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How To Make Cannabutter: Water Extraction | PROS & CONS

Before learning how to make Cannabutter by using the water extraction recipe, let’s start by observing the pros and cons of using water when making Marijuana butter. This is one of the most succesful and easiest methods to obtain Marijuana butter, however it might take a a day or so more to complete it, as compared to other recipes.

PROS & CONS Using Water to Make Cannabutter

PROS to use Water when Making Marijuana Butter:

  1. PRO: The weed’s flavor is diminished; while Marijuana buds might smell very appealing for most of us, tasting the same smell is not something you want.
  2. PRO: More chlorophyll is being removed during the cooking stage, as Cannabis trim has more clorophile than the buds. This of course, assuming you are using mostly trims.
  3. PRO: The layers of Cannabis trim and oil can separate easier as compared to when you do not use water.
  4. PRO: No need to excessively grind your weed.
  5. PRO: Really easy to make.

CONS to use Water when Making Marijuana Butter:

  1. CONS: Residual water in the butter (oil) may become a problem leading to bacteria. It is recommended that you consume your pot butter as soon as possible and meanwhile avoid any moisture.
  2. CONS: A grainy texture may form which might influence the aspect of your cooking’s end product (eg. brownies)
  3. CONS: You require to refrigerate for one day, which is might not be in your plans to wait this much if you are in a hurry.

How To Make Cannabutter with Water

Find a big pot, fill 60% of it with water and add your plant. There is no need to excessively grind or clean your herb and you can even throw whole leaves and stems in your pot. As a rule of thumb, for every one pound / 450 grams of butter you should use one ounce / 28 grams of Cannabis. This is a standard potency for the end product, if you find your edibles to be weak in effects or way too potent, simply adjust the amount of Marijuana used by +-20% depending the case.

Making Cannabutter: Simmering Stage

Next, you start by bringing your pot to a point where it starts to boil and after you lower the temperature and let it simmer (liquids kept just below the boiling point of water, but higher than poaching temperature). Make sure you stir the pot every now and then as you do when you are cooking soup. Do this for one hour, after that remove the pot from heat, cover it and let it cool until it becomes cold. If you wish to increase the potency of your cannabutter, repeat this process for one or two more days.

The Cannabutter Cheesecloth Recipe

The next step in making potent Cannabutter is the straining. As you finish the last simmering, don’t let the pot get as cold anymore, instead bring another pot as big as the one you used to boil and simmer your Marijuana trim, get a strainer and being to separate your plant from the water. These is no need to use a piece of cheesecloth, if you wish to do so however, note that the filtration process may take awhile.

cannabutter recipe

The good part is that you get more butter by using a cheesecloth, as when you pour the mixture over the strainer, after it cools enough, you can fold the cloth, squeeze and twist it to get the most out of it. You can pour additions small cups of boiling water on over the folded cheesecloth and once it is cool to handle, you can being to twist and press again to obtain more butter. Once you have done this a couple of times, you can now throw the mix at the bin.

Cannabutter Refrigeration Step

Now is time for refrigeration, so pick a nice pot where you want to store your amazing Cannabutter and pour the freshly filtered liquid which you obtained from the strainer and the one you squeezed from the cheesecloth. Cover it nicely and leave it in the fridge for at least one day.

Cannabuter Water Separation Process

As the butter hardens, it will stay above the water. What we need to do next is to separate our Cannabutter from water. This is a very simple process, just cut slices of the butter as if you would cut a pizza, and remove all the chunks away from the water.

how to make cannabutter with water

Get yourself some paper towels to dry the chunks of butter from the bottom of the pot, as those pieces are in contact with water and can be mushy. Make sure there isn’t excessive moisture on your Marijuana butter. There will be scraps of butter which you won’t be able to dry with paper towels, so you won’t want to throw that away, but you won’t want to store that for long since water can promote growth of bacteria. What you can do in this case, is use those chunks of mushy Cannabutter first in cooking simple edibles such as brownies.

Storing Cannabutter

Now you are almost done. The last step is the most rewarding one, as now you will melt your Cannabutter in a pan, and pour the liquid in the final containers where you will store it. You can use mason jars or anything which you may seem fit, although it would be advised to use a contained which you can also measure in order to know how much you are going to use when cooking with Cannabutter. Next, let it cool and place it in either your refrigerator or freezer, depending whether you are planning to use it soon or occasionally.

how to make cannabutter

This all you need to know in order to successfully make the best Cannabutter by using water and butter. I hope this article was clear enough and if you have any questions, opinions or want to share your experience with making Marijuana butter, feel free to join the comments section below!

6 thoughts on “How To Make Cannabutter: Water Extraction | PROS & CONS”

  1. Hello there,

    It might seem obvious but you can add the detail where raw butter is added to the herbs water mixture.

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