You deserve the featured grow award thats for sure...It was gunna be a hard decision for us...then you posted this lol
excellent work here badkitty. yes it is very nice to see top notch growers enter our community. i think everyone here just focuses on what we all love and that is growing, no drama or bullshit(at least in the basement lol). but yeah i feel grasscity has a very homey feeling and lots of good vibes here man. dont be surprised if your already addicted to the site anyways looking forward to seeing more from this journal. that huge clone only pheno is insane dude. massive weight on those buds
Bad kitty Wow what a show .....O ya..... ur rocking the city....very nice addition to here... we all lost Myles & out of his Ashes comes 1 bad cat...probably not as much of a talker but obvious a very talented grower..... welcome & i hope u stick around a while...... Cutter
Jeeeezis effin crow! Nice TW grow! I loves me a trainwreck. Congrats on the featured grow! Looks like you've earned it well.
Wow!! I am honored, I go away for just a few days to make some tasty potent Canna baked goods, and come back to all this Really guys you're too much, thanks for all the kind words and respect. I really couldn't have got to the point in my growing hobby that I'm at today, without all the growers from my past, from my old forums, or without the growers here, just like yourselves, big and small. Watching all the vast successes, and the very few unfortunate failures of my fellow growers, is how I compiled the knowledge I have and needed in order to do what I do, and do it well. So thank YOU ------------- Since I was away for a few days (still can't believe what was going on while I was gone! You guys are too cool ) I thought I would make a little show of what I was up to. This is my personal recipe for making Oil and baking with Canna. I saved a how-to to share that I had made previously, years ago, but while getting ready to make some butter I decided to make this one up, brand new, and exclusive for Grass City eyes only ;-P -------------- How to Make Canna Oil / Butter w/ a potent, 'Frosted Brownie' recipe included. You will need... For the Oil: - 3+ oz of bud or trim for the oil here, I used a total of 6 oz mixed bud and leaf trim - 2/3 cup of a high fat content dairy butter - 1/3 cup of Lard - 1/3 cup of Crisco, both the solid and liquid are fine - 3/4 cup Water - electric grinder or blender - potato masher - double boiler pot or two pots, one larger with a small amount of water that the smaller pot rests inside - cheese cloth - a large bowl, dish or 4 cup measuring cup For the Brownies: - store made boxed Brownie Mix I use Ghirardelli, it holds a lot of oil w/out much tampering - 1/4 c cocoa powder I use this to hold the excess oil instead of thinning the recipe out with just flower - 2 eggs the recipe calls for one, but two will taste and come out better with the alterations - 1/3 c sugar so the added cocoa isn't too bitter - 1/3 - 1/2 c Oily Hash Water this is for those of us using larger quantities of canna, otherwise use plain water. - and, of course, 3/4 c of your Canna Oil Frosting: - 3/4 c Cocoa Powder - 2/3 c Canna Oil - 3 c Powder Sugar - 3 Tbsp light cream The first photos are the canna materials and ingredients used. To make the oil, it's important that you blend your material as fine as possible, without reducing the leaf matter itself to a powder. The grinder photos show the material before, and how it should look after grinding. What you want, ideally, is to separate as much glandular material from the leaf and bud as possible before you even begin extracting it into your oil. When you've done it just right, you'll have particles of leaf and bud slightly larger and easily visible, and a glandular powder that was broken up from both the inside and off the outside of your leaf and bud. This will make it immediately and more readily available to the oil, than trying to extract it from within more solid pieces. I store my leaf material in the freezer when I can, having it cold and dry makes the glands brittle so they snap easily away from the bud and leaf. In the last photos you can see how the kief/glands build up on the blades of the grinder. I wipe these off towards the end and drop them directly into the oil.
You deserve it, trust me. You are giving the GC community what it needs, and I am honored that you decided to join us.
Heat your Butter, Crisco, Lard and Oil, in your double boiler. Melt and blend on lowest possible setting. Once melted, begin adding your blended material. Mash around with a spoon, make sure it's all an even consistency and the material has been coated well. Now begin turning up the heat, you will still want it on one of the lowest settings, no more than '2' on your burner, usually. Use your baking thermometer to quickly increase the temperature to 200 degrees F, then quickly back off once you reach that point. From there on out, keep your oil at a constant temperature, anywhere between 175 - 185 degrees F is good. Lower than 160 F can extend the duration of the process to the point that the THC is either damaged, or you need to stop short of a full extraction, and higher than 200 F for an extended period can begin damaging the THC before you even begin baking with it. You want to save what heat-withstanding capacity it has, for the baking process. Non-heat confectioneries work even better than baked goods, as there is no need to damage the oil with further heating and processing. Once the temperature is stable and you're not adjusting the heat any more, use your spoon or potato masher** to process and mash the material as much as possible. This is where you really begin extracting THC from the material, even beyond what you shook loose during the grinding process. - - The second to last photo is the first press with the potato masher, the last photo is how it looks after a few moments of pressing. You can see the potent contents beginning to bond with the oils. - - Assuming you're only about 30 minutes into the heating portion of the process at this point, you will want to leave the material on a heat around 180 F for roughly 2.5 hours more, occasionally pressing it with your masher. After that time, and once you have achieved a rich golden and vaguely green-ish oil, turn off the heat. Including the brief cool-down, this portion should not take longer than 3.5 hours. ** - If using a home made double boiler, be sure you didn't over-fill the water area between the two pots, or it will over flow onto your burner when you start pressing.
After removing from heat, allow your material and oil to cool for about 20 minutes, to half an hour. Once you can just begin to stand touching the material bare-handed (or preferably sooner, if you have heat resistant silicone cooking gloves), you can prepare your cheese cloth, and your large bowl or measuring cup as the pictures show, making a quadruple (4 layers) thick sheet of your cheese cloth. Unless it's already of a fine enough mesh, then only double it. Once you have made a secure area to place your material suspended over the container (I use a mini colander/strainer), begin spooning the oily material into the cheese cloth. Don't use too much, or it will either burst your cloth if it's cheap, or leafy bud will dribble around the edges, getting into your oil. You want enough material in the cloth that you can keep it contained, only allowing the oil to escape. With a twisting motion, squeeze all the material through the cheese cloth into your container until it is completely separated. The last photo is the material you will be left with, this is how it should look if fully squeezed. * Off topic slightly, I usually don't bother anymore, but there is often up to a 1/3 strength content left in the used material, so if you feel like it, just re-use it with fresh oil, butter and lard, or freeze it to use again another time. It will only be about a third as potent as the original or less. What I used to do is save three or four batches worth, then run them all through the same small amount of oil. Sometimes that will give equal or even better effects.
And this is what you're left with! I use a lot of material, so I usually require a larger amount of water to start with. When I know I will be making a recipe that requires some water, I don't bother risking the oil quality, by trying to let that extra water evaporate with extended heat during the process, and I sometimes even use a little more water, doing this allows me to get away with using a much more substantial amount of material, making for much more potent brownies, cookies, and cakes. The water in the middle is still oily, it contains an amount of THC, but even better, on the bottom there is a greasy, heavy, thick layer of THC bonded with oil, that you otherwise without the added water would not have extracted so easily. Much of it would have been left behind in the material, to either be thrown away or re-processed. (even worse, I read some tutorials years back that used to recommend that people pour off and dispose of the 'brackish water', guiding people into wasting their hard-earned glands! ) - - The first two photos were taken immediately after processing, the last two are from the following day, allowing time for the oils that can solidify to do so. - - If I'm going to use the oil 'immediately', I let it stand covered, just on the counter over night. If I'll be using it sometime in the future, any more than a day or two, I put it in a cold-safe container and store it in the freezer.
Baking Begins OK, I got a little over-excited, and wound up making all the batter without taking any photos... it would have been hard to do with messy hands anyway, but I apologize Pre-heat your oven to 235 degrees F. - What you need to do, now that some of the Canna Oil has solidified, is separate and strain out all your hash-oil-water (the brackish brown water) into a large sauce pot, along with a few tablespoons of the Canna Oil itself. - If you made no hash water, then use the standard half cup of water recommended on the box. - Heat this to a low temperature, less than you did during processing, and add your Cocoa powder and sugar. - Turn off the heat and blend. - Add the eggs. Blend more. - Add roughly 3/4 c of your total canna oil, (saving roughly 2/3 c for the Frosting), blend. - Add the boxed mix, blend in 40-50 strokes. - Grease a 12 x 9 inch pan, pour in the batter, and put it in the oven on a middle rack. - Set your timer for 35 minutes. If it isn't done after 35 minutes, you may safely bake for another 5-10 minutes. Check with a tooth pick, pierced quickly and gently in the center of the brownies. If it comes up 'clean', then they're done. If it comes up with some batter, then bake another few minutes.