I know there are a million posts and tutorials how to do this, but I figured I wanted to contribute my experiences and hopefully help someone improve their skills.
I use Sprung bags, a lot of different bags work. Use whatever you like, higher quality bags are worth the price in my experience. MY MICRON SIZES ARE FOR SPRUNG BAGS BUT I'M SURE YOUR BAGS ARE COMPARABLE.
Okay it's easy. Everything we've learned just tweaked - try it see what you think.
You need: two buckets, your bags, trim, ice, water and wooden spoon
What I don't know: how much trim is okay to use. I like to cover the screen in about 2 or 3 inches of trim, but who knows what amount is perfect. In my opinion since I run the same trim 2 or 3 times its okay using more trim then less. I also am not sure if dry or wet trim is better. I figure dry frozen trim is the best, but who knows. I imagine, however, that dry trim is more likely to get through the mesh, but the wet trim is full of chlorophyll.
To start, only use your 220 micron and 160 micron bags. Put them in the correct order, 220 inside the 160. then put them into the buckets like you would. Basically all I changed was the bag situation. So you are going to have only the 220 and the 160 inside your 5 gallon bucket all set up. Put the trim, then ice, then water. Let sit for 15-30 minutes to get nice and chilled. So the difference you notice is that the rest of your bags are not being used yet. After letting sit, take your wooden spoon (my wooden spoon fits in my drill which makes it easier) and gently mix. Stir/ Mix for 15-20 minutes. I like do figure eights, Z shaped stirs. I've found that violently stirring to get bubbles is worthless and hasn't really helped get any more final product-it is really just tiresome. The point of not using the other bags is to get the goodies to fall into the bucket where it will be later extracted from the water.
After stirring pull the bags up above the bucket and use a water bottle or faucet to rinse the goodies through the two bags and into the bucket. You should notice the bucket will be full of golden water. The goodies sink to the bottom which is good to know for the next step. Put the work bag and 160 bag to the side, you will use them later. Now take only your 110 micron bag and put it on the other bucket like you normally would. You are going to pour the water solution you just made through only the 110 micron bag (your 73 micron should be sitting unused next to you). You will collect your first amount and place it on your 25 micron pressing screen hopefully on a rack or something that allows air flow all around (DO NOT PRESS PRODUCT WHEN WET!***).
Now you have your new bucket full of water, you've collected the 110 micron and it's time to do the same thing with the 73 micron bag. So put the 73 on the now empty bucket and pour the water through. Collect that pollen. Take the 73 and put it on the other bucket and run that same water once more (surprisingly there is just a little worth saving that gets through the screen the first time but gets caught the second). That was your first run ( I don't use the 25 micron as its a waste of time for anyone that has a life).
With the same wet trim that you used. Repeat this process. You WILL get the same amount of pollen the second run, its amazing, I was quite surprised how much came out the second and even third time running the same trim. When looking under a 30x microscope there is very little contaminate.
***I never press when wet even though a lot of people do. I've read that it traps the moisture inside and risks the chance of molding when you cure and stash away for a long time.
The bombest goodies come from curing for sure. It was hot yesterday so my stuff dried pretty quick, but I suggest curing like you would your flowers. Open every now and then, more often the better to eliminate the chance of mold. I got 36 grams off Lb of mostly fan leaves
I use Sprung bags, a lot of different bags work. Use whatever you like, higher quality bags are worth the price in my experience. MY MICRON SIZES ARE FOR SPRUNG BAGS BUT I'M SURE YOUR BAGS ARE COMPARABLE.
Okay it's easy. Everything we've learned just tweaked - try it see what you think.
You need: two buckets, your bags, trim, ice, water and wooden spoon
What I don't know: how much trim is okay to use. I like to cover the screen in about 2 or 3 inches of trim, but who knows what amount is perfect. In my opinion since I run the same trim 2 or 3 times its okay using more trim then less. I also am not sure if dry or wet trim is better. I figure dry frozen trim is the best, but who knows. I imagine, however, that dry trim is more likely to get through the mesh, but the wet trim is full of chlorophyll.
To start, only use your 220 micron and 160 micron bags. Put them in the correct order, 220 inside the 160. then put them into the buckets like you would. Basically all I changed was the bag situation. So you are going to have only the 220 and the 160 inside your 5 gallon bucket all set up. Put the trim, then ice, then water. Let sit for 15-30 minutes to get nice and chilled. So the difference you notice is that the rest of your bags are not being used yet. After letting sit, take your wooden spoon (my wooden spoon fits in my drill which makes it easier) and gently mix. Stir/ Mix for 15-20 minutes. I like do figure eights, Z shaped stirs. I've found that violently stirring to get bubbles is worthless and hasn't really helped get any more final product-it is really just tiresome. The point of not using the other bags is to get the goodies to fall into the bucket where it will be later extracted from the water.
After stirring pull the bags up above the bucket and use a water bottle or faucet to rinse the goodies through the two bags and into the bucket. You should notice the bucket will be full of golden water. The goodies sink to the bottom which is good to know for the next step. Put the work bag and 160 bag to the side, you will use them later. Now take only your 110 micron bag and put it on the other bucket like you normally would. You are going to pour the water solution you just made through only the 110 micron bag (your 73 micron should be sitting unused next to you). You will collect your first amount and place it on your 25 micron pressing screen hopefully on a rack or something that allows air flow all around (DO NOT PRESS PRODUCT WHEN WET!***).
Now you have your new bucket full of water, you've collected the 110 micron and it's time to do the same thing with the 73 micron bag. So put the 73 on the now empty bucket and pour the water through. Collect that pollen. Take the 73 and put it on the other bucket and run that same water once more (surprisingly there is just a little worth saving that gets through the screen the first time but gets caught the second). That was your first run ( I don't use the 25 micron as its a waste of time for anyone that has a life).
With the same wet trim that you used. Repeat this process. You WILL get the same amount of pollen the second run, its amazing, I was quite surprised how much came out the second and even third time running the same trim. When looking under a 30x microscope there is very little contaminate.
***I never press when wet even though a lot of people do. I've read that it traps the moisture inside and risks the chance of molding when you cure and stash away for a long time.
The bombest goodies come from curing for sure. It was hot yesterday so my stuff dried pretty quick, but I suggest curing like you would your flowers. Open every now and then, more often the better to eliminate the chance of mold. I got 36 grams off Lb of mostly fan leaves
