Consistency, Questions, and an introduction..

[buffalobubble]

Hello, my nick name is Charbs and I am from Buffalo. A partner and I purchased the 5 gallon, 4-bag Bubble Bags kit and are very happy with the quality and durability of these bags! I had a few questions I was hoping to get some answers to..

1) Is the 45u and 90u bags worth purchasing? Is the quality of hash that we would get that much better? Our 70u bag is usually the bag that yields the most then the 25u is usually a darker less amount. What kind of crystals would these 2 bags catch?

2) Our setup: we use a power drill with a paint mixing bit, we once ran a batch with over 2 ounces of trim that yeilded close to 19 grams, mostly coming from the 70u bag (on the first run through!). The inner parts of the hash were extrememly melty and when cured for a long time it all became full melt (with a little finger pattying). We recently ran a batch with the same amount of trimmings but only yielded a very disappointing 8 grams. We pay top dollar for our quality trim (a local strain called "Buffalo Blitz" that I am not familiar with the genetics. Widow is in there I believe). The question of the matter is are there any routines you like to follow to achieve a more consistent yield? Is there any routine to follow for trying to get full melt every time?

3) We run each batch twice, with the second run through producing about 1/3 less hash then the first. It is quite time consuming waiting for the 25u bag to drain, does sinching and pulling aggresively wiggle out thc crystals through the 25u bag? Should we clean off the bottoms of the bags with rubbing alcohol to help the water drain faster if there is a crystal build up?

4) Quality of trimmings are directly related to quality of hash is what I have found. Do you agree that purchasing a QP of terrible herb would yield hash of lower quality or bad taste? Would it yield more then trim and is it worth the risk in decrease of quality?

5) Sometimes when we run the trim twice, we look under my 420 Scope and see crystals still on the matter, anyway of extracting those more efficiently?

We have run over 25 batches, most more then once, but only achieved full melt bubble on a couple occasions. We are searching for the sound of consistency and any tips or help would be much appreciated.

Thanks for reading and you'll be seeing alot more of me on this forum I recently discovered!

[FtW]

1) All the bags are worth getting, different strains have different sweet spots (73 is best for some, 120 for another, etc.), & you want the next bag above that to keep it clean (if 90 is the best grade you want the 120 to clean it up).

2) You have to have pretty good control on the trigger finger to get full melt with the power drill, I usually use a cordless but generally recommend people hand stir for at least the first run, then you can mix a bit harder on the 2nd to get better yield. But a gentle first run will give you the best possible chances of fmcd.

3) definitely use the cinch & jerk to drain the 25u, you won't lose the trichomes through the bag. After pulling the bag from cold water scrape the hash off right away & rinse under cold water & you won't get any buildup.

4)what you put in is what you get out, if the weed doesn't get you that high it'll probably yield low, if it tastes bad the hash probably won't taste great. Good sugary trim yields almost the same as buds. There isn't a decrease of quality, run a QP of so-so weed into 5 - 10 grams of so-so hash you still have roughly the same amount of what gets you high, just more concentrated.

5)You could probably run it 5 times & still get smaller & smaller yields but it gets not worth it, I usually do 2 runs, sometimes 3 if I mix the first 2 extra gently. Only way to really get everything would be solvent extraction but this isn't the forum for that.

Enjoy the fruits of your labour & see you here again soon.

[YukonBikerGuy]

Wow, what a lot of writing.... here's my 2 cents on your questions.....

*PreNote: Different strains of cannabis produce different qualities of bubblehash, some produce tons of hash, some less, some stronger hash, some less strong, some are full melt, some will sometimes melt, and some will never melt. Mixing with a paint mixer on a drill is the roughest stirring method, intorducing more contaminants to the hash, giving less chance for full melt. As you can see, there are many variables to each batch of hash (including strain, temperature, and quality of starting material, mixing method and times, if the extracted heads are 'bruised' by pressing, and the skill of the hashmaker, just to name the biggest factors), so getting exact results every time is nigh on impossible.

1)"Is the 45u and 90u bags worth purchasing? " Thats really up to you. The bags seperate the glandular trichromes by size, and each bags' collection can have different taste and effect. Without the 45u and 90u, the 90u collection is mixed with the 73u , and the 45u is mixed in with the 25u, along with mixed taste and effect for each. By seperating them out, you will have a better chance at finding the FMCD.

2)"power drill with a paint mixing bit" Bad, in fact the worst way to mix. I did it for years too. It breaks up the material too much, and you end up with more tiny plant particulate contaminating your hash. Better is the hand cake mixer, tho this is still hard on the material. Some purists only stir it foamy with a wooden spoon, and IMHO the best way is the Bubblenow machine. Now that I have 1, I will never mix any other way. It makes better hash, with less work, in less time, a no brainer. If you cant afford the Bubblenow, use the wooden spoon mixing for the purest hash. Also, to get the best fullmelt, do your first run for only 3-4 minutes of gentle agitation, and keep seperate from your second run, run the second longer (10-15min) for yield. Quality in the first, quantity in the second.

3)See above about first and second runs. If you kind of bunch the top closed of the 25u bag, and kind of jerk and shake it around and up & down, the major water will drain out further. I have collected the sludge from the bottom of the bucket under the 25u, dried and smoked it... wont do it again, dont waste your time, its all in the 25u bag. Rinse the bags with COLD water as soon as you take the collection out, and that should clean them, if they got warmed with trichs on, use isopropyl alcohol to clean them, but only as a last resort, as over time this may weaken the fabric and/or stitching slightly, and we dont want that.

4)Definately quality of trim (veg trim vs frosty bud trim, ripeness, absence of fan leaves) will affect quality and quantity of hash, but genetics are important too. "Do you agree that purchasing a QP of terrible herb would yield hash of lower quality or bad taste?" Than hash made from top quality cannabis (purchased or otherwise)? Yes. But the question should really be, "Will the hash from this particular herb be tastier and more potent than the herb I started with?" In that case, then yes, every time the bags will improve potency (and sometimes taste) by concentrating the valued trichomes. Expect yields from quality material to be 3-10% . So on 1000g of material, 30-100g returns. Higher percentages than this often means your bubblehash is not fully dried. Yield info is in many posts here, have a look around.

5) Its possible that your bags were overloaded with ice and material and not enuff water. Also, use colder water, freeze everything first. Buckets, spoons, mixers, material should be well frozen, hell, make it in a walk-in freezer if you can. We want those glandular heads and stalks to be brittle and break off. Use smaller commercial sized ice cubes as opposed to big chunks of ice to get more ice surface area in contact with the material to knock those heads off during mixing.

I recently went from 4 bags to 8, and I'm glad I did, I'm the envy of my buddys with only 3 or 4 bags, and the different tastes/effects from the different grades is fun (and more useful for meds). The Bubblenow is the best way to make ice hash IMHO, I will never go back to a paintmixer/drill or anything else. If you have already run 25 batches, you sound like you are seriously into making good hash, I would urge you to pick up a Bubblenow machine, you will not be sorry.

[YukonBikerGuy]

Damn FTW snuck in while I was writing a damn book.... lol.

[buffalobubble]

Thanks for the replies guys, I am seriously considering the BubbleNow machine, can someone explain how it works and what it does?

[YukonBikerGuy]

Its a cool little unit, you fill the zippered 220 bag with material (up to 200g dry, 500g fresh, fresh frozen is best) then top up the zippered bag with ice. Zip it up and tie it off. Put the bag in the unit, add ICE COLD water up to the Medium mark, add more ice up to the High mark, close the lid. Twist the timer/on knob to desired mixing time. It agitates in one direction and then the other, without turning your material to puree`. Set all your bags up in the bucket while it mixes. When mixing stops, use the drain hose to drain the water out of the machine into the bags, and squeeze out the zipper bag and wash down the inside of the machine a bit (COLD water) to flush out all the trichomes. Pull bags, collect hash, gently dab most water out with the pressing (really dabbing) screen as usual. There are many posts in the first run forum on using the Bubblenow, and a few other places too, like this 1:

http://www.fullmeltbubble.com/forum/showthread.php?t=705

or this 1:

http://www.fullmeltbubble.com/forum/showthread.php?t=619

'Dabbing vs Pressing Screen':

http://www.fullmeltbubble.com/forum/showthread.php?t=712

All have photos and some explination, others have also made many posts on the subject, and I encourage you to check them out. If you are feeling really ambitious, check out this post:

http://www.fullmeltbubble.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40

Awesome batch with the Bubblenow XL

Hope this helps.. Lots of great info in these forums, try searching them for the nuggets you want.

[Bubbleman]

damn you guys i dont even get to answer lol
great aNSWErs though..


peace
BUbble man