CannaPharm

 Always remember that water should NEVER be used when making canna oil or butter!!!

 

It certainly used to be common practice in our culture, but we've come a long way since the old wives' tales and urban myths of the 60's concerning canna oils, and butters.

 

 

The long story on old-fashioned Water-Butters.....

 

  When taking even just a slightly scientific approach to making canna oil or canna butter, a pure edible solvent, one that is free of any and all potential water contamination, is clearly the best choice you can make!

 This is simply based upon the idea that the cannabis glandular material we're after is highly oil soluble, while very insoluble in water... water hinders and freezes up the process, causing clumping and persistant clustering that does not occur, under the same termperature conditions, with a pure oil or solvent and that same glandular material.

 It's not a trick question; which will produce faster results? Is it A.) a pure solvent, or B.) one diluted with something that the solute or the material you're actually after, is not considered to be soluble in?

 You'll make more progress, in less time, requiring less energy and as a result causing less degradation of cannabinoids by choosing a pure edible solvent, such as coconut oil, clarified butter, or in the case of tinctures a pre-heated glycerin or high proof alcohol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But there are several other drawbacks to relying on water for purposes based only on myths, perpetuated during our prohibition!

 

 

  Adding water to the mix, was originally thought up as an old-fashioned (and somewhat ill conceived)  attempt at controlling temperatures and avoiding over exposure to heat, when the material ultimately still comes into contact with the heat source directly from below! It won't 'burn' or char down there, but it's causing excessive and unnecessary degradation during a process that already takes longer than it should due to the water contamination.

Another old myth, is that adding water so early in the process somehow makes the resulting canna butter/oil 'more clean' by  separating off more of the 'green', and to many patients unpalatable, inert plant matter components and their flavors.

 

 But here's the kicker; especially if a clean butter or oil is your goal, a water-butter actually requires more work* to clean away the worst-tasting elements, ultimately requiring more effort, more heat exposure, and more time to truly complete the process, because it is the water that is predominantly responsible for pulling in the majority of

all those additional and unwanted water-soluble elements,

in the first place.... elements that would otherwise largely be left behind, when beginning with a pure edible solvent. It dirties the resulting oil, to such an extent, that the water soluble components are easily left behind to contaminate the separated and finished oil, inside of the oil itself and in the water content that many don't realize gets left behind in the oil or butter, which requires additional cleaning or washing cycles, just in order to be on par with an unwashed pure canna oil or pure clarified canna butter, that was made more potent and performed a more efficient (and more useful) extraction, in less time.....

 (* More work, ie. the water-washing steps, that many folks seem to neglect and leave out these days, when following the older water recipes... the steps for washing a finished oil or butter are similar to repeating the end of the butter making process, or making a clarified butter, in that clean water is added to the separated and solidified butter or oil, after the first and dirtiest water is removed, it's reheated and mixed allowing the water to pull out remaining inert components, the mix is allowed to settle and cool, and the dirty water is again replaced with clean water, and the process is repeated until the desired results are achieved. A properly made water-butter, heated for adequate time to compensate for the water contamination, not only starts out 'dirtier', but when washing enters the equation these butters also often require up to three or four additional wash cycles, just in order to become as clean as a finished oil after just one single wash).


  If you're just looking to control your temps, and that's why you've considered using water in the past, a MUCH better option is to use your oven, or even a simple double boiler. To make a double boiler, two pots are all you need; one larger that contains a few inches of heated water, one  smaller pot that floats inside, on top of that water.
That smaller pot contains only your oil or clarified  butter and your herb or hash. This provides an actual buffer between  the heat source and your materials, protecting them better, and all  without diluting your edible solvent with water. You can even decarb or pre-activate your cannabinoids in that smaller pot, simply by adding your ground herb 30 minutes prior to adding melted oil or butter... always be sure to cover your smaller pot well, for odor control and more importantly to preserve all those medicinal terpenes and flavanoids!

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 "But water lets me add more weed to a smaller amount of butter =-/ "

 

 If you want a more powerful outcome, and you wish to do so by using more cannabis, with a smaller amount of butter, diluting that butter with water is just plain silly and counter productive!

 

 Rather than risking hours upon hours of additional time compensating for that water contamination, just for a lackluster end result that is missing the potency you desired, why not instead spend the 15 - 20 minutes it takes shaking your herb in a screen, over a bucket, to make a dry-sifted hash or kief!

 Even if your screen is of an overly large micron/size and it allows a lot of derbris to pass through, you'll still likely cut down the bulk of the plant matter you originally had to work with to at least a third or less, meaning your oil can now easily turn out at least three times or more, as potent.

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 In summary, the water being present in the first place, is what is most responsible for pulling the majority of that water-soluble inert stuff into your oil or butter! It also gives folks too much peace of mind, and a false sense of security when it comes to concerns over degradation and the premature destruction of cannabinoids.

 Bitter plant salts especially are left behind, where they are very small and very water soluble... some will stay with the water, but when you invite excessive salts into the mix, during the cooling process many of those salts are left behind to 'free-float' in your oil in little clusters and pockets, similar to all the trichomes and even free-floating cannabinoids you can lose in your water bath, by adding water to the oil blend before the cannabinoids have been properly extracted and bonded with the oil and before the inert plant matter has been strained off.

 

You get not only more potent oil, but also a cleaner tasting oil with less effort in the end, without using that water in the first place!

 

 And if you'd like it even a hair cleaner, just water-wash it, just like you would with the old water-butters by adding a portion of water, heating, mixing and separating, as I've described in the paragraphs above.

 

 

 

 Another **RISK** when using water to begin the process

 

 One of the best, and easily the most convincing argument for the stubborn, against adding water too early in the processing, becomes visually apparent when it comes time to drain away all the 'waste water' leftover at the end of making a water-butter.


  Unlike washing a water-butter, when you wash a well made canna oil or clarified canna butter, after the cannabinoids have properly bonded with a good oil without all that water contamination interfering, you can much more safely go on to wash out water-soluble and other inert debris, without risking breaking the bond (or separating) the cannabinoids and oil molecules, without risking the loss of any remaining free-floating active components where they should already be fully bonded, and without needing to worry over the loss of depleted trichome cuticles or 'husks'.

 

 

What's worse....


  Besides making a butter or oil with a reduced bioavailability when water is allowed in the oil or butter too early, and besides  pulling in all the extra salts and waxes and chlorophyll that a pure  oil wouldn't.... that waste water you toss out at the end, if you check the  bottom, after it's settled?

You will notice a hash sediment.


  Especially without a good day-long-minimum cook, with a water butter these are not the same depleted trichome 'husks' that you'd have after a  proper oil, alcohol, or other more 'pure' extraction, often even if  you've spent adequate time heating in your water-butter.

 

 They still  contain a huge amount of potency, particularly if you've only heated for a scant few hours with all that water present!


The REAL water butter recipes of the old days, relied heavily on spending at least 15 - 24 solid hours heating,  just in order to satisfactorily extract most of the potency from those  glandular husks, due to the reduced efficiency of the extraction method.

 

 

  And with a water-butter, if extraction has not yet occured, then it's just like making a 'poor mans ice-hash' with a single bag and a collection res..

 

All those still-potent glands sink below the water, and rest on the bottom!

 

 

 So many people, especially with the brief heating times recommended for water-butters these days, unwittingly pour out the equivalent of hash almost every single time they make canna butter!

 

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In the end....

 

 

Why do all the most successful edible experts recommend clarified butter?

                       SPECIFICALLY to avoid water contamination!

     Better Extraction - More Bioavailability - Cleaner End Product


 Long story short, however much or little time you have you will make

the most progress, by using a pure solvent, rather than one so diluted with water.
 And if you don't want to invite water-soluble components into your oil or butter during extraction, well, don't add that water when they are present, to be extracted! Simply wait to water-cleanse your oil, until AFTER you've strained and separated the excess plant matter, otherwise you're just making things worse!

 

 

The water is not responsible for stripping the components you want: it only pulls excessive salt, chlorophyll and other inert properties into the mix, while at the same time hindering the oil and its ability  to break down your cannabis glandular material. Besides external contact interfering, the inert plant matter soaks up additional water via passive capilary action before it can absorb the oil, and overall prevents the oil from gaining as solid access and contact as it otherwise would have, ultimately preventing the oil that you're relying on, to perform the extraction, from doing the job or making the progress that it otherwise could. This leads to extended cooking requirements, including the 24-hour to several-day-long canna butter and oil recipes of the past, causing your cannabis to undergo unneeded degradation and excessive heat exposure.

 

 Hope this helps clear things up, good luck and have fun!