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While best micron bags are an absolute necessity when it comes to pressing with dry-sift or bubble hash, their use is not critical when pressing from flower, and subsequently, many flower pressers don’t even consider using them. However, filter bags have a lot to bring to the solventless table, as they can improve the quality of your flower rosin immensely.
What exactly are rosin press bags?
Put simply, they are an essential part of rosin pressing, or removing the cannabinoid oils from the cannabis plant.
They are bags, similar in some ways to tea bags or coffee filters, that act as filters to keep plant material from getting into the oil that is removed. Rosin bags are typically made from nylon mesh that is sewed together to create a rectangular bag. And if you’ve found the right rosin press from our guide, then you’ll need to seriously consider the types of bags that will go with your new pressing unit.
Pros
Inside out. Again, it’s a great time saver that these bags are already flipped inside out. I also don’t have to worry about damaging the bags while flipping them myself.
Filters well. The end product that made it out of the bag was high quality, with very little plant material still inside.
Cons
Absorbs oil. These bags hold in A LOT of the oil pressed. It sticks in the stitching, as well as the mesh itself, which isn’t great at all for yield. If you don’t fold the bags over, oil doesn’t get stuck in the folds, but then you increase the chance of having a blowout.
I had a lot of them. The bags don’t seem able to handle high amounts of pressure or temperature. If it was just one or the other, that wouldn’t be too bad, but I personally don’t like to press at both low temperatures and with low pressure combined.
Pros
Pre-flipped inside out. You have to turn all bags inside out in order to use them, so it’s great that these ones have already been flipped. It not only saves time, but you don’t have to worry about accidentally damaging the bags while flipping them yourself.
Solvent-resistant. I had no problem with washing the bags with rubbing alcohol after using them. They didn’t fray or tear out all while being washed and were still just as durable as before.
Since you can wash the bags, you can reuse them, in fact the product description says you can reuse up to five times. When I reused them a few times, I didn’t notice any increase in the amount of blowouts and they were still able to filter the material just as well as the first time.
Cons
Lower yield. The lower micron units obviously don’t result in a high yield, which is to be expected.
Not truly “blowout free”. I did have one blowout, which is still better than the other bags I’ve tried. It is worth noting that they aren’t 100% blowout free, so be mindful of how much product you are packing them with.
Pros
Holds a lot of material. You can pack in quite a bit of material into these bags without them ripping or tearing. I wouldn’t overdo it, but I had no problem with putting 15g into the bags.
Safe to cut. The bags are easy to trim when using smaller amounts of material. They don’t tear when cutting and this doesn’t seem to result in a higher amount of blowouts.
Cons
The 120 micron bags feel almost like sandpaper, definitely not as soft as some of the other bags used.
120 microns is probably a bit too high for me. The filtration is not great at all, resulting in a lot of plant material getting into my pressed oil. If I used these again, I would test them with one of the lower micron sizes.
Lower temperature limit. These bags work best with temperatures under 240° F, which isn’t as high as some other bags. If you want to be able to use temperatures over that, these may not be the best bags for you
HOW TO BUY A GOOD ROSIN BAG
“There are definitely low-quality screens out there,” says Bud. “I wouldn’t buy a whole package of something that’s cheap without knowing. I’d buy something you know or something somebody else has used.” Don’t bite off on a 1,000-screen package from eBay. Stick with word of mouth.
Hours of experimentation lead to lots of valuable insights when you’re pressing flower rosin. We’ve captured a few of our favorites here.
Quality In, Quality Out
The quality of rosin you collect is determined primarily by the quality of the flower you’re pressing. Given that your press is dialed-in, any shortcomings in your rosin can most likely be traced back to shortcomings in your flower. The importance of excellent material can’t be understated if your goal is truly connoisseur rosin. In essence, if you want to improve the quality of your rosin, look first to improve the quality of your material.
Also keep in mind that quality and freshness tend to be interconnected. Aim to press your material just after the flowers have been dried and cured properly. Longer cures and excessive dryness can lead to darker results at the press.
How well the plants were cared for during growth and flowering has more of an impact on your final product than the growing medium used. There doesn’t seem to be any difference in flower rosin from soil, hydro, or coco, however some strains tend to produce flowers more readily pressed into high-yield rosin than others.
Expect chunky indicas and robust hybrids to yield more than the airy sativas. The resin production on the flowers determines the yields at the press, and don’t forget that genetics play a critical role. Using strains that are known for their potency and production will ultimately lead to more rosin dripping onto your parchment paper.
Master the Microns
Using filter bags is standard practice for most seasoned extractors.While bags aren’t absolutely necessary to press flower rosin, they are the best way to prevent tiny pieces of plant material from getting mixed in with your final product. However it’s not enough to keep one micron screen size for all purposes. The goal is to maximize both quality and quality in parallel, and properly selecting the correct micron for the job is crucial.
90 microns is the lowest micron width we recommend for pressing flower. Less than that and you start losing out on yields for only negligible increases in quality. For flower, 90 microns is an excellent choice when optimizing for quality despite some loss to your yields.
120-160 microns is the largest size rosin bags for flower rosin, as above the this size of filter screen you’re sacrificing purity and overall quality of the final product as unwanted material is forced through the screen.
90-120 microns gives you a good balance between yield and quality, for the times you want to optimize the total output from your material.
The material of the rosin bags is a key consideration, as various materials perform differently with exposure to heat and pressure. Additionally, the way a specific micron performs in the press is dependent on material, since higher micron counts allow more material to pass through.
Stainless steel can hack into your yields and silk has too much stretch to be able to effectively track pressure. The ideal material is 100% Food Grade Nylon [link] for your bags, regardless of micron width.
Very dry flowers are like sponges. They’re thirsty for moisture and all-too-quick to soak up the quality rosin you’ve worked so hard to extract. With ultra dry flowers in the press, once the trichomes and oils begin to heat and separate from the plant matter, rather than flowing out of the flower and through your bag they’re reabsorbed into the super dry material and never make it out to your parchment. Needless to say, this has a significantly negative impact on your yield, as you don’t want your flower retaining the product.
So how do you know how dry is too dry? Before you start pressing the flowers, make sure that the relative humidity content of the buds is 55-62%. This is the range you should aim for to ensure the maximum amount of rosin will separate out of the flowers. You can use an analog hygrometer (found in cigar boxes) to read the relative humidity, or spend $25 on a digital Caliber IV hygrometer. This modest investment pays dividends and is the best way to go.
SO WHICH MICRON SIZE SHOULD I USE?
115-micron – Flower and trim rosin at excellent yield with good quality
90-micron – Flower and trim rosin at great yield with great quality
72-micron – Flower and trim rosin at good yield with excellent quality
72-micron – Kief and bubble hash at excellent yield with good quality
36 micron – Flower at decent yield with the best possible quality
36-micron – Kief and bubble hash at good yield with excellent quality
WHAT ROSIN BAG MATERIAL SHOULD I USE?
Nylon is the best material for rosin bags. Silk is prone to blowouts because it doesn’t flex like nylon (AKA polyester). Metal screens mar the surface of the platens when under high pressure.
CAN YOU REUSE YOUR ROSIN BAG?
Professional pressers like Budsmith frown on the reuse of bags. Some folks may clean their bags with ethanol and give them another go, but remember that they’ve been stressed under 20,000 pounds of pressure. The pores of the bag have stretched and widened, particularly along the edges where the screen size most counts, and they’ll be partly plugged with plant residue—even if you clean them well. Can you reuse them? Yes, but they’ll be a little less accurate and a little more prone to blowouts.
Final thoughts
Micron bags differ with their ratings, along with their application. Some micron bags can be used for kief, bubble hash, and buds, while others are only advisable for buds and trims.
The guide here is simple: The lower the micron rating you use, the better the quality you will get from bubble hash and kief. You can also use a lesser micron for buds and trims, but the quality and quantity won’t be that exceptional compared to bubble hash and kief.
But, the higher the micron rating of your bag, the better results you get from your buds and trims. This is due to the less porous nature of these bags, which blocks other particles from being mixed with the rosin extracted.
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