How do you make the best batch of cannabutter? You start here! Learn how to easily make your own cannabis-infused butter and oils for baking and cooking at home. Just follow these 5 easy steps to making delicious & potent cannabutter.
Cannabutter, or cannabis-infused butter or oil, is becoming more and more popular as laws and perspectives change on marijuana. Making your own cannabis butter at home is easy. You only need a few kitchen tools, some patience, and of course, high-grade cannabis flowers.
Most cannabutter is made for the purpose of baking cannabis-infused edibles. Many of us are familiar with the age-old “magic brownies”, but cannabutter or cannabis-infused oil can be used in a number of different recipes.
Infusing butter or oil with cannabis is also a great way of administering medical marijuana. It’s also a simple and healthy alternative to smoking or vaporizing cannabis.
Why It’s Important To Know The Potency of Your Cannabutter
The effects of eating marijuana edibles are different than smoking cannabis flowers. Ingesting cannabutter or cannabis oil takes longer to onset, but will typically last longer than smoking.
Cannabutter or cannabis oils are essentially ingestible forms of cannabis concentrates. Cannabis edibles are typically concentrated and potent, and it can be easy to underestimate the power of a cannabis cookie.
We’re going to help you in understanding how strong, or potent, your cannabutter is so that you can easily make a portion or dosages.
It’s important to know how potent your cannabutter is to avoid overconsumption of THC, which can make you feel paranoid, overwhelmed, or anxious.
Don’t worry though. Cannabis is non-toxic and you cannot overdose from it, but you can over consume cannabis leading to undesired effects of temporary anxiety, sedation, or cognitive impairment.
Easy Guide To Making Delicious & Potent Cannabutter
In this article, we’re going to show you how to make delicious and potent cannabutter in five easy steps. We’ll give you some tips and the best way to make cannabis butter, go over a few different concoction methods, and show you how to easily titrate your butter or oil into portions, or doses.
Equipment
You don’t need much to get started making homemade cannabutter and cannabis-infused oils. Here’s a quick checklist of the tools and equipment you’ll need before you get started.
Equipment Checklist For Making Cannabutter
- Baking sheet or oven pan
- Medium to large sized cooking pot
- Medium to a large sized stainless steel bowl
- Glass or ceramic container (heat safe)
- Stove or Crockpot
- Cheesecloth or Fine mesh strainer
- Twine or string
Ingredients For Making Cannabutter
Butter or Oils For Making Cannabis Infusions
If you want to make delicious and potent cannabutter, the secret is to start with the highest quality ingredients. Your final product will only be as good, and as potent, as the quality of the ingredients that you start with.
If you’re going to make cannabis-infused butter, than use high-grade unsalted butter. Your cannabis butter is going to be even tastier if you can use organic, ethically sourced butter.
Cannabutter Tip # 1
Remember, butter comes from cow’s milk. And most of the milk industries’ cows are unethically treated. They suffer from their living conditions and cruel treatment.
Avoid supporting unethical practices by sourcing organic butter from farms that treat their animals with love and compassion. Your butter, and the world, will be better for it.
Oil Alternatives to Cannabutter
Butter isn’t the only thing you can use to make a cannabis-infusion for baking edibles or titrating ingestible cannabis therapies. You can also infuse many types of oil with cannabis
The most popular oil for making cannabis infusions is coconut oil. Other alternatives include olive oil, MCT oil, but you can use pretty much any other fatty oil you like.
Many people who make their own cannabis therapies at home choose to infuse coconut oil with medical marijuana. You can use this guide to making cannabutter to also make cannabis coconut oil.
Cannabis infused coconut oil is great for baking and cooking, but it also is a perfect medium for administering the therapeutic effects of cannabis. Cannabis-infused coconut oil can be used therapeutically in a number of different ways.
You can use cannabis-infused coconut oil –
- As a transdermal topical for skin issues
- As a base for health and beauty products
- To make healing balms and salves
- cannabis gel capsules
- therapeutic massage oils
- cannabis edibles
Best Cannabis For Making Cannabutter & Edibles
As we said, your cannabutter we’ll only be as good as the ingredients you used to make it. Really, you only need two great ingredients to make an amazingly delicious and potent cannabutter. We just went over what kind of butter or oils make the best cannabutter, which is the one of the two ingredients you’ll need.
If you want to make a really great cannabutter, then start with really great cannabis. You want to make sure that the cannabis you use is –
- Free from mold, pesticides, or other contaminants
- Preferably organically grown
- Has the desired THC: CBD ratio, potency, & terpene profile
High-quality cannabis can be costly if you’re not growing it yourself. Don’t worry though; this guide will work for you regardless if you’re making a pound of weed butter, or even a just small batch.
It’s important that the cannabis you use is free from contaminants. They can make you sick. Unfortunately, unless a laboratory has chemically analyzed your cannabis, you probably won’t know if your herb is contaminated with pesticides, herbicides, or chemical residues. Your best bet is to source cannabis as close to the grower as you can, so that you can ask about how it was produced and processed.
Also, you most likely won’t know the exact potency or THC: CBD ratio unless you’ve sampled the cannabis you’ll be using to make your cannabutter or infused cannabis oil.
Sampling the cannabis you’re going to use is definitely a good idea. Doing this will give you a good estimate of how potent the herb is and what its effects might be.
How To Make High-CBD Cannabutter & CBD-Coconut Oil
Coconut Oil
CBD, or cannabidiol, along with THC comprises cannabis’ two main active cannabinoid compounds. While they both share incredible therapeutic properties, they are vastly different when it comes to the effects of cannabis.
THC is the compound responsible for the psychoactive, or high, effects of marijuana. Most cannabis is typically high in THC and low in CBD.
However, if you live in or near a region that produces high-grade medical marijuana, you may be able to source high-CBD cannabis flowers for making high-CBD cannabutter.
CBD is the non-psychoactive counterpart to THC. Studies show that the compound has incredible therapeutic properties such as –
- Anti-anxiety
- Anti-psychotic
- Anti-depression
- Sleep aid
- Mood enhancement
- Anti-inflammatory
- Anti-cancer
- And more
You can learn more about CBD and cannabis concentrates oil in our other articles linked here. Also, if you’re using high-CBD cannabis to infuse into oil or butter, then congratulations, you’re making homemade CBD oil.
Recipe For Making Potent Cannabutter
This is the most crucial aspect of making cannabutter. If you don’t use enough cannabis, your butter will be weak. If you use too much cannabis then your butter will be too strong.
Let’s assume you’ve sampled your cannabis and you know how strong, or potent it is. We’re also going to assume you’re using high-grade cannabis flowers, which are typically high in THC potency.
Ratio of Weed To Butter or Oil
This step is crucial. Here are a few ratios of cannabis to butter or oil that should give you a good idea of how to make a potent cannabutter.
Big Batch of Cannabutter
2 cups of butter, melted = 1 lb./(454 grams)
+
½ oz. decarboxylated cannabis flowers = (14 grams = approx. 1 cup)
This ratio of cannabis to butter will yield approximately 2 cups of infused cannabutter. Assuming the cannabis flower is fresh and potent, the resulting cannabutter will be too.
If it’s your first time making cannabutter, you should probably start with a smaller batch. That way if you mess up somehow, which you won’t if you follow these easy steps, you won’t be wasting costly cannabis, butter, or time.
Small Batch of Cannabutter
1 cup of butter, melted = ½ lb. (226 grams)
+
¼ oz. decarboxylated cannabis flowers = (7 grams = approx. ½ cup)
Most DIY cannabutter is generally used to make tasty homemade cookies, brownies, gummies, or used to cook dishes that go well with butter or oils.
This ratio of cannabis flower to butter will yield approximately 1 cup of cannabutter. Again, you can only predict how strong your cannabutter will be by sampling the cannabis used to make it, unless it’s been chemically analyzed.
Recipe For Cannabis-Infused Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is a great choice for making concentrated cannabis oil because it has many health benefits of it’s own and tastes great. Make sure to use a high quality coconut oil that’s –
- Organic
- Ethically sourced
- Sustainably farmed
- Non-GMO
Depending on how coconut oil is extracted, or pressed, it may have a strong coconut aroma or not. The taste and aroma of coconut can be invasive, especially if unwanted. Cold-pressed virgin coconut oil is a great choice, but experiment to find what you like best.
1-cup (4 fluid oz.) coconut oil/butter
+
¼ oz. of decarboxylated cannabis flowers (7 grams = approx. ½ cup)
This ratio of cannabis to coconut oil will yield approximately one cup of cannabis-infused coconut oil. The method to make canna-coco oil is essentially the same as with butter. Just follow the five easy steps to making cannabutter at home, below.
1. Step #1 Preparation
Prepare to make cannabutter by gathering your butter or oil and the dried cannabis flowers that you’ll be using. Set out you’re cooking sheet, pots, strainer or cheese cloth, and wood or stainless steel utensils that you’ll need.
Begin by breaking up the cannabis so that it’s in small pieces, but not too small and spread it evenly onto a baking sheet. Yes, you’re going to bake the cannabis before infusing into the butter in a process called decarboxylation.
2. Step #2 Decarboxylation
What is Decarboxylation?
When cannabis is smoked it’s decarboxylated instantaneously through heated combustion. But since we won’t be smoking this cannabis it needs to “decarb” another way, which is why we’re putting it in the oven.
Cannabis actually doesn’t produce THC; it produces THC-A, which is the acidic precursor to THC. Decarboxylation basically allows you to drop the A to get the more desired compound THC. Decarboxylation describes the process that essentially removes carbon molecules from cannabinoid compound’s acidic precursors.
Naturally, decarboxylation is facilitated by light and heat. We’re going to speed up the process by using an oven or stove. Many people have never heard of decarboxylation, and it’s the most important step to making potent and delicious cannabutter!
How To Decarboxylate Cannabis For Making Cannabutter
You’ll want to put your cannabis in the oven on a very low heat setting. Covering the cannabis with foil will help to retain vital terpenes and secondary cannabinoids. If you don’t have an oven, you can use a covered pan on the stovetop. Again, use a very low heat setting.
Decarbing might seem counterintuitive, like you’re baking off all the good stuff, but I promise that if you follow these steps you’ll have potent cannabutter. The temperature and time for decarbing is debatable. What you want is for the cannabis to be dry and crumbly, but not so dry that it turns to dust.
Decarbing for too long or at too high temperatures can burn the herb and destroy the terpene content, so be carful. Half an hour, covered, on super low heat is usually sufficient. If you’re looking for couch-lock vibes, push the decarb process a little bit longer, which will convert more THC-A to THC.
Be careful not to burn the herb or decarb for too long. The herb may turn brown or darker in cooler. Don’t worry, that’s ok. Your precious herb is still potent.
3. Step #3 Infusion
Set aside your decarboxylated cannabis. Using your medium to large pot and stainless steel bowl, you’re going to make what’s called a double-broiler. Fill the pot with water and place the bowl on top of the pot. The bowl should sit on the top of the pot and be touching the surface of the water, but it should not be able to tip over into the pot.
Return to the decarbed cannabis and break it up into a finer consistency. Similar to what you would use to roll a joint. This is going to ensure complete infusion of cannabinoids from the herb into the butter or oil.
Using a double-broiler ensures that you won’t burn your cannabutter. Place the butter or oil into the stainless steel bowl, letting it melt or heat gently. When the butter is completely melted, or the oil is warmed, place the herb in with the butter.
Some people like to a cup of water to the mix at this stage. It can help keep the butter from burning, but in the end, cannabinoids don’t really infuse well into the water. Finally, it won’t hurt if you want to try it out, but I don’t usually add water to my cannabutters.
You can stir the pot gently if you like, but its best to leave it on low. Now, you wait. The longer you leave the concoction to infuse, the more potent the cannabutter will become. Time here is debatable, but at least three hours is usually sufficient. Some prefer longer and some prefer shorter, but in my experience, three hours is the sweet spot.
4. Step #4 Straining
Once the infusion is complete, turn off the heat and let the concoction cool. Once cool it will be easier to work with. Prepare your heat safe bowl to receive the cannabutter by securing cheesecloth around the top with string or twine.
If you do not have cheesecloth you can also use a fine, food-grade strainer. Use the cloth or strainer to help squeeze out as much of the butter or oil from the herb as possible into your heat-safe container for storing.
It’s okay if there’s some plant material in the butter. Some people like to reuse the herb for making teas or other things, but at this point, it has little to no beneficial cannabinoids in it.
5. Step #5 Storage
Now you should have a great, tasty and potent cannabutter. You’ll want to keep it in the refrigerator, where it will harden and take on the appearance of a green herbal butter. If you added water to your recipe than you’ll find that the butter separates, forming a layer above the water.
Storing your cannabutter in portions or doses is a great way to save it for cooking later. You can use something like an ice tray or similar type of containers to measure out and store portions.
If you used a quarter ounce of cannabis, then you’re cannabutter would have about 14 half-gram portions or 7 one gram portions. Remember when baking that ingesting a gram of cannabis may be more potent than smoking a gram of cannabis.
If you’re going to be baking with your cannabutter, it’s okay to add regular oils or butters in the recipe. Just remember how potent your cannabutter is when measuring. If you use too much cannabutter in a recipe, your cookies or gummies may be too potent. It’s ok to dilute cannabutter or oil to reduce THC potency if needed.
Check out our favorites recipes for cooking and baking with cannabutter linked here.
Cannabutter Conclusion
That’s it! You did it! You’ve officially made your own cannabutter of cannabis-infused oil. It wasn’t that hard. Remember that cannabutter is basically a cannabis concentrate, and therefore can be powerfully potent, especially to those with low tolerance or experience with cannabis.
Be mindful to not over consume cannabutter or concentrates. And if you share your concentrates or edibles with a friend let them know how potent it is to avoid over consumption.
It’s best to reserve cannabutter for baking or cooking. In other words, don’t dab your cannabutter or infused oils, because it’s just not a good idea.
Thanks for reading! If you’ve enjoyed this article then please feel free to share it with a friend who may also find it helpful.
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