Bad news in the 60X scope

Hi everyone,

I have just completed my first 5gal run with a good yield. I did notice a funny taste on the first puff however and decided to look at the scope to see what the deal was. I saw small blue fibers in the product that looked like straight little blue sticks.They were present in all of the layers of product. I used the wooden spoon method of mixing and followed the straining instructions as best I could. What am I doing wrong?
Anyone else with this issue? Any tips on fixing this problem, as I don't think it would be good to smoke ANY blue fibers.

BP

strange.. what kind of bags are you using? are your bags freyed anywhere? I have made a lot of batches over the years.. and although i have found fibres here and there.. i have never found coloured fibres from the bags in all the layers of hash.. is it possible you share with some photos?
how much fibre is there.. a few here and there or tons everywhere?
let us know so we can offer some help

Bubble man

These are Sprung bags a friend got for me and were new when I used them. Also my bad on the fiber color, they are black instead of blue.The weave of the bag outside is made of these after closer inspection of the bag with the same scope. They are all through the product. Also I can see small white fibers as well, but not nearly as many. Not sure how one would send a picture of things this small. Thanks for any input.

BP

Unless this was a result of contamination during handling and yield, it must be from the bag or bags you used. It's hard to imagine where a black, fibrous material would have entered your collection or cure process.
http://sprungbags.com/
Any time I'm using new equipment especially, I'll do a run of just ice and water before putting any skiff into it. This will help you identify any problems that may arise before the material is introduced, and it serves to rinse the equipment for the real batch. Either way, your best bet is to extract into wet or moist bags to begin with. This keeps the particulate in your greenwater (hopefully all trichs) from sticking to the screen and clogging it upon initial contact, and will help make sure that smaller particulate doesn't end up tacking on to the microns above it. But you should also give everything a good rinse before a run to ensure that any dirt, dust, hair, or cleaning agents are off of the bags.

I've had this problem before with cheap bags. These are supposed to be the better low-end bags, but with any price point product, there is little forethought to the performance of it out of the box. I assume you lined a bucket with all the bags in the proper order, filled it and followed your method for agitation by spoon. The action of the agitation roughed the bags against each other enough that the lower grade stitching on their surfaces came loose and suspended in your water, sandwiched between the bags and waiting to be pulled with your yield. If your extract is still wet, you could run each through the 160 micron bag and catch it in the 25 micron to filter out the fiber. Use cold cold water, and be sure both bags are CLEAN. The string or fiber should hang up in the 160 bag, assuming your bags aren't still putting off fiber. If the fiber is too small, you'll have to take it down to the screen it'll slip through and wash your extract thoroughly with cold cold water against that screen to flush the fiber out. If you can't remove the fiber, this extract may still be acceptable for tinctures, food, or to iso wash into more of an oil. Iso washing will absolutely filter out the fiber, but will IMO ruin the flavor and character of your extract.

As for the bags, hand wash them briskly in cold water before you do anything else and rinse them inside out and outside in. Shake them out and let them dry completely. Inspect them for obvious signs of fraying and other damage. One at a time, submerge them in cool water and agitate them again. Use a white bucket if you can, because now you're checking the screen and the water in the bucket for more sign of fiber. If there is some, sell those bags or find a creative way to use just the mesh, because they're garbage. If there is no sign, proceed to use them cautiously. I always agitate separate from my bags to avoid damaging them and to prolong their life. Try putting the bags in a bucket with the bottom cut off, and rest that on a milk crate in a Roughneck storage container or over a drain. Line this bucket with your bags, and do your work in a separate bucket. Line that bucket with a WASHED 5 gallon paint strainer. ($3.97/2 pack at Home Depot, http://www.homedepot.com/Paint-Paint...&storeId=10051 ) These are tough, disposable nylon mesh bags that are way looser than your 220 micron. If you can, stick this bucket into another Roughneck style container full of ice or snow, especially if you intend to run this batch twice or do several batches that day. This ice bath will help keep your mash cold and will be usable for close to 24 hours. After doing your agitation process, pull the load and let it drain into the work bucket. Then throw the load in a different 5 gallon for the second run, still wearing the paint strainer like a sock. Now you can pour the remaining water in your work bucket through your bag set. One problem with this method is that it can be easy to let your yields start to stick in the bags, and your yields may want to stick to the bag above it. Drop these bags back into your now empty work bucket, and pour some fresh, cold cold water over the bags just until it covers the yields again. This will serve to rinse them, and to keep them fresh until you're ready to pull them. As you draw them up one at a time, give them a gentle shake to ensure that any trichs that are clinging to the bottom of each bag are set loose back into the water.

Save up for quality bags either way. You can always improve your method, your cure, your source material, but you will always be limited by the tools at your disposal.
http://www.bubblebag.com/ <-discounts for being a member here
http://www.thetrimshop.org/ <-who makes DJ Nikka T's bags. Note the intense lining of these bags. You can make great extract without a machine, without even a full set of bags. As long as they're good bags.

i just bought my 1 gallon 8 bag yesterday from hydrohippy.com and the red 160 micron has a bit of freying as well. i aint really complaining cuz i dont have a scope to see whats up and the hash ive made so far looks bomb as fuh, just saying alot happens between it reaching canada and the united states--namely careless hydrostore owners :alligator::crutches::crutches:

This is why I shelled out the $334 and change (after shipping, even less if you're 215, etc.) for the real BubbleBags and I advocate anyone wishing to make bubble do the same. Sure the real top brand bags may cost more, they're worth it; whereas it may take you 2 or 3 runs (if you're unlucky) to pay for the high-priced top quality bags, but you will have them for literally years and hundreds of runs....

Once you go bubble you don't go back...:bongin:

Edit: I've gone through multiple sets of generic bags, some lent to the wrong friends and others just worn out after 2 weeks, I'll never use any but bubblebag again!

Awesome info everyone, thanks a bunch. After closer inspection of the bags, I think the fibers are from the weave of the bag. Under the scope the are the same thickness and length. So I will mix in a separate bucket and only use these bags for for straining. Looks like the better quality bags are worth the extra dough.

Any pitfalls to mixing in a regular 5gal bucket with no bag and then straining?

I watched a you tube video by subcool where he uses the bubblebags one at a time. Any thoughts on this method?

BP

yeah its freying from the thread used to sew, not the fabric-- i use 2 buckets, pretty much subcools method to mix and have same problem, i dont mix anywhere near the 160 or id say it was my own fault, nope these came like this. i cant say anything bout your bags though, cuz generic ones are just obvious crap, its just a crazy anomaly that i seem to be gettin red hairs through out in bubble bags, these things are hefty!

it seems as though if you smoke the hash, the problem of these threads seems to go away in more ways than one hahaa, so i cant really complain with all this full melt i been gettin

I use one at a time for smaller batches. I went to Ace Hardware and got some clean, unused one gallon paint cans for each of my one gallon bags. I cut the bottoms off with a good can opener that leaves no edges on the can. I replaced the string in each bag with 1/16" bungee at just the right length to wrap around the bag and can once over. Then I'll manually agitate a 5 gallon batch and use Sub Cool's method basically, pouring the green water from 5 gallon to 5 gallon through the paint cans, which are suspended by a hook on a 2x4 on saw horses. Paddle the bottoms with a spoon when they stop up, or give the cans little drops if you're careful. The key is to rinse the buckets thoroughly between bags to avoid mixing microns. And of course, pour your rinse through the current bag before moving on. It's a little slow going on the lower microns, but the price and ease of maintaining a one gallon set, the ease of yielding from them, and the control you can have over a 5 gallon batch versus a one gallon, make it worth it.

smh this is what happens companies sell a product that they care less about! thank you bubbleman for providing bags w a standard of quality and a product not only sold but used by the owner of the company himself for his own meds! my 2 cents have a blessed day