Dry ice kief extraction is a great way to obtain cooking material to get you started with some high quality canna-cooking. Kief, also sometimes referred to as ‘pollen’, is the fine crystal/grainy/sugary coating you see on the green material of the flowers. It is where much of the medicine in the plant resides and can be easily extracted.You can obtain dry ice at most grocery stores, if you can’t find it, go to the local ice distributor, they’re bound to have some.
The silkscreen material took a bit of looking into on my part. I’m just on too tight a budget to afford a set of water extraction bags. Not even the inexpensive ones, so I had to find an alternative to fit my purse’s capacity. I searched for silkscreen and was able to find many resources. This is the one I settled on: Ryonet Silkscreen Supplies
First though, I had to decide what size mesh I would purchase. USA mesh and European micron sizes are different. Of course, we are familiar with micron size in the cannabis community and finding silkscreen measured by micron in the US is near to impossible. At any rate, I used this chart to help me decide what size to get: Mesh to Micron Conversion Chart I ordered the 74 mesh (which puts my micron size somewhere between 210 and 177) for $9.76 and with shipping, the total was less than $20. I have enough to make at least a dozen squares like you see in these pictures from the one piece of material I bought.
I will likely also purchase another sheet in the next smaller size as not all strains have the same size trichomes and eventually, I’ll have a way to grade the material and refine this process based on the strain I’m working with and the size of those specific trichomes.
These are my tools, along with some dry ice
Cannabis and dry ice in the plastic Folger's can
This is where I’ll go ahead and put that lid back on the can and just shake it for a few minutes. I am gentle, so as not to break up the dry cannabis material too much, but also, because I don’t want to get worn out from working too hard. LOL Okay, so anyway, you’re gonna just shake the bucket for a few minutes, until you feel like all the cannabis has had a chance to come in contact with the dry ice and the trichomes are ready to jump off the plant and out of the bucket. As you’re doing this, you can just know that the dry ice will be melting back into it’s gaseous form and you may need to release pressure or the lid will pop off your bucket and scare the cat. And also, the first time it happened to me I spilled a bunch of weed when I jumped. So, as you’re gently shaking, just go ahead and hold the edge of the lid open every few shakes to let the gas escape. I have decided I’ll just pop a few holes in the lid to prevent this from happening in the future.
One other word of caution, if you haven’t already burned yourself on accident, you should be wearing gloves while handling the dry ice, and even while shaking the container. Dry ice is -200 degrees and will burn you with severe cold. Believe it . . . take care!
Folger's can with silkscreen material affixed
Turn the can over and shake out the frozen kief
Stop shaking if you see green in your kief.
Collect your kief!
For more great cannabis recipes visit Cookin' With Cake! where you'll also be able to order a copy of her latest book.
You can order your copy of YellowJuana Cake’s Cookbook today for $14.95 and shipping is free! The 48 page b&w book includes instructional information on infusion and extraction methods used in cannabis cooking, recipes, dosing guidelines and tips and tricks for DIY easy to prepare store meals.
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