Q&A with Ryan from Terpy Highs
🇺🇸 Retired veteran, father, rock-climbing expert & rosin connoisseur
Ryan founded Terpy Highs for the sole purpose of documenting the process of cultivating and processing cannabis plants. He and his team are dedicated to creating exceptional content through sharing openly from their knowledge and experience. Ryan’s vision to serve the cannabis community resonates with The Press Club’s goal of helping solventless extractors create the best bubble hash and rosin available.
Check out one of Terpy High's recent videos: In our conversation, we covered a variety of topics including Ryan’s approach to making hash and some of his favorite tips to create a premium product. We hope you enjoy the following Q&A as much as we did!
The Press Club: What's the worst mistake you can make when washing hash?
Ryan: The biggest mistake any washer can make is being too aggressive while agitating your material in the water. The more aggressive you are the more plant material you will have in your final product.
The Press Club: What are some of your tricks to keeping everything cold while washing?
Ryan: Some Tricks to keeping everything cold while washing are doing the process in a cold room or at night, insulate the outside of your mixing container, pre chill your water by letting it sit with lots of ice in it before being used, and have a freezer near by to keep your tools in while they are not being used.
The Press Club: What about the differences between air drying and freeze drying in terms of hash quality?
Ryan: When using a freeze dryer you can expect your final product to be dried with no loss in quality, retain its color and have high terp levels. You can expect your final product to be a bit darker and slightly lower terp levels when air drying.
The Press Club: What do you look for in quality hash washing bags?
Ryan: I look for strong materials and stitching since the water, ice and plant material mix gets very heavy inside the bags so when lifting it to drain. The fabric and stitching must be strong to last a long time and several washes.
The Press Club: For making hash rosin with your bubble, what brand of rosin filter bags do you prefer to use?
Ryan: I have tried several brands of rosin filter bags over the years along with even ordering a bulk order of custom made once for myself. In the end I have found that The Press Club bags have delivered the best quality and reliability out of everything on the market.
The Press Club: What's one thing you wish you knew when you first started washing hash?
Ryan: An important thing to know before getting started washing hash is that the Ice is not what knocks the trichomes off. Ice is only used to keep everything cold, if you use too much ice in the mixture it ends up breaking up the plant material leaving you with a green end product.
The Press Club: What's one thing everyone can do to make better hash?
Ryan: Be gentle while mixing your material, no need to rush it and try to get all the trichome heads all in the first wash. keeping everything as cold as possible while using as little ice as possible.
The Press Club: What kind of water do you use for washing hash?
Ryan: I like to use Reverse Osmosis water for washing hash as it has minerals and chemicals removed from the water which will help with a cleaner end result for the hash.
The Press Club: How do you source your ice for washing hash?
Ryan: Usually I just buy ice from a grocery store or gas station. When I have an ice machine available like one built into a home freezer I store bags of ice in the freezer as it's being made until I have enough to do a run.
The Press Club: Do you prefer fresh frozen or air cure?
Ryan: Fresh Frozen all day! All around I have found it to be the only way to go when it comes to making ice water hash. You get to skip the dry time which drastically speeds up the process time after harvest along with the quality much higher compared to air cure material.
The Press Club: What are the benefits of washing air cured buds as opposed to fresh frozen?
Ryan: It is a real debate on which really gets a higher yield as it can't be 100% calculated to figure out. The only benefit I can see is that you get slightly higher yields but with that being said there is a much higher chance you are going to get small pieces of plant material in your final product if it has not been fully rehydrated properly before being washed.
The Press Club: Do you prefer flower rosin or hash rosin/why?
Ryan: Personally I enjoy hash rosin more as I find it to be a much cleaner end product, along with how it's processed.
The Press Club: Do you have any grow tips to produce plants that will make premium hash?
Ryan: Selecting strains to grow that are known for their large trichome heads will give you a head start when it comes to making premium hash. Harvesting your plants when you see maximum cloudy trichomes without becoming amber in color will also help with the end product after washing.
The Press Club: Do you prefer to harvest plants on the early or late side of the ripeness spectrum/why?
Ryan: I prefer to harvest when the majority of trichome heads are cloudy with just a little amount of amber. Most of my harvests for making hash are for fresh frozen so little to no change happens between harvest and washing.
A big thanks to Ryan Body and the team at Terpy Highs for taking the time to speak with us, and for the high quality content they’re putting out there for the community on a regular basis. If you’re a grower and/or solventless extractor, check out their website for discounts and product reviews, and their YouTube channel for some instructional how-to’s and unbeatable eye candy.
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