First Time making bubble hash

[FirstTracks]

Just received my first set of bubble bags, and need some advice.
Got a 7 (or 8?) bag set.

I've been reading all kinds of tecs and tutorials on making bubble hash.
The problem I'm getting is that one tec will usually contradict another in several respects.

What I'm working with:
Have a mix of;
-a few bags of freshly frozen trim (undried),
-a few jars of over dried herb from my last harvest

1)Can I run the frozen wet trim in the bags?
2)I should freeze the dried stuff before running it, right?
3) can I run my fresh frozen wet and my dried stuff together? Or should I do separate runs?
4) Should I do the run in a 5 gal bucket first and then pour that through the bags, or can I mix right in the bags?

number (4) is throwin me, as some are saying that you should never mix in the bags, and some are saying its just fine.

The bags aren't super high end, so not expecting amazing durability or anything, but I don't want to lose too much material in a 'work bucket.' However, if mixing in the bags, its my understanding i should mix gently.

5) Shorter runs of 5 minute stirs or longer runs of 20-25 minute stirs. Will be mixing by hand, not with a drill/paint mixer combo.

Seems to be shorter runs are getting higher quality, longer runs get a little more product.

I'm okhaving torun multiple times, but just going for nice, smoke able hash, don't need tohave the purest, most incredible stuff in the world.

6) Should I run at least 3 times to get everything out?
7) should I dry all material after final run and run through a tube for some BHO to get the last bit out,or will that be mostly a waster of time and resources?

8) are any grades of the hash (7 or 8 bag set) pretty much worthless? Or can even the lower quality stuff be used for cooking and stuff.

9) should I break down the dry buds pretty well, or just run them 'as is'? They are all pretty much less than 2 grams.


Like I said, researched this a bit, but want some opinions and knowledge from people on here, if possible.

Thanks for the help.

 

[ThirdEyeVision]

1. Yes you can run fresh undried frozen material, many will tell you this is the best way to experience water hash in terms of flavor and high, although you will sacrifice yields...everything being strain dependent.

2. You should freeze the dried material, perhaps of more importance is re-hydrating it before you agitate it. Let it soak in your ice cold water for a couple to perhaps up to 15 minutes depending how dry it was to start.

3. You can run them together indeed. Some like to do it that way to get the most out of yield and flavor, combining the two types. Others would say don't contaminate your fresh frozen with dried material, which would lessen the overall quality of the finished product. I would say this is something you will play around with as you learn the tendencies of your resins. Some do better freshly frozen, others do better freshly dried and cured, etc. All strain and batch dependent in the end. Having said all that i would start by separating them so you can begin to learn the diff qualities of fresh vs frozen.

4. You can run them in the bags or separately, its up to you. I prefer to use a washer or mix in a separate bucket so as to preserve the bags, you can beat them up even if youre careful when mixing in the bag itself. However you can skip a step by pulling directly as oppossed to pouring into another bucket. Someone with a bad back/disability might prefer this for instance.

5. You said it, shorter run with less agitation, better quality less yield. Again play around and find your sweetspot.

6. Run as many times as it takes to get everything out...up to a point of course, because this can be manual time consuming labor.
Some material will spit out 7,8,9 runs even. Others are done after one run. All strain/batch dependent.

7. You can try it, i simply toss everything cause im lazy and don't care about material with such little heads left. I might soak it in some coconut oil in a crockpot and see what happens vs shitty quality bho.

8. The lower grades can always be used for cooking. With the reintroduction of rosin tech the nonmelty grades can be turned to full melt in seconds, so more than ever they are worth to keep.

9. Break em down perhaps a bit more, play around and find how you like it. Always remember to try and keep the integrity of the resin heads intact as much as possible. So careful/proper breakdown is more important than shooting for a certain size.

In the end focus all of your attention/time/reading toward proper drying technique. How long to wick your patties. What temp to wick them to prepare them to seive or plane. Seiving or planing will each require different times/stages of the wicking process.

Having a proper enviornment to fully cold dry etc etc. Those are the things that will really make your hash stand out. And of course fire starting material.

 

[FirstTracks]

TEV:Thanks for the full detailed response. Always open to other opinions too. This has helped so much. Exactly why I asked on here in addition to reading all the tecs out there. feel like I can trust opinions from people off this board a little more than others. Probably cause I live here.

I'm going to go back and concentrate on proper drying technique.

been looking at the shammy cloth for initial wicking off of some of the initial moisture while material is still in the bags, right after pulling.

Been considering freeze drying to help cut down on some aspects of mold risk. Gotta look into any negatives of this as far as ice smashing the heads during the freezing process.
Any thoughts on this?

Thinking I'm going to dry under a cheese cloth screen to keep any dust/hair out of the equation. That wouldn't be too fun.

Good call on running it as many times as necessary. Was just thinking 3 was the ideal, as that usually is my method for rinsing anything out. Now I know better.

Sounds almost like an extension of growing, where I don't want to ruin the whole process due to rushing the finishing processes.


Any thoughts on getting the small stems out as far as if they'll damage the bags much.

If the only disadvantage to mixing separate and then pouring is extra time/effort, then that won't be a concern. Haven't had proper water hash in a while, so willing to take my time.

Do all runs need to be done subsequently? Or is there a good/safe way to store material between runs?

Just get most of the water drained out and re bag/re-freeze? Maybe just re-bag and put it in the fridge to keep mold at bay? Thinking I don't want to keep it submerged overnight, as then I'm just leaching out more chlorophyll in the work water and possibly getting everything too mushy to work?

Seems like a lot of people like to press into balls or patties. Any harm innot pressing and just leaving as powder?

Will read up on planing/micro-planing (same thing?) to help dry correctly.

Am I looking at 2 or 3 bags of ice per run? Or should I budget more for 5 gal buckets? Probably just needs to be enough to cover material and stay ice through the entire 15_ minute run?

Lots of people doing a short initial run for quality and then doing longer runs as you go to get the most out of the material, but get a nice first run quality?

Some people mention curing the hash after. I guess with fresh frozen mixed, this will be a bigger concern. Probably some potency increase involved?

Thanks for all the help, just looking to do this right the first time, and build from there.

 

[dablogic]

1)Can I run the frozen wet trim in the bags?-Yes

2)I should freeze the dried stuff before running it, right?-Yes, freezing helps harden up the stalks for a clean separation

3) can I run my fresh frozen wet and my dried stuff together? Or should I do separate runs? – Yes

4) Should I do the run in a 5 gal bucket first and then pour that through the bags, or can I mix right in the bags?-Put the 220 in a separate bucket, mix in that – don’t listen to anyone that says it’s okay to have any material near the separation bags…unless you want b-grade hash

5) Shorter runs of 5 minute stirs or longer runs of 20-25 minute stirs. Will be mixing by hand, not with a drill/paint mixer combo. - you’ll need to do a short stir (10 min) for the first two washes until the dry material gets softened up, I’d wait at least 20 min to start the first wash while the dry material softens

6) Should I run at least 3 times to get everything out?- 4 washes min…

7) should I dry all material after final run and run through a tube for some BHO to get the last bit out, or will that be mostly a waste of time and resources? – no, compost it

8) are any grades of the hash (7 or 8 bag set) pretty much worthless? Or can even the lower quality stuff be used for cooking and stuff. – depends on your material, if the material isn’t that great, neither will you hash

9) should I break down the dry buds pretty well, or just run them 'as is'? They are all pretty much less than 2 grams. – cut them down by calyx.