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One of the biggest complaints about cannabis infused oils and butter is that the taste of these products is usually less than desirable. This is due to the long soaking process where cannabis flowers are infused with an oil such as coconut oil or butter.
This long soak draws all the unwanted plant materials into your final product giving it that characteristic green hue and pungent aroma. Some people may not mind this herbal funkiness, but for many others it’s a complete turn-off.
An Alternative
Fortunately, there is a method to prepare your flower so that you can eliminate these drawbacks and produce an infused oil that is much more golden in color and without any of that telltale herbal aroma: water curing.
Water curing your dried cannabis flower is a simple straightforward process that will remove all the water-soluble materials from your flower.
All the precious cannabinoids are hydrophobic, which means they wont dissolve in water; They are left behind on the plant. You can also use this process for your AVB (Already Vaped Bud).
Washing away the yuck
The end-product of a water cure is dull and lifeless in appearance with not much bag appeal. The looks are deceiving though; this is the smoothest and most potent smoke you will find. The water washes away all the things responsible for giving cannabis its flavor and aroma.
Water cured weed is much stealthier; Vaping or smoking it doesn’t produce the typical cloud of skunky smoke that instantly draws everyone’s attention. This is awesome, but where it truly shines though is in the making of edibles.
Edibles made with water-cured infused cannabis oil smell and can taste just like normal treats! Its a great option for those who are sensitive to the taste of cannabis, and for those recipes that are too delicate to handle green cannabutter.
The water cured cannabis is also great for brewing tinctures and for making cannasugar or cannasalt.
Cleaner, Healthier Flower
The process of water curing washes away any residual pesticides, chemicals, insects and mold that could be present in your flower, giving you a much healthier product at the expense of its visual appeal and its volume.
You will experience a 20-30% reduction in final weight, but the THC percentage remains the same, effectively making it more potent per ounce than before you started.
One of the downsides of water curing is that many of the beneficial terpenes that give cannabis its unique scents are also washed away. That mouth-watering fruity smell your Blueberry first had may be completely erased.
Naturally, there are some who may choose not to water cure based on that fact. However, for those who want their oil tasteless this is the way to go.
Items Needed
For this project, you will need the following items:
- 1 Large mason jar with lid
- Dried cannabis flower. Don’t grind it, leave it whole
- Distilled water – Look for water filtered by reverse osmosis as this will perform the best.
Instructions
- Place your cannabis flower in the jar and cover with distilled water to the very top. Screw on the lid. Do Not Shake the jar.
- Place the jar in a cool dark place and let sit undisturbed. If you cannot find a cool place, put it in your refrigerator.
- Once a day, gently drain the colored water out of the jar** and refill with fresh distilled water. Replace lid and place back in the cool spot. Do Not Shake
- Continue this process until the plant no longer leaches color and the water remains clear. This can take anywhere between 3-12 days depending on many things.
- Gently drain the water and discard.
- Dry your water cured cannabis using any quick-dry method you prefer such as a food dehydrator.
** The first few times you pour off the water it will smell absolutely horrible. This is normal and the smell will go away with continued washes.
You can now use your dried water-cured cannabis in whatever manner you desire!
How long do i dry it after water curing it? Do i decarb before the watercuring process or after?
Do i have to dry it out totally before decarbing it?
Thanks
Dry time is dependent upon a variety of factors such as drying method, bud size & density, amount, temperature & humidity, etc.
Using a food dehydrator will cut your time down drastically. Just check them occasionally so as to not over dry them.
You can water cure both decarbed flower and fresh flower, depends upon its intended purpose.
If you are using it for cooking, I recommend decarbing before water curing as it will help with the “toasted” taste.
If you are vaping it, water cure it without decarbing
double post sorry
I’m considering a decarb before water curing, then dry and an alcohol extraction to end up with a clean tincture. Does this sound reasonable, or am I over thinking the process? Thanks for any advice and the great post.
That is a great process to achieve a nice clean tincture. You’re not over thinking, go for it!
If you don’t have a food dehydrator, would air drying it work? Would it take over a day to air dry it? Thanks so much for these details. Very helpful.
You can air dry. Exactly how long that process will depend on temperature, humidity and air flow. You can also use your oven at its lowest temperature with the door propped open.
Does it need to be dried and cured or can I water cure fresh buds?
You can water cure fresh buds as well, same process.
I watered cured 7 g and afterwords it was only weighing 4.4 g will it still be as potent as the 7 g?
Technically by weight it is now MORE potent, as you have the same THC content in the remaining 4.4g versus the original 7g.
Awesome! Do you happen to know why there is such a loss of weight?
everything that is water soluble is pulled from the flower and discarded, thus the weight loss.
Also, I water cured and then dried out the bud. Then I decarbed it and infused it into some oil, but I don’t have any effects from it at all. Not like if I don’t water cure it
Not sure exactly. If making edibles, I prefer to decarb first then water cure though. Water curing does not remove the trichomes unless you are vigorously shaking it or something.
I had no idea that I had the option to decarb first.! Thank you so much!
Hi, just wondering…. I can imagine that it would be a nice high and also a nice hat to have for those discreet public smokes but don’t the terpenes have a lot of medical value?
I’m also amazed at how much chlorophyll and terpenes weigh in the plant!!! It has to be better for the lungs also. I do believe that smoking weed is good for the lungs if it doesn’t have any contaminants and I feel this would be even better.
What about extracting the terpenes from the weed first then doing the water cure and then adding back the terpenes? Anyone tried that?
Thank you for the great explanation of this process.
There is much less aroma when smoking water cured flower so from the stealth standpoint its a bonus.
You are correct that terpenes have medical value, and you will lose any water soluble terpenes. The smoke is much smother and easier on the lungs, especially in a vaporizer.
As for extracting and reintroducing terpenes, I am sure it can be done but I have not tried it myself.
Perhaps someone else will chime in on that part?
I learned this process years ago from an old hippie. That was before anybody knew about decarbing it..
Now after I water cure I go straight into a FoodSaver bag and sous vide decarb then straight to putting the butter in the bag with a few tablespoons of grain alcohol to act as an Emulsion breaker. Then I sous vide for the recommended amount of time.
Comes out dank every time.
Awesome! I also was shown this many years ago, now I never make butter without water curing.