help the new girl?

Hi guys! I'm new here, just got my bags yesterday, so of course made my first run...yesterday. I'm totally stoked to have a way to get some quality product off the trim from my husbands garden. Toyed with the alcohol method, thought about butane, just can't get my head past the chemicals involved, it just bothers some deep seated inner standard, ya' know? Skuffed some by hand, with a glass jar and a little paintbrush (don't ask, needless to say it was time consuming, but in the end got some high quality stuff, looks ridiculous under 100x :)) When I saw the bubble bags I knew I had found the answer to my pipe dreams, so to speak.

I have read a lot of stuff on here now and know I am going to make some big changes for the next time, I already had my trim (dried) so I couldn't do anything about that, although next time even if it's dry I think I'll freeze it longer. How long does it take something dry to freeze? that was one of my problems I think. I got more stuff than I thought I would, but not as high quality as I had hoped, which makes sense of course. I have a one gallon 4 bag kit, I know I need more bags to get out more contaminants for a more refined product. I hand mixed with a wooden spoon for about 6 minutes, however I felt like I wasn't doing a good enough mixing it. My little 100lb self was stirring like no tomorrow trying to get the stuff from the bottom into the mix instead of just the top but felt like I wasn't doing a good enough job, I fear that I may have over mixed as a result. I guess I just need to get the hang of stirring all that ice, maybe I didn't have enough water in with it? how much water should be in the mix? I let the water pre chill in a bucket with ice to make sure it was really cold. I felt like I wasn't getting all the stuff off very well so I got out my magnifier to see how much stuff looked like it was still on the leaf and it looked like a lot. I did notice that there were a lot of stalks with the heads knocked off though. Is that what I'm going for? the heads more than the stalks? When pulling the bags I used the bowl method, at the last minute I decided to add a sham-wow thingy over the bowl based on some tip I read here. that seemed to make it dry out really well but maybe almost too well? it was getting dried onto the screen, I used cold water in a spray bottle to redirect it but I think maybe I scraped against the screen with the spoon too hard to collect them. maybe rupturing the heads? would that explain why some of it seem to be in such hard little chunks I can't break up any further? I put it on the cardboard and chopped it up to break it up to dry. I noticed especially the 25 has these little clumps that are very hard and don't chop up well, they just go *ping* and fly off the tray.

I know that was probably a long confusing ramble any tips or help would be greatly appreciated. Here comes the real issue though...

there are threads in everything, both runs all three grades. some as short as 1cm some as long as an inch and a half, they are totally clear looking and super fine,covered in my beautiful product...those are just the ones I can see. under my 100x magnifier I can see tons of them that are dark colors or even red, are these from the bags? the are in every layer and couldn't fit through the screen. did I stir too hard? but that would just be the blue. did I scrape the screens too hard? did I not wash them out good enough when they were new? were they threads from the factory? has anyone else had this problem at all? it looks bizarre cause you can't really see the threads they just make parts of the pile move that you aren't touching or cause pieces to look like they are "floating". obviously I don't want to be smoking these threads...

I need some ideas before I run my next batch. By the way, you guys are all great, and even though you don't know me yet I've been reading all your advice for awhile you are like sage big brothers to me, well shoot, bunches of you are probably younger than me, but hey, I'm little. hahahaha. Thanks in advance for the help.

threads from paintbrush?
i don really get where the paintbrush comes in haha

i don't see why there would be threads in your bubble from scraping the screen too hard. the screen is at the very bottom so the stitching would not be scraped. try to only scrape the screen at the bottom and you shouldn't get threads in your bubble unless maybe you damaged your bags.

the paintbrush was the way I was collecting my dry kief. (no threads in there) it was a very time consuming way to collect it although I was able to get really pure stuff...

the only scraping of the bags came in when I was collecting the stuff off the screen with a spoon

not sure how I could have damaged my bags? didn't use a mixer, maybe my ice was too sharp? but then it couldn't have gotten in the lower layers

I just can't figure out where all this stuff came from

there does not appear to be any loose threads or damaged material on the bags

guess I'll just try again and see if I get the same result, was hoping someone would have an idea how this happened

lets see how much of this i can tackle. first, it seems like you are a second guesser. dont do that! tell yourself "Im going to do a run this way, whatever happens happens.' Then do another run, alter your process greatly or tweak it a little. Compare. now two results are in front of you, that can be compared to your actions. gives you an idea of whats happening when and where.

How much ice, water? You want as much ice as you can fit before it becomes the majority. So the whole mix still has watery characteristics, not of an ice block. So.... the closer to freezing the better, i think anything under 41f is good. Now the force required to knock off glands is zilch. so you don't have to worry about under mixing, just stir it nice and easy. switch the direction every now and then too. then you can run the same batch again if you want. beat the hell out of it, or be gentle, and compare.

threads? i've had bags lose em, its a bit irritating, but that will stop after a few uses. if it doesn't, hit up the Headies @ bubblebag. these things are super tough, just dont take a knife to 'em and they should hold up pretty well.

ummm...... the word on the stalk's is you don't want them. but unless you know what you're doing, don't worry if they're there. as far as the chunks are concerned, good hash will clump together on its own. But it sounds like you let it dry in one mass? dont do that. wait till it looks like wet sand and chop it up immediately, or i push it though a flour sieve and spread it out to dry.

and just FYI, the bags are not filtering anything out. just placing it in it's proper place. Keep that in mind when you're mixing. if you have particles floating around that are 25u, contaminant will be in every bag.

i guess a rambling question deserves a rambling answer.

Next time dont mix in your bags. Mix everything in a bucket and pour through the bags. I put all my bags in one bucket..... mix in another and the pour it through the bags. Rinse it a bit so the trichs all get through and then start lifting bags. Saves a lot of wear and tear.

Do you own a cat?

glandtech- thanks, great answer good info, yes I am very much a second guesser. you are totally right just because this is fun doesn't mean the scientific process flies out the window. I will continue to make changes and see what happens. I think I did have a litle too much ice, so that'll be one of the first steps. I definitely didn't let it dry in one mass, had it all spread out on the cardboardit just seemed that while I could get the 160 and 73 to have a nice sandy texture the 25 was a bit more like pretzel salt. small clumps that I couldn't break easily after they dried up. It's a super dry climate here and after about 8 hours some of it was very dry, I was able to futher break up any lumps in the higher grades but the 25 was just like cement, thats why I wondered if I had broken the membranes and got some water in the wrong way...I don't know. thanks again

so mix in another bucket huh? that may help a lot, seems like it would just plain old be easier to stir. I'll give that a shot too. thanks

and no I don't have a cat. and they definitely aren't hairs...that looks totally different under the microscope.

thanks again, you guys rock

if you pull apart the hash are the threads elastic like, where they have a 'pull' to them before they snap? I've found threads like that several times, bags or not. I think the threads in my product occurred sometime during the drying process. Is the heat in your place forced air?

no, not forced air heat, its all electric. the threads I would say do have a little stretch to them. they don't seem like cotton or anything that just kinda pulls apart. I would say either some kind of synthetic or silk? just because of how they are pretty much clear (most of them, some have color but I can only see those under the scope) going to do another batch tomorrow so we'll see if it happens again or not