To make bubble hash, line a bucket with Bubble Bags from 25 µm up to the 220 µm work bag, fill it with ice water at 4 °C or colder, add fresh frozen or dried material, stir gently for about 15 minutes, let it settle, then pull each bag, scrape the resin, press out the water and dry it for at least a week.
What you need to make bubble hash
To make bubble hash you need a set of filter bags, a bucket that fits them, a lot of ice and cold water, and a gentle way to stir. The full list:
- A bag set. Four bags keep it simple; eight give you more grades to compare. Bubble Bags come in Original and LABS grades (the Lites were discontinued in September 2025). Match the set to your bucket.
- A bucket sized to the bags, and a second bucket to chill the water.
- Ice and cold water, roughly half and half, with more ice on standby.
- A long wooden spoon or a gentle mixer.
- A large bowl to stretch the bags over, a pressing screen and a towel.
- Parchment or thick cardboard to dry the hash on.
How to make bubble hash in a 5 gallon bucket
To make bubble hash in a 5 gallon bucket, use a 5 gallon bag set and keep each run to about 200 grams (8 ounces) of dry material; a 20 gallon set takes about a kilogram. The bags go in the same order as in any kit, smallest first. Bubble Bags’ step-by-step guide calls the large bowl a must with a five gallon kit, for stretching each bag while you scrape the resin off.
How to make bubble hash, step by step
How to make bubble hash, in the order Bubbleman does it:
- Line the bucket, smallest bag first.
Start with the 25 µm bag, then 45, 73, 90, 120, 160 and 190, and finish with the 220 µm work bag on the outside. Smallest to largest, every time.
- Chill the water before it goes in.
Let ice and water sit together in a separate bucket so the water is 4 °C (39 °F) or colder. Warm water is the most common reason a wash fails.
- Fill above the screens first.
Add cold water until it covers the screen at the bottom of the bags, about halfway up the bucket. Plant material dropped onto a dry screen pushes contaminant into your best bags.
- Add your material.
Fresh frozen or dried flower, trim or leaf. The bags sort what you give them; they don’t create quality that isn’t there.
- Add ice almost to the top.
Aim for about half ice and half water, and keep adding ice through the wash.
- Stir gently for about 15 minutes.
A long wooden spoon or a gentle mixer. Go easy on the first run; a second wash catches what you missed without breaking up the plant.
- Let it settle.
Give it 10 to 15 minutes so the resin heads sink down through the screens.
- Pull the work bag and rinse it.
Lift the 220 µm bag, let it drain back into the bucket without squeezing, and set the washed material aside to compost or run again. Rinse the bag in cold water right away and hang it to dry.
- Pull each bag and scrape the resin.
Work down through 190, 160, 120, 90, 73, 45 and 25. Turn each bag inside out over a large bowl, stretch the screen, pool the resin with a little water and lift it off with a spoon. Rinse the spoon into the next bag down so no heads are lost.
- Drain a slow bag with a jerk.
If a fine bag drains slowly, cinch the top, lift it a few inches and drop it. Repeat a few times; the water passes while the resin lifts off the screen.
- Press out the water.
Collect the resin on a pressing screen, fold a towel over it and press lightly. Press harder and high-grade resin sticks together and won’t dry.
- Break it up and dry it for a week.
Crumble or microplane the wet hash into a powder on parchment or thick cardboard that will wick the water away. Give it at least 7 days. Never press it into a block until it is fully dry, or mold can grow inside.
How to make ice water hash by hand
To make ice water hash by hand, follow the steps above with a long wooden spoon and stir gently for about 15 minutes. Bubble Bags’ FAQ says an electric mixer can be used, but the hash tends to come out lower in quality, because the more you break up the plant, the more fine leaf ends up in it.
Bubble hash micron sizes: what each bag catches
Bubble hash micron sizes run from the 220 µm work bag down to 25 µm, and each bag catches a different grade. Bubbleman’s notes on each one:
| Bag | Role | What it catches |
|---|---|---|
| 220µm | Work bag | Holds the plant material. The toughest bag in the set. |
| 190µm | Contaminant | Pulls most of the contaminant out. Use it for cooking or discard it. |
| 160µm | Large heads | Sometimes good with indica-dominant plants that grow big heads; it also cleans contaminant from the 120 and 73. |
| 120µm | Good grade | Makes a nice grade of bubble. |
| 90µm | Top grade | With the 73, some of the finest resin in the wash. |
| 73µm | The full melt bag | Where full melt usually shows up first. |
| 45µm | Light and sandy | Often the lightest colored hash in the group, blonde to white. |
| 25µm | Tiniest heads | The smallest bag; with some sativas it is the full melt bag. |
Treat the table as a starting point. Depending on the plant, the best grade can land in the 90, 73, 45 or even the 25. The full breakdown is in bubble hash micron sizes.
How to dry bubble hash after the wash
How to dry bubble hash decides whether a good wash stays good. Break the wet hash into a powder rather than leaving it as a pressed cookie, spread it on parchment or thick cardboard that wicks moisture (plates, plastic and metal don’t), and give it at least 7 days. Freeze dryers do it faster and keep the heads intact. More in how to dry bubble hash.
Bubbleman’s five rules for bubble hash
Bubbleman’s five rules for bubble hash, as he puts them on the Bubble Bags instructions page:
The bomb makes the bomb.
Quality starting material matters most. The bags purify what you give them, so start with strains that wash.Use plenty of ice.
As long as the mixture stays cold and moving, you’re on track.Go gentle on the first run.
Mixing hard to get it all costs quality. Run a second batch instead.Break up the hash properly.
Microplane it or sieve it; both are on his YouTube channel.Dry it right, then cure it.
After 7 or more days drying, hash can cure and keep for years.
How to care for your bubble bags
Caring for your bubble bags takes two minutes after every wash. Rinse each bag in cold water as soon as it’s empty (hot water clogs the screens), hang it until it is completely dry, and never fold it up wet. Skip detergents and solvents; for a clogged screen, work 99% isopropyl alcohol in with a soft toothbrush, away from the stitching.
From the archive: Bubbleman on washing
From the archive, Bubbleman on washing in his own words, recorded live on Season 12, Episode 33, Inside the Lab With Bubbleman: His Processing SOPs. Tap a time to hear that moment.
I usually put five to seven buckets of ice in for the first batch.
On chilling the washI base everything on temperature. That’s it, has to be zero degrees Celsius. If it’s 0.3, I’m good.
On wash water temperatureFresh frozen and dry are totally different. You do not run them the same way.
On dried versus fresh frozen materialIf you push too much hash through, which is what we were doing after an hour of mixing, the 220 bag was full.
On mixing too longFreeze dryer hash is not shredded at all. It’s just sublimated, so the heads will still be intact.
On freeze drying versus microplaningFor those of you that don’t weigh your wet hash, shame on you… It’s the only way you can have an understanding of where you might be at the end of the day.
On weighing wet hash
Bubble hash questions
Bubble hash questions, answered from Bubbleman’s instructions and his episodes:
How is bubble hash made?
Bubble hash is made by stirring cannabis in ice water until the brittle resin heads snap off, then letting them sink through a stack of micron bags that sort them by size. Each grade is scraped out, pressed lightly and dried for at least a week.
What temperature should the water be for bubble hash?
The water temperature for bubble hash should be 4 °C (39 °F) or colder. Bubble Bags’ instructions say to let ice and water settle together first so it gets there, and in his commercial lab Bubbleman aims for zero degrees Celsius.
How long do you mix bubble hash?
Mix bubble hash for about 15 minutes of gentle stirring per wash, then let it settle for 10 to 15 minutes. Mixing much longer breaks up plant material and can overload the work bag.
Which bubble bag makes full melt?
The 73 µm bubble bag is the classic full melt bag, but it depends on the plant: the best grade can land in the 90, 73, 45 or 25.
How long does bubble hash take to dry?
Bubble hash takes at least 7 days to dry, broken up into a powder on parchment or cardboard. Freeze dryers are faster and keep the heads intact.
Can you make bubble hash from dried material?
Yes, you can make bubble hash from dried material: Bubble Bags work with dried or fresh frozen material. The two don’t wash the same way, though, and dried material needs the 220 µm work bag to catch more plant matter.
Sources for this bubble hash guide
Sources for this bubble hash guide, all from Bubbleman’s own published material and his show:
- Bubble Bags instructions and Bubbleman’s top 5 tips, bubblebag.com
- How to make cold water hash with Bubble Bags, step by step, bubblebag.com
- Bubble Bags FAQ: bag sizes, grades and full melt, bubblebag.com
- How To Videos playlist, Bubbleman’s World on YouTube
- Hash Church Season 12, Episode 33, Inside the Lab: the transcript on its episode page, linked above