Have I picked the correct mesh size for my dry ice sift?

I've seen a bucket load of you tube videos of chunks of dry ice with weed shaken in a bag, the kind of bag that is used for bubble hash, they are basically all the same and many of them are obviously heavy on the powered plant material. Then I came across one particular video that looked the bollocks. It was a huge silk screen frame, with an aluminium box border. He had a dry ice making device so he could use really smashed up ice, I was thinking of using small dry ice pellets to get the same effect.

Anyhoo the sift looked like a proper trichome extraction with no plant material at all, no green tinge, all golden and there seemed to be quite a bit. All that they said regarding the screen was a single mention that it was 73 micron. A normal silk screen is a 43T, I got a 77T screen on order which is 74 micron spaces, however even though he got a good result, I'm wondering if I maybe should have got a 55T screen which is about 105 micron, which still does seem pretty good.

I'm not sure now if I should try and change my screen to a 55T or just go with the 77T 74 micron.

Here's the video if anyone is interested. He does mention sifting it again. I'm wondering if maybe the trichomes get so crisp that it's possible for big ones to break and fall through if done in a gentle way as he does in the video. I particularly like the tapping bouncing effect to let the trichomes though which seems much less likely to powder the plant material.

200 mesh 75 micron

The 77T is closest UK size which is 196 US mesh, close enough. But in the video he never mentions the mesh, there's just a one time quick flash on the screen that it's 74 micron, would have been better if I knew for sure what screen size it was.

Do you think I should just go with the 73 micron which I ordered. It's just that it seems that a 105 micron will be better, as a lot of trichomes do seem to get bigger than this. I may not have time to change it to a 105, I won't know till I contact them tomorrow. Hopefully I won't be able to then I don't have to think about it.

I have to order in UK T sizes.

I have a set of 8 bubble bags and found that the 90 and 120 microns work well. I tried a 180 and it's too green for us but fine to throw in a cookie recipe. The 73 didn't yield much but the 90 and 120 were a nice blond color and not much difference between the two.

SheeshM said:

I have a set of 8 bubble bags and found that the 90 and 120 microns work well.

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Yeah that's what I'm thinking, my next choice in screen up from the 73 is a 105 micron 55T screen. I'm worried about the result with a 73, but then I'm confused by the video because there does seem to be a good result. Maybe screens have a different structure to the bubble bag weave? I don't know I've never seen one up close. It is an actual weave, or is it a single sheet with holes?

What sort of a difference do you get between the 90 and the 120?

yummy fur said:

Yeah that's what I'm thinking, my next choice in screen up from the 73 is a 105 micron 55T screen. I'm worried about the result with a 73, but then I'm confused by the video because there does seem to be a good result. Maybe screens have a different structure to the bubble bag weave? I don't know I've never seen one up close. It is an actual weave, or is it a single sheet with holes?

What sort of a difference do you get between the 90 and the 120?

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It is totally strain and grow related...
Great strain and great grow = great product.
FF

yummy fur said:

Yeah that's what I'm thinking, my next choice in screen up from the 73 is a 105 micron 55T screen. I'm worried about the result with a 73, but then I'm confused by the video because there does seem to be a good result. Maybe screens have a different structure to the bubble bag weave? I don't know I've never seen one up close. It is an actual weave, or is it a single sheet with holes?

What sort of a difference do you get between the 90 and the 120?

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I'm away so I can't look at the bags but I think they are a mesh. The 90 and 120 were very close in quality but you'll get a little more yield from the 120.

Oh well, I guess I'll leave it at the 73, and maybe just do a solvent extraction instead of running the sift a second time if I don't get much product. Then if I'm not happy with the result from the 73 I'll just have to order a larger micron screen. I know the quality will be good, but there did seem to be an extraordinarily good result in the video. I'll update this thread in a few weeks which is when I'll be sifting.

Welp, I discovered that there's a 62T mesh which would be able 90micron, but I was too late. Here's a close up of the weave and some sugar leaf trichomes. The mesh seems very fine, so would we be expecting some trichomes to shatter in the dry ice and get through the mesh or can I expect that only the smallest trichomes will get through.

What I don't understand is that trichomes are generally around 100 micron or a bit larger, yet 73 micron seems to be a popular 'best quality' sift?!

I've got fairly loose budded girl ready in a few weeks who would be perfect for this.

go go kid said:

200 mesh 75 micron

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If they are growing outdoors, the stuff found in the 160 is nothing to sneeze at. So I would also use 200, the 190 and 160. And then I also polish everything with the 45. It seems to come out a little nicer.

JimmiP said:

If they are growing outdoors, the stuff found in the 160 is nothing to sneeze at. So I would also use 200, the 190 and 160. And then I also polish everything with the 45. It seems to come out a little nicer.

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Indoors. Problem is that I'm using a 60x80 box aluminium silk screen and they are $100 delivered to my door each. I am regretting a bit not getting a slightly bigger mesh as I only wanted to get one. I will update this thread with a report, should be at least another three weeks till I'm ready to sift.

yummy fur said:

Indoors. Problem is that I'm using a 60x80 box aluminium silk screen and they are $100 delivered to my door each. I am regretting a bit not getting a slightly bigger mesh as I only wanted to get one. I will update this thread with a report, should be at least another three weeks till I'm ready to sift.

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I wouldn't spend that much if it's for dry ice sifting, unless it's a lot of material..and then I'd opt for a washing machine. To each their own though. I do all sorts of different things for fun with pot.

I use the bubble bags stretched across the outside of new 5g buckets, with the bottoms cut off,, when I do dry ice. I would stack them with each bag having its own cut bucket. The bucket acted as a frame that kept the mesh stretched tight. So I could gently giggle the dry ice pellets and plant material around instead of shaking the heck out of it . Using the multiple mesh sizes let it come out pretty well polished and in different sizes much faster for me.

JimmiP said:

I wouldn't spend that much if it's for dry ice sifting, unless it's a lot of material..and then I'd opt for a washing machine. To each their own though. I do all sorts of different things for fun with pot.

I use the bubble bags stretched across the outside of new 5g buckets, with the bottoms cut off,, when I do dry ice. I would stack them with each bag having its own cut bucket. The bucket acted as a frame that kept the mesh stretched tight. So I could gently giggle the dry ice pellets and plant material around instead of shaking the heck out of it . Using the multiple mesh sizes let it come out pretty well polished and in different sizes much faster for me.

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Sounds like an improvement over what I've seen with bags where they seem to smash the weed around too much which is obvious in the green colour of their result. I don't know if you've looked at it, but I'm basically trying to copy the technique in the youtube video I linked to in the first post. I only grow for my own consumption and like you I want to have some fun, but I also want to keep it simple. I've just got this very loose fluffy plant that's probably going to have at least 8 zips of loose and fluffy, but very heavily resin stacked heads.

I was thinking that if I just do the sift once, I can use a solvent extraction on the remainder, or maybe even vape it as it is. I'm new to this, but was persuaded by the insane result in the video I saw. However my mesh looks so fine that I can't quite believe that its possible together the result he did. But I will update this. I'd like to try doing an water extractions but as I said, I want to keep it simple but not so simple it's no good.

yummy fur said:

Sounds like an improvement over what I've seen with bags where they seem to smash the weed around too much which is obvious in the green colour of their result. I don't know if you've looked at it, but I'm basically trying to copy the technique in the youtube video I linked to in the first post. I only grow for my own consumption and like you I want to have some fun, but I also want to keep it simple. I've just got this very loose fluffy plant that's probably going to have at least 8 zips of loose and fluffy, but very heavily resin stacked heads.

I was thinking that if I just do the sift once, I can use a solvent extraction on the remainder, or maybe even vape it as it is. I'm new to this, but was persuaded by the insane result in the video I saw. However my mesh looks so fine that I can't quite believe that its possible together the result he did. But I will update this. I'd like to try doing an water extractions but as I said, I want to keep it simple but not so simple it's no good.

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Yeah I watched the video. And you are right, the results are insane. In other words I don't believe them. The quantity he shows in that ball (I believe) far exceeds what the yield of the pile he showed himself working with could produce. Even with the rest of what he shows in the original container it seems a bit much. I would imagine they ran several batches before they got that.

JimmiP said:

Yeah I watched the video. And you are right, the results are insane. In other words I don't believe them. The quantity he shows in that ball (I believe) far exceeds what the yield of the pile he showed himself working with could produce. Even with the rest of what he shows in the original container it seems a bit much. I would imagine they ran several batches before they got that.

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Yeah, the first time I saw it I had to do a double take, like was that from what he just sifted or was that the whole container he had, but you can see the container of the rest of the weed still there when he lifts it up. Nevertheless whether he added to it or not you could see that the sift was quality, completely blonde/beige, no green at all.

But I guess I'm gonna find out soon. I've got the perfect plant for this ready in a couple of weeks. I will update this thread when I get a result. This is my candidate... https://growdiaries.com/diaries/99723-grow-journal-by-freddd