Introduction: How to Make Cannabis Coconut Oil (canna Oil)

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About: we're a couple of medical cannabis farmers that believe in responsible and educated use of cannabis for all! we hope our instructables will teach you useful skills that you can use to grow, process, and medica…

Cannabis coconut oil is a really versatile way to consume cannabis. It's great taken alone or baked into all kinds of edibles - most strains of cannabis beautifully complement the flavor of coconut oil! Canna oil makes medicating super accessible, too - you can use indica, sativa, or even high CBD strains to get the desired effect you want.

It's also super easy to make, and a great way to use up excess trim, kief or hash from harvest. In this instructable I'll show you my favorite way to do it - simmering on the stove top! But I'll tell you how to do it in a crockpot too.

This is a very fast and no-fuss version of canna oil - through lots of reading and quite a few experiments I really don't believe it's necessary to simmer it for-ev-errr and over complicate it. This method will give you a potent, tasty and fancy canna oil.

Step 1: What You'll Need

tools:

  • cheesecloth
  • metal strainer/sieve
  • bowl or large measuring cup
  • jar or bowl to store the canna oil

materials:

  • decarboxylated cannabis (buds, trim, kief, hash - 40 grams)
  • unrefined coconut oil (2 cups)

We'll talk a little about dosing on the next step.

Unsure how to decarboxylate cannabis? Click here to find out!

Step 2: Dosing + Strains + Expectations

(Pictured above - Doctor Who water hash, Doctor Who in bud form - so purple!!, Doctor Who sugar leaf trim)

What I'm using for this batch:

  • 2 cups unrefined coconut oil
  • 40 g Doctor Who trim, decarboxylated

This is a fairly strong dose - about 1.5 g of trim per tablespoon of canna oil. The medibles this canna oil makes will be used primarily for combating migraines so stronger is better!

Guidelines for dosing:

I recommend using anywhere from 0.5-1.5 g of trim/bud/hash/etc per tablespoon of oil. If this is your first time experimenting with canna oil, try using 16 grams of cannabis to 2 cups of oil.

When using buds, it's okay to use less than you would if you were using trim as there will be more trichromes present and therefore more THC. If I was using buds instead of trim in this batch, I probably would have used 0.5 grams of bud per tablespoon of coconut oil.

For more information on dosing cannabis, I really recommend picking up a copy of The Ganja Kitchen Revolution by Jessica Catalano. The book includes a very nice dosing chart and explains how to demystify making edibles with the right amount of THC for you.

This article on The Cannabist also includes a helpful way of figuring out the THC content in edibles.

What to expect when using canna oil:

Cannabis taken orally a totally different beast - it can take you much longer to feel it, and the effects can linger much longer on average. Canna oil is often quite potent and can make you super sleepy, so never try a new dose when you have obligations later. ;)

You can try to combat sleepiness by using only sativas in your canna oil, or by choosing a strain high in CBD. But it might still make you a teeny bit tired (edibles always do that to some folks!), so always use caution.

What to do if you take too much canna oil:

If you ever take too much while trying to figure out the proper dose, don't worry! You may feel anxious or wonder why you ever thought this was a good idea - but I promise it will pass and the benefits are worth it.

Your best bet is to drink a glass of water and lie down. Sleeping is always the best possible way to handle having a bit too much cannabis.

If sleep seems unreachable, try dimming the lights and putting on music or the TV. You can try talking to someone too. Whatever relaxes you! Just keep in mind that it will pass in a few hours at most.

Step 3: Combine the Coconut Oil and Cannabis and Simmer

Combine the cannabis and coconut oil in a small saucepan over the lowest heat you can manage.

Once the coconut oil has melted, let the mix simmer uncovered (stirring ever so often) for an hour.

HEY! If you'd like to do this in a crockpot you definitely can. Just let it go on low for a couple hours. It's not necessary to take it longer than that.

If your canna oil turns out super green or not green at all, that's fine. The green-ness relates only to the chlorophyll present, not how strong the canna oil is.

Step 4: Strain

For straining, use cheesecloth in a sieve over a large measuring cup. A sieve normally isn't fine enough on its own! It won't matter too much if you end up with particulates in the oil, but it always looks nicer without them.

Place two layers of cheesecloth in the sieve and put it over the measuring cup.

Pour the hot oil and cannabis mixture into the cheesecloth.

Let it drip for an hour or so and then squeeze the rest out by hand.

You can use the processed cannabis in other things once you've squeezed out the oil, but it shouldn't have much THC left in it at all. One of the most awesome ways is to mix it with softened butter - you end up with an awesome cannabis compound butter that you can use on toast or maybe even put a dollop on a steak or under the skin of a chicken.

However, don't feel bad if you just compost it or throw it out - nearly all the good stuff is in the canna oil now!

Step 5: Cool and Store

Pour the canna oil into a glass jar or bowl and leave uncovered until room temperature and beginning to solidify. (Leaving it uncovered is very important because we want to avoid condensation forming in the jar)

Once entirely cooled, close the container and store in the fridge or in a cool dark place. This will keep for up to a year!

See how dark it is before and how light it is when it solidifies? That's what it should look like if you don't simmer it too long and you're not too rough with it. If you poked it a ton it might be more green.

Step 6: Using Cannabis Coconut Oil

You can consume this coconut canna oil on its own or use it in edibles!

If this is your first time trying it, I recommend taking 1/4-1/2 tablespoon by mouth to start. Wait at least 3-4 hours before taking more. How you feel after this will let you know if you need to increase or decrease your dose. It will also give you a baseline for edibles.

If making edibles, try using recipes you've made before. Knowing how many cookies, muffins, slices of cake, etc. that a recipe produces will allow you to figure out about how much THC per serving there is. (Because we know we're using a certain amount of cannabis per tablespoon of coconut oil - you can determine the strength based on the amount of oil you used in the recipe and how many servings it makes)

Another good thing to keep in mind: you can even do half canna oil and half butter if you need the edibles to be a little less strong.