How to Make Solventless Wax: Dry Ice Extraction Method

[BuddahMaster420]

When most people think of hash these days, the first thing that comes to mind is the BHO shatter and wax that has become so popular within the last few years. The development of closed-loop extraction systems and vacuum ovens built specifically for concentrates have caused many high-end producers to shift away from traditional hash-making methods in favor of more modern, solvent-based techniques. Recently, however, a few concentrate artists have shared some extraordinary “solvent-less waxes” rivaling the flavor and potency of many solvent-extracted waxes and the technique to making this hash is both simple and incredibly safe—no explosive or potentially toxic chemicals required.

Solvent-less concentrate is made by collecting stalked trichomes from raw plant material. These trichomes are dense with THC and other psychoactive compounds, some of which may not be present in BHO due to their varying structures and solubility properties. While there are several specific methods, trichomes are most easily Trichomes-are-milky-white-collected by sifting—passing the plant matter through a series of screens that separate particles by size. As the heads of the trichomes fall through the smallest screen, they are collected to form the finest grade of “blonde hash” (because the milky heads of the trichomes typically produce an off-white color) or what we’re calling “solvent-less hash” now.

In order to optimize this process, the Pollinator Company in the Netherlands developed the Iceolator Bags (later spun off in the states as Bubble Bags) which allow for an efficient ice-water separation to be carried out. The bags each contain various-sized mesh-screen bottoms (ranging from 200µ to 25µ) which are then stacked within one another so ice, water and plant material can be added and mixed. The ice water helps lower the temperature of the plant material making the trichomes brittle and more readily separated from the plant (and thus, collected).

Unfortunately, the addition of water also requires about 48 hours of drying time and can potentially pick up some unwanted, water-soluble compounds during the separation. That’s why I’ve become very interested in dry-ice extraction. Instead of using water and ice, solid CO2 aka dry ice is used to cool down the plant matter for sifting. Dry ice is both cheap and much colder than regular ice and the way in which it sublimates (goes from solid to gas) rapidly cools down more of the area around it which eliminates the need to use water or some other insulator (water would freeze in contact with dry ice!). The dry ice also serves as an agitator so all you have to do is shake the sifting container/ bag, no need to sit there stirring. Dispensaries seem to carry product listed as “Solvent-less wax” from no larger a screen than 70µ but you will undoubtedly obtain better product (albeit smaller yields) from an even finer screen size.

So the next time you’re thinking about blasting that extra bag of trim/bud you have lying around, consider busting out the bubble bags instead of the butane and turkey baster— your lungs and neighbors will thank you!

Reference: http://dailydabs420.com/2014/12/08/how-to-make-solventless-wax/

 

[tropicannayeah]

The dry ice also serves as an agitator so all you have to do is shake the sifting container/ bag, no need to sit there stirring.

I never seem to see the words purity and dry ice in the same sentence. I bet you could get the same end result if you freeze the plant material together with some actual rocks to achieve roughly 75% broken up plant matter and 25% resin heads with almost all of the resin removed from the plant material which is approximately what dry ice seems to achieve. Dry ice sifting gets a 10/10 for speed, 10/10 for yield but only 3/10 for purity as too much green matter get pulverized into tiny pieces and passes through the mesh(es) in with your resin heads.

Aggressively made dry ice hash will still press into a solid form with heat and pressure, but the high from this type of hash won't light your fire like purer, less contaminated hash that sizzles and bubbles when lit and inhaled..purity really affects the quality of the high, it's not like you can smoke 3 bowls of dry sift that is 30% resin to get the same quality of high as smoking one bowl of 90%, you won't as the immediate and higher level impact you get from smoking very pure dry sift is different from the lower level buzz from dry sift that is mostly broken up, non-psychoactive bits of plant. Maybe granulated dry ice (along with a very gentle sifting action) would work better than sifting with large chunks of dry ice during the initial sifting of the material? I bet some dry sifters are doing this.

What the world really needs is a dry sifting technique that uses dry ice and produces a low contaminant/high resin % purity. I don't think this would be too hard to achieve, perhaps if the plant material was gently worked over a 150 micron/100 (l.p.i.) Mesh screen flat screen or with a tumbler to remove all the resin, then dry ice could be used during the re-sifting process? Maybe that would work? Maybe granulated dry ice could be used when carding? I wish I had some plant material and readily available dry ice to play around with and experiment.