What is rosin press?
The rosin press process was originally used to create rosin for violin bows, which is where the concentrate gets its name.
Rosin is a cannabis extract made using heat and pressure—cannabis plant material is placed in a press with heated pads and then compressed, squeezing out hot oil. The process is solventless, so no solvents or chemicals are used in creating rosin.
With rosin pressing systems, low heat and pressures are used to melt and squeeze the sticky resin from the plant material (kief, trim, buds), this process of extracting the oils that give a cannabis plant its unique taste and smell.
The whole process is fairly simple and does not require the use of any foreign substances, unlike other methods that use butane and/or propane. Since Rosin does not require the use of any other solvents or substances to produce, the final product is very potent, pure, and tastes & smells exactly like the strain that it was extracted from.
Rosin
- The resulting sticky, dark, and potent oil is called rosin.
- Rosin can be consumed as a dab or be infused into a variety of products including edibles, tinctures, and topicals.
- Live rosin is another form of rosin, which uses fresh frozen buds for a better flavor and aroma.
Can I press rosin at home?
Yes, it is completely possible. The biggest advantage of rosin extraction and solvent or CO2 extraction is that it has less investment, safety, no leakage, and pressure vessels, especially small rosin press and volume can be made very small.
On a smaller scale, cannabis users can use a simple hair straightener and some buds to literally squeeze out the resin using pressure and the hair straightener on the lowest heat setting, it can provide users with a concentrated and potent product.
4 benefits of rosin-pressed extracts
Requires No Solvents
The people love some pure, organic extracts. In reality, butane, alcohol, and other solvents can be harsh on the human body. Plus, they’re not the greatest for the environment, either.
Rosin is the only pure solventless solution. Rosin pressing results in pure, organic extract, there’s zero risk of residuals for the finished product, it’s clean, solventless concentrates that can be turned into so many different products from here.
basis for countless products
In fact, rosin’s ability to be a basis for countless products, and its diversity knows almost no bounds. Essentially, it can make concentrates into any type of cannabis product using just rosin. Edibles, topicals, salves, and softgels.
Potency
Cannabinoid of rosin concentration can be upwards of 80+%, it is the purest type of cannabis concentrate, they have got the maximum level of terpenes, cannabinoids, and other hemp compounds. Overall, this helps contribute to the taste, smell, and highness of the extract, so it makes sense it would also deliver the max potency.
Safer to Produce
As opposed to any solvent-based product, rosin is automatically safer to produce. Butane is also susceptible to explosion and is incredibly flammable, making it a risky process, for example. Rosin avoids these risks entirely.
4 Cons OF ROSIN press
- Rosin presses don’t do very well with trim and the amount of trim from a cannabis plant can be the same, or more, than the weight of the flowers. This means the rosin process, on its own, is an inefficient extraction method;
- Rosin is great for “dabbing” but doesn’t work well for vape pens – and vape pens, with their convenience, micro-dosing capability, and lack of smell, are the fastest-growing segment of the market. Rosin is a great product but only to a relatively small segment of the overall market;
- The rosin process leaves behind a lot of the cannabinoids in the post-pressed “chip” (sometimes referred to as a “wafer” or “puck”). Rosin makers often speak about 20-30% yields but what they don’t tell you is that a lot of that “yield” is made up of non-cannabinoid compounds, fats, sugars, bio-particulate, and the like – things that are not really wanted.
- As often as not, these post-pressed chips get thrown away, or fed to the dog, or soaked in coconut oil to make an edible base, or soaked in alcohol to make tinctures. None of these post-press products are “vapeable” or easily “doseable”.
CO2 extraction combined with rosin press
Now put a small CO2 extraction machine in the loop in combination with the rosin press. For a rosin-only operation that generates a significant amount of chips, when these two processes are combined, after the rosin press, the post-pressed, depleted rosin chips are put into the CO2 extraction machine. The amount and quality of potent, terpy oil recovered is nothing short of amazing, by using a small CO2 extraction machine in combination with a rosin press the operator can maximize the economic potential of the cannabis plant.
CO2 extraction combined with rosin press to extract hemp
Combining CO2 extraction with a rosin press can be an effective method for extracting hemp and obtaining high-quality concentrates. The process involves using supercritical CO2 extraction to extract the majority of the cannabinoids and terpenes from the hemp plant material, followed by using a rosin press to further refine and concentrate the extract. Here’s an overview of how this combined extraction method works:
CO2 Extraction
The hemp plant material is placed inside an extraction vessel of the CO2 extraction machine.
Supercritical CO2, which is CO2 in a state between a gas and a liquid due to high pressure and temperature, is passed through the vessel.
The supercritical CO2 acts as a solvent and extracts the cannabinoids, terpenes, and other desirable compounds from the hemp material.
The CO2 carrying the extracted compounds is then passed through a separator where pressure is reduced, causing the CO2 to convert back to a gas state and leaving behind the extracted oil.
The extracted oil contains a mixture of cannabinoids, terpenes, and other plant compounds.
Rosin Press
The extracted oil from the CO2 extraction process is collected and prepared for the rosin press.
The rosin press uses heat and pressure to further refine the extracted oil and concentrate the desired compounds.
The extracted oil is placed between two pieces of parchment paper.
The parchment paper with the oil is then placed inside the rosin press, between two heated plates.
The plates of the rosin press are brought together, applying heat and pressure to the oil.
The combination of heat and pressure causes the oil to liquefy and extrude through the parchment paper, leaving behind plant waxes and other impurities.
The resulting concentrate, known as rosin, is collected and can be further processed or used as-is.
Final Words
By combining CO2 extraction with a rosin press, you can benefit from the efficiency and selectivity of CO2 extraction to obtain a broad spectrum of cannabinoids and terpenes, and then use the rosin press to further refine and concentrate the extract. This combined approach allows for the production of high-quality hemp extracts with enhanced potency and flavor profiles.