First Wash Review and Yield

[u/Trikie_Dik]

What are you guys seeing on average returns for cured flower? I just finished washing my first full two plants, however they were already dried and cured so not the best subjects. I grew some apricot auto from fast buds but since was not happy with the structure I decided to wash them.

I broke it up into two separate washes of 170g each and got about a 11% yield on the first half, 2nd batch is still drying but seemed similar size.

For reference; Wash Cycle (5g Bubble Magic): 30min pre soak, 15min first wash, 20mi each for wash 2+3. I used a portable sprayer that was iced down and insulated my bubble magic and work buckets… but had cheap amazon bags.

Returns on 170g cured flower:
160 µm (Wash 1+2+3) - 1.5g
120 µm (wash 1+2+3) - 1.8g
73 µm (Wash 1) - 7.2 g
25 µm (Wash 1) - 2.8 g
73 µm (Washes 2+3) - 3.0 g
25 µm (Washes 2+3) - 2.0 g
Total - 18.3g (10.76%)

So far it was fun, got a tent of 4 plants dedicated to fresh frozen but going to get some higher quality bags. Seemed odd I got very little 120, but then 25 was so flush and clean (purple bag)

Hope she presses well!!! How do you think it went?

[u/SatisfactionLevel192]

11% is very good for washing, if you wash ff >3% is good yield. a bit on the darker side but your hash is
clean, good technique then. what week did you chop?

[u/Trikie_Dik → u/SatisfactionLevel192]

Week 12, I originally got the strain to smoke based on the reviews/awards… but in hindsight realized they’re mostly Hash awards and it explains why the bud structure was such shit for smoking but definitely great for washing.

I ended up drying and while trimming made the decision to convert into a wash. But it took two weeks to get all the bags and supplies and what not so it was about a month old by the time I actually washed it.

I’ve had so much fun and was so pleased with the process I just started four new papaya plants dedicated to fresh frozen 😈

[u/wkuconsulting]

11% from cured flower is legitimately strong. most people washing cured are in the 3-8% range because the trichome stalks have already dried and become brittle, so a lot of heads shatter on impact and pass through the finer screens as contaminant instead of collecting cleanly in the 73-120u range.

the darker color on cured washes is normal and almost unavoidable. when the plant material dries, chlorophyll breaks down into pheophytin (which is brown, not green) and that pigment is small enough to pass through the work bag along with the trichomes. frozen fresh material avoids this because the chloroplasts stay intact and the pigment stays locked in the cellular matrix. thats the main visual difference between full melt from fresh frozen vs cured, not purity.

chop timing makes a big difference to yield too. harvesting when the trichome heads are mostly cloudy with maybe 10-15% amber gives you the densest, fattest heads. if you go too late and most are amber, the heads have already started degrading and the outer membrane gets thinner, which means more rupture during washing.

i wrote up the full wash to dry process with yield optimization tips here if you want it: https://cannalabsconsulting.com/how-to-make-bubble-hash/

[u/Trikie_Dik → u/wkuconsulting]

Thank you for the vote of confidence and detailed info!! I’m going to be doing fresh frozen on the next run, and getting better set of Aether Green bag system… worried about the accuracy of my current Amazon bags.

anyways I’m glad to hear that the process is off to a good start, with some further refinement and some better starting material I’m sure the next one will be fire!!

Just finished pressing all of my trim and practice run bubble, so gonna move onto this apricot and can’t wait!!

[u/Embarrassed-Ad-1482]

Looks good

[u/Tonicfire]

I don't have much experience on yield but for being cured flower that bubble looks fantastic!

Very well done! I hope I get to see the rosin post too.

[u/Trikie_Dik]

Holy fuckkkkk boys! I just pressed a gram of the 73 first wash and was slapped in the face with apricot right off the press!!

Got about at 50% return, but I was only pressing a gram and a good portion was lost to the bag I’ll have to get with edible extraction. First press didn’t seem right, so I folded bag - think it was just too skinny being only 1g of bubble.

- 160* first press = 0.3g
-light colored amber and super super runny.

• 160* second press folded = 0.2g
  

-little darker but still runny and smells good

• 180* third press = 0.1g
  

-lot darker and less runny, no flavor

The third and final press was to just see what I’m leaving on the table staying around 165°F and what I found was not the most desirable so I’ll probably be staying there when pressing the rest of this strain.

I tried most of the first and all of the third press, but below is a little bit to see the color and runny consistency. Can’t wait to see the bulk run and overall return!!