Tinctures can be the most infamous way to enjoy marijuana. Tinctures are useful due to their subtle nature and their ability to allow the active ingredients of marijuana to peak faster. For most cannabis users, tinctures are more effective than any other methods to consume weed like pills, cream, dissolvable strips, and gummies. But this will still depend on your needs and how you want to consume indica cannabis seeds for sale.
Cannabis Tinctures – What Are They?
According to Leafly.com, weed tinctures or golden or green dragon are alcohol-based marijuana extracts like infused alcohol. As a matter of fact, tinctures are the major type of marijuana medicine until the US endorsed cannabis prohibition. With the nickname “green dragon”, you may think marijuana tinctures are an excellent entry point for medical and recreational users.
How to Make Tinctures Using Indica Cannabis
The marijuana industry constantly evolves and creates new ways to experience and enjoy indica cannabis seeds for sale. People search for such techniques online. What’s best for you may not the best for other users. Here is a simple recipe you can follow to make cannabis tinctures.
Step 1: Prepare the Required Supplies and Ingredients
- An ounce of premium marijuana shake
- Kief or hash for better potency
- Two cups of high ABV liquor
- Aluminum foil
- Cannabis grinder
- Sealable plastic bag
- Eyedropper made of amber glass
- Big mason jar
- Coffee filters
- Glass oven-safe pan
- Cheese fabric pack
- Rubber band
- Latex gloves
- Measuring cup
- Funnel
Note: You can choose either sativa or indica cannabis seeds for sale in making cannabis tinctures.
Step 2: Grind and Set the Weed on Fire
Grind an ounce of marijuana shake, keep it inside the sealable plastic bag, and put it in the fridge for an hour. After that, put the plant matter in the oven-safe pan then spread it lightly. Use aluminum foil in covering the pan and preheat the oven at 235 F and put the pan inside the oven then leave it there for an hour.
The aluminum foil will prevent the weed from getting burnt while keeping the terpenes and THC content. THC will boil at 240 degrees Fahrenheit that will overthrow the purpose of decarboxylation and affect the finished product’s potency.
Thus, you must be very careful especially when you are unsure of the temperature gauge of your oven. The idea behind this is to get THC activated without compromising anything within the process.
Step 3: Extract Cannabinoids from Weed
After the decarboxylation process is complete, allow the pan to cool but don’t remove the foil. When the pan is already cool and touchable, carefully put the weed in a big mason jar and add some alcohol. Pour enough solvent to cover only the top part of the weed.
Store the mason jar in the freezer for a week to 6 months. Shaking is extremely important because it disrupts the plant, promoting even cannabinoids distribution within the solution.
Step 4: Process Your Tincture
After passing the decided duration, use the funnel in pouring the whole contents of your mason jar over a twin sheet of cheese fabric into a glass vessel. When the liquid stopped passing over easily, squeeze then turn the mass in your cheesecloth to collect the liquid.
Wear your gloves before touching the soiled cloth. The tincture can seep in the pores, causing unintended treatment before titration, the process of defining the concentration level of a dissolved material.
The liquid you will be collecting is a murky tincture. After collecting it, clean the mason jar and let it dry completely. Put 2 pieces of coffee filters on the jar’s opening and keep them intact by using a rubber band. Then, carefully pour the liquid over the filters to segregate the plant matter.
Step 5: Use Your Tincture and Enjoy
You can now use and enjoy your own marijuana tincture. Keep it in a cool and dry place. You can use an amber-colored glass bottle to prevent the liquid from deteriorating due to sunlight exposure.
3 Basic Methods Used in Making Cannabis Tincture
There are three basic methods to make marijuana tincture. These are:
The Warm Method
It is the traditional technique of making cannabis tincture. The warm method looks the same with the cold method though there’s no freezer involved. In this method, you need to blend the ingredients in the mason jar just like what you should do in the cold method. Pour alcohol in the mason jar after putting the other ingredients. Keep the jar in a dry and cool place away from direct sunlight for 1 to 2 months.
When that time frame is over, strain and separate the solid substances from the liquid and distribute the tincture in dropper bottles. The warm method is quite time-consuming than the other two methods. But it does not require checking the mason jar after storing it.
If you want the warm method, it is best to start creating your next batch every 2 to 4 weeks. Staggering the brew periods ensures you have cannabis tincture to consume in the next several weeks after using up your current supply. It depends on how much tincture you make in the past. This way, you will never run out of tincture to use for the whole month.
The Cold Method
It is the easiest method to create marijuana tincture since it does not involve cooking. Instead, you just need to blend the ingredients and set aside the mixture to brew it. The first thing to do is to break the marijuana buds into tiny pieces and put them in a mason jar.
There’s no limit on how much marijuana buds you can use. You can put more buds or less depending on your needs. Make sure the buds are dry. Avoid using moist and fresh seeds as they don’t produce potent tinctures.
Next, pour ethyl alcohol that will cover the plant material. You can use any high-proof alcohol. One ounce of ethyl alcohol is enough for a gram of weed. It means the alcohol-to-cannabis ratio does not need to be 1:1. Just be sure the alcohol covers completely the marijuana.
After mixing the ingredients in the jar, cover and shake it for 1-2 minutes. Store the mixture in the freezer and leave it there for 5 days. The mason jar will not shatter because of the expansion that will take place when the liquid solidifies. Alcohol comes with a low freezing point compared to water and will stay in the liquid form during this process.
Take the mason jar out of the fridge at least once or twice daily and shake it. This will help the plant matter to dissolve completely. After 5 days of freezing and multiple shakes, your tincture is 100% ready for consumption. All you need to do this time is to strain the liquid through the cheesecloth into the bowl. Throw away the used plant material and pour the tincture in a little dark dropper bottle.
The Hot Method
You can also call it the Green Dragon method. It’s the fastest way to make cannabis tincture. It requires some extra equipment and of course your constant attentiveness to avoid setting the alcohol on fire. This method takes less time for the brewing process, which is why it is the most of all these 3 ways to make a tincture.
To start, chop the marijuana buds into fine, slimmer pieces. Put the chopped buds on the cookie sheet and put it in your oven for roughly 5 minutes. The temperature should be at 325 degrees Fahrenheit or until the weed starts to produce its natural scent. Mix your buds with high-proof alcohol and put them both in the mason jar.
Put the uncovered mason jar in the pan and add some water all over it. Don’t add water on the mixture in your mason jar. Let the water around the jar boils and simmer the jar until the temperature goes down to 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
The mixture of weed and alcohol should not boil at 165 degrees Fahrenheit and that’s unlikely to happen. If the mixture boils, that means the temperature is extremely high. Just turn down the temperature and continue.
You may keep your kitchen fan open to get rid of any flammable alcohol fumes. Also, make sure you make cannabis tincture in a well-ventilated room to prevent those fumes from accumulating.
When the temperature is already 165 degrees Fahrenheit, take the mason jar from the boiled water using a pot holder. Allow the mixture to cool down. When the jar is already cool, strain and collect the liquid from the mixture. Allow the liquid to cool more before distributing it into your dropper bottles.
Conclusion
Feel free to use any of these three basic methods to make cannabis tincture. Just make sure you do the right steps and follow the tips you have learned here to gain the best results.