How to Make the Perfect Cannabutter
If you’re looking for a healthier alternative than smoking cannabis, one of the best alternatives is to try edibles which are made from cannabutter. Infused brownies, cookies and muffins are not only delicious but they’re a discreet way to get your daily dose. While you can buy edibles in your local dispensary or online, you could try making your own for great value for money and for even greater variety.
Courtesy Bruce Wolf
If you’re going to make your own edibles, one of the <a<best ingredients that you’ll need is cannabutter. Cannabutter is cannabis-infused butter – incredibly simple to make at home, and even easier to use. Of course, the best recipe is only going to be as strong as the weed you use to make it with, so make sure you get the strain right before you begin.
If you want to learn how to make the best cannabutter then keep reading and watching. Make sure the potency of your cannabis is plenty strong by smoking some! There is no better way to make the best cannabutter then to be high on your supply.
Activating Your Marijuana (decarboxylation)
The first step to making cannabis-infused butter is to activate your cannabis. Raw cannabis has no effect at all, so it needs to be activated in order for it to release the psychoactive elements of the THC compound. You can activate your marijuana by applying heat to it in a process called decarboxylation.
You can do this by preheating your oven to 240 degrees Fahrenheit, then spreading your bud onto a lined baking tray or Pyrex dish with plenty of room between so the air can freely circulate to ensure even heating, before popping it into the oven to bake for 40 minutes.
Once it is cooked, it will have become crumbly and dry. There is another way to do this and that’s to use the Ardent Decarboxolator. This automated unit will decarboxylate your cannabis perfectly every time.
The Heating Process
Use a medium-sized saucepan and add a quart of water. Bring it up to the boil on your stove. Always check to ensure that your marijuana is floating around 2 inches from the pan’s bottom. Once the water has started to boil, put your butter into the pan and let it completely melt.
You need four sticks of butter for every ounce of cannabis. After the butter has fully melted, add your baked marijuana then turn down the heat to its lowest setting so it is barely simmering. Leave to cool for about 3 hours. You will know that it is ready when the mixture’s top goes from looking watery to looking thick and glossy.’
Straining the Butter
As your butter is cooking, get a bowl ready for the finished product. Place a double thickness of cheesecloth placed over its top, secured firmly in place with tape, string or elastic. Once the butter is done, strain it carefully over your bowl or container, trying hard not to spill any. Once the pan is empty, pick the cheesecloth up on all 4 sides to squeeze any remaining liquid out.
Cooling the Butter
Leave your butter for around an hour to cool down and then put it into the fridge until your butter has finally risen up to the top layer to form a solid block. Now, remove from the fridge, run a knife carefully around the edge of the bowl or container and carefully lift off the butter. Place it upside down on your countertop and carefully scrape any remaining cooking water off its surface. Your cannabutter is ready to use.
Cannabutter In the Slow Cooker
If you would rather make your cannabutter in a less intensive way, you can always make it in your slow cooker if you have one.
Simple turn on your slow cooker to its lowest setting and pour in a cup of water, then add a pound of unsalted butter and between one and one and a half ounces of ground-up cannabis flower. Put the lid on your slow cooker and allow to simmer on the low setting for between 8 and 24 hours, only removing the lid occasionally to stir.
The Easiest Method of All
If you’re looking for the absolute simplest recipe, you should consider investing in a Magical Butter machine. This innovative gadget takes all of the work out of making your own product and is ideal for anyone who doesn’t really spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Incredibly simple to use, this machine does absolutely everything for you, grinding, heating, stirring and steeping for a flawless result.
The important thing to remember is that if you start with a good recipe and good quality cannabis you are going to make fantastic cannabutter. There are plenty of cannabutter recipes out there but our recipe is the best and simplest to follow.
Working with Dosages
Dosing is extremely important when it comes to edibles. Too much THC in your edibles can lead to anxiety or even a bad buzz, which can last hours. Too many people take too much THC through edibles and end up not feeling very well because of it. When working with the best canna-butter recipe please follow the dosing guide exactly.
The THC Formula
1 gram of cannabis = 1000 milligrams
10% of 1000 milligrams is 100 milligrams
Average cannabis THC is 10% so one gram of cannabis contains 100 milligrams of THC.
The next factor we must calculate for is how many milligrams of THC is in the batch of cannabutter.
If you used one ounce of average 10% THC cannabis to make one cup of cannabutter; you would have 2800 milligrams of THC in that one cup of butter. If you made a batch of cookies containing ½ a cup of the cannabutter to make a batch of 36 cookies each cookie would contain an average of 38.8 milligrams of THC. Since we used 1400 milligrams of butter (half) you divide 1400 mg by the total servings which in this case is 36.
Cannabutter is really easy to make yourself. Have fun experimenting, and enjoy your infused butter!
Alternative Cannabutter Crock Pot Technique
Materials and Ingredients List
Ingredients:
- 1 oz. of marijuana bud
- 1 lb. of butter, unsalted
- 2 drops of vanilla extract
Equipment:
- Crockpot
- Knife
- Cheesecloth
- Heat-safe container
- Spoon
This recipe also begins with the decarboxylation process that is explained above. This process is critical to activate the THC compounds.
Another great option is to make your cannabutter in a crockpot or slow cooker. These units provide a steady temperature and can be used to simmer your cannabis material for longer periods of time.
The first step is to warm up your crockpot on high and put 2 cups of water in the pot. While that heats you can finely grind one ounce of quality cannabis bud. Cut a piece of cheesecloth about one-foot x one-foot. Place all of the ground cannabis material into a pile at the center of the cloth. Now carefully close up the cheesecloth around the cannabis material until you form sort of a tea bag shape with the cannabis material in the center. You want to tie it up tight in such a way that none of the contents can spill out.
Now the water in your crockpot should be warming up, place all of the butter into the crockpot and place the lid on. Let the crockpot heat up to its maximum temperature, once the water/butter mixture is hot you can add the cannabis bag you created, just drop it into the crockpot and close the lid.
Simmer your mixture with the cannabis bag for eight hours. Remove the cannabis bag and squeeze out any butter it contains. I like to strain the mixture through cheesecloth one more time as I pour the mixture into a food-safe container such as a mason jar. Place the container in your refrigerator once the mixture has cooled down.
The butter will set above the remaining water in the container. Just puncture a hole in the butter right through to the water at the bottom of the container. Just drain the remaining water and your butter is done.
An Alternative Way to Process your Cannabutter
There is a second way to produce your cannabutter and for me even though it adds a little extra work upfront it makes for less cannabis tasting cannabutter. The main difference is that I like to wrap the cannabis up in cheesecloth. This keeps most of the plant matter out of the butter for cleaner butter. Check out this video, I use the Ardent Decarboxolatory and cheesecloth method to make the best cannabutter in the world.
Conclusion:
These two cannabutter processes will create perfect, powerful and tasty cannabutter. If you prepare your ingredients ahead of time and make sure to complete the decarboxylation process ahead of time you’ll have a smooth easy cook. Most of the time it takes to prepare is waiting but it will be worth your time. If you need to medicate and smoking isn’t an option then this cannabutter can be added to just about anything you eat.