anyone tried these bags??

[Keefhead]

Fresh frozen seems to give me less contaminant, but at the cost of a lower yield. Dry, then frozen trim seems to give more yield, but at a slight sacrifice in quality.

I like to use dry, because I like the bags full of hash, and the lowering in quality is not that big a deal to me - then. It's still good 73 bag goodness. But sometimes there is this NEED for some top shelf stuff, and fresh frozen it is.

So the tradeoff is quality vs quantity.

Enjoy your hash adventure. There's so much to see and try.

 

[Ronley]

Great, thanks Keefhead for those tips.
Actually I have a 3 bag Icolator Mila special, that I got from Mila.

How much trim at a time do you reccomend to put into the first bag. Obviously the answer is enough to comfortably stir trim around in the bag

Maybe it would be better to stir the trim in a separte large container, with more ice and then pour the whole mixture into the bags slowly. A bit at a time,
and then once all the trim has been strained to run the green water again.

 

[BLunTeD4LifE]

i cant wait until i can have another bash at makin bubble hash again...

though this time it will be with proper bags, and also i will keep all my trim and do it all in one go... i only used the trim and popcorn from 2 plants this time around because the first plants i harvested the trim and popcorn was used for dry sifting...

thanks so much for the tips KH..

 

[Keefhead]

Ronley & Blunted... - glad to share what I've learned.

As to how much trim, I just put big ol' handfulls in till it looks like enough. LOL. I never measure. What goes in - goes in, and what comes out - comes out. Quality is the target here. But to answer your question as best I can, I use about 1/4 or so of the bags capacity. It will compress down once it gets wet and you've stirred it some. That's about the closest I can come to guessing an amount.

I've stirred in a seperate container, but it's not necessary. You can stir fine with a wooden spoon with all the bags nested. Remember, the ICE COLD water freezes the trichs, makes them brittle, and they fall off the plants and get drained out the bottom through the screens. Plant matter floats, trichs sink to the bottom.

When you pull the bags, do so in little jerking motions, not in one big lift. It helps to filter out the "plant matter" (chrystalith <sp?> hairs and stalks) and force it through the screens. Jerk, jerk, jerk, jerk, jerk, jerk, jerk, ... out it comes. Don't jerk the 220 though, you'll get too much plant matter going through. Just lift it out easy.

You made a comment that left me wondering. It's an old notion that the water still contains trichs after going through the bags. It doesn't, except for small stuff, smaller than your bags can filter. They won't catch it a second time either. How can larger trichs make it through the smaller bags, just to be filtered again? It can't. The water only contains chloraphyl (sp?) and other plant matter. None of it desirable. Throw out the water, and use fresh, with lots more ice, and make the second run of stir and strain. Quality will be down a bit, but its still good. Uh, just to make sure, did I mention to use LOTS of ice. Remember, you want the trichs to be frozen and fall off, so the water must be COLD.

Hint: I have a snow cone machine, that makes snow by the pound. I dump a lot of snow in instead of water, and it gets the mixture within a degree or so of being frozen. Greater yields, and usually a better smell and "taste" of the hash. Yes, I still use ice too. I want them trichs COLD. But don't refreeze the plant matter. You will burst open parts of the plant which now contain water, and the second run will have more contaminants in it than it needs to.

A little story: I met a fellow once who wanted to make MJ scented candles. What he wanted was the waste water from the bags. He boiled it down slowly (reduced it in kitchen lingo) until it was thick, then added it to his wax mixture. I have no idea if it worked (I doubt it), but it seemed like fun.

Well, seems I've talked way too long. I hope, though, that I've helped someone on the way.

 

[Guest]

sharper smaller ice chunks are better than big ol square chunks...I always mix in a bucket than pour through the 220....each bag has a different bucket....

 

[Keefhead]

Hillbillie - greetings. Great pictures.

I used to use seperate buckets, but it got to be a bit of a hassle. Took up too much space in my little kitchen. And besides, I got just as good results with a single bucket. So I went back to that. But it is a useful technique and if I had more room I might use it again.

I use a bar-type ice maker to make all the ice I need. Sure is handy to have that much ice available. And yeah, never use big chunks. The smaller the better - since that creates more surface area and keeps the water just that much colder.

Remember, it's not the scraping of the ice against the trichs that releases them, it's the trichs breaking off due to the cold environment. The ice just makes the water cold enough for the trichs to be brittle. After doing a run, look at the material under a good microscope. The trichs that are back deep inside the plant matter are broken off and gone too, not just the ones at the surface where the ice gets to them.

Bubblemans and Milas washing machines do not even allow the ice to come in contact with the material, its in a little bag. Very cold water folks, thats all it takes. Well, good strains count for a lot too.

Well, I don't want to hijack the thread. BLunTeD4LifE, and all, back to you.

 

[BLunTeD4LifE]

u guys really do know ur stuff when it comes to this...

u have been really helpful with my noob questions... and it is much appreciated that u have taken the time to explain how to get the best out of your bags...

thanks a lot for this guys...

P.S. hillbillie those pictures are truely amazing!!!

 

[Ronley]

Keefhead,
I want to thank you for your tips and method in using the bags.
I did however mix my trim in a separate bucket, because I found it easiest to do that. Luckilly I have buckets and space.
I stirred and left it to settle like you said. Then poured the water through my ICO-O- LATOR bags. I did 4 runs and got 1.9 grams of beautiful Ice .

My trim was from 2 Cappuccino plants.

 

[Keefhead]

Ronley - Glad I could be of some help. Suggestion: Next time, after you mix, immediately pour the mix into the bucket with the green 220 bag. Then let it settle for 30 minutes or so, stirring very lightly for a moment every 5 minutes, to get all the settling trichs. But maybe you did that.

The object is to let the trichs settle to the bottom of the bucket, and when you later lift the green bag out, the trichs will have settled to the bottom, and lifting out the green bag will just remove all the plant matter contaminants that are floating at the top.

Now you can lift out the yellow bag and enjoy seeing your harvest.

The color and sizes I used applies to the ice-o-lator bags - however, the same concept applies to all bags.

And yeah, I often mix my material in a seperate bucket. It helps, eh.

1.9 g eh? Not bad. Do you know the weight of the material you put in? Just curious.

Good hashing...

 

[Ronley]

Ronley - Glad I could be of some help. Suggestion: Next time, after you mix, immediately pour the mix into the bucket with the green 220 bag. Then let it settle for 30 minutes or so, stirring very lightly for a moment every 5 minutes, to get all the settling trichs. But maybe you did that.

Nope, did not do that You did not mention it....
But I will next time. Makes perfect sense in what you say.
Besides each time I do a Ice run I get better. Practice...

1.9 g eh? Not bad. Do you know the weight of the material you put in? Just curious....

I meant to weigh the leaves, and remebered exactly once i had emptied them out into the water. but I think that It was about aprox 800grs - 900grams. I had 4 small plastic bags stuffed quite full and each one weighs around 200 grams

 

[Keefhead]

Oops. It's important. It's part of the standard instructions, so I didn't think about it. There's probably more I didn't mention. Go to http://www.freshheadies.com/instructions/ and see the procedure they have there. I've tweaked them for me, but they help understand the process.

I never weigh it. Folks here (me too) like to know this information, but I never think to do it. Heck, I've done over 150 runs, and I doubt I've weighed, or photographed, even 10 of them, if that.

"Besides each time I do a Ice run I get better. Practice..."

Yep, that's it.

Good hashing to ya.

 

[Ronley]

OOPS.. LOL.

I have the procedure and understanding. But I like your method. It the simplest. Stir by hand, let stand, lift out, strain again, and ice hash in the bag..
nothing simpler and easier then that...
Really grand! and the Ice is AWESOME Keefhead. I am most pleased with it.

I will check out the fresh headies and see what i might be able to add. Many thanks.

BTW I love your avatar, what an amazing cat that is. What is its name.

 

[Keefhead]

Keep looking around. Others have excellent tips and suggestions for getting the most from your bags.

Glad you got some hash to your liking. Keep at it, and the hash will get better and better.

The cat is "Gato", aka "Biker Coon", a Maine Coon cat, 24 lbs, and all pure attitude. But a lover and well extremely well behaved. He's crossed the bridge now, but never forgotten.