Do I have to dry sugar and fan leaves before making butter?

[fanleaf]

So, I harvested my girl recently. I put all fans that showed any glands along with all the trimmed sugar leafs off and put them in a freezer bag and in the deep freezer they went. Can I pull them out and use them fresh or do they need to be dried first?

I want to make a good batch of Cannabutter. Thanks

 

[fanleaf]

Bueller....Bueller....Bueller lol

 

[gdpurp]

hey fanleaf, seems to be hard to get good info straight from the tit here.
to answer your question, you don't have to dry your material to do a butter extraction. It can be fresh right off the plant, fresh put into a freezer and pulled out or you can dry it. however, when the material is dry you may get crumbled plant material in your butter mix which shouldn't be a problem if you're straining through cheese clothe.

 

[fanleaf]

Thank you! I really didn't expect any help on this to take a week lol. Sweet news is that I can pull them straight from the freezer. Thanks again!

 

[gdpurp]

I imagine you'll be baking with it?
Typically what i'd do if I knew this was going into a recipe that only cooks for 20 minutes or so is I'd decarb the material first in the oven.
If your material is already frozen though, I'd make sure I steep it in the butter for 8 hours or more. Most of that time is being spent under 200F, say around 190F. For an hour though at some point within the 8 hour steep, I'd have the butter hit 220-240F to make sure it decarbs in the butter

 

[fanleaf]

I imagine you'll be baking with it?
Typically what i'd do if I knew this was going into a recipe that only cooks for 20 minutes or so is I'd decarb the material first in the oven.
If your material is already frozen though, I'd make sure I steep it in the butter for 8 hours or more. Most of that time is being spent under 200F, say around 190F. For an hour though at some point within the 8 hour steep, I'd have the butter hit 220-240F to make sure it decarbs in the butter

You are correct. The first plan is for some chocolate chip cookies. I've been out for a while and now have the means to make my own so that's good. I will take all of your advice. Thank you.

 

[doobie57z]

i usually use dried sugar leaf, but i did use a fresh plant a few weeks ago,. i had taken all the colas, then took the plant and my clippers, cut everything except the stalks into a big pyrex dish. i baked that for half an hour at 220. it had the consistency of cooked spinach, i pot that in a stew pot with a couple cups boiling water, added a stick and 1/4 of butter. simmered that about 3 hours. strained into a bowl and refridgerated overnight. next morning i made cookies from a mix. i am switching jobs so i couldnt try one, so i sent some to a couple testers. one ate 5 cookies in 36 hours, the results were if you eat enough you pass out. i was kinda pissed. the other said they were one hitters, i trust her opinion, we have been developing our baked goods all summer. at this point i use 1 oz dried sugar leaf and larfy buds per 3.5 sticks of butter, shooting for 3 sticks back after infusing. the green stuff i couldnt really get a feel for how much it was, i guessing it woulda dried to 1/4 oz

 

[fanleaf]

i usually use dried sugar leaf, but i did use a fresh plant a few weeks ago,. i had taken all the colas, then took the plant and my clippers, cut everything except the stalks into a big pyrex dish. i baked that for half an hour at 220. it had the consistency of cooked spinach, i pot that in a stew pot with a couple cups boiling water, added a stick and 1/4 of butter. simmered that about 3 hours. strained into a bowl and refridgerated overnight. next morning i made cookies from a mix. i am switching jobs so i couldnt try one, so i sent some to a couple testers. one ate 5 cookies in 36 hours, the results were if you eat enough you pass out. i was kinda pissed. the other said they were one hitters, i trust her opinion, we have been developing our baked goods all summer. at this point i use 1 oz dried sugar leaf and larfy buds per 3.5 sticks of butter, shooting for 3 sticks back after infusing. the green stuff i couldnt really get a feel for how much it was, i guessing it woulda dried to 1/4 oz

Perfect. That will give me a rough estimate on what to use. I appreciate that. The last cookies I had were 1 small bite and your good but I didn't make those. I wouldn't mind it being about 1 cookie and good. We will see how it turns out. I'll probably get it done tomorrow. Thank you all very much. I think I have a few oz of fan and sugar leafs. I only kept the fans that showed glands on them....Maybe that was a mistake?

 

[doobie57z]

"I only kept the fans that showed glands on them....Maybe that was a mistake? "
Im not positive, and my need to pee clean is hampering my studies on that. I have 2 ounces dried of basically fan leaves set aside, I would be interested in infusing them in one stick of butter, perhaps two sticks. If they were heavy sleep inducers without much "high", that would be perfect in some patients. I do use the next leaves regularly, the smaller, high plant leaves, mixed with sugar leaf trim, and all the small buds i dont want to mess with

 

[fanleaf]

Ok fellas
I made my first batch today. I had 6 ounces of leaves. All 6 ounces were only leaves and sugar leafs that had trichomes on them or heavy trichomes on the stems. I soaked the leaves in water for 6 hours to help decarb. After that I put the leaves on 2 cookie sheets and put them in the oven for 25 minutes at 225 degrees. Pulled them out and put them in a large pot with 5 sticks of real butter and water that was up to boiling temperature. I unfortunately couldn't let it go for 8 hours but it steeped at 190 degrees for 5 hours.

After all of that I strained all of the liquid and leaves through cheese cloth into another large pan. Rung the cloth out really well and in the fridge the pot went. Tonight I took the butter layer off of the pot and placed it in good containers. I did lick a spoon that barely had anything on it and about 20-30 mins later I had cotton mouth and dry eyes so that's a sign something may have worked. Didn't feel much else but like I said there really wasn't much at all on the spoon.

Question though.....
Someone told me that once you bake with the butter it will activate the pot much much more than just licking a spoon....Does that sound right???

 

[doobie57z]

I think once its decarbed its as strong as its gonna get, all the chemicals are able to be absorbed. I have not been decarbing dried cannabis, I figured the boiling and baking were enough. As I studied on doing a green, fresh batch, I heard the opinion that decarb was always necessary, so thats my next side by side, a stick of each. I would think your butter will be very, very potent. But again, I hear 6 ounces, and the picture in my mind is of dried, so 6 ozzies of fresh.. what would you guesstimate that at dried? Just keep in mind these experiments are for the greater good, theres a lot of varied opinions on this

 

[dlchobbes]

For almost undetectable marijuana taste and smell, use dry ice extraction, you don't even need to strain it (but you could).

 

[fanleaf]

Well I have no idea what I did wrong but things didn't work as planned at all.

I took the 7 ounces of fresh sugar leafs and fans that had trichomes on them and put them in a big bowl of room temp water and let them soak for the night.

The next morning I spread the wet leaves on several cookie sheets and placed in the oven which was preheated to 225 for 15 mins to help decarb.

After that I placed it all in a pot of water with 5 sticks of real butter that was heated to the point that it was about 190 degrees. It was close to a boil and the leaves were just slowly rolling over in the pot because it was just barely under boiling temp.

I left them there for 6 hours and strained through a cheese cloth into a new pot and in the fridge it went.

Next day I recovered the butter layer from the top. The butter had the color of almost exactly the inside of an avocado.

I made cookies using the Nestle Toll House recipe.

Ate half a cookie and waited...........Nothing.

Ate 2 cookies...............Nothing.

3 cookies...........Nothing.



What did I do wrong guys?

 

[WV Whitewater]

I am eating my dinner, reading this, and simmering my own batch of butter right now. I am basically following the method listed in the first post in this category for making the butter.

CannaButter In 7 Easy Steps!

I took my trim, which I also had in my freezer, and put it on a cookie tray, and baked it at 240 f for about an hour and twenty minutes. It was really frosty and moist, so that is why I did it for so long. Previously, I made a very mind melting batch, and when I decarbed that (already dried) trim, I only did it for about an hour, but same temp. Tonights batch weighed 74 grams after decarbing, which I am going to put into 2 pounds of butter. I think it is going to be super destructive stuff, because the Mob Boss I am using is plenty strong weed. Anyway, I think you took a wrong turn with your timing and temps for your decarb. Increase the temp, move it around periodically so that it heats more evenly, and increase your time to about an hour.

I also think you need to bring your boil up to a slow simmer, just little bubbles. I do mine about three hours, and if you look at the link I mentioned earlier, he posts a great pic of what it looks like when it is done extracting. I have not put my thermometer in there, but I know I am over 212 f because I am getting the bubbling. I think that as long as you use good quality weed, and decarb and boil your butter a bit hotter and longer, the next time you eat three cookies, you might regret it

I hope it all works better next time for you!

 

[doobie57z]

why did you soak it in water? why did you try to decarb the wet soggy mess? not sure where those steps came from? water boils at 212, then you would want to simmer for a few hours... im not really sure where you got your recipe...? hmmmmmm

 

[fanleaf]

why did you soak it in water? why did you try to decarb the wet soggy mess? not sure where those steps came from? water boils at 212, then you would want to simmer for a few hours... im not really sure where you got your recipe...? hmmmmmm

Someone told me to soak them in water for a few hours would help. Guess not. Ive never attempted edibles before so I took advice from a few places. Obvious now that it's not all good advice.

So what does "decarb" mean exactly? And what does it do?

 

[McCdive]

Hi fanleaf. The best thing for you to do is check out some Youtube vids on it. Short answer is it 'turns on' the THC cells in MJ. Without heat, THC is not psychotropic. When smoked, it's activated automatically. In edibles, THC has to loose a carbon molecule to 'activate' it, thus the high. So when making butter you need to ensure that the THC has met that temp or no high will happen. If you use butter in other ways that you don't heat it (sandwiches) you wouldn't get high effects without decarboxylation. Hope that helped some.

Andy.

 

[fanleaf]

Hi fanleaf. The best thing for you to do is check out some Youtube vids on it. Short answer is it 'turns on' the THC cells in MJ. Without heat, THC is not psychotropic. When smoked, it's activated automatically. In edibles, THC has to loose a carbon molecule to 'activate' it, thus the high. So when making butter you need to ensure that the THC has met that temp or no high will happen. If you use butter in other ways that you don't heat it (sandwiches) you wouldn't get high effects without decarboxylation. Hope that helped some.

Andy.

Perfectly put. I fully understand now. ty

Now I know where I fuk'ed up... I was under the impression that if it got too hot while cooking it would ruin it....WOW

 

[WV Whitewater]

There is a fine line, you can definitely get it too hot. I don't remember which site I pulled my decarb method from, but it definitely takes your butter to the next level. The batch I made before Thanksgiving turned out pretty dang good. I made some treats that definitely had to be treated with caution!

On your next attempt, just take your trim (or bud material), and spread it out on a tray, and give it a few stirs and turns so that it heats evenly. Some people cook their butter directly in the plant material, without boiling with water. Here is your opportunity to overheat your thc: butter and oils can heat to higher temps than water can, so great diligence is required to keep the temps below 250. So far, I have only done the method of boiling with water, and have had no complaints. The only drawback is that it takes longer, and also introduces moisture into the bottom layer of butter (after cooling and settling). I scrape off that layer, use it in my first recipe, and then freeze the rest of my butter. No way can I use all two pounds right away!

 

[fanleaf]

There is a fine line, you can definitely get it too hot. I don't remember which site I pulled my decarb method from, but it definitely takes your butter to the next level. The batch I made before Thanksgiving turned out pretty dang good. I made some treats that definitely had to be treated with caution!

On your next attempt, just take your trim (or bud material), and spread it out on a tray, and give it a few stirs and turns so that it heats evenly. Some people cook their butter directly in the plant material, without boiling with water. Here is your opportunity to overheat your thc: butter and oils can heat to higher temps than water can, so great diligence is required to keep the temps below 250. So far, I have only done the method of boiling with water, and have had no complaints. The only drawback is that it takes longer, and also introduces moisture into the bottom layer of butter (after cooling and settling). I scrape off that layer, use it in my first recipe, and then freeze the rest of my butter. No way can I use all two pounds right away!

Ok so should I take my dry trim/bud material and lay on a cookie sheet and bake at around 230 for an hour or so to help the decarb with no butter or anything just bud/trim? Would that help be sure the material is decarbed/activated? Then bring my water and butter up to 200 or so and simmer at 200-210 for around 8 hours? If it was done that way when it's all in the pot at a simmer bringing the temp up to decarb for a while isn't quite necessary because of the oven decarb right?

Sorry if that all sounds dumb but I just want to be sure because I'm going to be trying again soon.

What is the magic temp that will cause the decarb? I understand to keep below 250 now because of your post above so will 220 or 230 decarb it?
Thanks guys!