Concentrates
Concentrates
Concentrates
Concentrates
Concentrates
Concentrates
Concentrates
Live resin is a cannabis concentrate that is made with fresh frozen plant material and no dried plant material. If you make live resin at home, it will be the most potent concentrate you’ve ever made. The reason live resin is so potent is because it uses fresh frozen material. When you freeze cannabis, you preserve all of the terpenes and cannabinoids contained in the trichomes. When you dry and cure your cannabis, the terpenes are lost pretty quickly.
The whole idea behind live resin is to keep all of the terpenes in the trichomes after extraction. The best way to do this is to use frozen material. Since you can’t find fresh frozen cannabis everywhere, you can make it yourself.
You can buy whole bud or trim and keep it in your freezer until you’re ready to use it for extraction. You could also buy cannabis extract and keep it on ice if you’re not a medical patient. If you’re a medical patient and live somewhere where cannabis is legal, you can go to your local dispensary and pick up some shake or runts. This is great for making live resin because you won’t have to wait for it to freeze.
Whichever cannabis product you decide to use, you’ll need to follow the same steps for making live resin.
Step 1: Decarboxylate Your Material
Your cannabis has most of its THCA turned into THC when it’s fresh and frozen. However, when you extract high levels of THC, it’s not as effective medicinally or recreationally. This is because high levels of THC need to be decarboxylated or heated up to activate the cannabinoid receptor in your body. If you don’t heat up your extract, you won’t get the full effect of whatever cannabinoid profile you’re trying to achieve.
You can decarboxylate your material by baking it at 225 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. You can bake a little bit at a time or all at once depending on how much material that you have. If you bake your material one piece at a time, make sure that it’s spread out on a cookie sheet so that it heats evenly.
Step 2: Choose Your Solvent
After your material has been decarboxylated, you’re ready to extract. There are three different types of solvent that can be used for live resin: butane, CO2 and rosin tech. Each solvent has different qualities that will affect your finished product, so it’s important to choose carefully.
CO2 extraction is very popular among people who make live resin because it doesn’t leave any residue behind like butane or rosin tech solvents do. It also extracts a higher percentage of terpenes than butane or rosin tech extraction methods do. However, CO2 extraction isn’t as widely available as butane or rosin tech extraction methods are. You may have to join a group to get access to the equipment needed for CO2 extraction.
Butane extraction is the most widely available method of extraction that can be used for live resin and is also the cheapest option out of the three solvents listed above. If you want to make live resin as cheaply as possible, butane extraction is the way to go. Butane leaves residue and lowers the quality of your final product so be aware before deciding on this method of extraction! On the plus side, butane evaporates pretty quickly and it leaves behind no taste or flavor like rosin tech does.
Rosin tech extraction has become very popular recently because hash makers like it for its flavorless and no-sticky results. Depending on what kind of presser you have, this solvent can leave behind some residue depending on what kind of plant material that you use and how long you press your material for.
