8 simple steps to making Dry Ice Kief

Photo by Lizzy Fritz.

Photo by Lizzy Fritz.

You can quickly turn your trash into gold!

Manual dry ice sieving is inexpensive, results in very little mess, doesn’t involve explosive chemicals, or require expensive machinery, making it one of the cheapest, fastest and simplest way to concentrate cannabinoids.

Kief is composed of the unpressed glands scraped from dried mature flowers and leaves using a screen. THC, terpenes, other cannibinoids are concentrated in glands that cover many parts of the marijuana plant.

Screening cured plant material is one of the easiest ways to rescue glands for use. Photo by Lizzy Fritz.

Screening cured plant material is one of the easiest ways to rescue glands for use. Photo by Lizzy Fritz.

One of the simplest methods of making kief is by gently rubbing the plant material over a fine screen. The size of the openings in the screen determines which size glands and how much residual plant material will make it through. The vigor used in rubbing it on the screen has a profound effect on the quality of the final product.

Kief color ranges from golden-white for the purest kief to a greenish gold. The greener it is, the more plant material it contains. Photo by Lizzy Fritz.

Kief color ranges from golden-white for the purest kief to a greenish gold. The greener it is, the more plant material it contains. Photo by Lizzy Fritz.

What you will need

  • Cannabis (1 ounce, dry trim or fresh-frozen)

  • Bubble Bags (durable 160- and 220- micron water bubble bags)

  • 5-gallon bucket

  • Clean, sanitary surface area—at least four feet long

  • Collection tool (such as a plastic scraper)

  • Dry ice—3 pounds, broken up into smaller pieces

Here are the eight simple steps to making Dry Ice Kief

Photo by Lizzy Fritz.

Photo by Lizzy Fritz.

Step 1.

Set up a large table in a clean room and cover it with parchment paper.

Step 2.

Place 4 oz brittle dry grass in a 5-gal bucket.

Photo by Lizzy Fritz.

Photo by Lizzy Fritz.

Step 3.

Add 3 lb of dry ice—it should be ice cube size or smaller. Let the mixture cool for 2 minutes.

Step 4.

Place a 160-mesh screen bag over the bucket top.

Photo by Lizzy Fritz.

Photo by Lizzy Fritz.

Step 5.

Turn the bucket upside down and start shaking it vigorously, moving down a 6- or 8-foot table or countertop in about 2 minutes.

Step 6.

The powder changes color from a golden to a greenish tint over the table length—golden is the purest, highest quality.

We separated the powder into higher and lower quality portions. Photo by Lizzy Fritz.

We separated the powder into higher and lower quality portions. Photo by Lizzy Fritz.

Step 7.

Repeat the process using the 220-micron bag and collect the kief.

Step 8.

Use a scraping tool to collect your dry ice hash. 

Blonde, dry ice hash beckons all to take a toke. Photo by Lizzy Fritz.

Blonde, dry ice hash beckons all to take a toke. Photo by Lizzy Fritz.

Excerpt from my upcoming book Beyond Buds, Next Generation: Marijuana Concentrates and Cannabis Infusions.


Join our cannabis community

Follow Us