By HydroSan
BubbleBags - The Basic Concept
The process involves separating the gland heads (crystals) from your bulk plant matter. The quality of the essences is the same whether it's made from actual flowers or just leaves. This separation is done by submerging the trim in ice water and agitating it for 15 to 30 minutes. This water is then filtered through the bags. This separation occurs because of the temperature-- the ice is very important!
The amount of plant essences you get in return depends on the amount of resin on your starting material. Be sure to freeze your starting material before use!
Items needed:
Two buckets (5-gallon for the standard size bags)
Electric whisk or powerdrill with paint-mixer attachment
Ice & water.
Place your trim leaf into a bucket. 5-gallon is appropriate for the standard sized bags. Fill the bucket to a few inches from the top with cold water. Add in one bag of ice cubes or a few trays from your freezer. I'm using moldy bud from an outdoor sensi star harvest.
Mix it up good and proper for at least 1/2 an hour. I found the small mixer wasn't up to the job, the motor started to smell as it was complaining, and as it was getting warm the resin started to stick to it, so I switched to Mrs Sans electric whisk which performed perfectly. I'm not sure why they recommend letting it rest for 1/2 an hour, maybe it's to give the crystals time to form or cool down sufficiently, I did let it sit, stirring every 5 minutes.
Using the whisk was better as the mold floats whisking foams it up so the mold can be skimmed off.
Get the first filter ready in your second bucket, use the biggest first, mine is 220u (micron) ready in the next bucket.
I let it sit in the 220u filter for 10 minutes. Slowly jiggle the filter bag out of the bucket and squeeze out all you can. Leave the residue in the filter bag on one side for a later second rinse to rescue more hash
Arrange the other filterbags in your first bucket, smallest at the bottom, ready to put in your green water.
After removing and squeezing out the 220u filter the water is a muddy green colour, pour this into the next bucket with all the other filters in.
You can see the foam on the top, this contains mold in my sample...
Carefully skim off any mold or contaminants in the foam with a small sponge or something, I found a scotchbrite pan scrubber just the ticket
Carefully jiggle out the next filter, this is a 73u filter in my kit. I say jiggle it out because you want to catch all the trichomes in the center of the filter to make it easier to spoon out, not have it all up the sides of the bag. I found a hosepipe useful to wash it all into the center of the filter, it's easier than holding the bag under the tap.
Spoon out the trichones onto a plastic shopping bag, again the hose is useful to push it into one spot to spoon out.
Dab the spooned out hash with a paper towel until it's crumbly, I'm going to leave this to dry naturally in the bowl. Some people use blotting paper and a rolling pin to squeeze out the water quicker, some use a hydraulic press to make small blocks of hash, sup to you
The more filters you have in the kit, the more stages you'll have to do but it's essentially the same process.
Gather up the cord on the final bag, mine is 25u, and suspend it over a bucket. This stage takes the longest as it's the finest filter.
While the 25u is draining, go back to the first stage and repeat the process for a second run, this is the yeald from my second run about 20% of the first run so well worth doing
I underestimated the length of time the 25u filter would take to drain, it's been draining for 18 hours and still has about 1 1/2 gals in
This time may be reduced with more filter stages between the 73u and 25u filters as there'd be less product in the final stage. I just hope it's cold enough in the garage so I don't end up with a sticky mess in the bottom of the filter.
The full bucket, next to the hanging 25u filter is from the second rince, this will be put through the 25u filter too, when it eventually drains I'll post more pics when the filter has drained, by then I should have QC'd the first filter product, looking forward to that
to increase the speed of the 25micron bag draining;you need to lift the bag up and drop it sharply in a jerking motion(so the water jumps in the bag)this lifts the trichomes off the screen and allows the water to drain through.
I placed the 25u filter bag into a 1 gal pot and worked the edges of the bag down, over the edges of the pot, to make gathering the trichomes easier. Working the pot under a slightly running tap you can pool the trichomes.
This is the first yeild from the 25u filter
Use a kitchen towel to dab dry the hash, place the towel over the lump and press down slightly with your flat hand, use a fresh piece of towel each time to absorb the water, and carefully peel it off clean.
Final yield. The bowl on the right is the total yield from 2 rinses in the 73u filter bag, on the left is the first rinse from the 25u filter, with the second 25u rinse underneath, waiting to be dried.
I'm going to find a 35mm film canister and use a 'G' clamp and a couple of coins as a press to compact each grade into hard lumps, that can apparently be easily crumbled up to smoke
