How To Make Rosin At Home With A Rosin Press

Did you know that you can make rosin at home with only one DIY tool known as a rosin press?

The burgeoning cannabis concentrate industry is gaining attention and popularity. And with that, a growing variety of extracts have entered the market including distillates, dabs, and rosin. 

Today, you’ll be learning all about how to make rosin with a rosin press at home. We’ll dive into the process behind making it using either a machine press or with a few simple household items. But before we get into the how-to guide, you should know what rosin is, and why you’d want to make it in the first place. 

The good news is you don’t need botany, chemistry, or engineering backgrounds to pull this off successfully — just the willingness to learn and follow basic instructions and access to a few common household items. A rosin press DIY will be easier than any other cannabis recipe you’ve done before.

What is Rosin?

In a nutshell, rosin is a dense nug of marijuana that has been compressed through continuous, repeated heated presses that extract all of the sticky and oily substance from the plant material. The heated press applies a moderate to intense amount of pressure which acts to “squish” out all of the bud’s “essence,” if you will.

Famous for being a solventless concentrate, rosin doesn’t require the use of butane, ethyl alcohol, or CO2 like most other concentrates. This can degrade the aroma and flavor profile. Instead, rosin uses only heat and pressure. 

This is seen as an advantage because poorly crafted concentrates can leave solvent residue behind, which is then consumed by the customer. These leftover solvents can cause long-term damage to your lungs as well as your overall health. Since rosin doesn’t use harsh solvents that strip the terpenes and cannabinoids, it also boasts a much cleaner and naturally earthy taste. 

Squish: How Is it Made?

Whether you’re using a machine press or hair straightener, rosin is a pure, clean, and easy way to intensify your high without breaking the bank. 

To extract rosin from marijuana, a pressor that features 2 heated plates is required. Rosin can be made using a commercial press machine or by doing it yourself using a hair straightener. Pressing rosin yourself saves money and the hassle of going somewhere to buy the machine or have it done for you. However, machine presses yield a bigger and more potent batch of rosin — so it honestly depends on what your needs and wants are. 

That said, we think it’s imperative for you to know what a rosin press is and how it works before delving into the process of making your own.

Rosin Press Canada: How Do They Operate?

As we briefly mentioned earlier, a rosin press is a specialized machine created to extract concentrate from the plant material. Rosin presses guarantee your product will be fast and easy to make, and most of all safe for consumption — and there are 2 kinds to choose from: pneumatic cylinder and hydraulic. 

The pneumatic rosin press uses compressed air to create pressure, and the hydraulic press uses compressed water. Pneumatic rosin presses are also easier to use and are more consistent and reliable than hydraulic presses because of how the pressure is distributed. Another great thing about pneumatic presses is that they are virtually noise-free, easy to operate, and they render a higher-quality product of rosin compared to hydraulic and DIY presses. 

Hydraulic presses use increased pressure intervals is associated with a poorer quality rosin production. Realistically, high-pressure anything can ruin rosin by sloughing unwanted material into the crop, or it could blow out a seal and ruin your entire rosin harvest.

DIY Rosin Press: Create Your Own Rosin at Home

If you’re on a budget and have the time — you can always make rosin at home. Keep in mind it won’t create the yields or quality that a machine press can, but it works all the same. The following 4 steps outline a DIY guide on how to make rosin. 

The 5 items needed can be easily found around the house, on Amazon, or from your local Walmart. You’ll need:

• A flat iron/hair straightener (preferably one with digital temperature display)
• Dabber or small collection tool
• Parchment paper
• Dried marijuana buds (min of 3.5 grams)
• Heat-resistant gloves

Create Your Own Rosin in 4 Easy Steps

1. Turn on your flat iron to the lowest setting, or between 280℉-330℉ if using a digital straightener. Cut out a piece of parchment paper that is larger than the hot plates on your hair straightener, and place the bud between the parchment paper — then fold it in half. 
2. Put on your gloves and place the folded parchment paper and folded bud between the flat irons hot plates. Hold the straightener at an angle and press firmly for about 5-10 seconds, or until you hear sizzling. 
3. Once you hear the sizzle, you should start to see a dark-green, thick, sticky liquid begin to leak out onto the paper. Gather and scrape the material using your dropper or collection tool. 
4. Take the freshly pressed bud, and fold it in half again — repeating the process until all the liquid is extracted and collected. 

That’s all you need to do to make easy, solvent-free squish at home! If you’re having trouble collecting your squish off of the paper, pop the entire thing into the refrigerator for half an hour to make it easier.

DIY Rosin at Home

Loved for being pure and solventless, rosin is a great option for the health-conscious cannabis consumer who is wanting a safer way to enjoy marijuana concentrates. Being able to create your own rosin press at home allows lower-income users the opportunity to savor the flavor and high that high potency extracts have to offer.