You may have heard of rosin recently! It is easy to make, full of terpenes and THC. No chemicals are used to make it, so it offers one of the cleanest forms of cannabis extracts. In this guide, we will teach you how to make rosin easily at home. Using simple household items, you can make your own rosin, and try it out before the end of the day!
Rosin can be used for “dabbing”, edibles, or even used for THC E juice for your vape. But what is rosin, and why is it becoming so popular in the cannabis community?
What is Rosin
There are many ways to extract the active ingredients from your cannabis flowers. Each way will produce a different form of extract. Rosin is made by applying pressure and heat to a cannabis flower. It differs from many other ways of making cannabis extract because it involves no chemicals.
By heating and compressing the flowers, the cannabis resins will be forced out of the buds. This will produce an amber, sap like liquid. This is rosin.
Smoking rosin can bring you a rich flavour from your favourite cannabis strain. It is clean, solvent free, and can be used in many ways.
The rise in the use of rosins are not just down to its taste and cleanliness. By using easily accessible items, you can make rosin, at home, easily!
Here is a list of the items you will need to make rosin easily at home. You may already have some of these items in the house. You might have to go and buy them. Either way, they are cheap, and will produce high quality homemade rosin.
If you have any questions about making rosin, then feel free to ask for help in our cannabis growers forum
What You Need to Make Rosin
As mentioned above, to make rosin, you need heat, and pressure. There are two good options for you here. One will be a cheap alternative, but will do the job fine. If you are thinking of moving to rosin for your main cannabis intake, then a proper rosin press might be a good option for you.
- Hair Straighteners/ Rosin Press
- Rosin Press Bags
- Unbleached Parchment Paper ( Greaseproof Baking Paper)
- Cannabis Flowers ( Provide your own)
- Something to collect the Rosin with
Using Hair Straighteners to Make Rosin
Hair straighteners are a good cheap alternative to a rosin press. But you will have to be cautious of what model you choose. Pick a model that has temperature control. If temperatures exceed 160c (320f), you could damage the terpenes in the rosin and effect the flavour and quality.
These hair straighteners have wide plates, so you will be able to press more cannabis into rosin in one sitting. You can buy them now by clicking the image to the left. Be careful when using hair straighteners to make rosin, they will become very hot. We recommend you wear some heat resistant gloves whilst pressing the flowers.
Rosin Presses
A rosin press is designed specifically for making rosin. A proper rosin press will cost no more than the average price of an ounce of street weed. A real good rosin press can range into the thousands!
You will only need one for personal use, and a small model will be fine. This is the best to make rosin easily at home. It might cost a little more on the initial investment. But if you like clean, cannabis extracts, it will be worth the cost.
Using Rosin Press Bags.
These are not a necessity, but it is recommended you use them. Using Rosin press bags, will stop plant matter getting into your rosin. It will hold all of the flowers in a bag, and let the rosin escape out of the sides. It will increase your yield, and will also keep your rosin free of plant matter.
This bag is a pack of 20 rosin press bags, and will last for a while. You can also buy reusable Rosin Press Bags, buy what is best for you.
Unbleached Parchment Paper ( Greaseproof Paper)
This will be used to collect to rosin as it is extracted from the flowers. It will also stop your hot plates getting sticky from resin.
Using an unbleached parchment paper will reduce the risk of contaminants in your rosin, and keep it clean of any chemicals. Using Raws own Parchment Paper is not only cheaper than most brands, but made specifically for making homemade rosin.
What Strains are Best For Making Rosin
Choose a strain that is high in cannabinoids and has a high terpene profile. The higher the percentage of cannabinoids, the higher yield you will get out of your rosin. Try and pick a strain with over 20% THC, ( or CBD) and a strain of your favourite flavour. The rosin will really bring out the taste and high of your cannabis, so choose what you like the most.
Collecting Rosin After Making it
Rosin is very sticky, and once it has began to cool down it will be easy to collect. Use a cocktail stick, or a pin, to gently scoop up bits of rosin into a ball. You can then use this ball to stick the rest of the rosin to, until the parchment paper is clean.
Make Rosin Easily at Home
Now you have al the items you need to make rosin easily at home! The process of making it is very simple. By following these steps, you can have your own homemade rosin in ten minutes!
You will be dealing with high temperatures. Wear heat resistant gloves as a precaution.
Place your Cannabis into Rosin Press Bags
The amount of cannabis you use to make your rosin will depend on the size of your plates on the hair straighteners/ rosin press. Do not overfill the bag, and make sure no plant matter hangs over the side of the plates.
With hair straighteners, 1g at a time should be fine. If you’re using a rosin press, then anything up to 7 grams at a time will work better for you.
If you’re not using a bag, just place a bud in the middle of the hot plates. It will be a little more messy, but the outcome will be the same result.
Using Parchment Paper to Catch Rosin
The Parchment paper is used to catch the rosin as it is extracted from the flowers. Fold the paper in half, or use two sheets, and place the bag of flower between the paper, and place into between the heated plates of the press.
Fold one more line on the lower part of the paper, this will form a gutter, to catch the rosin and avoid spilling it over the edge.
Temperatures for Heat Press for Making Rosin
Setting your heat plates to the right temperature matters. You can make 2 kinds of rosin depending on the temperature you press your flowers at:
- Press at around 135c ( 275f) for a firmer rosin, similar to shatter.
- Press at around 155c ( 310f) for a more vicious rosin, like sap.
Choose which rosin you will make, and then set your heat pads to the required temperature. When the pads have reached the desired temperatures, place your bag, and paper, in between the hot plates.
Pressing Buds to Make Rosin Easily at Home
Add pressure for up to 30 seconds. Press down as hard as possible if you’re using hair straighteners. Be careful not to burn yourself, and heat resistant gloves may be a good option for you.
The best pressure range for pressing rosin is between 300 and 1000 psi. You will not be able to measure this if using hair straighteners to make rosin.
To press flowers with a Rosin Press 600-1000 psi is ideal. If you’re pressing kief or hash 300 and 800 psi will work great.
As the flowers are pressed and heated, the rosin will be seen dripping from the sides of the hot plates. Be careful here not to spill any, it can move quickly when it is hot, do not let it roll off your paper.
Homemade Rosin!!
There you have it, it is that easy! As long as you have the correct equipment, you can make rosin easily at home. You have just made some of the cleanest cannabis extracts you have ever tried! Now you can try dabbing, which is a massive new craze in the smoking community.
All you have to do is collect the rosin off the paper, and use it whichever way you prefer. Rosin can be used to make THC E Juice, so you can vape cannabis anytime, without letting off a distinctive cannabis smoking aroma.
Try it, make some of your own homemade rosin and let us know how it went! Do you like it, was it worth making it? Sign up to our forum and let us know how your homemade rosin is!
Thanks for reading! You can find more information on anything related to growing in our cannabis grow guides. All of our guides are written by experienced growers, and members of our cannabis growers forum. If you have any questions, sign up. It is free, and we are always happy to help!
@bubblehok I’ll be honest the budget is low right now but set to improve hopefully soon. I might just look at waiting until I can afford a press as can’t see me not liking it 😅
thanks for the honest opinion fella appreciated
@spambot you want a wide plate with a dial that gives you a really low setting. And it takes a fair amount of force to produce a decent amount of rosin. What is your budget? You may be better off getting a cheap press off ebay or ali baba or Amazon etc for the price you would pay for a hair straightener that would do the job well enough. Even with a decent har straightener you would want to look at getting a clamp like the wood grip clamps, you need to apply even pressure for a minute or so and that gets hard to do even if you have phenomenal grip strength(plus they get fucking hot).
By all means don’t let me discourage you from giving it a crack with a straightener, I just don’t want to see you spend a chunk of coin on that route when you would get mich better results for a little bit more coin if you get my drift 🙂
I’m thinking of giving this a try. On a real tight budget right now so was wondering if anyone might have a UK link to some hair straighteners as the one in the link not working? Tia
@shonuff yep lol, gotta make use out of all of it one way or another. It’s like rocket fuel butter too, especially since I only run the bags through the press once, bonus of having a whole bunch I can press. The joys of being a homegrower means you don’t cry when you spill a bowl anymore lol
@bubblehok And it’s already decarboxilated!
@shonuff can also throw them all into a slow cooker and make up a cannabutter with them 😉
@artmann I save the pucks for alcohol extraction. Make you up some green dragon or feco!
@drug-bust-mcghee
That looks great. What a return! I’m going to have to press some kief.
I had an ounce pressed into rosin. I noticed a lot of rosin left in the edge of the smashed rosin bag/weed. Is that normal? Can you get it all out of the edge? There was rosin in the fabric of the bag itself. Can you get it out? Just curious. I’m smoking the edge of the puck and it’s got some rosin in it. Kind of like smoking brick weed from the 80s except it’s good. Lol
Squished a bit of hash today. I’d like to upgrade my press from 1 to 4 ton at some point.
Bless you!! I’ll be putting this guide to the test hard!! ✌️✌️
@misher21 lol the first time i tried it the guy loaded up a big ole hit for me, was too much i thought my sugar crashed. ive done it my self since and find it too be nice when i dont over do it.
but i still prefer to put it on top of some bud in my pipe.
@jsh1973 a friend does that to big of a high for me
pressed some more rosin from kief today started at 170f and it didnt seem to produce much so i went up to 190f and pressed for 3 minutes
here are some pics the kief is
a little green i used a 160 micron bag with dry ice next
time ill use the 120 micron bag
That is one of the 2 that I was looking at. Here is the other one
Rosineer Presso Heat Press Machine, 1500 lb Force, Portable, Dual Channel Temperature Control, Dusty Red Color
Once I get one of the 2 I will share my results.
@doctor-x This is the one my wife got for me off Amazon
ive been using 200f and 90 seconds first press I get some rosin, then I take out the pressed flower and fold it over 2x and repress the second press delivers much more rosin than the first.
after watching some videos i have lightened up on the pressure some
Ive been working out of town so I have not been able to use it as much as i would like.
if you get a press id be interested in your results
@twisted1 were you able to get temp and pressure right? See a couple models that look similar, what is the brand name you have.
@jsh1973 I just got my press, I dont have a dabber rig yet so i have been mixing it with my weed in my pipe or putting it on a paper to roll a joint with.
still learning to get the right temp and pressure.
Thanks guys
Now I want a Rosin press as well 😄
@jsh1973 rosin is really nice man, you can rub a little on the inside of a paper and away you go!
Yes mate you can, our guy twisted has just got a rosin press and making some of his own now 🙂 He is mixing it with weed i think
I never heard of Rosin and dabbing before I started this grow my own idea.
I know about extraction using alcohol or butane gas but I like the Rosin idea a lot more.
Can you smoke it in joints mixed with tobacco as well?
Awesome mate!! Keep squeezing lol Hope you get a decent amount!
@macky I have every thing I need, new press and evey thing, cured bud 62% like suggested. Having hard time getting right temp, pressure to get any Rosin. Will keep trying LOL
Let us know how you do it mate 🙂 it’s always good to have different opinions