The No Waste and Great Tasting way to get the most from your Rosin Press

Updated August 2022

What are Rosin Chips?

As the art of rosin pressing continues to grow in popularity, the number ways the materials are being used increases as well. Ingenuity has shown the rosin pressing community that we can ‘use all parts of the buffalo’ and do more than just press the rosin, throw away the rosin bag, and call it a day.

To press rosin, either cannabis flower or hash is placed inside a rosin bag. These bags are fine mesh nylon bags with holes in the micron sizes (one millionth of a meter). Via a rosin press, heat and pressure is applied to the bag. This squeezes the cannabis concentrate out of the mesh rosin bags leaving behind plant material from the flower. The flattened cannabis inside the rosin bag post-press is known as a rosin chip or rosin puck. Rosin chips can have some cannabinoids left and could be used in several ways. In this article, we will talk about using your rosin chips to make some cannabutter or cannabis coconut oil. Time to make some edibles!

Making Rosin Chip Oil/Butter

What You’ll Need….

There are just a few things you will need to make your very own rosin chip oil/butter. First and foremost, you’ll need some rosin chips. Since rosin chips have already been pressed, the amount of THC and other cannabinoids in the remaining flower is much less. Therefore you will have to use more weight in rosin pucks to achieve the same potency as using fresh cannabis flower.

To fully activate the THC, the rosin chips need to be decarboxylated, necessitating the need for the baking sheet. Once decarbed, it is time to infuse, and for this you will need a large pot to boil water and a large mixing bowl to sit above the water and act as a double-boiler.

Inside the large mixing bowl will be a mixture of your rosin chips and some butter or coconut oil. Once infused, you will need the cheesecloth or a fine strainer to separate the butter/oil from the rosin chips. Finally the infused butter/oil is stored in an airtight mason jar and awaits use in some delicious edibles. Here is a list of ingredients and supplies:

• Rosin Chips
  • Use about 4x as much rosin chips as you would cannabis flower
    • Example: If you wanted to use a half ounce of flower, use 2 ounces of rosin chips
• Baking Sheet
• Unsalted Butter or Coconut Oil
  • The amount of butter/coconut oil you use depends on how much your edible recipe requires and how strong you want the edibles to be
• A pot to boil water
• A large mixing bowl
• Cheese cloth or a fine straining bowl
• Mason jar for storage

Dosing

Dosing your edibles can be a bit tricky, but using rosin chips adds another element of uncertainty because the flower has already been squeezed for its cannabinoid extract. We suggest using about 4x more rosin chips, by weight, than you would cannabis flower. So, if you usually use a half ounce of cannabis flower, you will need 2 ounces of rosin chips to achieve the same potency. Here is an a formula to use and an example below:

N = number of edibles

P = potency of each edible

T = total potency needed

N x P = T

• N = number of edibles: A recipe for 36 cookies requires one (1) cup of butter
• P = potency of each edible: You want each cookie to have about, let’s say, between 25 and 30 mg of THC
• T = total potency necessary: 36 cookies x 28 mg/cookie is about 1000mg (1 gram) of THC total

G = total grams of fresh cannabis flower required

F = potency of the flower used

T / F = G

• F = potency of the flower: If the flower you started the press with is 20% THC, then 200mg of THC are in each gram of flower
• G = grams of cannabis flower: In this case, to get 1000mg of THC from cannabis flower with 200mg per gram, you will need 5 grams of cannabis flower

R = total grams of rosin chips to about equal the fresh cannabis flower

R = G x 4

R = ((N x P) / F) x 4

• R = grams of rosin chips required to achieve to total potency (T): We recommend using 4x more rosin chips than you would fresh cannabis flower
  • Therefore you should use about 20 grams of rosin chips for this particular example to make 36 cookies with 20 mg each

R = ((N x P) / F) x 4

R = ((36 cookies x 28 mg/cookie) / F) x 4

R = (1000 mg / 200 mg/g) x 4

R = (5 grams) x 4

R = 20 grams of rosin chips

Dosing is really up to the individual so if you want stronger edibles use more rosin chips, less strong edibles use less rosin chips. 

Pro Tip: Use a bit more butter/oil than is called for just incase of all spills or loss

The Steps…

1. Decarb

Decarboxylation (decarbing) is the process of applying heat to cannabis to activate the THC. Activating the THC (or other cannabinoids) means changing the compound, THCa (tetrahydrocannabinolic acid), into THC with the use of heat. This step is debatable among rosin chip edible makers because the rosin press already applied heat to the flower during the press. Therefore there is a danger of applying too much heat and burning away the THC.

To decarb safely and efficiently, break the rosin chips up into smaller pieces using your fingers and spread the pieces out on your baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the oven at 240-250℉ for 20-25 minutes. Now you are ready to infuse the rosin chips into your butter/oil.

2. Double Boil

Double boiling is using the heat from a boiling liquid to heat up another liquid or compound. In this case, boiling water is used to heat up butter/oil and infuse it with the cannabinoids from the rosin chips. Fill the large pot about ½ to ¾ full with water and bring it to a boil. The lower the temperature a bit to retain a strong simmer. Place the butter/oil in the large mixing bowl and place that bowl on top of the large pot containing the boiling water. The large mixing bowl should sit on the inside edge of the large pot.

This allows the heat from the boiling water to heat the bottom of the mixing bowl. When the butter/oil is melted/heated up, add the rosin chips. You will want to stir the rosin chip and butter/oil mixture every 15 minutes so that all areas of the rosin chips become infused into the butter/oil. Make sure to not let the butter/oil heat above 245℉ as this could burn the cannabinoids in your rosin chips. Continue this process for about 1.5-2.5 hours.

3. Strain & Store

Using a cheesecloth or fine strainer, strain the rosin chips from the butter/oil into a mason jar or another airtight container. This may take a few strains to completely get all the rosin chips out from your butter/oil.

With your butter/oil strained and in the mason jar, put a lid on it and put it in the fridge. Now your rosin chip cannabis butter/oil is ready for use!

Rosin Chips Edibles Recipes!

Rosin Chip Double Chocolate Brownies Recipe

Makes 16 Brownies

Potency per brownie when using 12 grams of rosin chips: Approximately 37.5 mg per brownie

Ingredients:

• ½ cup butter
• 1 tablespoon of butter (separated from the rest)
• 8 grams of rosin chips
• ¼ cup natural cocoa powder
• ½ cup chopped dark chocolate
• 1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• ¾ cup all purpose flour
• 8×8 inch pan

Directions:

1. Make the cannabutter with the technique described above
2. Preheat oven to 350℉
3. Use your tablespoon of butter to butter the 8×8 inch pan
4. Dust the pan with some cocoa powder
5. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the cannabutter and dark chocolate. Melt them together in 10 second intervals being careful to not burn it.
6. Remove from the microwave. Add in sugar, molasses, and salt.
7. Add 1 egg at a time, whisking well after each.
8. Beat the mixture for about 5 minutes to combine.
9. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and cocoa powder.
10. Combine the two bowls and mix just until the flour disappears. Be careful not to overmix.
11. Place the mixture into the baking pan. Place the baking pan in the oven on the top rack in the center for 25 minutes. The top should turn glossy and begin to crack.
12. Let cool for 10 minutes before cutting, serving, and storing.

Simply Delicious Rosin Chip Cookies Recipe

Makes 24 cookies

Potency per cookie when using 12 grams of rosin chips: Approximately 25 mg per cookie

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup cannabutter or oil (made using the steps described above)
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375℉. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Using a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.
3. In another medium bowl, mix together the butter and the sugar. Use a hand mixer to make it light and fluffy.
4. Add the egg and vanilla extract to the cream and mix.
5. Slowly add in the contents in the dry ingredients bowl while mixing. Continue until it is a dough.
6. Scoop 1 tablespoon balls and place them on the baking sheet. Spread them out 2 inches apart. 
7. Back for 7-10 minutes. Nine (9) minutes is the average. Check your cookies at the seven (7) minute mark then continue as needed.

Other Ways to Use Rosin Chips

Besides making butter/oil there are a couple other ways you can reuse your rosin chips. For one, you can smoke them. Afterall it is just flat cannabis flower. Remember, the potency of the flower is greatly diminished as a result of the press squeezing out all the cannabinoids, so do not expect to get super baked from the same amount you may normally smoke.

Instead of smoking the rosin chip, you may choose to repress it and give it a final squeeze. The small amounts of cannabinoids left in the flower, when repressed, may provide you with a bit more rosin! Happy pressing!