Ice-O-Lator Step by Step
Marijuana Horticulture
by Jorge Cervantes
The Ice-O-Lator was popularized by Mila, owner of the Pollinator, in Amsterdam, Holland. This water extraction process is simple, efficient method of extracting THC packed resin crystals from cannabis plants. Using the Ice-O-Lator is very easy. Here is a brief recap of the process.
You will need – Ice-O-Lator set, 20-25 liter (5-gallon) bucket with lid, kitchen mixer (use the kind with paddles for mixing, do not use the kind with a short copping blade), paper towels, dinner plate, plastic card, large mixing spoon, 4.5-11 pounds of ice cubes, enough to keep the temperature down to 41F.
Keep the temperature of the water just above freezing at 41F.
Put in the most resinous leaf trim available. Make sure the chopped cannabis does not contain stems or other sharp plant parts that would damage the precision screen. Prepare buds by pulling apart or cutting into bits before introducing to the mix.
Fill the bucket with ice-cold water to six inches below the rim. Put the bags into the bucket in the proper order. Make sure there are no air bubbles trapped between the bags or the bucket. The bags will hang straight down, nested inside one another and the bucket. Pull the top edge of each bag over the rim of the bucket, hold it down and lock it in place with the drawstring and siding lock.
Now you are ready to throw in the frozen cannabis. Put up to seven ounces (200g) into the water. Do not put too much plant material into the water because it needs space to mix and for the resin to separate and fall through the sieves below. When there is too much plant material in the water, many resin glands adhere to the foliage.
Add more ice on top of the plant material. This helps ensure the leaves get wet. Fill the bucket with more water to within two inches of the top of the bucket. Let the mix soak for 15 minutes. Time is needed for the mass of foliage to become as cold as water. The temperature should be about 41F.
Cut two holes in the lid of the bucket – a little bigger than the shafts of the mixer. Attach the paddles of the mixer with the top of the lid in between. Put the lid on the bucket, and turn the mixer on at a low speed. The mixer will stir the concoction. Keep the mixer on and let it mix for 15 minutes.
Remove the lid. Use a spoon to move the plant material on the perimeter to the center. The goal here is to make sure everything mixes evenly. Let the mix soak for five minutes longer. Replace the lid and turn the mixer on again.
Repeat the process until all leaves have been stirred with cold water. Mila likes to mix it for about an hour so all the wet trim and leaves are floating on top of the water.
Turn off the mixer and let the resin settle one more time for about 15 minutes. Remove the first bag that contains all the raw material. Close the top and hang in a place where it can easily drain. Remove the debris in the bag and turn it inside out. Run water through the screen to wash out any latent resin that may have gotten caught in it.
Cleanliness is of paramount importance from beginning to end!
Everything that falls in the second bag will end up in the end product. When cleaning out the first bag, make sure the crystals do not stick on the outside of the second bag. Ample water here is important. Remember, it is a rinsing and separating operation.
Remove the last bag having the finest screen. The water will drip out slower than from any other bag. You may have to hold the bag between your hands and sift the water back and forth across the sieve in the bottom to evacuate all the water because the accumulated hash slurry in the bottom tends to block the sieve. This part is fun! You can watch the slurry of hash congeal as the water drips through the sieve in the bottom of the bag.
Once the water is gone, the even changing slurry of hash remains, seemingly floating on the sieve in the bottom of the bag. If the slurry is green and full of contaminating debris, rinse carefully in cold water. The rinse will carry some of the green matter through the sieve.
Concentrate the wet hash in the bottom of the sieve. Fold the sieve and squeeze out more water. Place a couple of paper towels on the bottom of the screen to absorb more moisture.
Dance around the room with the hash in your hands high above your head. You may have made your first Ice-O-Lator hash!
Do not waste the cold water; start another load! You can make up to five batches with the same cold water!
When you are done with the water, pour it on your plants. They love the nutrients.
Remove the semi-dry caked resin from the screen. Scrape it out with a plastic credit card or a small thin teaspoon.
Thoroughly rinse out all the bags to remove resin and debris. Clean screens with 96 percent pure alcohol so no oil based resin remains. Hang to dry.
Moisture must quickly be removed from the resin powder to prevent mold. Crumble it up and spread it out on a screen or hard surface. I like a screen because you can sop up moisture by pressing a paper towel under the screen.
Another option is to hand press all the water out of the ball. Continue working the wet powder until it transforms into a cohesive ball of oily hash.
Or you can hand press until you have a slid ball. Keep squeezing and pressing, water will become visible on your hands.
Remove the last bit f moisture by flattening out the ball and putting it in the freezer. Freezing expands the volume of water, which will appear on the surface of the hash. Simply wipe off the ice when you remove the hash from the freezer.
When you press powder, the resin crystals will break and the oil will be released. The mix will darken as it oxidizes. The resin crystals from very fresh leaf will remain white, a very high quality.