How Does Ice Water Hash Washing Work?
Ice water hash is quickly becoming the most popular concentrate on the legal cannabis market. In this article, we will give a background on ice water hash, a brief introduction about the process, and then lay out some of the most important things to look for in a quality hash washing machine.
This article will act as an ice water hash washing 101 guide. We dive deeper into the technical aspects of hash washing in many of our other articles. If that is what you are looking for, we recommend checking out an article like this one.
What is Ice Water Hash?
Ice water hash, also known as bubble hash, is a cannabis concentrate consisting of fresh frozen trichomes that have been sifted through various screens. The trichomes are more easily detached when using the combination of ice water and fresh frozen cannabis flower. Cannabis flower is usually frozen before placed in a hash washing machine making it easier for the trichomes to detach than if it was unfrozen. Trichomes are the resinous glands found in cannabis plants that contain its most desirable parts - such as cannabinoids and terpenes. Using a high-quality ice water hash washer is one of the best ways to ensure that you remove contaminants and preserve the goodness that makes up plant trichomes. 
Image from @Erik.Nugshots showing resinous trichome stocks and heads on strain Cake Crasher.
The techniques and processes utilized to produce ice water hash certainly aren't a new thing. Cannabis industry OG Skunkman is thought to be the first to discover that trichomes would sink when cannabis flower is submerged in water. He was the first to take out an ad in High Times selling his pioneering bubble hash bag. This production technique has been around since the late 1980s to early 1990s, but we've seen some significant advancements and technological improvement in hash making recently. This evolution is thanks mainly to the advances in cannabis legalization over the last five years or so.
Dry Sift Hash
Another standard method of producing hash is dry sifting, which has been around for much longer - perhaps hundreds of years in certain countries. Dry sifting uses a screen to separate the trichomes (also called kief) from the flower. Dry sifting is a much less complicated process than producing ice water hash and is often utilized by startup facilities with fewer resources.
However, the choice is clear for real connoisseurs: pure, artisan hash and the best solventless products come from an ice water hash washing machine. Doing so is the best way that solventless products are made today. Ice water hash washers preserve flavor, terpene profile and get the most from a particular strain's cannabinoids.
To get there, you need the best ice water hash washer you can buy, and you will need to understand how to make the best end product - and that means trusting the process.
The Process of Creating Ice Water Hash
Making ice water hash is fairly in-depth, but it becomes second nature for most after it is practiced a few times. Here is the six-step process to follow to make the best ice water hash.
- To start, a hash maker will take fresh frozen cannabis, place it in a hash washing machine, and allow it to soak for about 20 minutes. This cool down time ensures that the trichomes will be brittle and separate from the flower. The amount of fresh frozen flower you can place in a bubble hash washer depends on the specific model and the brand you choose to use. A product like an open hash wash liner can increase your hash washing machine's efficiency and volume. Check out these open hash wash liners that are handmade in Colorado.
- The next step is to stir for up to 20 minutes, depending on the end product you want to make. For full melt hash, you'll stir for about five minutes, but for full-spectrum, you can stir for up to 20 minutes. Check out this video for some amazing footage of an underwater trichome storm.
- Step three is when the magic happens during the ice water hash making process - as this is the point when the trichomes detach from the fresh frozen cannabis flower. First, however, you will need to remove the foam and debris from the skim port. This ensures that your end hash product will be as free from contaminants as possible.
- After that, the remaining trichome-containing liquid is poured through micron mesh bags. The bags filter out the trichomes from the liquid. The best micron mesh bags are between 73-120 micrometers. The hash washing process is typically repeated two or three times before freeze drying.
- From there, the wet hash is gently removed from the mesh bags and placed on parchment-lined freeze dryer trays. Here are some of the best freeze dryers on the market today.
- Lastly, the trays are placed in freeze dryers to remove moisture. Once the freeze drying is completed, the completed hash can then be sold as-is, or, more popularly, pressed into top-shelf hash rosin using a rosin press.
Now that you have a better grasp on the process of making premium ice water hash, you might be wondering what makes up a quality hash washing machine. We've got you covered. Read on for what you will want to look for when you find yourself on the market for an ice water hash washer.
What to Look for in a Hash Washing Machine
There are key features that make high-quality hash washing machines better than all of the rest. We have compiled a list of some of the most essential ways things to look for in your bubble hash washer so you can efficiently and effectively produce premium ice water hash that commands top dollar. Here are some of those important features:
Food grade. To ensure thatyou keep mold and bacteria from inhabiting your hash washing machine, you will want food-grade one. With simple, proper cleaning and care, you ensure that you have a sanitary hash product that will pass testing provided the initial fresh frozen flower is up to quality.
Ice consumption. Ask any ice water hash maker and they'll tell you - getting enough ice for use in your hash washing machine can be a lot of work. This process requires significant cleaning and sanitizing. The best ice water hash washers are heavily insulated and maintain a temperature of around 34 degrees Fahrenheit for the entire time you wash. With time, this is a notable cost savings aspect to look for when you're in the market for an ice water hash washer.
Ports for customization. The highest quality bubble hash washers feature ports that will allow you to customize, as well as route waste and drain water. Some even allow you to attach a sight glass to closely monitor your wash for the highest level of quality control. You can attach pumps to these vessels, which gives precision control over your water management.
What Sets Bruteless Ice Water Hash Washers Apart?
The above list of features are found on some of the best ice water hash washers on the market, but there are a few things that others don't do that a Bruteless Commercial Hash Washing Vessel does. A Bruteless ice water washing vessel from PurePressure is fully customizable, and each model comes with different configurations. Each Bruteless hash washing vessel is made from premium quality stainless steel in Colorado. The stainless steel false bottom on the vessel allows trichomes to settle smoothly - this protects the fragile trichomes from the bag, as well as the ice while giving you a more gentle isolation process.
Pictured: Stainless steel false bottom of the 30 gallon Bruteless hash washing vessel. Allows for gently isolating your trichomes at the bottom of the washer.
Some will say that they make six-star full melt hash, but with a Bruteless, you'll start with the base material to press into an authentic six-star quality product. Bruteless vessels give you more SKUs that you can turn into rosin - or you can use them as products to dry and sell on the shelf. This provides a customer with more options to choose from and more diversification of product offerings for your cannabis processing business. Bruteless hash washing vessels use fewer bags to filter out trichomes, which also reduces operating costs.
An investment in a Bruteless hash washing vessel means that you will be able to make hash with a highly scalable and lab-friendly process for years to come. How scalable? With the 65-gallon model, you can wash between 15,000 - 18,000 fresh frozen grams in a single wash! There are also 30-gallon and 44-gallon Bruteless models available, which allow you to wash up to 7,000 and 11,500 grams of fresh frozen flower at a time, respectively.
On top of all of that, Bruteless ice water hash vessels come backed by some of the best customer service you'll find in the legal cannabis industry. We take pride in ensuring that our customers get top quality service when producing top quality solventless extracts.
Didn't get your questions answered here in the article? We are happy to help. Contact us using live chat with us on our website, give us a call or shoot us an email.