I’m going to give you all my step-by-step process for making solvent-less hash rosin cartridges. These cartridges are made using a three step process. The first step is washing the bud to make hash. The next step is to press the hash into rosin. The final step is to decarb the rosin so it can be added to a cartridge.
Step 1: Making hash
To make the ice water hash I use a small washing machine, an Igloo water cooler, a pump sprayer, a bucket, and a set of bubble bags. I have modified my washer to have some insulation around it and replaced the corrugated hose with a smooth hose that has a ball valve on the end. I will also use some clean towels, 25 micron drying screens, a spoon, a metal sieve, and some parchment paper lined trays. I keep the spoon, sieve, and trays in the freezer when not in use to keep them cold.
First I fill the water cooler with ice, and top it off with RO water. I then do the same thing with the pump sprayer. While waiting for the water in the cooler to get cold, I add the bags to the bucket. I first place the 45 micron bag in the bucket, then the 160 micron bag, and finally the 220 micron bag.
I like to make whole plant fresh frozen ice water hash. When I harvest, I remove any leaves without trichomes on them. I then buck the buds from the stems and put it in the freezer to be made into hash later. If a variety is particularly greasy and difficult to wash, I will dry it for 3-4 days before freezing it. You can also make ice water hash with dried buds, but I prefer the flavor of fresh frozen.
Next I like to fill the washer with a layer of ice, a layer of buds, a layer of ice, etc. until the washer is full. Which usually takes around 1000 grams of fresh frozen buds or 250 grams of dried buds. Add ice cold water from the water cooler to the fill line in the washer and let the buds soak in the ice water for a good 20-30 minutes, longer if you are using dried buds.
After the buds have soaked, I run the washer. I usually run the washer for six minutes the first run, 12 minutes the second, and 20 minutes for the remaining washes. I usually don’t wash more than four times as yield and quality drop. After the wash, I dump the contents of the washer into the bucket with the bags setup as previously described. I then fill the washer back up with ice cold water from the water cooler, topping off the water cooler with ice and water as needed.
Now it’s time to pull the bags. First I pull the 220 micron bag and put what’s in it back in the washer. After that I pull the 160 micron bag and set that aside for “food grade” hash. Finally I pull the 45 micron bag and spray it down real well with the pump sprayer. This pushes out any of the contaminants and anything smaller than 45 microns through the bag.
After rinsing, I like to set my 45 micron bag on a clean dish towel to soak up a little bit of the water. I then scoop it out of the bag with a spoon and place it on a drying screen with a clean dish towel under it. I throw that in the freezer for a few minutes while I rinse the bags and setup the buckets for the next wash.
Finally I take the hash out of the freezer and push it through a sieve onto the parchment lined tray. Working quickly, I like to break off small chunks and work it through the sieve with the spoon. If the sieve seems to get clogged, I give it a good whack with the spoon and everything falls off onto the parchment.
I like to spread the hash out as thin as I can on the parchment so I maximize the surface area, allowing for quicker drying.
Finally the parchment lined trays go into the freezer to dry. I bought a beer froster for this very reason. It stays at a nice cool 24*F, has six shelves, and has a lock. It takes about a week before the hash is dry and ready to be pressed into rosin.
