Best Weed Tincture Recipe

Making a weed tincture at home is simple and easy. Whether you use flower or concentrates, you can infuse the material in high-proof alcohol to create a potent concentrate. Here is the best weed tincture recipe using the freezer method.

What Is a Weed Tincture?

Weed tinctures are cannabis concentrates, usually made with high-proof ethanol to dissolve the flower or trim’s trichomes. Vegetable glycerin-based tinctures do not contain ethanol. Both tinctures come in a dropper bottle for accurate dosing.

For some, alcohol-based tinctures can be too harsh for sublingual (under the tongue) absorption. If this weed tincture recipe burns your tongue, try a vegetable glycerin tincture recipe or add the alcohol-based tincture into a drink.

Weed tinctures are discreet since they produce no smoke or odor and are easy to carry in a purse or bag. The dropper bottle enables you to get a precise dose time after time. Best of all, sublingual absorption can produce quick-acting and long-lasting effects.

Weed Tincture Ingredients and Equipment

• Large, freezer-proof glass mason jars with lids
• Cheesecloth or paper towel
• Freezer
• High-proof alcohol (190-proof grain alcohol recommended). Higher alcohol concentrations are more effective at dissolving the cannabis trichomes.
• Decarboxylated cannabis flower, trim, bubble hash, or kief. Decarboxylation is not required if you will be purging the alcohol with heat.

How Much Alcohol and Cannabis to Use

Best Weed Tincture Recipe: Freezer Method

1. Collect the equipment and ingredients.
2. Place the ethanol (for first and second wash) in a freezer-proof jar and put it in the freezer for 1 hour. Ethanol should reach 17º F (-8º C) or lower. Place the alcohol for each wash in a separate jar. The amount of alcohol used depends on the type and amount of cannabis used (refer to the chart above).
3. If you are using cannabis flower, leaves, or trim, place the cannabis in a jar and freeze it at the same time as the ethanol jars.
4. If you are using concentrates like kief and hash, mix it in a jar with a small amount of room-temperature alcohol until it dissolves. Break up large pieces of hash with a fork.
5. When the alcohol reaches the right temperature, remove half of it (and the jar of cannabis, if using flower) from the freezer.
6. Add the cold ethanol to the jar of cannabis or hash/kief mixture during the first wash (refer to the chart above). You can add more alcohol to submerge the cannabis completely.
7. Cover the jar and shake it to remove the trichomes from the plant material. Place the jar in the freezer.
8. Let the jar sit in the freezer for 30-60 minutes. Take it out and shake it every few minutes.
9. After 1 hour, remove the jar from the freezer and open it.
   1. If you are using flower or trim, use the outer band of the jar lid to fasten four layers of cheesecloth to the top of the jars.
   2. If using hash or kief, use a paper towel to filter any tiny plant fibers. The liquid will flow out more slowly.
10. Pour the strained liquid into a clean glass jar. Cover the jar and set it aside. So far, about 70-80% of the active ingredients have been extracted.
11. Remove the cheesecloth or paper towel. Avoid wasting cannabinoids in the cheesecloth or paper towel by adding it into the jar with the second wash of alcohol.
12. Add the second jar of alcohol to the wet cannabis (refer to the chart above). If necessary, add more alcohol to submerge the cannabis completely.
13. Cover the jar. Shake it to remove the trichomes from the plant. Put the jar in the freezer.
14. Keep the jars in the freezer for 30-60 minutes. Shake the jar every few minutes. The second wash extracts about 16-21% more cannabinoids for a total of 91-96% extracted.
15. Strain the tincture and enjoy.

Become a Cannabis Cooking and Extraction Expert at CTU

Learn about our cannabis extraction training at Cannabis Training University’s online marijuana college. Our complete curriculums cover the essentials of growing cannabis, preparing it for cooking and extraction, and making various cannabis infusions, including edibles, tinctures, extracts, topicals, and more.