How to Make Cannabutter; A Beginner's Guide

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Making cannabutter is an easy but methodical process perfect for beginners. Heat weed, immerse in melted butter and steep.

Whipped cannabutter in a small mason jar. — Whipped cannabutter.

Cannabutter (or weed butter) is regular butter that's been infused with dry cannabis to use for cooking, baking, or spreading onto a hunk of bread. Making weed butter is an easy but methodical process that any beginner can do.

I started taking a CBD oil a few years ago when I developed trouble sleeping and peri-menopausal induced anxiety. The sleep I could help by doing these few things every night.

The anxiety was tougher.

It saw me greet every morning by jumping out of bed, saying here we go again, and promptly forgetting how breathing works. In and out, I knew that much, but how often?

Should I count my breaths? I feel like I'm breathing too many times, why can't I get a deep breath? I'm dizzy, let's curl up in a ball on the floor next to the dirty cat food dish while I contemplate why my stomach is in a constant state of trying to turn itself inside out.

It was that experience and the success of using CBD that prompted me to grow my own cannabis plants for making weed butter. If you like growing things, I'm an experienced gardener who also writes for publications like The Old Farmer's Almanac - you can see my best vegetable gardening tips here .

My meno is pausing. And this THC butter recipe helps.

Cannabis can be split into 2 groups - THC dominant strains and CBD dominant strains. I recommend a 1:1 for making your own weed butter. That means your pot strain will have 1 part THC to 1 part CBD.

Table of Contents

Ingredients

7 - 10 grams of dried, decarboxylated cannabis (CBD or THC) - About 1 cup

1 cup of butter

1 cup water

Step 1 - Decarbing

Decarb your cannabis by breaking it into pieces and laying it on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 40 minutes in a 240 F oven.

Remove the decarbed cannabis from the oven and let it cool a bit. It'll have lost some of its green colour and turned crispy.

For a superior product work with the buds for this (on the left), not the stems or the leaves (on the right). Having said that, you can make marijuana butter using stems, leaves, shake weed and kief.

Whatever garbage pot parts you have - they can be made into cannabutter!

If you're wondering how to decarb kief, leaves and stems - do it the exact same way. By heating in a 240 F oven for 40 minutes.

Bud from autoflowering cannabis plant being held between two fingers. — Marijuana bud

Green cannabis leaf held up between two fingers. — Marijuana bud

A bud of decarboxylated cannabis held in palm of hand. — Slightly more brown and dry after decarbing.

Step 2 - Grinding

Now you have to either cut or grind the buds so that it's smaller but not a fine powder, which is best for infusing. You can use a grinder (I have a fancy gold, metal grinder) or just cut it up with scissors.

Gold grinder on AMAZON in Canada.

Gold grinder on AMAZON in US - (currently not for sale in the U.S., but it does pop up every now and then)

TIP: A weed grinder is also perfect for grinding dried herbs. I use one for the grinding up the thyme, basil, oregano and sage that I grow and dry. It makes it the perfect consistency for cooking.

Gold herb grinding surrounded by ground cannabis. — Luxury grinding with a gold spice grinder

Step 3 - Infusing

Combine 1 cup butter and 1 cup water in a pot and bring to the simmer until butter melts. Once you add your cannabis in the next step you don't want your mixture to go over 200 F.

Anything between 160 F and 200 F is O.K.

Add your decarbed cannabis to the pot of butter and water and stir.* Let it steep at a temperature of around 180 for 3 hours stirring fairly often to keep things mixed up. Use a thermometer in your pot so you can keep an eye on it. If your mixture is at a boil you KNOW you've gone over 200 F. :(

1 cup of butter melting in a non stick pot. — On its own butter would scorch.

1 cup of water being poured into 1 cup of melted butter in a pot on the stove. — On its own butter would scorch.

NOTE: The reason you add water is to prevent your butter from scorching and burning. You'll separate the butter and water later.

Decarbed, ground cannabis being dropped from black bowl into pot of butter and water.

A sous vide stick in a mason jar being used to infuse cannabutter showing a temperature of 180 F.

*TIP: TO MAKE THIS EASY AND EXACT, AT THIS POINT POUR THE MIXTURE INTO A LARGE MASON JAR AND USE A STICK SOUS VIDE TO MAKE YOUR CANNABUTTER. JUST SET THE SOUS VIDE TO 180 F, FOR 3 HOURS AND WALK AWAY.

*I have made this cannabutter recipe two ways. With the above controversial method which inserts the Sous Vide stick right in the cannabutter as well as the more traditional method of setting the jar of cannabutter into a pot of water, with the Sous Vide stick in the water. I've found putting the stick right in the butter makes a more consistent product. But you do you! Either way works.

NOTE: You can also use a slow cooker and make crock pot cannabutter but remember to stir it the odd time and use an instant read digital thermometer to make sure you're staying at 180 F.

Step 4 - Straining & Storing

After 3 hours take the pot off the heat (or turn off the Sous Vide) and strain your mixture through multiple layers of cheesecloth to strain the cannabis from the butter.

Squeeze the cheesecloth to get all the butter in it out.

Refrigerate the mixture of butter and water overnight. The next day the butter will have hardened at the top of the water and you can use a spoon to lift it out and put it in a new dish.

The butter will be grainy and weird. Mash it with a fork and once it's softened enough, whisk it to smooth it out. If you want to be an overachiever you can use an electric beater to get it really smooth.

Refrigerate until you want to use it.

Pouring a green tinged cannabis infused butter out of a mason jar and into cheesecloth. — Draining cannabis butter through cheesecloth.

Squeezing a ball of cannabis and butter filled cheesecloth over a strainer. — Draining cannabis butter through cheesecloth.

Hardened butter sitting atop of greenish waste water in a flip top mason jar. — Overnight the fat should solidify in the fridge.

Cannabis butter on a soup spoon resting on a mason jar. — Overnight the fat should solidify in the fridge.

Cannabutter in a white ironstone bowl being mashed with a fork. — Mash it up. It'll seem grainy and gross.

Whipped cannabutter in an ironstone bowl with a whisk still in it. — Mash it up. It'll seem grainy and gross.

Whipped cannabutter in a small, low, jam sized mason jar with cannabis scattered around and spatula off to the side. — Weed butter will last for 2 weeks in the fridge.

In order for Cannabutter to have any of the beneficial effects of the CBD or THC your cannabis flower (bud) needs to be activated by decarboxylating (decarbing) it.

More on Decarboxylation

It's a big scary, sciencey looking word, but all it means is you need to heat up the cannabis to activate it. You need to decarb both THC and CBD to get the benefits out of them.

Oven knob on Blue Star oven being set to 140 degrees, with pan of cannabis ready to decarb on top. — Decarboxylation of weed in a 240°F

In fact, until you decarb the cannabis, what it contains is THCA and CBDA. It's only when you heat it that it becomes THC and CBD.

You decarboxylate cannabis by heating it on a baking sheet in the oven at 240 F for 40 minutes.

White digital scale on white table, weighing out 8 grams of cannabis. — Anywhere from 7-10 grams is ideal for 1 cup of butter

NOTE: If you're wondering how to make cannabis oil it's the same as making cannabutter. All the steps and measurements are the same. Instead of 1 cup butter, use 1 cup oil. Olive, grape, MCT (unrefined coconut oil) & avocado oil all make excellent carrier oils. *For the steeping phase DO NOT ADD WATER.

Orrrr - you can make it all in one machine. Both The Magical Butter machine and the higher priced Levo II can decarboxylate and infuse butter or oil all in the handy casing of a small countertop appliance.

Dosing

Dosing is a bit of a crapshoot but you can guide yourself if you know what you worked with to make your butter.

You can use this THC calculator for determining how strong your cannabutter is read this blog post on how to calculate cannabis dosing and stregth yourself.

TIPS

To figure out dosing for yourself without all the math, just spread a small amount (¼ teaspoon or so) onto a piece of bread and eat it. See how you feel 1 hour later and adjust from there.
Using more flower does not = more potent. The butter can only absorb so much of the cannabinoids so stick to a maximum 1:1 ratio. 1 cup of butter to 1 cup decarbed flower.
Homemade infused cannabutter will last for about 2 weeks in your fridge.
If you'll only use it occasionally store it in the freezer.
If you find your butter isn't strong enough the easiest way to make cannabutter stronger is to just take more of it. If you add ½ teaspoon to toast, add ¾s or 1 full teaspoon. So basically eat twice as much.

To make cannabutter stronger you can also remelt the butter and infuse it again with a few grams of stronger cannabis and hope your butter still has room in it to grab more of that THC.

What to Make With Cannabutter

You can use it in everyday cooking like regular butter. Just substitute 1 part regular butter with 1 part weed butter. It's as easy as that.
Use it on corn on the cob.
Melt it and drizzle it on movie night popcorn.
Toss with cooked pasta and parmesan cheese.
For your first attempt at cooking with cannabis try these delicious, classic pot brownies made with cannabutter.
You can also just slather weed butter onto a hunk of bread about an hour before bedtime. It's an effective alternative to sleeping aids like pills or sleepy-time tea. (without filling your bladder up before bed)
Cannabutter can be used in baking, but as you can also try baking with weed itself when you're feeling all pro about your cannabis cooking skills.

Kick the cat dish out of the way and enjoy effortless breathing and sleeping like an actual well adjusted human person who doesn't have completely unpredictable hormone levels and mood swings.

A vintage knife rests on one of two pieces of cheese bread with a half teaspoon of cannabutter in front.

How do you make cannabutter in an apartment?

Ah yes. The stink factor. Baking cannabis in the oven for decarbing does create an odor. If you have an oven vent, run it on high. This will help a bit. But if you want a completely odor free way to make weed butter you might want to look into one of the small infusion machines like The Magical Butter Machine which you can get on Amazon. These machines don't completely 100% eliminate all of the marijuana scent, but they reduce them to very minimal levels.

How do you make CBD cannabutter?

Whether you're making CBD butter or THC butter, they process is exactly the same. Heat the cannabis to decarb, mix it with warmed butter, then steep.

How much weed do you need to make cannabutter?

You can use any amount that you want as long as you follow the 1:1 ratio measured in cups. So 1 cup butter & 1 cup weed. Or ¼ cup butter & ¼ cup weed. And so on.

Why did my cannabutter mold?

Cannabutter needs to be stored in the refrigerator. Unlike regular butter, this very special butter has another ingredient in it - weed. It's that distinction that makes it more prone to mold. Also, leaving crumbs or anything like that in the butter will cause it to mold more quickly.

Keep your butter clean and in the fridge and it should last for 2 weeks.

Can you freeze weed butter?

You bet you can. Cannabutter freezes perfectly either in premeasured doses, or as an entire stick. Science says it'll last for 6 months but experience says it'll still be fine after that.

Why is my weed butter watery?

There are two possible reasons for watery butter.

1. Your fridge just isn't cold enough to make the butter solidify properly. Stick it in the freezer to get it in good solid form. But take it out before the water freezes as well. (fat freezes more quickly than water)

2. The butter might not be solidifying because of what the cow ate, believe it or not. The saturated and unsaturated feed an animal takes in is directly related to the fat in products made from that animal. Again the fix for watery weed butter is to just put the cannabutter in the freezer for a bit.

How much cannabutter does an ounce make?

One ounce of weed will make 4 cups of cannabutter.

.25 ounces = 7 grams
7 grams pot = 1 cup cannabutter

Therefore:

¼ ounce (7 gr) weed = 1 cup cannabutter
½ ounce (14 gr) weed = 2 cups cannabutter
¾ ounce (21 gr) weed = 3 cups cannabutter
1 ounce (28 gr)weed = 4 cups cannabutter

Oh hi. You're still here. I know this was a mammoth post. As luck would have it, I'm well rested and feeling good so I have all the energy in the world to write 2,200 word posts.

Also, I don't mean to brag but, I'm kind of a world champion breather. I don't even have to think about it.