissolved.

 

Step 2: freeze your extract/ethanol solution.

 

Now that you’ve suspended your extract in ethanol, it’s time to freeze it. The goal here is to make a solution that’s similar to an oil/vinegar salad dressing – we want the plant waxes to float on top. Think of the ethanol as the vinegar and the plant lipids/waxes as the oil. Now what may not seem intuitive is that the plant lipids/waxes dissolved into the warm ethanol. Remember how I said temperature was a key to solubility? It still is – now we’re just taking advantage of the fact that lipids/waxes have a much lower solubility in cold ethanol compared to warm ethanol.

To be very sure that all the plant lipids/waxes have precipitated out of the solution, you just need patience, or very cold temperatures. If you have dry ice on hand, you can precipitate the lipids/waxes in 1-2 hours. If you only have a standard freezer, you’ll need 36-48 hours to fully precipitate the lipids/waxes. You will know your extract is ready for the next step when you have a layer of lipids/waxes formed on top of the ethanol solution.

 

Step 3: filter the plant lipids/waxes.

 

The laboratory solution is to have a vacuum pump, Buchner funnel, and filter paper. That is my preferred method. If you’re low on funds, the standard method is to use a coffee filter and funnel, letting gravity do the work. Either way, an important step is to have your entire filtration setup at the same temperature as the extract/ethanol solution; that way you will prevent the lipids/waxes from going back into solution from coming into contact with a warm funnel and filter. Place your filtration set up in a zip-lock bag and in the freezer an hour before beginning to work. The zip lock bag helps prevent buildup of condensation while you’re getting ready to filter.

 

Once you have your filtration apparatus set up, wet your filter paper with cold ethanol and apply a slight vacuum. On top of you filter paper, place 1-2 coffee filters into the funnel so you can easily remove the waxes. Now you can SLOWLY start to pour your extract/ethanol solution onto the filter paper. You don’t want to pour the whole batch in at once because your coffee filter will get saturated in plant lipids/waxes. The wax buildup prevents your cold ethanol/extract solution to flow through the filter, and you’ll end up redissolving more waxes.

At the end of step 3, you will have a waxy substance that looks like cannabutter sitting on top of the coffee filter and a büchner funnel filled with a translucent amber oil of the highest purity. You’re almost home free to having a highly stable wax.

 

Step 4: purging off ethanol.

 

When we talk about purging, we’re talking about evaporation of solvents. Those solvents could be butane, and/or ethanol. Purging is an easy job when you have a vacuum and vacuum oven on hand. Ethanol boils off at 78.5C at atmospheric pressure. If you pull a full vacuum (assuming you can pull -28.5”Hg), it reduces ethanol’s boiling point to 12.8C, which is well below room temperature.

 

The question to ask next is, do you want to reclaim your alcohol, or do you want to evaporate it off? If you desire to reclaim, the process requires a distillation apparatus, which is out of the scope in this article. If you’re evaporating off the ethanol, the standard practice is to transfer the dewaxed extract into a pyrex baking dish over a water bath; cover the pyrex dish with cheesecloth so that dust particles aren’t falling into the extract.

Evaporate off the ethanol until the extract is still workable with a spatula, and is a consistency/viscosity that is between molasses and honey. Check out the post on how to handle an extract after winterization. That describes the process after winterization and the initial purge.

 

Conclusions.

 

You’ve followed the four steps of winterization. You’ve removed plant lipids/waxes and now have an enriched/purified cannabinoid solution. The biggest benefit to this process is that you now have an extract that will more easily “crystallize,” or become a stable product. The fewer impurities left in the final product, the longer the extract can be stored without changing its appearance and texture. Whether you choose to perform in-line dewaxing or to perform dewaxing with ethanol as described here, you’re well on your way to making high quality extracts if you do either.

[+Malamute]

That was just the first google search

[WET]

That was just the first google search

my bad. I'll go straight to Google next time.

[+Malamute]

All good. I wasnt sure either.

[WET]

I always end up at riu or thctalk....I really can't stand either. Thanks for the personal insight. I'm hoping to learn the craft quickly(and safely) with the new law. Never knew id have to be a gardener, soil expert, lab tech, and hair stylist(trimming).

 

Wet

Edited September 22, 2016 by WET

[Restorium2]

All I could add would be some sources of the parts needed. I got most of it off of eBay and use the accessory port on a seal-a-meal for vacuum. And some little hints like freezing your ceramic filter to keep the fats and waxes from going back into the solution while you are filtering. It takes a few minutes for the seal-a-meal to pull the solution through the filter. If you are going to use the oil in a gel cap there's no need to winterize. 

Edited September 22, 2016 by Restorium2