To make dry sift hash, work in the cold with dried material. Lay it on a 149 µm screen and tap or brush it gently so the resin heads fall through, then work what you collected over a 75 µm screen, which lets fine dust through and keeps the heads on top. The first, lightest pass makes the cleanest sift.
What is dry sift?
Dry sift is cannabis resin separated from dried plant material by sifting it through screens: the resin heads, with as little leaf, hair and dust in them as possible. Think of it as kief made on purpose and then cleaned.
Every grinder with a catcher collects a little kief. Dry sift is the hash maker’s version of the same resin, sifted in the cold through stacked screens and worked again until what’s left is mostly heads. Where one ends and the other begins is covered in hash vs kief.
What you need to make dry sift
To make dry sift you need dried material, two screens and somewhere cold.
- Dried material. Trim with plenty of sugar leaf, or small buds. Damp material smears the resin instead of letting it fall.
- Two screens at least. A 149 µm (110 lines per inch) screen pulls the resin off the plant and a 75 µm (200 lines per inch) screen cleans it. Bubbleman’s dry sift screen sets add 250 µm and 165 µm screens for a first pass on rough material.
- A smooth surface under the screen to catch the sift, and a card or scraper to gather it.
- Cold. A cold room, a winter morning or material straight from the freezer. Warm resin goes sticky and holds on to the plant.
- A loupe or a microscope to see what you collected.
How to make dry sift, step by step
How to make dry sift, in the order Bubbleman works:
- Get cold.
Work as cold as you can. Bubbleman likes it close to zero degrees Celsius and does his sifting early in the morning, before the day warms up. Freezing the material for a while first helps the heads snap off.
- Load the top screen lightly.
Spread a thin layer of dried trim or buds over the 149 µm screen, set over your collection surface. A thick pile grinds itself into dust.
- Tap, don’t scrub.
Gently tap the frame or brush the material across the screen for a short time. The heads fall first; the longer and harder you work it, the more leaf and stalk follow them.
- Keep the first pass separate.
Scrape up what fell through and keep it apart. The first, quickest pass is the cleanest sift that material will give; later passes add yield and lower the grade.
- Clean it on the 75 µm screen.
Spread the sift on the 75 µm screen and work it gently with a card. Dust and broken bits smaller than the mesh drop through, and the resin heads stay on top. This is the carding Bubbleman used to make full melt dry sift.
- Check it, then repeat if it needs it.
Look at it under a loupe. Green specks and hairs mean another pass; a pile of round heads means you’re done.
- Store it sealed and cool.
Keep the sift in a sealed glass jar somewhere cool and dark until you smoke, press or dab it.
Dry sift screen sizes
Dry sift screen sizes are given two ways, in microns and in lines per inch (LPI): the smaller the micron number, or the higher the LPI, the finer the screen. The four screens in Bubbleman’s sets:
| Screen | Lines per inch | What it’s for |
|---|---|---|
| 250µm | 60 | A coarse first pass on rough material |
| 165µm | 90 | A second coarse pass |
| 149µm | 110 | Pulls the resin off the plant |
| 75µm | 200 | Cleans the sift: dust through, heads on top |
The product notes put it plainly: a secondary screen is extremely important for consistent quality in dry sifting. One screen gets resin off the plant; the second one makes it clean.
Dry sift grades: from farmer’s grade to full melt
Dry sift grades run from farmer’s grade, mostly heads with plenty of plant matter still in it, to full melt, which melts away completely under heat. Most sift is farmer’s grade, and that is fine for a joint, a bowl or the press.
Full melt dry sift is rare. Bubbleman has said on Hash Church that when he asks a room of a hundred people at a concentrates panel who has full melt bubble, maybe five or ten hands go up, and when he asks who has full melt dry sift, hardly any do. Getting there takes patience: he describes carding Johnny B’s sift with him for 45 minutes, and finishing his own sift with static, which lifts the clean heads off and leaves the trash behind.
From the archive: Bubbleman on dry sift
From the archive, Bubbleman on dry sift in his own words, from two live Sunday shows. Tap a time to hear that moment.
Season 12, Episode 15, The Edibles Episode, with Marigold Sweets and Space Gems
I’ve got my giant dry sift screens right here… they’re like five footers. And I’ve been putting them out on the deck and getting the trim out. I got really beautiful sugar trim, and I’ve just been stacking dry sift.
On sifting outdoors in winterAs it gets warmer, it becomes less my friend. I would prefer it to stay like close to zero at night or early, early in the morning. So I have like an hour or two to do my hash making.
On temperatureI want to have a dry sift cold room, and then a little smaller section where I can just wheel in my bucket with my bags and my ice underneath the bucket.
On the cold room he wants
I was carding the screen. I was close, and D420K got even closer.
On cardingI was using a card and I was rubbing the card over the screen, and it would break and push the contaminants through. And then on top of the screen, I would be left with full melt… dry sift.
On how carding worksHe shows me dry sift and I put it under the microscope and show him, dude, this is just the dirtiest… farmer’s grade…
On checking sift under the microscope
Dry sift with Bubble Bags
Dry sift with Bubble Bags is the quick version: the bags and two 5 gallon buckets stand in for framed screens, and the plant material is frozen first so the heads break off easily. It’s fast and convenient, but with no water to wash out dirt it won’t come out as clean or as melty as bubble hash.
Bubble Bags doesn’t recommend dry ice for dry sift. It speeds things up but tends to bring more contaminant through with the resin, and the bag warranty doesn’t cover dry ice use.
What to do with dry sift
Dry sift can be smoked as it is, pressed into hash or turned into rosin. Sprinkle it on a bowl or roll it into a joint; press it into a solid piece by hand or with a press (see kief pressing); or press it with heat into hash rosin. The traditional style hash Bubbleman makes, brick hash and temple balls, starts as dry sift.
How to clean dry sift screens
To clean dry sift screens, use plenty of alcohol and never warm water. Bubble Bags’ instructions: hold the screen flat and brush it with a dripping wet paint brush or a lint-free cloth soaked in food grade isopropyl or another food grade alcohol, so the alcohol runs through the mesh and dissolves the smeared resin. Do both sides over a tray, and check the mesh under magnification before and after.
Dry sift questions
Dry sift questions, answered from Bubbleman’s instructions and his episodes:
What is dry sift?
Dry sift is resin sifted off dried cannabis through fine screens, with no water or solvent. It is cleaned kief: mostly resin heads, with the leaf and dust worked out.
Is dry sift kief?
Dry sift is kief, sifted on purpose and then cleaned. Grinder kief is the same resin with more plant matter in it; good dry sift is mostly heads.
What micron screen is best for dry sift?
The best micron screens for dry sift come as a pair: about 149 µm (110 LPI) to pull the resin off the plant and 75 µm (200 LPI) to clean it. Coarser 165 µm and 250 µm screens help with rough material.
Can you dab dry sift?
Yes, you can dab dry sift if it is clean enough to melt. Farmer’s grade sift leaves residue on the nail, so it is better smoked or pressed into rosin first.
Does dry ice make better dry sift?
Dry ice makes faster dry sift, not better dry sift. Bubble Bags doesn’t recommend it, because it tends to bring more contaminant through with the resin, and its bag warranty doesn’t cover dry ice use.
Sources for this dry sift guide
Sources for this dry sift guide, from Bubbleman’s own published material and his show:
- How to use your Bubble Bags to make dry sift extract, bubblebag.com
- How to clean your bags and dry sift screens, bubblebag.com
- Bubble Bags instructions, with the note on dry ice, bubblebag.com
- Hash making: micron vs LPI conversion chart explained, Bubbleman’s World on YouTube
- Hash Church Season 12, Episode 14: Bubbleman on how rare full melt dry sift is