by Ed Rosenthal
WATER HASH BASICS
All gland-bearing plant material can be used to make water hash, including leaf, trim, buds, shake, or any combination of the four. The material works best when it has been dried first, although it is also possible to use fresh plant material. The Advanced Hash chapter details the use of fresh-frozen trim.
More importantly, the processes work best when the material is cold. Heat is the enemy in making bubble hash, because low temperatures are what make trichomes brittle enough to snap off, and keep the terpenes from vaping off at room temperature.
Humidity is also a basic factor. In humid areas, it is a good idea to store dried material in the freezer to avoid deterioration or molds. When using material that has not been stored in this way, place the material in the freezer until it gets cold.
Since glands reside on the surfaces of the plant, the material does not need to be ground to make water hash. Small cuttings or coarsely chopped material is most convenient. Remove any big twigs or stems, as well as twist ties, as they can tear the bags.
Whether using a ready-made bag system or materials from your kitchen, the basic principles of making water hash are the same. Aside from your technique, patience, and skill, other factors that determine the quality of the hash you produce are the caliber of the plant material and the quality of the filter.
READY-MADE BAGS
For water hash, the ready-made bag systems are a great way to go. These bags can be used over and over again. The two most popular models, the Ice-O-Lator and Bubble Bags, are both well-made systems that should give consistent results and withstand the test of time.
The Ice-O-Lator comes from Mila Jansen at the Pollinator Company, and Bubble Bags are from Fresh Headies in Canada.
Both systems provide high-quality bags that are durable, and easy to clean and use. The bags are color-coded for convenience. Bubble Bags may be more commonly known in North America because the company is based in Canada, while the Ice-O-Lator system hails from Amsterdam and is more widely known in Europe, but both products are available internationally.
The Ice-O-Lator
Mila Jansen’s first invention was the Pollinator, which is discussed in chapter 4. Her interest in improving hash-making methods also led her to develop the ready-made water extraction system called the Ice-O-Lator.
According to Mila, experiments with a water process did not yield much, literally, until a product called the Extractor was released in 1997. This machine was sold from the United States and manufactured in Yugoslavia. After trying it out, Mila carried the Extractor for a short time in her sales line. While this machine was a conceptual breakthrough in water hash processing, its design left something to be desired. The Extractors that were sold had mechanical difficulties and left Mila dealing with unhappy customers who had broken-down systems within a year.
The Ice-O-Lator agitates the vegetation in ice water to remove glands.
Photo: Pollinator
The failure of the Extractor led Mila to experiment with her own design, using the principles by which the Extractor worked. She created a simpler, manual system that is called the Ice-O-Lator. This bag system first became available in 1998. It has since been refined and expanded to include three standard sizes that can process 200 to 1200 grams of material at a time, plus a travel Ice-O-Lator and a large system that can be used in the washing machine. Pollinator also makes its own washing machines in five-gallon and twenty-gallon sizes.
The Ice-O-Lator bag system consists of two bags, which line a sealable bucket of the appropriate size. Ice and water are added and then the dried material is placed in the bucket. A standard kitchen mixer affixed through the bucket’s lid agitates the material. The top bag holds all of the vegetative matter. Glands filter through the silk screen of the first bag and collect in the finer screen of the second bag. The remaining water in the bucket will have particulate vegetative matter, including some nutrients that make it good for watering houseplants or vegetable gardens.
Prices for Ice-O-Lator systems range between 80 and 200 euros and they can be shipped anywhere in the world.
Bubble Bags
Bubble Bags are the design of Fresh Headies in Canada. Bubbleman, the head hash master of Fresh Headies, has traveled extensively, spreading the good word on water hash. He can also be found moderating in online forums on this topic.
Bubble Bags are available in one-gallon, five-gallon, and twenty-gallon sizes. The two larger sizes can be bought as a three-bag or eight-bag filtration system. Bubble Bags range in price from $110 U.S. for the one-gallon system to just under $500 for the twenty-gallon, eight-bag system.
There are several other brands of bags. The eight-bag system separates hash into finer categories. The size difference between just-ripe THC glands and overly mature or premature ones allows them to be separated into grades.
Bubble Bags work in a similar but slightly modified way from the Ice-O-Lator system. First, the coarse filter bag is secured in a bucket, and the water, ice, and plant material are added. The material is agitated using a kitchen mixer or a drill with a paint-mixing attachment. Purists deplore this much agitation, however. After the material settles, the starter bag is pulled out and squeezed. The bulk of the plant material now held in this bag is set aside. This material can be processed again. The resulting product will be lower grade, suitable for cooking.
Bubble Bags create different grades of water hash through a series of finer and finer screens, from 25 to 220 microns.
Photo: Fresh Headies
Line the empty bucket with the additional bags. The finest bag goes in first, so it will be on the bottom. The green water is poured into the bucket, lined with the filtering bags. Pull the bags out one by one, and collect the material in the bottom of each one. Allow the kief to dry. Toss the water out or use it for watering plants.
Platinum Diesel Water Hash.
Photo: Nadim Sabella Photography
HOMEMADE BAGS
It is possible to make your own bags, or to make a smaller amount of water hash without using bags at all. To make bags, acquire silk screen in the appropriate mesh size. Standard silk-screen material is available in several size increments between the desired 100 to 150 strands per inch.
The screen must be attached to a tightly woven, water-resistant material (nylon works well) so that the silk screen forms the bottom of the bag. Multiple bags can be made with different screening levels in the 50- to 150-micron range for separating the water hash by quality.
The finest screen produces the purest hash. Multiple bags should be designed to fit inside one another, with the finest mesh bag being the largest, and the coarsest mesh bag being the smallest. A separate bag made for coarse filtering (200–250-micron-sized gaps) is also good for separating out the bulk of the vegetation in the first phase. This bag should line the bucket. It does not get layered with the other bags, so it should be as large as the bucket allows.
THE BUCKET METHOD
The essentials of the water hash method are the same, whether using a ready-made system or working from your own homemade bags.
Equipment
•Ice
•Cold water
•Hydrogen peroxide
•2 buckets with at least one lid
•Dried trim/bud/leaf material
•Handheld mixer or drill with paint-mixing attachment
•Ready-made bag system or homemade bags
•Long rubber gloves
•Large towel
•Roll of paper towels
•Spoon or plastic card
Method
First, the buckets and equipment should be cleaned and sterilized. Mix 10 ounces (1¼ cups) of 3% hydrogen peroxide per quart of water to make a rinse.
If you are using a bag in the first round, place this bag in the bucket. Add equal amounts of ice and water until the bucket is two-thirds full. Add the prepared plant material. Wearing the long rubber gloves, use your hands to submerse it evenly in the ice water. Up to 3½ ounces (1
00 g) of plant material can be used in a five-gallon bucket.
If a kitchen mixer is being used, holes are punched in a bucket lid to accommodate the mixing attachments. This keeps the material from sloshing out while it is being agitated. It also allows the mixer to run hands-free.
Using the tool of choice (kitchen mixer or drill with paint-mixing attachment), agitate the material for 15 minutes, and then allow the mixture to settle. If using a ready-made system, the speed recommended in the instructions should be used. As a general rule of thumb, lower speeds work well when mixing amounts under five gallons. Medium to high speeds are better when using a system that is five gallons or larger. As it is mixed, the material becomes frothy. You may want to remove the suds before recommencing.
Blend the material up to four times for 15 minutes at a time. Mixing the material more times produces higher yields, but also results in more particulate vegetative matter. Longer times produce less pure results, especially if multiple bags aren’t separating the hash into grades. When using a single collection mechanism, a shorter time should be used on the first round. After this hash is collected, the plant material can be reprocessed using a longer mixing time. Multiple bags allow the material to be processed all at once without sacrificing a high-grade collection.
Once the last mixing round is completed, let the mixture sit for at least 30 minutes. This allows the glands time to sink into the collection filters. If all of the ice has melted, more can be added. In cold weather, the bucket can be set outside to keep the mixture cold.
Once the material has settled, it is time to separate out the glands. If the agitation has been done inside a bag, pull out this bag, removing the bulk of the plant material. The bucket now contains green water with silt in the bottom. This silt is the water hash and a small amount of particulate vegetative matter.
Line the second bucket with the collection bag or bags. The finest mesh bag goes on the bottom, so it is added to the bucket first. The coarsest bag is the last bag added, so it is the top layer. The first bag has separated out everything over the 200–250-micron size, depending on its mesh size. Now the successive layers of the bags will do the grading for you.
Pour the water into the bucket that is lined with the filter bags. Slowly lift out each bag, allowing time for the water to drain. Be patient. If the entire bottom of the bag seems to be clogged, it may be necessary to reach in and gently push some material to the side. Stir up the material as little as possible.
After each bag is removed, lay it on the towel and pat off excess water. More water can be removed by wrapping it with towels and squeezing it. The inside of each bag contains some tan to brown silt-like material. Carefully arrange the bag so that the material is accessible. Blot the material off with a paper towel. Remove it from the bag using a credit card or a spoon. If multiple bags were used, keep the grades separated.
Wet water hash drying.
Photo: A-Bear Concentrates
Place the material in a flat-bottomed bowl, or on a plate or other surface where it can be left to dry, then put it in a cool, dark place where it will get some airflow, but won’t blow away once dry. The material will dry in about 12 hours, but allow a full week to dry and cure fully. Even if some material is used sooner, allow the moisture to evaporate from the remaining material so it is not susceptible to mold.
How to Make Water Hash (Bubble)
1.5 lb of frozen grass is cut using a very sharp knife.
2.The grass is placed in a 30-gal bucket.
3.The bucket is filled to about 2 inches above the grass with cold water. Then add 15 lb of ice.
4.The grass/water/ice combo is thoroughly agitated using a drill with a paint mixer attachment. Wait 15 minutes. Using a colander, scoop up all of the vegetative material that is floating on top (not shown).
5.This specially sewn silk screen bag is placed over another container.
6.Using a convenient container (such as a cooking pot or a pail) pour the remaining water through a screen into the second bucket.
7.The water and vegetative particles flow through, leaving the glands in the silk screen sleeve.
8.The glands form a ball at the bottom of the sleeve.
9.The glands are gathered from the sleeve and squeezed dry using a cloth. The hash needs to dry, but is usable immediately.
Photos: Ed Rosenthal (See the “Ask Ed Grow Tip: Hash Making” video on YouTube.)
THE COFFEE FILTER METHOD
This method works well for small-scale water hash production and uses common kitchen equipment. Chop the plant material to a coarsely ground consistency. Cone-type coffee makers look like a pointier version of a standard coffeemaker basket. They are inexpensive and are available at kitchenware stores, some gourmet coffee shops, grocery stores, or on the web. The #4 size or larger is recommended. Both reusable and disposable filters for these cones are available at the same shops where the cone was purchased.
This method yields nice hash, but the process is not controlled by precise micron-sized filters. There is also no final filtration of small vegetative matter, so the product is not as pure as the hash made in a bag system. Still, the water hash produced using this method equals the quality of dry-screened kief.
WATER HASH TIPS
•Fresh-frozen material works best. If the material was not stored in the freezer, place it in the freezer until it is cold. If you have too much material to place it in the freezer, use extra ice. Place a few inches of water in the bucket, add the plant material, and fill the remainder of the bucket with ice. Allow the mixture to sit and cool for 30 minutes before beginning.
•It is better to use a standard two-beater mixer or drill with a paint-mixing attachment rather than a handheld or one-piece mixer because the latter do not have as much agitating power and they work by pulling material up to the spinning blade. Stringy pieces of plant material easily clog the blade.
•Don’t get impatient in the final steps! Dry the material thoroughly at the end of the process. Water hash stored before it is dried molds, ruining it.
•Water and mash left over at the end of the process contain nutrients present in the plant material. It’s great for watering plants or using as a mulch or in compost.
Equipment
•Ice
•Cold water
•Dried plant material (coarsely ground)
•Blender
•Mixing bowl
•Colander or wire mesh strainer
•Cone-type single cup coffee maker
•Reusable metal cone coffee filter, or silk screen
•Coffee filters
•2–3 large glass jars with tight-sealing lids
•Dish towel
•Paper towels
•Scraping tool (spoon, credit card, or business card)
Method
Place enough plant material in the blender to fill it halfway. Add ice and cold water in equal amounts until the blender is full. Turn the blender on at full speed for 45 seconds to 1 minute. Let the mixture settle. Repeat three or four times. The more times the blender is run, the higher the yield; however, more vegetative material will also become particulate and lower the purity of the results.
Pour the mixture from the blender through a colander or strainer into a mixing bowl. Bowls designed to pour, such as a pancake batter bowl or an 8-cup measuring cup, work best. This step separates out the bulk of the plant material.
Now pour this water through the reusable coffee filter into the glass jars, until they are about two-thirds full. Quart-sized, sealable, glass canning jars work well. Material will collect in the coffee filter. This is the smaller vegetative matter. The glands are too small to stay in the reusable coffee filter and have passed with the water into the glass jars. Pour another cup or two of water through the filter into the glass jars to wash out any remaining glands.
Seal the jars and place them in the refrigerator for an hour. The glands settle and form silt at the bottom of the jar. Tapping the jar lightly a few times on
a tabletop helps settle some of the floating material.
Gently remove the jars from the refrigerator without stirring up the material that has collected at the bottom and pour off the top one-half to two-thirds of the water. The goal is to retain the glands that are gathered in the bottom, while removing as much water content as possible.
Set up the cone on top of a suitable container such as a quart jar. Drain the remaining water and silt through the coffee filter with a disposable filter paper. The flow of water through the filter slows as the material collects, but allow it to drain completely.
Carefully remove the paper coffee filter from the cone. Flatten it with the material inside by patting it with a towel.
Material can be dried either before or after it is collected from the coffee filter. Drying it inside the coffee filter takes a little longer, but the hash is protected from blowing away and is easier to remove from the paper when both are dry. To dry in the coffee filter, place it atop a layer of paper or cloth towels. Once it is dry split the filter along a seam.
Collect the material using a spoon or plastic or paper card. Allow the material to fully dry before pressing or storing, which takes a day or two depending on the environmental conditions and the amount being dried.
To make more than one batch at a time combine the blender water in a large container and let the water settle, or use several bowls, let the kief settle in each one, then combine them.
Some Tips