Bud Washing

[BrixKlinger]

I don't have time to read 75 pages right now, has this process been updated/refined at all? I would love to try it but it seems like people use different water temps and some don't use the lemon juice or the baking soda so I'm not sure what to try. It'd be awesome if someone could post updated directions. Is there a minimum and maximum water temp that we should use to avoid disturbing the trichs. The baking soda n lemon juice help clean the bud right? Any negative effects or reasons why some people don't use either the lemon juice or baking soda? Is it best to mix them or keep them in separate buckets? It just seems like everyone kind of does it there own way. I guess no one can really say "this is the best way" since we have no way of properly measuring the efficiency of this process. It'd just be nice if there were some guidelines for those that haven't tried this yet, like "don't use water above ** or below ** degrees",
"use a minimum of 3 buckets, 5 is better",
"agitate buds in water for minimum of 30 seconds before moving to next bucket",
"tap water is ok, RO is best"
etc.

After trying this with a hot water wash with lemon and baking soda followed by rinses, I would change my methods based on the experience, results, and cross referencing with what I know about terpene conservation in solvent hash purging.

-it works and I would avoid smoking unwashed bud and would never not do it again
-I would skip the lemon, as much of what differentiates lemon juice from water is oil. If I wanted to still use it, I would find powdered citric acid to add instead of a liquid.
-I'll probably just use baking soda
-the first bucket will be lukewarm, no hotter than 110, hopefully closer to body temp, about 95 (based on terpene loss research with hash, just making an unscientific correlation that I think works)

 

[DrZiggy]

Well alot of what differentiates lemon juice from water is oil, so I believe I'm avoiding the chance a solvent is hitting my buds with heat, seems like a bad combo.

brix, what does this mean?
"Well alot of what differentiates lemon juice from water is oil.."

 

[BrixKlinger]

I mean something like lemon juice is 99% water. The alot of the stuff that makes it "not water" is the oil that's in it (at least there is oil in all of the prepackaged bottled varieties that I could find).

I think I made a booboo, regular lemon juice probably doesn't have oil in it, but the rind does, and I'd imagine you get some of that oil in when you are squeezing if you used fresh. Probably not a solvent concern....

Theres alot of things that are like a huge percentage of water but its the stuff that makes the flavor you gotta wonder about.

I just know that there is essentially a solvent in that bottled juice, and putting it with hot water and buds just seems like a bad idea now that I've done it. Maybe the difference will be tiny.

This herb is so great, but maybe we killed off a bunch of terps too. I feel confident that I don't like the idea of bottled lemon juice and hot water, or water hotter than about 100 degrees.

I do like the idea of something like baking soda or whatever would work as some kind of scrubber in the first "warm" bath.

 

[DrZiggy]

the ingredients are listed in order of amount from most to least..
there is a very small amount of lemon oil in realemon juice. there are more preservatives than lemon oil. the oil is so minute there are no calories from the oil.
baking soda dissolves in water. there is no scrubbing action from it.

 

[Radogast]

This is my wash according to that mentioned post #12. There are other videos, plus if you'll read the 10 most current pages, you'll get a good idea of the ways people are adjusting the process and the results they're getting.

I'm with you on your method, Skybound.

One thing I do to speed up the process is a generally grab 3 stalks of buds in one hand and wash/rinse them together.
A second thind I do (since I am not holding a camera) is use both hands. I dip 3 stalks with one hand and 3 stalks with the other hand.

Together, these two choices make the wash (by one person) go about 5 times faster.

 

[BrixKlinger]

the ingredients are listed in order of amount from most to least..
there is a very small amount of lemon oil in realemon juice. there are more preservatives than lemon oil. the oil is so minute there are no calories from the oil.
baking soda dissolves in water. there is no scrubbing action from it.

Yea be that as it may, I feel very comfortable with my lack of science and the conclusions I've drawn. The main thing to me would be keeping the temps below about 110.

What does the baking soda do then? I thought it was supposed to help the water get some cleaning action going. I've got non-science up the yin-yang homies.

Honestly I like alot of the ideas around the lemon, but as I consider the delicate nature of terpenes and what we are doing, I question whether I need it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm down with the process, but after doing what is laid out here, I can say for myself, definitively, that the current instructions are neither complete, perfect or accurate. They are a great starting point, but IMHO require refinement (its a relatively fresh area in our field!). This is not remotely a knock on Doc or anything he does.

Given nothing but these current instructions, one would be infinitely better served using them, than not at all.

I followed the process blindly and my great weed was still great (best shit around, son).

 

[Far East Buds]

Ok so I will list what I did and the results...

Preinfo....

Rookie grower first harvest.
First bud wash...
First first first... plant had issue's so in flower I had npk might wash and neem oil.


I used 1 cup lemon juice and one cup baking soda in the first 5 gallon pail
hot water as hot as tap would go in 2nd.
and normal tap for 3rd.

30 seconds per tub immediately hung them.
I was more gentle at first but did start to get a little aggressive as no buds where coming off...it didnt appear to hurt them.
the second tub started cooling immediately and the whole process took so long I had to readd temp to it..

results... yes took a long time but I was trimming as i went right before washing..

The buds smoke very well and side by side comparison the color was noticeably better on the washed...

There was an obvious change in appearance of the buds... and you also could see the dirt in the bucket.. definitely cleans them. I did see some oil film on the water surface I assume is some of the tric's. or the neem etc.

I will wash the next harvest too but I will try baking soda only. If the tub gets dirty using just that then I know it is doing what i want it to. getting rid of the dusty stuff...

Don't think this helped but oh well...


FE

 

[MassMedMan]

Spent yesterday morning, well an hour, at my buddies house who I gave some seeds to and he got girls. Lemon kush from my winter grow.

Washed it up, almost six feet tall. not bad harvest I'm happy for him. He lost some to rot, few more pillars, but overall considering he didn't do much to the plant, I'm happy for him.

I have a picture somewhere..

Ah, here

Next week I turn in two samples to the lab from the same plant, sugar black rose,, one branch unwashed,, vs a washed.

Can't wait for those results!!

 

[thinkbetter12]

My 2 cents -- my family used to grow and can vegis when I was s kid.

By today's standards where and how I grew up seems strange. My mom was older when I was born and her mom was one of 14 kids, we grew up in a rural area. Growing and canning food was a way of life, not some suburban housewife's folly. We used to grow and can tomatoes, beans by the car load, grapes, cukes for pickles, and bought apples too, and sometimes froze fruits or vegis-- I've done peaches and peach jam as an adult . In all cases, you'd wash the produce and in some cases did more, add salt, ascorbic acid, etc. I think the bud washing is just this, washing and a step in the preservation process that, with the warm then cold water bath, acts like a mild blanch. Blanching is when you drop vegis, like broccoli would be done this way in preparation for freezing, into hot nearly boing water and then immediately douse it in cold water to stop the heat/cooking action from the hot water bath. Though the temps here for the buds is low (I use hottest off the tap), it seems to perk up the buds like the hot bath in a blanch. I have to believe that I would do this type of washing if I were growing herb for eating like rosemary. And I hope big farming does so for the herbs they sell me. I think it gets any dirt or dusk or other impurities off the plant. I use the following set-up which is what I thought I had figured out from the various ideas between, as previously mentioned reply #12 and back a few pages from here: I use 3 buckets, #1 is hot off the tap nothing in it, 2nd is hot off the tap with lemon and baking soda in desired ratio, last bucket is cold as possible off the tap, shake off, hang to dry. I can see the rationale for using purified/reverse osmosis water baths but I don't have the capability for that and I only have small batches to process so I won't have RO anytime soon.

Someone up above had a question about plants that had some residual contaminant from an early growing problem - If I were you I would probably up the ratio of lemon and soda to the water and maybe do 2 baths of this, the first one hotter than the second. So, use a total of 4 - my #1 which I think of as a quick get the big stuff off wash, #2a - get the rest of the dirt off the plant, #2b extra wash for plant known to be overly contaminated, and #3 cold water bath to end cleaning process.

 

[Dr Fish]

Might as well get my 2 cents in...
Since baking soda is a naturally occurring soda bicarbonate with an alkaline base. 8.4-9 ph...And approximately 5 percent of lemon juice is citric acid, 2.0 ph.. When you mix lemon juice with enough base to neutralize it, the result is a chemical reaction that creates a new product, with a neutral base. In the case of lemon juice and baking soda, the new product is carbon dioxide gas, water and salt. That's all your making when you mix'em.... I've been going from the baking soda bucket, to the lemon juice bucket, thinking that will neutralize the baking soda bath, then the plain water rinse... Probably just a plane warn water wash would do as much... Hell, I love to jump on a band wagon as much as anyone, as long as i'm sure it doesn't have square wheels... But mixing acid and base seems a bit counter intuitive.... Unless you're making a volcano for class...

 

[MassMedMan]

Just back from lab, submitted five samples to include a washed and unwashed version of my sugar black rose.

In addition to testing thc profile for both, they'll test the terps on each to see if there's a change. They said I may see a change on the terp due to the washing.

Should know early next week the latest!!

I'll post results

 

[CCOiler]

Just back from lab, submitted five samples to include a washed and unwashed version of my sugar black rose.

In addition to testing thc profile for both, they'll test the terps on each to see if there's a change. They said I may see a change on the terp due to the washing.

Should know early next week the latest!!

I'll post results

Very cool MassMedMan, can't wait.

 

[northstar]

well that's different never heard of doing this before. And it won`t hurt potentcy?

 

[MassMedMan]

well that's different never heard of doing this before. And it won`t hurt potentcy?

It's been tested once before that I'm aware of. In that case. THC did go down, from like 30.14 to 30.07 or something. .negligible if you ask me.

I'll know myself by week

 

[LungButter420]

Just back from lab, submitted five samples to include a washed and unwashed version of my sugar black rose.

In addition to testing thc profile for both, they'll test the terps on each to see if there's a change. They said I may see a change on the terp due to the washing.

Should know early next week the latest!!

I'll post results

MMM,
Etremely excited to see the results, thanks for for putting in your time, and fundings, for all of us Personally, I wouldn't have told them one was washed and one wasn't, making it a completely blind third party study but the numbers don't lie either way.

LB420

EDIT: great thread btw

 

[MassMedMan]

MMM,
Etremely excited to see the results, thanks for for putting in your time, and fundings, for all of us Personally, I wouldn't have told them one was washed and one wasn't, making it a completely blind third party study but the numbers don't lie either way.

LB420

EDIT: great thread btw

Thanks man,.I'm very eager to get results. I did think about doing it blind. Even mentioned it to them, but, they are legit and as interested as I am. I'll post the results soon, hopefully in the morning.

 

[anduin1]

is there video of this process being done? It seems strange to dunk it in water, I assumed this might ruin the taste but many of you are saying it actually improves the flavor.

 

[Radogast]

is there video of this process being done? It seems strange to dunk it in water, I assumed this might ruin the taste but many of you are saying it actually improves the flavor.

A recent video by Skybound based on post #12.

One thing I do to speed up the process is a generally grab 3 stalks of buds in one hand and wash/rinse them together.
A second thind I do (since I am not holding a camera) is use both hands. I dip 3 stalks with one hand and 3 stalks with the other hand.

Together, these two choices make the wash (by one person) go about 5 times faster

 

[MassMedMan]

And one more follow up, they will be posting on their website, it will be annotated which sample was washed, and which was not.

As eager as I am to see that comparison, I am to see the overall thc/cannabinoid profile. This strain is my favorite among all I've grown.

 

[Black Thumb]

First time i have ever heard of this.