Been in forced retirement mode, so have a bit of spare time. Been trying to get myself off the news sites, so thought a review on the Pollen Extractor might be helpful to some kief comrades. 
Like many kief/hash farmers, I’ve been trying to find a way that provides a decent yield for the least amount of effort. In my case, stealth is a good thing too, so that limits a few options.
The Pollen Extractor is basically a dry sift machine. There are a few exxy versions of this concept for sale. One of the cooler versions was Bubbleman’s machine, but unfortunately it looks like it’s been discontinued.
First up … the price is at the lower (maybe lowest) end of the spectrum. The build quality reflects the price though. The basic components include a pretty small Ikea plastic tote, a cheap little electric friction motor and a decent stainless steel mesh cylinder filter. When I first opened the box, I can still remember being a little underwhelmed.
This thing is a little quirky, but after reading a few punters’ recommendations and a fair bit of trial and error, it’s possible to achieve around a 7-8% dry sift kief return, with limited effort. I’ve been using the Pollen Extractor for a fair while now, but haven’t been arsed to record exact yields, so thought this time round, it might be worth it.
The Materials
I’m in the middle of a cbd tincture run at the moment using 100g of dry bud (no stem) that has been cut pretty coarse. A good volume amount seems to be about half of the cylinder, which is around 1/3 of the total 100g flower - basically, 33 grams per cylinder load. This means that one full run, takes three cylinder loads. I’m also planning this time round to do a second (and possibly) a third run - I’ll keep things going until I see a bit of green in the kief, then I’ll stop the machine and do the final weigh up.
Procedure
The procedure is pretty easy. Divide the chopped bud into 1/2 cylinder loads, put into baggies and then put the baggies in the freezer. Use the first baggy and fill the cylinder halfway with bud and turn on the machine and set the speed of the motor to pretty slow, so that the cylinder moves about 1/3 of a turn and kind of makes a bump noise at the end of each 1/3 rotation - this flicks out the kief. Then, stick the tote in the freezer, set at -20 celsius (most domestic freezers go down this cold at max). For the first run, I leave the machine running in the freezer for 3.5 hours. This is just an arbitrary time, as the kief that is collected has no sign of green. I just like having a gander to see what’s occurring in there.
One huge benefit of the freezer is that is quietens down the process, which is good because the machine makes a few squeaky noises. It also keeps the bud at a lower temp and humidity which seems to make collection better. If leaving everything in the freezer for long periods of time, stretching a rubber band over the cylinder edge (where it touches the friction wheel) makes for better traction and less noise.
The kief can be collected at the end of a run or at each cylinder. This time round, I collected the first lot of kief after the first cylinder of the first run - 1.57g for around 33g of bud. I’m hoping for around 4.5 - 5g from the complete first run and another 2.5 - 3g for the 2nd/3rd run to make around 7-8g in total.
Last Thoughts
I like the Pollen Extractor and due to my average DIY skills, would most likely buy a similar machine again. I don’t think I’d buy the Pollen Extractor again though, as I would like a bigger machine that could do one plant in one go. To get maximum yields and reduce processing time, dry ice pellets could be used in the machine. For a future purchase, I’d like the tote or box to be made of stainless steel or wood, which could handle wear and tear and dry ice better then Ikea plastic. The Pollen Extractor tote starts to show scrapes after a few uses when collecting the kief. I’ve found lining the tote with wax paper, makes things healthier (no plastic debris) and easier - just lift out the wax paper and slide the kief into a storage container … doesn’t require any scrapping on the plastic tote.
Will post final tally when the process is complete.
Like many kief/hash farmers, I’ve been trying to find a way that provides a decent yield for the least amount of effort. In my case, stealth is a good thing too, so that limits a few options.
The Pollen Extractor is basically a dry sift machine. There are a few exxy versions of this concept for sale. One of the cooler versions was Bubbleman’s machine, but unfortunately it looks like it’s been discontinued.
First up … the price is at the lower (maybe lowest) end of the spectrum. The build quality reflects the price though. The basic components include a pretty small Ikea plastic tote, a cheap little electric friction motor and a decent stainless steel mesh cylinder filter. When I first opened the box, I can still remember being a little underwhelmed.
This thing is a little quirky, but after reading a few punters’ recommendations and a fair bit of trial and error, it’s possible to achieve around a 7-8% dry sift kief return, with limited effort. I’ve been using the Pollen Extractor for a fair while now, but haven’t been arsed to record exact yields, so thought this time round, it might be worth it.
The Materials
I’m in the middle of a cbd tincture run at the moment using 100g of dry bud (no stem) that has been cut pretty coarse. A good volume amount seems to be about half of the cylinder, which is around 1/3 of the total 100g flower - basically, 33 grams per cylinder load. This means that one full run, takes three cylinder loads. I’m also planning this time round to do a second (and possibly) a third run - I’ll keep things going until I see a bit of green in the kief, then I’ll stop the machine and do the final weigh up.
Procedure
The procedure is pretty easy. Divide the chopped bud into 1/2 cylinder loads, put into baggies and then put the baggies in the freezer. Use the first baggy and fill the cylinder halfway with bud and turn on the machine and set the speed of the motor to pretty slow, so that the cylinder moves about 1/3 of a turn and kind of makes a bump noise at the end of each 1/3 rotation - this flicks out the kief. Then, stick the tote in the freezer, set at -20 celsius (most domestic freezers go down this cold at max). For the first run, I leave the machine running in the freezer for 3.5 hours. This is just an arbitrary time, as the kief that is collected has no sign of green. I just like having a gander to see what’s occurring in there.
One huge benefit of the freezer is that is quietens down the process, which is good because the machine makes a few squeaky noises. It also keeps the bud at a lower temp and humidity which seems to make collection better. If leaving everything in the freezer for long periods of time, stretching a rubber band over the cylinder edge (where it touches the friction wheel) makes for better traction and less noise.
The kief can be collected at the end of a run or at each cylinder. This time round, I collected the first lot of kief after the first cylinder of the first run - 1.57g for around 33g of bud. I’m hoping for around 4.5 - 5g from the complete first run and another 2.5 - 3g for the 2nd/3rd run to make around 7-8g in total.
Last Thoughts
I like the Pollen Extractor and due to my average DIY skills, would most likely buy a similar machine again. I don’t think I’d buy the Pollen Extractor again though, as I would like a bigger machine that could do one plant in one go. To get maximum yields and reduce processing time, dry ice pellets could be used in the machine. For a future purchase, I’d like the tote or box to be made of stainless steel or wood, which could handle wear and tear and dry ice better then Ikea plastic. The Pollen Extractor tote starts to show scrapes after a few uses when collecting the kief. I’ve found lining the tote with wax paper, makes things healthier (no plastic debris) and easier - just lift out the wax paper and slide the kief into a storage container … doesn’t require any scrapping on the plastic tote.
Will post final tally when the process is complete.
