How to Make Dry Sift Cannabis
Dry sift is trichome heads knocked off cannabis and caught on screens. No water, no solvent, no purge. A 28 g (1 oz) batch takes 15 to 30 minutes of work. Yield runs 3% to 10% by weight, so 28 g of flower gives 1 g to 3 g of kief. First-pass sift tests 40% to 60% THC. Sift cleaned with static electricity tests 70% to 90% THC.
What You Need
- Cured flower, 58% to 62% relative humidity, cured 2 weeks or longer
- Screen set: 220 µm, 120 µm, 73 µm
- Two cards, plastic or silicone
- Room at 4°C to 10°C (40°F to 50°F), or a freezer
- Parchment paper and a glass jar with a lid
- Nitrile gloves for static cleanup
Steps
- Freeze the flower for 30 to 60 minutes. Cold trichome heads snap off the stalk. Warm resin smears.
- Place 20 g to 30 g of flower on the 220 µm screen. Small batches grade higher than large ones.
- Move the flower in circles with the card. Do not press down. Pressure pushes green matter through the mesh.
- Collect the powder on the parchment. This is first-pass sift.
- Sift that powder through the 120 µm screen, then through the 73 µm screen.
- Stop each pass when the powder turns green. Green means chlorophyll and plant fiber.
Static Cleanup
Sift holds plant fiber. Static separates the two because glandular trichome heads carry a charge. Rub a nitrile glove on a glass or plastic sheet. Hold the charged sheet 1 cm to 2 cm above the sift and lift it. Heads jump to the sheet. Fiber stays on the paper. Repeat 3 to 5 times. The 73 µm to 120 µm fraction cleans the fastest.
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Yield and Purity
- 220 µm pass: highest yield, lowest purity
- 120 µm pass: mid grade, 50% to 70% THC
- 73 µm pass: lowest yield, 70% to 90% THC
Storage
Keep sift in a glass jar, in the dark, below 21°C (70°F). Light, heat, and oxygen convert THC to CBN. Cold and dark storage slows that loss. Label each jar with the screen size and the date.
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Use
For dabbing or rosin, no decarboxylation is needed. A rosin press at 80°C to 95°C (175°F to 200°F) yields 40% to 70% from sift. For edibles, decarboxylate at 115°C (240°F) for 30 to 40 minutes first.
Convenience
Retail kief and pre-rolled sift products remove the labor and the screen cost. A three-screen set runs about $30 to $120. Home production costs time per batch and returns a fraction of the starting flower weight. Buyers who weigh price per gram of THC against time spent tend to pick one path and stay on it.