Hobbes
Well-Known Member
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I've read that there's a fair bit of butter left in the marijuana ball after hand squeezing and a press bowl would help get most of it out. I bought a 4" garlic press to see how it would work and it collapsed the first time I used it. The least expensive Press Bowl I could find online was $90 usd so I thought of how I could make one quick and cheap.
I salvaged the perforated bowl and pressing pad from the Garlic Press and picked up a C clamp at Canadian Tire. The metal pot is a dipper with a thick steel bottom and the cup is from a metal thermos to add strength to the pressing pad. I wrap the dreg ball in 3 layers of cheese cloth to keep the dreg flour from pressing through the holes in the garlic cup. I'm looking for a large metal coffee filter to line the garlic press cup, to keep the tiny sediment out of the butter. I've got to find an inflexible metal disk to replace the cup for pressing pad reinforcment, the C clamp bends it in the center.
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I started with about 165 ml of butter and got about 25 ml from the Press Bowl - about 15% of the total used and almost 25% more butter than if I hadn't pressed. And hopefully the most potent butter. 75 ml butter from the 1 gallon bubble bag; and 30 ml from the metal strainer. In reverse order from the extraction order. The next picture shows the 3 grades of butter, each hardened in a 250 ml measuring cup; below is each of the tools used to extract the respective butter disk above.
. . . Drip drain, hand squeeze, bowl press . . .
This time I was making Lava Butter with 2 cups of Volcano dregs (coffee grinder-ed to just under 1 cup of flour) and about 165 ml of butter - so I could make two trays of brownies with 1/3 cup of Lava Butter per tray.
It's important to crank the handle as hard as you can (of course), then put the whole press in the oven at ~80 degrees C (buy a C clamp without baked on enamel if possible, no plastic or paint in the oven). The butter has probably started to harden by this time, the heat will liquefy it again. It takes time for the butter in the middle of the ball to make its way through, you'll probably re-tighten a half dozen times before you have most of the butter out.
The large garlic press was $10 at the grocery store (or walmart); the C clamp was $15 at the hardware store. Get a large C clamp, you need a big handle to crank some press on. If you can fashion a larger handle you'll be able to crank harder and if you have a vise you can make the clamp stationary while you tighten.
Can anyone come up with a better design, a way to attach a larger handle; a way to vise the clamp so it's stationary; how to recover a larger percentage of used butter; where to buy silk screen in small towns (craft shops don't carry it); etc. I lost a lot of butter in my bubble bag, I'd like to just use silk screen so the butter will rinse off in hot water. I have to scrape the pots and measuring cups better as well, a lot of butter to be recovered. The other thing I have to watch is the temperature and length of simmer, I've been reading through this forum to improve my cooking.
.
.
I've read that there's a fair bit of butter left in the marijuana ball after hand squeezing and a press bowl would help get most of it out. I bought a 4" garlic press to see how it would work and it collapsed the first time I used it. The least expensive Press Bowl I could find online was $90 usd so I thought of how I could make one quick and cheap.
I salvaged the perforated bowl and pressing pad from the Garlic Press and picked up a C clamp at Canadian Tire. The metal pot is a dipper with a thick steel bottom and the cup is from a metal thermos to add strength to the pressing pad. I wrap the dreg ball in 3 layers of cheese cloth to keep the dreg flour from pressing through the holes in the garlic cup. I'm looking for a large metal coffee filter to line the garlic press cup, to keep the tiny sediment out of the butter. I've got to find an inflexible metal disk to replace the cup for pressing pad reinforcment, the C clamp bends it in the center.
.
.
I started with about 165 ml of butter and got about 25 ml from the Press Bowl - about 15% of the total used and almost 25% more butter than if I hadn't pressed. And hopefully the most potent butter. 75 ml butter from the 1 gallon bubble bag; and 30 ml from the metal strainer. In reverse order from the extraction order. The next picture shows the 3 grades of butter, each hardened in a 250 ml measuring cup; below is each of the tools used to extract the respective butter disk above.
. . . Drip drain, hand squeeze, bowl press . . .
This time I was making Lava Butter with 2 cups of Volcano dregs (coffee grinder-ed to just under 1 cup of flour) and about 165 ml of butter - so I could make two trays of brownies with 1/3 cup of Lava Butter per tray.
It's important to crank the handle as hard as you can (of course), then put the whole press in the oven at ~80 degrees C (buy a C clamp without baked on enamel if possible, no plastic or paint in the oven). The butter has probably started to harden by this time, the heat will liquefy it again. It takes time for the butter in the middle of the ball to make its way through, you'll probably re-tighten a half dozen times before you have most of the butter out.
The large garlic press was $10 at the grocery store (or walmart); the C clamp was $15 at the hardware store. Get a large C clamp, you need a big handle to crank some press on. If you can fashion a larger handle you'll be able to crank harder and if you have a vise you can make the clamp stationary while you tighten.
Can anyone come up with a better design, a way to attach a larger handle; a way to vise the clamp so it's stationary; how to recover a larger percentage of used butter; where to buy silk screen in small towns (craft shops don't carry it); etc. I lost a lot of butter in my bubble bag, I'd like to just use silk screen so the butter will rinse off in hot water. I have to scrape the pots and measuring cups better as well, a lot of butter to be recovered. The other thing I have to watch is the temperature and length of simmer, I've been reading through this forum to improve my cooking.
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