Ways to Dry Bubble Hash

It’s important to keep an eye on the moisture level in our starting material while pressing rosin in order to ensure that the quality and quantity of solventless cannabis extract are optimal. When extracting flower, we understand that a raw bloom plucked from a living plant is unsuitable between the plates. The gurgling and sizzling of moisture as it rushes out of wet buds is an unmistakable indication that conditions are wrong for extracting rosin (and never to be repeated!).

Because drying cannabis flowers for rosin separation is so important, as well as properly drying bubble hash for the same purpose, we wouldn’t have any more luck making a wet hash pancake at the press than with raw live flowers.

Hash is different from cannabis flowers in that it must be dried more slowly to avoid mold formation. In order to prevent molding, hash must be dried differently than cannabis blossoms.

So what are the best ways to dry bubble hash?

Extractors use three primary techniques to dry the ice water bubble hash in their vaults:

• Air Drying Method
• Cold Room
• Freeze Dryer

The first technique, which entails drying wet hash in an open container, is best for individuals who are just getting started. The next two, Cold Room Drying and Freeze Drying, are better suited to commercial operations.

Air Drying

The hash should be covered with a thin covering over a wide surface area, and the moisture in the air must completely evaporate via natural air exchange. It is desirable to utilize cold equipment and a chilly working environment.

Things you need for air drying include:

• A large piece of cardboard (pizza boxes work great!)
• Some sort of kitchen grater, either a microplane or sieve/strainer
• Parchment Paper
• A freezer
• A cool and dark room with low humidity
• Wet ice water bubble hash

Step 1: 

After collecting the freshly extracted hash from the bubble bags, wrap it in parchment paper or slick pads and freeze it on. Place your microplane or strainer in the freezer as well. Allow the hash to harden for 12 hours after that

Step 2:  

Line your cardboard or pizza box with parchment paper while the wet hash is chilling. Cut large pieces of parchment paper from a roll large enough to cover the bottom of your cardboard and set it on its silicone-side up. You may get our superior parchment here.

Step 3: 

Remove the hash from the freezer and break it down into small clumps using your hands. It will form solid lumps, making it easier to handle. One at a time, take one puck-shaped clump and pass it through the microplane or strainer with only enough pressure to finely smash apart the frozen mass. The aim is to create as much sand-like texture as possible for a greater surface area when consuming overall hash.

A sieve is a tiny bowl-like screen that’s frequently employed in the kitchen and bakery, but it can also be used to crack fresh hash as well. It’s also less abrasive than a microplane on delicate trichome heads.

Place the frozen hash chunks between your fingertips and scrape back and forth in quick, short strokes across the strainer, applying just enough pressure to push the hash through the sieve and into fine shards. Remember to keep everything as cold as possible!

One of the most important aspects of hash drying is to increase surface area. It also allows dry cardboard to be more useful in removing damp hash.

Step 4: 

Close the pizza box’s lid and place it in a cool, dark, and dry location. With less than 50% relative humidity, aim for temperatures of 60 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. The hash may take up to a week to fully dry.

Cold Room Method 

The Cold Room Method is a form of Air Drying Technique in which the room temperature is kept at around 40°F rather than aiming for colder room temperatures. The ice water hash can be temporarily stored on parchment-covered trays before being placed in the cold chamber to dry fully.

The lower the relative humidity, the more vulnerable a component is to corrosion. Furthermore, maintaining moisture levels is essential, and automated systems are useful in this respect. Because of the technical difficulties involved with creating a space that can maintain these low temperatures, this system is ideal for business use.

The drawbacks of such cold temperatures are that they slow down the degradation of terpenes and cannabinoids, which is hastened by heat.

A wine cooler can be used to dry cold-weather cannabis. Wine coolers allow us to obtain the desired temperature and humidity levels for bubble hash drying in a tiny area.

Freeze Dryer Method

The most effective approach to keep the integrity of your trichomes while drying bubble hash is with a freeze dryer. Freeze dryers are specialist pieces of equipment that come with a hefty price tag, as you might guess. The biggest drawback associated with utilizing a freeze dryer is the cost.

The costs of freeze dryers vary based on your demands, since they produce a higher degree of quality in the finished product than other drying techniques can. Once you’ve purchased and set up a freezer dryer, it’s really easy to use. All you have to do is push with the touch of a button, so this adds to the list of benefits.

To remove moisture from wet hash, dryers that freeze dry bubble hash use sublimation to convert the dampness into a gas. Freeze dryers don’t require natural air exchange to evaporate water, so breaking down fresh wet hash before drying isn’t required. After passing through ice water filter bags, freshly extracted cannabis may be added directly to the freeze dryer.

We may avoid tearing the delicate trichome membranes that surround all of our desired cannabis chemicals by omitting the microplaning or sieving process. The objective is to minimize bursting trichomes as much as feasible while hash making and drying, and freezing dryers give us a distinct advantage in this area.

Freeze drying is the process of removing moisture from a substance through sublimation. Simply spread the wet hash on a parchment paper-lined tray in a thin, uniform layer to prepare for freeze drying. There are three things to consider before putting the hash in the freezer dryer: how long it will take to freeze dry it, how long it will take to dry it after being frozen, and what temperature you’ll use during the drying period.

Freezing dryers have settings that allow you to customize the drying environment. A freeze dryer’s cycle consists of three phases: a freezing phase, a main drying stage, and an ultimate drying step.

It’s possible that equipment is failing to properly evaporate water out of the moist form, giving it an oily or sandlike texture (whether it’s sluggish or fast), and the amount of hash you’re drying, as well as the wet form’s greasy or sandy texture (whether it’s sluggish or rapid), will determine how long it takes to dry. More volatile and globular/oily hash needs lower temperatures and longer drying times, around 16 hours, to dry correctly. Drier and more stable/sandy hash may be dried at higher temperatures and shorter drying times of around 10 hours.

To avoid terpene loss, the temperature of the shelf should not exceed 50 degrees Fahrenheit before beginning the freeze drying cycle.

After the hash has had a chance to dry, check it for popping and cracking. If it’s still wet, the moisture will burst out and sizzle in the banger, letting you know that more time is needed to cure.

Conclusion

If you have a freeze dryer and want the best results, use it. If you’re looking for a quick answer, go with this option. If you’re only concerned about quality, however, the freeze drying approach is your best bet. The usage of freeze dryers in the industry is on the rise, and there’s little argument that they offer superior drying conditions for bubble hash.

Our previous Air Drying Method isn’t flawed, and it’s still a fantastic choice for drying bubble hash. If you follow the appropriate steps, you can still achieve good quality levels.

What’s your preferred bubble hash drying technique? Leave a comment with your response!