All you need to know about Frozen Hash

Frozen hash is a cannabis concentrate made from compressed cannabis trichomes from plants that were harvested and immediately frozen. By freezing the harvested plants, the cannabinoids and especially the cannabis terpenes are preserved at maximum levels.

This contrasts with hash that has been made from dried plant material, which inevitably loses terpenes during drying. Hash fans generally prefer the fully loaded taste & effects that come from frozen hash. Read on to see how frozen hash is made and why it has become so highly sought-after.

What is frozen hash?

The process to make frozen hash is solvent-free. Just ice, water and some hash sieves are needed. Usually the frozen plant material (buds, plant trim etc) is crumbled and stirred with an automatic stirrer in an ice/water mix. This process slowly mechanically separates the trichomes from the host plant material.

The icy trichome slurry is sieved through standard hash bags to produce various grades of hash. This is then dried, or even freeze dried, to produce truly delicious and slammingly potent frozen hash.

With no solvents required, frozen hash is often preferred by the purists over other cannabis concentrates (cannabis oil, butane honey oil/BHO etc) which require solvents to make.

Types of Frozen Hash

Making frozen hash (from freshly harvested & frozen cannabis plant material) can be done in many different ways. The two primary methods are the wet (with ice & water) and dry sift methods.

Frozen Sift Hash

The first stage is to freeze the fresh plant material immediately after harvest. Then the frozen fresh buds can be used with Ice-o-lator (bags) and Bubble-hash washing methods. This is done without iced water. 

Each sift screen has a defined pore size in the mesh, allowing smaller trichomes to pass through. This process allows the various types of cannabis trichomes from the plant material to be collected.

Typically specialist hash making bags are used. The principle is simply to use light shaking to remove the frozen trichomes from the plant material. Often granulated dry ice is added to the plant material (in the hash bags) to keep it frozen.

Note that there are actually several different types/sizes of trichomes that are collected. This includes capitate-stalked trichomes, bulbous trichomes and capitate-sessile trichomes.

The collected frozen sift hash is then dried and sometimes pressed. It tends to be classified according to the final quality:

• Full-melt frozen sift hash: The finest hash quality! It is so pure that when dabbed or vaporised there is no residue. Often regarded as the ‘gold standard’ for hash flavour and potency. Typically produced from the smallest pore size sieve/hash bags.
  
  
• Half-melt frozen sift hash: This isn’t as pure as full-melt hash and will leave a residue after dabbing.  But half-melt hash is perfect for giving an extra kick to your vape or joint.

Frozen sift hash is quite different to ‘kief’, which is the unrefined ‘trichome dust’ that can be collected in a grinder. Kief can be regarded as a crude type of dry sift but it tends to crackle/burn rather than liquify in a similar way to full-melt or half-melt hash. That said, kief is a beloved and tasty concentrate used by many to add the essential ‘finishing touch’ to a vape/joint.

Use of dry Ice (CO2) when making sift frozen hash

Dry ice (solid carbon dioxide) is often used by frozen sift hash makers to prolong the frozen-temperatures which favour the removal of the brittle trichomes when the plant material is light shaken.

When added to plant material dry ice helps the trichomes to freeze and snap-off the plant material. Anyone that has experienced how fragile certain cannabis concentrates (‘shatter’, ‘glass’ etc) are will understand why the trichomes are so easily removed from the frozen host plant material.

When using hash bags dry ice can be added to the crumbled plant material inside. The bags are lightly shaken, allowing the frozen trichomes to break-off and fall through the fine mesh in the hash bag.

Fresh Frozen Bubble Hash

Frozen bubble hash is made with freshly frozen plant material that is mixed thoroughly in ice water, often hash makers will use an automatic stirring device. During the stirring the trichomes are removed from the plant material by the ice water. 

Then the ice/water mixture is poured through a series of specially designed ‘hash bags’ each with a different mesh netting. Each of these hash bags has a defined pore size in the net allowing the hash slurry to collect. It’s important to arrange the bags in the correct order.

Each hash bag collects a different grade of trichome slurry, according to the pore size in the mesh netting. Often the trichome slurry contains air bubbles which slowly move and gradually deflate, hence the name ‘bubble’ hash.

Frozen bubble hash is a delicious treat. Smooth and tasty, gorgeously potent. It is highly sought after and expensive to buy. But if you buy feminised seeds or autoflower seeds and grow them at home and you can make your own - and in satisfyingly large quantities.

Whole Plant Fresh Frozen Hash

Whole plant fresh frozen hash is a general term that means any hash that was created by using freshly frozen cannabis plant material.

Dry freezing hash - instant drying for the win

If making hash using the ice/water technique the final damp hash may take a day or two to dry. During this natural drying process the water evaporates, unfortunately so do some of the terpenes.

One recent innovation is to dry the hash instantly (rather than over a day or two) using a process known as dry-freezing. This is that same industrial process used to make dry coffee granules. Dry freezing helps retain more of the terpenes whilst removing all the water.

However, the specialised equipment required for dry freezing is expensive and generally only bought by professional cannabis concentrate makers. Vacuum ovens are another option for faster drying of damp hash.

How to make frozen hash from your harvest

Two popular options are to make bubble hash from your freshly frozen plants, or to make a dry sift. In either event you will need some good quality starting material. Your yields of hash (and the quality) will be superior if you start with good quality freshly harvested & frozen buds rather than lower quality trim.

Fresh frozen sift hash (often made with dry ice):

Making this does incur certain risks. Dry ice can badly damage skin/eye tissue and for these reasons it isn’t recommended for the unprepared home grower.

Professional frozen dry sift makers will use protective gloves/goggles/clothing and work in a well-ventilated area (CO2 can suffocate).

In its simplest form you just need to add some dry ice to your crumbled buds in the hash bags and gently shake the bags over a clean surface which will collect the falling trichome dust. This can be scraped up and pressed. Or it can be rolled into Nepalese Temple Ball style spheres.

Making fresh frozen bubble hash:

Here you won’t need to worry about the safety issues of dry ice. But you will need some water, ice (supermarkets sell it) and a set of hash bubble bags. These usually come with a range of range of sieve sizes from around 25 – 200μ. Read the bag instructions carefully and make sure you arrange them in the right order.

You will find different methods according to the scale of your process. But the general technique follows these basic principles.

• Aim to get your water temperature down to around 2ºC/36F and keep it there.
• Pre-soak your material beneath the water, perhaps pressed down under a flat surface to submerge the plant material.
• Fresh frozen buds might need just a quick pre-soak of around 5-15 minutes.
• Dried, unfrozen buds may need up to an hour of pre-soak as the plant material rehydrates.
• Agitate/stir your container of iced water & buds. Avoid violent stirring which produces fine green powder from the plant material which works its way into your hash. 
• Pro hash makers use a cold-water machine without ice to maintain temperatures just above freezing (ice cubes are regarded as a nuisance by some pro hash makers). These are expensive but very effective, and indispensable to many professional hash makers.
• Regular ice additions are the only way most home growers can maintain the essential near-freezing water temperatures while the stirring takes place. Total stir time is often around 1-2 hours depending on the scale of your operation.
• Often the stirring is done by an automated device. Stirring manually for one hour is tough work.
• Now the ice-cold water can be poured carefully through the hash bags which collect different grade (sizes) of trichome material according to their sieve size.
• Scrape the wet hash slurry out of the bags and dry on parchment paper. Usually professional drying is done at temperatures below 13ºC/55F to avoid ‘baking’ the hash and losing too many  terpenes.
• Some professionals use vacuum ovens to speed-up the drying process, or freeze drying to instantly remove the water.

In general, the most highly prized forms of hash are the blonde ones, creamy/white with no hints of green plant material. These often come from the smallest sieve size during the hash making process. Often this means the hash was created from just the trichome heads and little else.

The following article offers a deeper dive into the various forms of hash and related cannabis concentrates.

Best cannabis strains to make frozen hash

As with all cannabis concentrates, the same golden rule applies. Start with the highest quality materials in order to get the highest quality end product. The best hash producers start with high THC buds from generously yielding cannabis seed varieties. Those strains with the greatest trichome density and THC content are perfect for making frozen hash.

Three of the best Dutch Passion strains for frozen hash are below. All are high THC with top-end trichome densities. And all produce intense, rich flavours which add a luxuriously hashy taste.

Ice Cream Haze

Perhaps Dutch Passion’s best all-round Haze of all time! Ice Cream Haze is a cannabis cup winner with THC levels reaching up to 25% and a true XXL yielder thanks to the long chunky blooms. A real trichome covered beauty that is already proving to be a repeat buy for cannabis concentrate makers of all types. Perfect for hash makers.

Ice Cream Haze® Crockett's Haze x Ice Cream Cake
	Feminised / Regular		Indoor/Outdoor
	USA Special		8-10 weeks
	Sativa		XXL
	Extremely high

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Ice Cream Haze® Crockett's Haze x Ice Cream Cake
	Feminised / Regular		Indoor/Outdoor
	USA Special		8-10 weeks
	Sativa		XXL
	Extremely high

Order Now

Ice Cream Haze® Crockett's Haze x Ice Cream Cake
	Feminised/Regular		Indoor/Outdoor
	USA Special		8-10 weeks
	Sativa		XXL
	Extremely high

Order Now

Mazar

Mazar is the star member of the Afghani Kush cannabis seed collection. She is well known for her rich and luxuriously tasty hash flavours and pungent afghani aroma. Similar genetics to Mazar were quite probably in some of the first hand-rolled (‘charas’) hash produced in ancient times. Mazar is a great choice for those wanting authentic rich afghani hash aromas. Easy to grow, Mazar is available in feminised seeds and also in autoflower seeds as Auto Mazar. Epic yields, strong taste and notoriously strong buds.

Mazar® Skunk#1 X Afghani
	Feminised		Indoor
	Afghani Kush		8 weeks
	Indica		XL
	Very high		Cup winner

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Mazar® Skunk#1 X Afghani
	Feminised		Indoor
	Afghani Kush		8 weeks
	Indica		XL
	Very high		Cup winner

Order Now

Mazar® Skunk#1 X Afghani
	Feminised		Indoor
	Afghani Kush		8 weeks
	Indica		XL
	Very high		Cup winner

Order Now

Auto Cinderella Jack

Unashamedly bred for pure potency above all other factors (THC levels independently measured at 26%!) Auto Cinderella Jack bristles with a glittering thick, dense trichome coverage that perfectly suits the quality-conscious concentrate producer. With a brisk grow cycle, around 75 days from autoflower seed to harvest, she is a reliable repeat best-seller that will surpass your expectations!

Auto Cinderella Jack® (Cinderella 99 X Jack Herer) X Magnum
	Autoflower		Indoor/Outdoor
	Classics		10-11 weeks
	Hybrid		XL
	Extremely high		Cup winner

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Auto Cinderella Jack® (Cinderella 99 X Jack Herer) X Magnum
	Autoflower		Indoor/Outdoor
	Classics		10-11 weeks
	Hybrid		XL
	Extremely high		Cup winner

Order Now

Auto Cinderella Jack® (Cinderella 99 X Jack Herer) X Magnum
	Autoflower		Indoor/Outdoor
	Classics		10-11 weeks
	Hybrid		XL
	Extremely high		Cup winner

Order Now

Frozen hash FAQ

Although frozen hash may be a relatively new term to some, it is also a firm favourite for serious hash fans. The taste from frozen hash is deeper and richer than that from made from cannabis that has been dried and then converted to hash.

The only real criticism of frozen hash is that it tends to be one of the most expensive cannabis concentrates to buy. Even more reasons to become self-sufficient in your weed & concentrate requirements - buy cannabis seeds and grow your own!

What is WPFF?

WPFF (Whole Plant Fresh Frozen) simply refers to any cannabis concentrate prepared from plants that were freshly frozen immediately after harvest.

What does Fresh Frozen mean?

As above, fresh frozen means that the concentrate was produced from frozen fresh (as opposed to dried) plant material.

Can you press frozen hash?

Yes. Once your trichome-rich material is isolated and dry you can roll it into balls, tubes or press it into blocks. Some producers emboss their brand name onto their hash bars. Others keep the hash in the original ‘crumbly’ form and use it for joints vapes & dabs.

Is frozen hash more potent?

It’s certainly tastier. Often it is also more potent due to the care and (often) hi-tech modern production methods that are geared towards maximum purity. But it’s worth adding that cannabis concentrates produced traditionally from dried plants also reach very high purity levels and potency.

What is the best way to store frozen hash?

For longer term storage, cool temperatures (e.g. in a fridge) are preferred to slow down the natural decomposition & degradation of the cannabinoids and terpenes in the hash.

But hash stored at room temperature can remain highly potent for several years. Some even claim the flavours reach their peak after a period of ‘curing’ over a few months.

How long can frozen hash be kept?

At room temperature perhaps a few months to a year before quality starts to drift from its peak. In a fridge, if you are patient enough to leave it, frozen hash can retain much of its potency and flavour even after several years.