How to Prepare Cannabis for Alcohol Tincture - Tips, Techniques, & Best Practices

Preparing cannabis for tincture is an important step to ensure potent results.  Follow the steps below to maximize results of your cannabis tincture using Culinary Solvent 200 proof food grade ethanol.

1.) Start with "good" cannabis. The old rule follows "quality in equals quality out".  A "tincture" is only concentrating what's there on the plant to begin with.  When making cannabis tincture, using the cola flowers where the trichomes are most densely packed is recommended for the most potent tincture results.  You can use trim leaves for tincture, especially if they contain visible trichomes on the outside. Stems and seeds are not recommended for tincture.  Some stems are okay to include, but a tincture of just stems and just seeds will result in a wasted tincture.

2.) Cure the cannabis well and properly. Raw, freshly harvested cannabis contains too much water naturally to be used for tincture right away.  Cannabis intended for tincture should be cured after harvest according to best practices for all cannabis.  When making tincture, dryer is better over too moist.  Moldy cannabis should not be used for making tincture.  Remember, "Quality in = Quality Out"

3.) Consider decarboxylation.  This process of slowly heating the cannabis in an oven converts the present THC-a in raw cannabis into the psychoactive molecule THC.  Decarboxylation involves slowly baking the cannabis in your oven on a low temperature for approximately 25 minutes.  This low application of heat effectively "toasts" the cannabis plant, while the THC-A contained in the trichomes becomes THC that our body's endocannabinoid receptors can more readily accept.  When cannabis is smoked, the decarboxylation happens in the instant of combustion .  Same goes for baked goods, like brownies or when making canna-butter on the stove, the decarboxylation step happens naturally as part of the recipe.  Tincture however requires the step to be done separately.

View my decarboxylation recipe and discussion here.

4.) Chopping or Grinding the Cannabis before Tincture.  "Some" amount of chopping the cannabis is recommend in order to provide the maximum access of the alcohol to the trichomes.  There are no cannabinoids contained inside the leaf, and chopping or grinding the plant material too much can result in extra chlorophyll infused into your tincture as well.  Extra chlorophyll in a tincture may impart a bitter flavor, but otherwise contains no negative effects to the inclusion of your full extract tincture. Trim leaves are usually "airy" enough to not require any chopping pre-tincture.  Buds should be ground gently to open up especially dense flowers.  A hand grinder is preferable over a coffee grinder.

5.) Chilling everything beforehand. This is an optional step that offers minimal benefit for the work and energy expelled in keeping everything cold.  We recommend making your first cannabis tincture at room temperature.