How to Make the Most Potent Cannabutter?

In the past decade, the popularity of cannabis-infused edibles has been slowly increasing. This not only gives cannabis users more versatile ways of consuming weed, but it also gives options for users who don’t enjoy smoking cannabis or want to avoid lung agitation, and would rather ingest a delicious edible. 

Weed butter, or cannabutter, is essential for making cannabis edibles and can be used in a lot of different cannabis recipes, such as brownies, chocolates, and other savory recipes. Making weed butter enables you to extract the cannabinoids and terpenes from the plant matter and make a versatile cooking and baking staple in your own kitchen.

Guides on making cannabutter and cannabis edibles are not a new thing on LeafNation, as we’ve done articles on both subjects in the past. If you want to find out how you can make cannabutter with leaves and strong homemade weed brownies, read our articles that cover these subjects. But if you want to find out how to make the most potent cannabutter from the comfort of your own home, read on.

Why Make Cannabis Butter?

While you can always buy weed butter from the local dispensary, making cannabutter at home is really easy and much cheaper than if you were to purchase it. Making it at home also allows you to control the ingredients you use and adjust the recipe and THC content to your preferences which is another reason why it’s best to make your own.

Finally, since cannabinoids are fat-soluble, infusing them in butter increases their bioavailability and allows your body to absorb them better without losing their potency. Besides butter, you can also infuse ghee (clarified butter), and even oils, such as coconut oil and olive oil. The amount of THC you infuse in your butter will affect the intensity of the psychoactive effects, while the type of strain (whether it’s a Sativa, Indica, or a hybrid) will provide you different entourage effects, depending on the other cannabinoids (CBD, CBG, and others) and terpenes (myrcene, limonene, and others) that are present. 

The Most Potent Cannabutter Recipe

While making cannabis butter may seem like a difficult process, it’s much easier than you think. This cannabutter recipe has two main steps and requires a bit of patience and free time, though the results will be worth the effort.

Ingredients

• ½ ounce high-quality cannabis (14 gr or more, depending on how potent you want your butter to be);
• 2 sticks of unsalted butter (approximately 8 ounces or about ½ pound of butter);
• 2 cups of water;
• Kief (as much as you want to add to make your butter more potent – remember that kief is much more potent than regular cannabis flower as it contains the most trichomes, so start with a lower dose of just a few grams and increase it the next time you make your weed butter if need be.)

Step 1: Decarboxylating the Kief and Cannabis Flower

The first step towards making potent cannabutter is the decarboxylation process which removes a carboxyl group from the components and activates the main cannabinoid compounds – THC and CBD. Meaning that the raw cannabis flower will be exposed to a high temperature which will transform the tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA) and cannabidiolic acid (CBDA) into the active forms THC and CBD which produce the effects of weed people know and love.

To decarboxylate your weed, you can use your stovetop, a bain-marie (water bath), a slow cooker (crockpot), and other methods. For this recipe, we’ll decarb the weed on the stovetop. Adding kief to your cannabutter will make it more potent as kief is more potent than regular weed. Remember that you need to decarb both the raw cannabis flower, as well as your kief before you proceed with the next step.

Decarboxylating your weed can be done in a few easy steps:

1. Preheat your oven at 220-240°F;
2. Grind the raw cannabis flowers with a grinder, but be careful not to over-grind;
3. Spread the cannabis evenly on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, and add the kief to another tray;
4. Bake the tray with the cannabis flower for about 30-40 min, and stir every 5-10 minutes to allow even decarb. If the cannabis plant is a bit dry it can shorten the decarbing process. Bake the tray with the kief for about 20 minutes.

Step 2: Making Your Cannabutter on the Stovetop

What’s key when making your cannabutter recipe is maintaining an even temperature level and making sure you don’t burn the weed butter. 

The following process is fairly straightforward, you’ll just need to pay attention to keeping the temperature level and be careful not to burn it.

1. Place the water in a saucepan on medium heat and bring it to a boil.
2. Add the sticks of butter and dissolve them in the water.
3. Add the decarboxylated cannabis and kief to the boiling water and stir gently.
4. After the water, butter, and weed have combined, put a lid on the saucepan and maintain a low temperature for the next 3-4 hours.
5. The butter will keep simmering, though you need to stir every 20 minutes to prevent the bottom from burning.
6. Once the mixture looks glossy, it’s time to remove it from the heat.
7. Choose a butter mold, a container, or a mason jar where you intend to keep your weed and place a fine strainer or 2 cheesecloths over them. 
8. Strain the plant material from the butter into the container and allow the melted butter to cool down at room temperature.
9. Once it cools down, refrigerate your weed butter so it can fully solidify.

Storing and Using Your Weed Butter

Once you have your final product in the fridge, remember to use it in a couple of weeks or else it might go bad. For long-term storage, place your butter in the freezer where it will stay fresh for about 6 months.

You can use your weed butter as an alternative to regular butter in a lot of different sweet and savory recipes. You can make cannabis edibles, cannabis infused chocolate, soups, curries, and a lot of other recipes that require butter as an ingredient. If your butter ends up being more potent than you intended, simply swap out some of the weed butter for regular butter, and you’re good to go.

Final Thoughts on Making Cannabutter

As you’ve probably figured out after reading the recipe above, making cannabis butter is fairly simple, especially if you’re a person who enjoys cooking. You just need a bit of time, a few kitchen appliances, and your favorite strain of decarbed weed. Use your weed butter to make the most delicious marijuana edibles, savory treats, and any recipe that requires the use of butter. Just be careful when dosing your edibles, since the recipe we provided you can probably make the most potent weed butter you can find. So there, enjoy your cannabutter!