Do you have a lot of kief that you want to turn into homemade edibles? This easy homemade kief butter guide will show you how to make a super potent cannabutter that tastes absolutely amazing. You will find step-by-step instructions for dosing, decarbing, infusing, and more!
Table of Contents
- Article Features
- Why You Will Love This Recipe
- What You’ll Need
- Step-by-Step Instructions
- Storage Instructions
- What is Kief?
- How Much Kief to Use
- Don’t Forget to Decarb
- Is Kief Butter Better Than Cannabutter?
- Notes and Expert Tips
- Easy Homemade Kief Butter Recipe
- Frequently Asked Questions
- More Cannabutter Resources
Article Features
- A simple kief butter recipe with step-by-step instructions
- Notes on what kief is, how much to use, and how to decarb
- Want to skip the work? Enjoy the convenience and exceptional flavor of my Bliss Cannabutter – no fuss, no mess, just top-quality cannabutter delivered straight to your door. Now shipping across the United States!
Why You Will Love This Recipe
My crockpot cannabutter recipe has been the most popular recipe on the site for the past two years.
My Well With Cannabis Community knows that cannabis loves fat and that making an infusion is one of the easiest ways to make edibles.
Understandably for some, the taste of cannabutter can be overwhelming, even off-putting, which is where kief butter comes in.
Kief butter can be a better way to make more potent cannabis butter, and it can taste better – a win-win for most!
In this guide, I will show you how to make your kief butter at home in a few easy steps, give you an idea of how to dose this potent edible, and share great ideas for making kief edibles.
What You’ll Need
- 1 gram kief – see the How Much Kief to Use section below for helpful tips on dosing.
- One stick (113 grams) of butter – ordinary butter or unsalted butter will do, but many prefer ghee or clarified butter. You can also make kief oil with any other oil you desire, like olive oil or coconut oil. Want a less potent infusion? Add more sticks of butter. Want to make CBD kief butter? Start with kief collected from CBD flower.
Note: a complete list of ingredients with amounts and printable instructions is located in the recipe card below.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Step 1 – Gather the ingredients and equipment and preheat the oven to 240° F.
- Step 2 – Using a digital scale, weigh the kief to your desired weight into an oven-safe container with a lid, like a mason jar.
- Step 3 – Place the jar in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes for THC-dominant flower or 60-65 minutes for CBD-dominant flower. New to decrying? Check out this kief decarb guide here.
- Step 4 – While the jar is cooling, prepare a water bath. Fill a saucepan 1/2 way with water and place over high heat. Once boiling, reduce to low heat to simmer.
- Step 5 – After the decarb cooking time, remove the jar from the oven.
- Step 6 – When the mason jar is cool enough to handle, remove the lid and put in your butter stick or oil. Reattach the lid.
- Step 7 – Place the mason jar in the water bath and let the butter start to melt.
- Step 8 – Once the butter and kief have completely melted, allow it to simmer for 5 minutes. If cook enough to handle, shake a few times gently.
- Step 9 – Remove the jar from the hot water bath. You can allow the butter to harden as is, or you can “clarify” the butter by straining the white foam from the butter before allowing it to solidify.
- Step 10 – Pour the butter into silicone molds and individual portion-sized trays, or leave it as-is in the container.
- Step 11 – Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight to allow the butter to harden.
- Step 12 – Enjoy your kief butter in your morning coffee, on toast, or in all of your favorite baked goods.
Note: complete step-by-step printable instructions are located in the recipe card below.
Storage Instructions
Store the cannabutter in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 10 days. You can store it for even longer in the freezer.
If refrigerating or freezing, be sure to avoid reheating frozen cannabutter in the microwave. Learn how to store edibles so they don’t go bad.
What is Kief?
Cannabis kief is the material that is left at the bottom of your grinder.
It comprises the cannabis plant’s resin glands, a collection of trichomes containing terpenes and cannabinoids.
Kief is the most potent part of the plant in terms of cannabinoid concentration.
Because kief is so high in cannabinoids, depending on the type of flower you’re starting with, even a little bit can have a big effect.
If you’re using a THC-dominant flower, you will have a THC-dominant kief.
If you are using CBD-dominant flowers, you will have CBD-dominant kief.
It’s easy to collect kief with a grinder or kief catcher, and over time you’ll quickly save up a lot, especially if you use trichome-heavy strains of cannabis.
How Much Kief to Use
Don’t worry if you ask, “how much kief do I need?“
For this recipe, we will measure in grams of kief. A digital scale can help you measure this.
It’s difficult to know exactly how potent your kief is without testing it in a lab, but you can approximate its strength if you know what kind of bud the kief came from.
In addition, if you buy kief at a store or dispensary, the label will likely give you a good idea of its potency.
While it’s standard to find cannabis flowers roughly 15-25% THC, kief can contain upwards of 70% THC, meaning it can be very potent.
With this in mind, know that a little bit of these sticky crystals can go a long way.
As a general rule of thumb, you’ll probably want to start with one gram of kief and increase if needed.
Note, it is not recommended to use my flower-to-oil ratio guide with kief as your end product will end up too strong!
Don’t Forget to Decarb
Decarbing is one of the most important things when it comes to making cannabis edibles.
Raw cannabis kief does not naturally contain high amounts of active CBD or THC; it actually contains what is known as cannabinoid acids.
Cannabinoid acids, like CBDA, THCA, and more, have potential health benefits – but they are not intoxicating, meaning you won’t get high.
To convert these nonintoxicating cannabinoid acids into the activated cannabinoids we typically want to consume, the process of decarboxylation must occur.
The common recommendation is to bake at 240°F for 30-35 minutes for THC or 60-65 minutes for CBD in an oven-safe dish with a lid.
Baking in an oven-safe dish that you can later infuse it is a good way to keep all the sticky kief that collects at the bottom of the jar.
The medium heat and short cook time help to prevent any burning that may occur with the very fine consistency of the kief, although it is recommended to pay close attention at the end.
Your kief will have darkened in color. Sometimes, the resin crystals may have melted a little, but that’s okay; they will melt into the butter.
Once you’ve mastered the process of decarboxylation, you can use your new skill to create so many different types of edibles.
Is Kief Butter Better Than Cannabutter?
Many people find this easy kief butter recipe much more enjoyable than weed butter, mainly because of the taste and smell.
Chlorophyll is leached from the plant material into the final infusion when making cannabutter with flower buds or trim.
That, along with excess moisture, makes the final product look and taste green.
The good news? Many people find that making kief butter provides the best edible experience.
Notes and Expert Tips
- You can use this same method to make hash butter or CBD butter.
- When making a water bath, you can do it in a crockpot, Instant pot, or, as we are doing here, on the stovetop.
- After this recipe, you can make kief cookies, kief cookie dough, and all these other amazing kief recipes.
- Need ideas to use your cannabutter? Check out these 25 amazing recipes, our sweet tooth recipes, and no-bake recipes.
- Prefer savory options? Try your kief cannabutter on steak or a cannabutter board.
- If you are wondering how to make kief tea, we’ve got a recipe for that, too!
- If your kief butter is too strong, gently melt it in another stick of regular butter or two. If it is too weak, follow these instructions.
Easy Homemade Kief Butter
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 gram kief or your desired amount
- 113 grams butter or ghee (1 stick)
Instructions
- Gather the ingredients and equipment and preheat the oven to 240° F.Â
- Using a digital scale, weigh the kief to your desired weight into an oven-safe container with a lid, like a mason jar.Â
- Place the jar in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes for THC-dominant flower or 60-65 minutes for CBD-dominant flower.Â
- While the jar is cooling, prepare a water bath. Fill a saucepan 1/2 way with water and place over high heat. Once boiling, reduce to low heat to simmer.
- After the decarb cooking correct time, remove the jar from the oven.
- When the mason jar is cool enough to handle, remove the lid, and put in your stick of butter or amount of oil. Reattach the lid.
- Place the mason jar in the water bath and allow the butter to start to melt.
- Once the butter and kief have completely melted, allow it to simmer for 5 minutes. If cook enough to handle, shake gently a few times.
- Remove the jar from the hot water bath. You can allow the butter to harden as is, or you can "clarify" the butter by straining the white foam from the butter before allowing it to solidify.
- Pour the butter into silicone molds and individual portion-sized trays, or leave it as-is in the container.
- Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight to allow the butter to harden.Â
- Enjoy your kief butter in your morning coffee, on toast, or in all of your favorite baked goods.Â
Notes
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions
There are several different methods to get more kief than just the grinder. Investing in a kief collector, kief boxes, or dry ice is a great way to collect as much pure kief as possible.
Kief has a mild nutty flavor, but many people find it much more mellow than traditional cannabutter.
Nope! Once you have decarboxylated kief, you can add it as-is to any recipe you desire. There are many different ways to use it, from edibles to smoking.
Keeping the plant matter in the melted butter is the best way to get the most potency and final result. If you feel you have to strain, you will want to increase your infusion time to 2 hours and then use a coffee filter or other fine tool to strain.
Yes, you can refrigerate and freeze your kief cannabutter.
Absolutely, go ahead and bake those brownies and cookies at 350°F; these higher temperatures won’t ruin your favorite cannabinoid, THC.
More Cannabutter Resources
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Instant Pot Cannabutter or Oil » Easy Guide
Cannabis Infusions & Extractions
Hey when making canna butter. Using water, coconut oil and dried cannabis. Because the slow cooker gets so hot should I need to decard beforehand?
Yes, Tash, we recommend decarbing your cannabis before adding it to the slow cooker with water and coconut oil. Decarbing ensures that the THC is activated, optimizing the potency of your cannabutter. Although the slow cooker gets hot, decarboxylation beforehand ensures a more consistent and effective activation of the compounds in your cannabis. I hope this is helpful!
I’ve put my decarb into a mason jar with ghee/ water bath into the crockpot on high. How long should I leave it there and do I need to turn to low?
Thank you
Hi Terri. When making kief butter, you only need to warm the ghee and kief for a few minutes to get well mixed. We don’t recommend straining the kief out of the butter, but if you would like to, you will want to increase your infusion time to 2 hours, on high, and then use a coffee filter to strain. Happy infusing!