DIY Solventless Rosin Carts

*Before I get started I need to specify that I have tried this with pressed flower and the extra plant waxes mess up this process. Additionall, I am not perfect so keep that in mind before flaming me. I will be as transparent as possible throughout. Keeping with this theme I must let you know i made a mistake. I pressed the material at 190f and i should have done it at 160f. I will continue to edit this post until the process is perfected but it will probably take some time. Hope you enjoy.*

As promised I am going to start the process of explaining how to make your own rosin carts. Unfortunatly, there are some things you need that are not on the cheap side unless you want to buy rosin and make your own carts from that material. If you are starting from purchased material then skip to the small jar.

The List

A rosin press

15-25 micron press bags

Ice water hash collected either from a bubble hash machine or hand processed

Ice water hash sift bags+25 micron press screen (usually comes with sift bags)

Parchment paper

Rosin collection tool

Small canning jar

Oven capable of maintaining 150f temp for a sustained period.

Flat tipped syringe

A thick oil pen of some variety (I can suggest a few if you need help)

I will be adding to this post over the next several days with pictures but start by watching this video by LowTemp Industries proving I'm not a nut job.

Part 1

I personally choose to run my material in a machine but if you are doing the process by hand a simple search can help answer any question you have. There are several sources showing how to wash bubble hash if you are unclear about the process but I will go over the important parts as I feel most of it is common sense.

Start by filling the 220 micron work bag with material you should have stored in the freezer for atleast 24 hours. I like to take the material out and lightly squeeze it after it's completely frozen to help separate the most trichomes before running it. You don't want to obliterate it or you will end up with more contaminants.

You want to fill the work bag half with ice and half with your material. Rotate the work bag until the ice and material are evenly distributed throughout the bag.

Place more ice at the bottom of your machine and then throw in your bag. Add more ice on top of the bag. Yes, these steps are all necessary for best results.

Run the material for 15 minutes after adding water. Stack your bags in ascending order inside a 5 gallon bucket while you wait. I opt for 4 bags personally but feel free to do more if you feel it necessary. 25 on bottom then 73 then 120 then 220 on top.

Drain the water through your bags and then add more ice and water and run the same material again for 15 minutes. Remove all the bags from your bucket at once over a sink/tub/outside and drain the water. Gently rotating the bags clockwise and counterclockwise helps break the static tension of the screens and improve drainage. Discard the bucket water. Reinsert bags as before.

Repeat until you are out of material, remembering to squeeze the work bag at the end of the second cycle. Then, at the end of the last run, wash out the machine by running the water through the bags until it comes out clear. If you are processing a very large amount of material you will have to collect material from the screens and reinsert bags or the water won't drain.

Collect material from each bag and place it on the 25 micron press screen. You will discard anything in the 220 micron bag as it's just a redundancy of the work bag, though it will catch more than you think. If you have sticky trichomes like mine you can place the bags in the freezer once drained and wait 10 minutes and then rub the sides together to get it off of the bottom of the screen. Then collect it with a cold spoon.

Once all the material is on the press screen you will place new paper towels under it and press out excess water. Change the paper towels ever time you press it until they come out dry. This is probably the most important and least talked about step in the process.

Place the folded screen in the freezer until material is frozen and then break it up however you see fit. Place it somewhere cold to air dry or do it slowly with desiccant packets in the freezer until it resembles sugar crystals at room temperature and doesn't stick in clumps.

Part Two

After the freeze I elected to take the large chunks and lightly pulse them in a small magic bullet cup. I would only recommend this if you have a large amount of material because you will lose 1% perhaps because it will create a dust that coats the blender cup and blades. The most frequently used method is to microplane the material but that just sounds awful to me.

After this I got a small tray and covered the bottom with cardboard. Then you place Parchment paper on top of the cardboard and spread your hash on to that. This allows moisture to be wicked away from the hash without making it stick. Be sure to use Parchment paper and not wax paper.

Finally, this material goes into my mini fridge, which is connected to an inkbird temperature controller set to 55f. Like most of you, I cannot justify spending several thousand dollars on a freeze dryer. Optimal settings for drying hash without a freeze dryer are 55f and 35%rh in a wine cooler or sufficiently modded mini fridge. This will reduce oxidation and preserve the most terpenes aside from freeze drying.

It can take anywhere from 2-10 days. When dry the material should feel a bit like fine sand and break apart with little effort. If you have doubts about the materials moisture content squeeze it and look for water. This process can be completed in just open air but with more degradation. Light will add even more degradation. Next up we press.

Part Three

Lighting in my grow room sucks. Sorry.

So, let me start by admitting I made some errors in this step and in planning for the previous step (don't be me). The technique I eventually settled on with the mini fridge worked perfectly, which is why I detailed it in the previous portion after reading about the topic extensively. Prior to that I attempted to air dry it partially, didn't like the way it looked, froze it again, air dried some more. Played with it way too much essentially. I eventually used the fridge to do the process correctly because I just couldn't get it to dry right in my house. I assume my issue was humidity related since it is summer here and I see fluctuations between 55-65% in my house (which is normal for my region, albeit not as healthy for you). My second mistake was pressing at 190 instead of 160 or even lower to get a lighter coloration in the finished product. No one ever likes to cover their mistakes but everyone wants to try and cover their mistakes if you catch my drift. I'm not that type of person. So, let's get on with it.

For pressing hash rosin a very basic press will work just fine since the pressures needed are extremely low in terms of pressing. You want to aim to warm the rosin up between the plates before pressing it or you will just squish it straight through your bag a.k.a blowout. The ideal pressure for pressing high quality hash is around 1500psi or lower even.

For best returns you will want to prepress or mold your rosin prior to adding it to your micron bags. I elected to do two 25 micron bags though I will be using 15 micron bags in the future for the highest quality. Slightly lower yeilds for higher quality is a trade off I am always willing to make.

Once you have made your pucks you simply slide them in a micron bag and then place that bag in another bag facing the opposite direction. This is where the prepress really comes in handy because the puck will be the size of your bag and it just slides in.

Place your bag in the center of a piece of Parchment paper and fold it in half like a hamburger just like when you were in elementary school. After that, fold each side inward attempting to make them get as close to touching as possible. If this step is confusing please look up this technique as it is widely covered and easy to find.

Place the folded paper with your bag in between your press plates and raise the plates until they just barely start to have resistance. Less is more here.

Time out roughly one minute or until you see rosin start to flow into your Parchment then press incrementally harder over the next minute. I press for 3 minutes total including the 1 minute it just kind of sits between the plates but you may elect to do more or less.

Repeat this for as many pucks as you have and remember that the more pucks you make the more opportunities you have to alter your process. It is also easier to collect these larger volumes of oil instead of trying to figure out how to stifle the flow. Take the bag out of the Parchment immediatly after pressing before the oil sets up. Set bags aside and stack them in stacks of 2 or 3. I press mine one more time for a short press and keep that for edibles.

Once completed get them in the freezer to make the oil easier to collect and to save the terps.

Pull them out after 10-15 minutes or when you have time and collect the rosin and place it in a jar. After this step, place the jar in the freezer until you are ready to decarb, or leave it sealed at room temperature to let the rosin cure further. Your call, the world is your oyster or whatever.

If you made it this far you are either really interested or really bored. Either way, thanks for reading the rambles of a mad man. We are almost there. Just one last step, which you already know if you watched the video I linked above. If not, you are missing out because the beat is much sicker than my keyboarding skills. See you in the final step.

Step Four

So here we are in the final step. Congrats! You made it. This part is Easyish. Place your sealed jar (metal lids only, gotta say it) into a toaster oven/real oven/crock pot/heating vessel capable of maintaining 150f. You want to watch for bubbles. What you are seeing is canabanoids being converted from their acid form into a biologically active form. THCA into THC, CBDA into CBD, CBGA......you get the picture. You want to watch over several hours until the bubbles slow down close to stopping. In my experience this usually takes a few hours to occur. After that you are done. *One key tip I will offer is that if you are doing a small batch, pick the smallest jar you can find. You want to have the most depth avaliable in your jar to keep your oil from scorching. Turn the jar on an angle to make it pool if that's all you've got*.

After this process you want to quickly collect the oil while warm so the terps can't escape. A glass syringe is best but most medical grade syringes will work. Just don't store your oil in them.

Transfer oil into the appropriate cart (not a 510 cart) and enjoy.

No solvents, no thinners, no problem!

Keep in mind a new pod is opaque and not clear. Kind a stupid design but you get the point.

If any of this confused you a quick search can bring up videos on each step. The hardest one to find is the one I linked above. Once again, shout out to Low Temp Industries. Without this knowledge we would be lost.