In Colorado, cannabis is pretty easy to find these days. However, when you’re trying to be adventurous with your cannabis and make some homemade edibles and goodies, you don’t always have all the equipment you need for cooking. Have no fear, here’s how to strain cannabutter without cheesecloth.

What is Weed Butter?

Also known as marijuana butter or cannabutter, weed butter is a combination of cannabis and butter. Weed butter is most commonly used to make cannabis edibles. These include cannabis cookies and brownies.

Why is Straining Required?

Once it is infused, cannabutter needs to be strained. This is often done by slowly and carefully allowing the product to seep through cheesecloth. This method allows only the oil to get through the filter.

You don’t have to strain your cannabutter. You can take the plant bits out of the cannabutter using a slotted spoon. However, you will have to be content with plant pieces floating around in your weed butter.

Straining is required to ensure that the product with which you are going to bake doesn’t contain excess plant materials.

Problems with Using Cheesecloth for Straining

Cheesecloth is gauze-like, woven cotton cloth. It was originally used to create and wrap cheese. Hence, its name. Cheesecloth is costly and can be used only once.

Cheesecloth is tricky to cut. It is also messy and time-consuming to use as a strainer. If you squeeze the cheesecloth to hurry the process, you can end up with plant materials in the cannabutter.

A final disadvantage is that most households don’t have cheesecloth on hand. It is not always easy to find. You can buy cheesecloth at a kitchen supply store or a fabric store by the yard but you need to cut it to the size you need for your strainer.

Alternatives to Straining with Cheesecloth

1. Try Muslin

Select 100% cotton, unbleached, lightweight muslin. The cheaper the quality of the muslin the better it is for straining. You want a loose weave. This will provide a strainer that is tighter than cheesecloth and much cheaper. Muslin is also easier to find and to cut than cheesecloth.

Place the muslin over the mouth of a bowl, a cup, or a measuring cup. Secure with a device like an elastic band or clips. Place the cannabis leaves or buds in the muslin. Pour hot butter over the cannabis and allow it to strain into the receptacle below.

1. Consider Found Materials

You don’t have to go out and purchase cheesecloth or muslin. Look around you. Straining materials are there. How about using a pillowcase, a tea towel, a bandana, or a scrap of fabric from your craft basket?

Stretch the material over the mouth of a bowl. Hold in place with an elastic band or clips around the rim. Put the cannabis in the material and pour hot butter over the material. Allow to strain. 

When done, discard the cannabis. The fabric can be washed and reused.

1. Create an Herb Bag

Use found material to create a pouch. Place the cannabis materials inside and sew closed. Place this bag in a bowl of warmed butter. Allow the cannabis to infuse the butter, stirring from time to time. 

When the butter is infused to your liking, take the bag out and discard it. You can make several of these bags while you have your sewing machine out. Store in a closed, dry container until they are needed.

1. Coffee Filters Work

You have them on hand. Coffee filters make good strainers for cannabutter because they are already set up to be used to filter materials and infuse the liquid. 

First, run hot water through the filter to remove the paper taste. Place the filter in a mug, a bowl, or a dish. Put the cannabis buds or leaves in the filter. Then, pour heated butter in a circular motion over the cannabis and allow the mixture to brew.

Once the butter is infused, remove the filter with the cannabis inside and discard it. You’re left with delicious cannabutter for cooking.

1. Cloth Table Napkins are Versatile

Those cotton table napkins or cloth diapers can also serve as filters. Stretch the material over the mouth of a bowl. Hold in place with an elastic band or clips around the rim. Put the cannabis in the material and pour hot butter over the material. Allow to strain. 

When done, discard the cannabis. The fabric can be washed and reused.

1. Look for a Fine Mesh Bag

Fine mesh bags can be purchased in a hardware store. Mesh bags are worth the price because they are easy to clean and can be reused.

Put the cannabis in the mesh bag. Pour hot butter over the bag. Allow to strain. 

When done, discard the cannabis. The mesh bag can be washed and reused.

1. Select a Fine Wire Sieve

A wire sieve is easy to clean. It can be used several times. Be sure to choose a sieve that catches the plant materials. Because it is reusable, a wire sieve is an inexpensive strainer. Moreover, it is easy to use and not messy.

1. Repurpose Pantyhose

Stockings or pantyhose are a good substitute for cheesecloth. Simply stretch a clean pair of pantyhose or tights or a nylon stocking over the mouth of a large mixing bowl. When you have finished straining the cannabutter, toss the pantyhose in the washing machine and reuse it.

1. Use the Two-Cup Method

Originally used to brew tea, this also works for cannabutter. Place cannabis in a cup. Pour hot butter over top. Stir until the butter is fully infused. Then pour the mixture into a strainer over a second cup. Discard the plant pieces remaining in the sieve.

If you don’t have a strainer, you can pour the mixture in the first cup into the second cup using a slotted spoon to catch the plant pieces.

If you don’t have a slotted spoon, use a fork to hold back the plant material as you pour the infused butter from the first cup into the second one.

1.  Create a Tin Foil Infuser

Cut out a square of tin foil large enough to cover the surface of a cup. 

Fold the square twice so you have a small square. Use a sharp paring knife to make holes in the closed corner.

Fold out a pocket and place it in the cup. Put in the cannabis material. Pour in hot butter. Allow mixture to brew, stirring occasionally. When the butter is infused, remove the tin foil infuser with the plant material and discard it.

** Don’t Use a Paper Towel

People often make the mistake of assuming a paper towel will work as effectively as a filter when they are considering how to strain cannabutter without cheesecloth.

Avoid using paper towels as strainers. Paper towel production uses bleaches and other chemicals. When you strain the butter through a paper towel, it leaches these chemicals into the cannabutter. 

And that's how to strain cannabutter without cheesecloth.

Continue Reading

What is Cannabutter?

Often referred to as marijuana butter or weed butter, cannabutter is used to create cannabis edibles like brownies and cookies.

Creating your own cannabis-infused edibles at home can be messy and time-consuming. If you wish to enjoy cannabis treats without the work, browse the great deals on prepared edibles.

How is Cannabutter Made?

Many sites like Healthyish.com and Bonappetite.com offer step-by-step instructions to novice cannabis cooks to create cannabutter.

Cannabutter Proportions

As you become more experienced, you can experiment with how much weed and butter to use. For beginners, a good starting point is four sticks (one pound) of butter for every ounce of marijuana. Try a half-ounce of weed and two sticks of butter. 

There are various ways to strain the product. A simple guide suggests creating cannabutter by following these steps:

1. Decarboxylation

Also known as decarbing, drying, or desiccating, this step involves baking or dehydrating the weed. The process activates THC, CBC, and other cannabinoids. When this step is completed, the lipids in the butter can bind with the weed.

For proper decarboxylation:

• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. 

• Take a half-ounce of weed and grind gently with a hand grinder or snip with scissors. 

• The finished product should be just fine enough for making a joint.

• Spread plant material on a glass baking dish. Place the dish on the center oven rack.

• If the weed is old or of lower quality, bake for twenty minutes. If it is a higher quality weed or cured weed, bake for forty-five minutes.

• Stir gently every ten minutes to prevent burning.

• The marijuana should change from bright to deep brownish-green.

If you want to streamline the process of making cannabutter, you can buy plant materials ready for infusion. Check out our cannabis products or already vaped material deals.

1. How to Make Cannabutter with a Coffee Maker

The next step involves infusing the butter with marijuana. A common technique uses a large pot containing marijuana, water, and melted butter. Put this on the stove on medium heat for ten minutes or so. Then, the plant material has to be separated from the water and melted butter.

Unfortunately, the straining process often results in spatters, filter accidents, and singed fingers while trying to get the emulsion through the strainer material.

Also, sadly, the precious cannabutter can get stuck in the cheesecloth or other filter material while it cools and solidifies. This wastes valuable cannabutter. 

These disappointing experiences often cause would-be cannabutter makers to abandon the project and simply buy their edibles.

A tidier, safer alternative is the coffee maker. You can use a regular coffee maker. Place the plant material in the coffee filter. Pour the butter/water mixture through the top and wait for the liquid to pass through the coffee-making process and into a Pyrex measuring cup below.

However, an espresso pot or a Mota Pot is more effective.

Follow these steps to use a simple espresso machine or a Mota Pot to create quality cannabutter without the muss and fuss of those kitchen accidents.

• First, unscrew the top of your espresso pot.

• Remove the middle chamber.

• Place a stick of diced butter in the bottom chamber.

• Fill the bottom chamber halfway or a little more with water.

• Weigh out decarbed weed you’ve dried yourself or try a $50 ounce of “shake.” 

• Place this in the middle filter chamber where coffee grounds would be placed.

• Screw the top of the espresso pot back on.

• Place the espresso pot on medium heat on the stove for at least ten minutes or more.

• Don’t use higher heat. You will burn the butter.

• Listen for the burping sound as the butter/water passes up through the weed in the middle chamber.

• It will bubble into the top chamber. Make sure all the juice has spurted into the upper chamber. 

• Pour this liquid into a Pyrex measuring cup.

• Place in the fridge to cool. This will allow the butter and water to separate. This will take approximately an hour.

• Use a butter knife to poke the edges so you can pry the solidified butter out of the measuring cup.

Using a Mota Pot is much the same process as with an espresso pot. Simply place the Mota Pot on the stove on medium heat with a stick of butter and a cup of water in the bottom. The water in the lower section heats and turns to steam. The hot steam forces the melted butter up through the filter containing the herb, infusing the butter with the THC.

The hot liquid is then poured into a Pyrex dish and cooled in the same manner used in the coffee maker or the espresso coffee maker. Click here for a step-by-step Mota Pot demonstration.

Why Strain Cannabutter? 

There is no rule that you must strain cannabutter. You can scoop the plant remains from the butter/water mixture using a fork, a slotted spoon, cheesecloth, or a metal sieve. Depending on the edible, some plant material may not detract from the weed butter. 

Using the coffee maker or Mota Pot method, the filter area of your coffee maker, espresso maker, or Mota Pot builds in this straining method.

How to Use Weed Butter

You can add weed butter to many recipes. You are limited only by your imagination. Use the cannabutter as part of the butter or oil specified by the recipe. For example, you can use a tablespoon of cannabutter and three tablespoons of non-weed oil or butter.

Follow these steps to make a good cannabis vinaigrette salad dressing. 

Fix nutritious soups by spiking the liquid with two tablespoons of cannabutter or canna-infused sesame oil.

Try these cannabis-infused Citrus Caramel Blondies. 

Are you in the mood for homemade hot-from-the-oven marijuana cookies? Try this simple recipe.

My favorites are still chocolate cannabis brownies. 

If you have decided you’d rather buy your edibles already prepared, indulge in Chaos Crispies or get a great deal on ANY “N-fuzed” gummies.

For other ways to make cannabutter, visit our blog!

Continue Reading

Homemade edibles have always been made the old-fashioned way - with marijuana flower or trim. The green tint and strong marijuana flavor in cannabis-infused butter are a result of this process.  But cannabis concentrates are the fastest-growing product sector on the cannabis market. Types of concentrates range from BHO to live resin. For some stoners, crafting an edible infusion is a right of passage – wax edibles.

Due to their large THC potency, cannabis concentrates are becoming a popular and effective ingredient in high-potency edibles.

Let’s get our heads in baking mode (pun intended) and look at what exactly wax edibles are.

Let’s Concentrate on the Edibles

Edibles rarely make it into the cannabis concentrate conversation. Much like dabs, edibles provide a long-lasting, potent high depending on the dose. The biggest difference between dabs and edibles is the onset time. 

If smoked/vaped, your high will kick in almost instantly. However, eat an edible and your high may take up to two hours to even reveal itself. But, edibles offer a strong, unique marijuana experience. 

Though they have an onset time between 30-90 minutes (depending on your metabolism), these tasty treats can last anywhere from 6-8 hours. Compared to smoking/dabbing lasting between 1-3 hours.  Infused drinks are known to hit much faster between 20-30 minutes. 

It does not take much of an edible to get a desired high. With this, comes a bit of caution. Start with low doses and be patient. Overeating edibles can cause a bad time, especially in those new to cannabis.

When the edible begins to digest, THC forms into a different byproduct in the liver making a chemical 2.5x stronger than regular THC. This chemical is known as Delta-9 THC.

More Potent Edibles? Is That Even Possible?

In 2013, it was reported that cannabis wax contains 80 percent THC with effects so hallucinogenic that consumers have been sent to the hospital from just one dab of the stuff.

Though not too common, you can make edibles with your marijuana concentrates. You can use concentrates instead of cannabutter/oil. Make sure to "decarb" your cannabis concentrates before infusing them. Decarbing is huge for converting THCA into THC. After the decarbing process, THC has its psychoactive effects which we all know and love.

Best Waxes For Edibles

Alright, if you're going to make wax edibles, here are some of the best concentrates to use for that.

Distillate

Known for its high potency and being decarboxylated, Distillate is the perfect flavorless and scentless concoction for a fat component of your chosen recipe.

RSO

Rick Simpson Oil (RSO) is great for edibles due to its ease of use. RSO requires no decarboxylation step and can be directly added to recipes. 

Sugar Wax

Any entourage-like benefits contained in cannabis oils are not typically present in distillate. More solid-like concentrates such as sauce, live resin, budder, and sugar wax have the potential to contain large amounts of THCA. Which becomes THC.

Concentrate On Your Menu

Most cannabis concentrates can be used to medicate your food, and the main variables of potency, flavor, perfume and viscosity can all be managed with relative ease.

For example, Rick Simpson Oil (RSO) is a full-spectrum extract which means it contains the botanical essence of the whole plant. CO2 and BHO extracts are mainly flavorless.

Certain cooking oils are more effective carriers for THC. For example, dairy fats are less stable than vegetable oil (like olive oil) and are less likely to melt in a way that ensures even dosing throughout. MCT oil is an excellent flavorless carrier but its low smoke point makes it less skillet-friendly than virgin coconut oil or canola. Examine your recipe to learn which oil or infusion method will be most effective.

Cooking With Wax

Alright, Chef...we know you can make some great banana pancakes, but when you introduce cannabis/concentrates to the kitchen, there are a few things to consider:

Decarboxylate Concentrates When Necessary

Before cooking, you’ll want to be sure that your concentrate is decarboxylated. This converts non-intoxicating THCA into the euphoric THC we all know and love.

Higher temperatures are more likely to eliminate valuable cannabinoids and other compounds, so decarbing low and slow is generally the best way to go.

To make cannabutter/oil
Warm butter up to around 200 degrees Fahrenheit and measure the temperature with a probe. Allowing the heat of the butter to heat up the wax, continue to stir until it is fully mixed. If the butter begins to harden too early, add warm water to the mix. Placing the bowl in the fridge, the butter and water will separate as the butter cools, making it easy to remove. 

Dosing

The main goal when consuming highly potent, wax edibles is to have as much fun as possible by taking things slow and low. Edibles are highly known to be difficult to dose.

Things to consider, some numbers for the scientists:

• The weight of your concentrate (in grams)

• The potency of the concentrate (% THC or CBD)

• The number of servings the cooked dish yields (i.e. “makes a dozen cookies”)

Benefits of Wax Edibles

It’s time to open your mind up to the potentials of weed — it’s more than just a joint or a bowl. 

• Higher Potency
  Cannabis concentrates are typically incredibly high in cannabinoid levels. Reaching 90% THC and CBD. They also provide terpenes.

• Reduced Herb Flavor
  Cannabis tends to have a bit of a grassy/earthy taste when used in edibles. Concentrates in edibles eliminate the issue by adding potency without plant material.

• Healthiest Option For Your Lungs
  Eating cannabis or using tinctures is always going to be better for your lungs than smoking it is. The fact is, smoking anything creates combustion, and the combustion creates harmful toxins and carcinogens which we then inhale into our lungs. On top of that, 88 percent of the combusted smoke gases from marijuana don't even contain cannabinoids.

In the end, edibles are also a health-conscious way to get high, protecting your lungs from toxins and carcinogens found in smoke.

If you’re interested in your body’s overall health, chances are you are exploring the health benefits of CBD.

With the option to add CBD into your daily diet, you may find relief of pain and anxiety, allowing you to better concentrate on your day’s tasks. 

Continue Reading