Make Perfect Cannabutter with Concentrates: Our Method

Making your own cannabutter is a rite of passage for many cannabis enthusiasts. It’s the foundational ingredient for a universe of homemade edibles. But if your only experience involves simmering a bunch of ground-up flower in butter for hours, dealing with that distinct 'weedy' taste and a messy straining process, we've got some fantastic news. There’s a better way. A much, much better way.

Using concentrates to make cannabutter is a significant, sometimes dramatic shift in the process. It's cleaner, more potent, and gives you a level of control that’s nearly impossible to achieve with traditional flower. Our team has guided countless customers through this transition, and the feedback is always the same: they never go back. This isn't just about convenience; it's about elevating the quality of your final product from a rustic, unpredictable edible to something truly refined. It’s about precision.

Why Use Concentrates for Cannabutter Anyway?

Let's be honest, the classic method has its charm, but it also has some serious drawbacks. The main one? Plant matter. When you infuse butter with cannabis flower, you're not just extracting cannabinoids; you're also pulling in chlorophyll, terpenes (not always the good-tasting ones for food), and other plant compounds. This is what gives traditional edibles that signature grassy, sometimes bitter flavor that you're always trying to mask with extra chocolate or sugar.

Concentrates change the game entirely. Think of them as the purified essence of the plant. All the good stuff, none of the filler. When you use a concentrate, you're starting with a product that has already had the vast majority of that unnecessary plant material removed. The difference is night and day.

Here’s what our experience shows are the biggest advantages:

• Superior Flavor Profile: Without the chlorophyll and excess plant material, the final cannabutter has a much cleaner, neutral taste. It allows the flavor of your actual food—your brownies, your cookies, your pasta sauce—to shine through. You taste the dish, not the infusion.
• Unmatched Potency & Control: Concentrates are, by definition, concentrated. We're talking THC percentages ranging from 60% to over 90%. This means you use far less product to achieve a much more potent result. More importantly, the potency is clearly labeled, which allows for surprisingly accurate dosing. No more guessing games.
• Efficiency and Speed: The infusion process is incredibly fast. You're not waiting hours for cannabinoids to slowly seep out of plant matter. You're simply dissolving an already active concentrate into fat. It’s a clean, swift process.
• No Straining, No Mess: This might be the single biggest quality-of-life improvement. Forget about messy cheesecloth, sticky hands, and a sink full of green sludge. Since there’s no plant material to begin with, there's absolutely nothing to strain out. You just mix and you're done. Simple, right?

It's a genuine evolution in edible creation. You're moving from a bulky, crude raw material to a refined, pure ingredient. The result is a more professional, consistent, and enjoyable edible experience, every single time.

Choosing the Right Concentrate for Your Butter

Now, this is where it gets interesting. The term 'concentrate' covers a sprawling family of products, and not all are created equal when it comes to making cannabutter. The choice you make here will impact the flavor, the potency, and the process itself. Our team at Splash Brothers helps people navigate these options daily, and we've found that clarity is key.

Some concentrates are better suited for dabbing, while others are practically tailor-made for edibles. Your ideal choice depends on your priorities: are you looking for the easiest possible method, the purest flavor, or a solventless final product? Here’s a breakdown of the most common options we see.

Concentrate Type	Pros	Cons	Best For…
Distillate	Often already decarboxylated, extremely high potency, neutral flavor.	Lacks a full spectrum of cannabinoids and terpenes.	Beginners, anyone wanting the easiest process and no cannabis flavor.
Shatter/Wax/Crumble (BHO)	Widely available, cost-effective, high potency.	Requires decarboxylation, can have residual solvent taste.	Users comfortable with decarbing who want a potent, affordable option.
Live Rosin	Solventless, full-spectrum, excellent terpene profile (flavor).	Expensive, requires careful decarboxylation to preserve terpenes.	Connoisseurs seeking the highest quality, full-spectrum, flavorful edible.
RSO / FECO	Full-spectrum, often made for oral consumption, very potent.	Strong, intense plant taste, can be very sticky and hard to work with.	Medical users or those seeking maximum full-plant benefits over flavor.

For most people starting out, distillate is the easy winner. The fact that it's often already activated (decarboxylated) means you can skip an entire step, making the process almost foolproof. You can literally just warm your butter and stir it in. It’s that simple. For those who want a more robust, full-spectrum effect and appreciate the subtle nuances of different strains, a high-quality BHO like shatter or a solventless option like rosin is a fantastic choice, you'll just need to decarb it first. And we're about to cover exactly how to do that.

The Most Important Step: Decarboxylation

We can't stress this enough: if your concentrate isn't already activated, you must decarboxylate it. This is the single most critical, non-negotiable element of the entire process. Skipping this step will result in weak, ineffective, or completely inactive cannabutter. It's a catastrophic waste of good product.

So what is it? In simple terms, the primary psychoactive compound in cannabis, THC, doesn't exist in that form on the raw plant. It exists as THCA (tetrahydrocannabinolic acid). THCA has its own potential benefits, but it won't get you high. Decarboxylation is the process of gently heating the concentrate to remove that acid carboxyl group (the 'A' in THCA), converting it into the active THC we're all familiar with. It sounds scientific, but the process is surprisingly simple.

Here’s what we've learned is the most reliable method:

1. Preheat Your Oven: Set your oven to 240°F (115°C). We recommend using an oven thermometer to verify the temperature is accurate, as many home ovens can be off by a significant margin. Precision here prevents you from burning off cannabinoids.
2. Prepare Your Concentrate: Place your concentrate (shatter, wax, rosin, etc.) in a small, oven-safe container. A small silicone container or a small Pyrex dish works perfectly. Spreading it out a little can help it heat more evenly.
3. Heat and Watch: Place the container in the preheated oven. You’ll need to watch it closely. After a few minutes, the concentrate will melt and begin to bubble. These bubbles are the CO2 being released as the carboxyl group breaks off—this is decarboxylation in action!
4. Wait for the Bubbles to Stop: The process is complete when the bubbling slows down dramatically or stops completely. This typically takes anywhere from 25 to 45 minutes, depending on the concentrate and the accuracy of your oven. The final product will be a flat, slightly darker oil.
5. Cool It Down: Carefully remove the container from the oven and let it cool. It will be extremely hot. Once it's cool enough to handle, you're ready for infusion.

Again, if you're using a THC distillate, you can almost always skip this entire process. Most distillates are created using heat, which activates the cannabinoids during production. It's the ultimate shortcut to powerful edibles. When in doubt, check the product's packaging or lab results.

Gathering Your Tools and Ingredients

One of the beautiful things about this method is how little equipment you actually need. You're not setting up a huge, complicated kitchen operation. You're performing a simple infusion.

Your Ingredients:

• Your Concentrate of Choice: 1 gram is a standard starting point for a potent batch. You can find a curated selection of premium options by browsing the catalog on the Splash Brothers website.
• High-Fat Butter or Oil: Unsalted butter is the classic, but this works beautifully with other fats too. Coconut oil is an extremely popular choice due to its high saturated fat content, which is great for cannabinoid absorption. Ghee (clarified butter) is another excellent option as it has the milk solids removed, increasing its smoke point and shelf life.
• Lecithin (Highly Recommended): This is our team's pro-tip. Lecithin is an emulsifier. Adding a small amount (about a teaspoon per cup of butter/oil) helps bind the cannabis oil to the fat molecules more effectively. This prevents separation, improves the consistency of your butter, and can even increase the bioavailability of the cannabinoids, making your edibles feel stronger and more consistent.

Your Tools:

• Oven and oven-safe container (if decarbing)
• A small saucepan or a double boiler
• A silicone spatula for stirring and scraping (it’s great for getting every last drop)
• An airtight glass jar or container for storage

That's it. It’s a minimalist's dream compared to the gear needed for flower-based infusions.

Our Step-by-Step Infusion Process

Alright, you've chosen your concentrate, you've decarbed it (or you've cleverly chosen distillate), and you've gathered your gear. Now for the easy part. The actual infusion takes just a few minutes of your time.

Here's the process we've refined over years of practice:

1. Melt Your Fat. Place your butter or oil in the saucepan or double boiler over the lowest possible heat. A double boiler is the superior tool here because it provides gentle, indirect heat, making it impossible to scorch your butter. If you're using a saucepan, be vigilant. You want to melt it, not cook it. No browning!
2. Add Your Activated Concentrate. Once the butter is fully melted and warm, add your decarbed concentrate directly to the pot. If it's in a silicone container, it should be easy to scrape out every last bit with your spatula. This stuff is precious.
3. Stir Gently and Consistently. Keep the heat on low and stir. Your goal here is simply to dissolve the concentrate into the fat. It will melt and slowly disappear, integrating fully with the butter. This should only take a few minutes. You'll know it's done when you can no longer see any separate specks or swirls of oil.
4. Incorporate the Lecithin (Optional). If you're using lecithin, now is the time to add it. Sprinkle it in and continue to stir for another two to three minutes until it's also fully dissolved. You'll notice the mixture becomes slightly thicker and more uniform.
5. Cool and Store. Turn off the heat. Let the infused cannabutter cool down for a bit before pouring it into your airtight glass jar. Pouring while it's piping hot can risk cracking the glass.

And that’s the reality. It all comes down to that. You've just made incredibly potent, clean-tasting cannabutter with minimal effort and zero mess. Store it in the refrigerator for a few weeks or the freezer for several months.

Calculating Potency: Don't Skip The Math

Making edibles with concentrates gives you a formidable power: the ability to dose with accuracy. But with great power comes the need for a little bit of math. Please, do not skip this part. Guessing the dosage of your homemade edibles is a recipe for an uncomfortably intense experience.

Here’s the simple formula:

(Grams of Concentrate) x (THC Percentage) x 1000 = Total Milligrams of THC

Let’s walk through a real-world example.

• You have 1 gram of concentrate.
• The label says it's 85% THC.

So, the calculation is: 1g x 0.85 x 1000 = 850mg of THC in your entire batch of butter.

Now, you need to figure out the per-serving dose. Let's say you infused that 850mg of THC into 1 cup of butter. One cup of butter contains 16 tablespoons.

Total THC / Number of Servings = THC per Serving

850mg / 16 tablespoons = 53.1mg of THC per tablespoon.

That is a very potent tablespoon of butter. A standard single dose in many legal markets is 10mg. So, a single tablespoon of your homemade butter is equivalent to more than five standard edibles. This is why the math is so important. Knowing that each tablespoon is roughly 50mg allows you to use it responsibly in your recipes. If you want 10mg cookies, you'd use a recipe that calls for one tablespoon of butter to make five cookies.

Always label your final container with the total milligrams and the calculated dose per teaspoon or tablespoon. And remember the golden rule of edibles: start low and go slow. Wait at least two hours before even thinking about having more.

Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

We've seen it all, and we've helped people troubleshoot just about every issue imaginable. While the process is straightforward, a few common pitfalls can trip up newcomers. Here’s what to watch out for.

• The Mistake: Overheating. This is the number one enemy. Too much heat during decarboxylation or infusion can burn off the very cannabinoids and terpenes you're trying to preserve, ruining the potency and flavor. It can happen in a flash.

  • The Fix: Use a double boiler for infusion. Use an oven thermometer to ensure your decarb temperature is accurate. Low and slow is always the right tempo.

• The Mistake: Forgetting to Decarb. It happens more often than you'd think. Someone gets excited, melts their butter, stirs in a gram of expensive shatter, and ends up with a pan of useless, non-psychoactive butter.

  • The Fix: Make it a mantra. Unless it's distillate, you must decarboxylate. Make it the very first step in your process so you can't forget.

• The Mistake: Uneven Mixing. You stir the concentrate in, but it doesn't fully dissolve or emulsify. The result? You get 'hot spots' in your butter, leading to one brownie that does nothing and another that sends you to the moon.

  • The Fix: Use lecithin! It’s the best insurance policy for a smooth, homogenous mixture. Also, take your time stirring. Make sure the concentrate is completely and totally dissolved before you turn off the heat.

• The Mistake: 'Eyeballing' the Dose. This is just playing with fire. Thinking you can just 'break off a piece' of an 80% concentrate and guess the potency is how bad edible stories are born.

  • The Fix: Use a scale to weigh your concentrate if you're not using a full gram. Do the math before you even start melting the butter. Write it down. Label your final product. Be a scientist about it.

Avoiding these simple errors is what separates a frustrating experience from an impeccable, repeatable success. It's about respecting the process and the potency of your ingredients.

Storing Your Cannabutter for Freshness and Safety

Proper storage is crucial for two reasons: preserving the quality and potency of your infusion, and ensuring safety. You’ve created a potent product; it needs to be treated with respect.

For short-term use (up to a few weeks), an airtight container in the coldest part of your refrigerator is perfect. A simple glass mason jar works wonderfully. For long-term storage, the freezer is your best friend. Cannabutter freezes exceptionally well and can last for six months or even longer without a significant loss in potency. You can freeze it in a single block, or for easier dosing, you can pour it into an ice cube tray (ideally a silicone one with a lid) to create pre-portioned pucks.

But the most important part of storage is labeling. We mean this sincerely. Your label should be clear and include three things:

1. The contents (e.g., "Potent Cannabutter")
2. The date it was made
3. The calculated potency (e.g., "Approx. 50mg THC per Tablespoon")

This is a non-negotiable safety step, especially if you live with others. Unlabeled cannabutter looks just like regular butter, and that's a mistake you don't want anyone to make.

Ready to Elevate Your Edibles?

So there you have it. The complete, no-nonsense method for making cannabutter with concentrates. It's a transformative technique that takes edible creation from a messy, unpredictable craft into a clean, precise science. You gain control over flavor, power over potency, and you save a whole lot of time and effort in the process.

The quality of your cannabutter is a direct reflection of the quality of the concentrate you start with. Using a premium, well-made concentrate will always yield a superior final product. If you're ready to explore the world of high-quality extracts perfect for your next infusion, we invite you to browse our curated selection. You can find options to suit any preference or budget and Get Started Today.

By embracing this modern method, you're not just making butter; you're unlocking a new level of culinary cannabis creativity. The possibilities are endless, and the results speak for themselves. Happy infusing.