Hey folks,
OK, back after some travels here.. I finally tried the Magical Butter Machine...
First impression: awesome machine.. does everything is says it does. The convenience factor is HUGE.. no babysitting double broiler, filling water, running out of boiling water, nor having to mess with tin foil lid and thermometer, etc. Now while all these benefits are somewhat trivial at the same time, really, my bottom line is simply piece of mind having used it, since you don't have to do anything, once the lid is on, and the cycle is activated.
Secondly, the machine is HUGE, LOL.. quite deceiving actually, how it appears on the website.. it's larger than a 2 litre bottle. It's light in weight though, and manufacture quality appears to be above mid-grade, not industrial grade, but certainly very good materials and construction.
I did decarb buds first, via Xlr8's method within this thread; then placed the decarbed bud into the Magical Butter machine with oil, and soy lecithin. I only had peanut oil on hand, so only used that oil. However, from the science and my intuition, I do believe the coconut oil is the best, mainly due to the high fat saturation for absorption of the good stuff.
Thirdly, one thing I previewed about the machine prior to purchase, and was wary about, is that there's a MIN volume requirement, or else the machine won't activate. The documentation says the MIN volume is 2 cups, but it's actually 2.5 cups from manually measuring. SO: you have to make big batches. Was not terribly happy about this initially, but the fact that I made 2.5 cups in one shot, after-the-fact am glad as I am currently baking my 2nd brownie batch as I type, from that initial oil batch, so pending you have the required amount of buds to render that volume.
For the first batch, I used 2.5 cups of peanut oil. I used 4 tablespoons of soy lecithin, and one full oz of premium buds. I did use a manual grinder on the buds before decarbing.
The machine heats up quickly; you can feel the heat through the exterior walls, so you know it's working. I selected the butter cycle (1hr), and set the temp setting to the 190F option, and away the led lights went (yes, as cool as you may think, plus when they cease, you know the cycle is over). I had read the forums that folks suggested you run the butter cycle twice for ganga butter, so when the first cycle was complete, I simply restarted the 1hr butter cycle @ 190F again. So for this render I ran the cycle twice.
I did not 'peek' inside upon the first cycle's completion, but like a patient kid on Christmas morning, waited until the 2nd cycle was done. Upon opening the lid, my discovery was a huge odour hit.. very strong.. had me worried.. but in retrospect, I realize the unit was sealed air-tight, plus the addition of heat, was almost pressured and concentrated a result. The over-powered odour quickly dissipated to normal levels.
The 2nd thing observed was that oil was all frothy and bubbly - apparently from the machine's built-in blender blade. I had left the lid off for about 20 minutes to cool, and by then most of the bubbles had dissipated, and a nice standard brown oil remained. I could see a puck shaped lump on the bottom, through the oil. I then poured the oil out of the machine, through cheese cloth, and the cheesecloth did not catch anything.. just a few brown sediment pieces.. like a pinch of pepper.. I looked into the machine chamber, and there was this brown puck shaped blob, stuck to the bottom of the chamber. I held the unit to pour upside down for a couple of minutes, but it would not budge. I then had to revert to a spatula to remove it and it was almost like setting concrete.. thick, barely malleable and mainly all solid, with seeming no or little oil within. When it was broken apart, it actually had a micro-sediment texture.. like silt or wet clay.. like very fine micro-particulates. I scooped it out and let it sit in the cheesecloth for about an hour, but that seemingly did not extract any extra oil from the original pour-out.
So: the machine has a built-in blender, and the device documentation indicates to NOT pre-grind your herbs, as I had done in the decarb process.. so am wondering if that laid way to over-pulverizing of the plant fibres.
Now when the machine was on the butter cycle cooking, I did not encounter the blender motor activate (apparently it pulses a few times, but does not stay on for long, and thus why I was not able to to witness while spinning -- I had actually wondered if the machine was faulty initially). So obviously the blender function did work/engage, perhaps too much, as the sediment was rendered to the micro particulate scale. I was nervous about whether these micro particulates would spoil the taste of oil.. but in brownie render, the taste appeared normal.
Once done with the machine, it was off to bake the brownies. While baking, I commenced the cleaning cycle of the machine. It indicates to fill the reservoir with warm water, to the MAX line, and teaspoon of dish soap. You seal the solution in the chamber, and initiate the cleaning cycle. Immediately the machine's blender function commences, and there's no missing when this engages, as you can clearly hear the motor, plus the machine vibrates significantly. The cleaning cycle engages the blender function on, more than off, and takes about 10 minutes. When complete, you simply pour out solution, and rinse under tap. I must admit it was clean as a whistle.. no oil residue. I could not smell any ganga, but didn't want to take chances so I ran another cleaning cycle from scratch. The unit was mint clean after 2nd application. I must admit this cleaning function is skookum - really the icing on the cake for this machine.. LOVED how convenient that process was.
So the rendered brownies (Duncan Heinz) called for 1/4 cup oil.. I used just under 1/2 cup. The brownies cooked
as expected. The taste was actually acceptable, and very close to as if done with manual double broiler.. so my above sediment worries contributing to over-ganga taste were unrealized. Clearly it worked out, taste wise.
Thank goodness.
Per the potency.. well they clearly were not as strong. I would guess-timate about the 50/60% level of previous potency renders..
Now I don't know if that was my ganga to oil ratio, as my previous manual renders used 1/2 oz of premium buds to about 1.5 cups oil. So my upgraded ratio with the machine batch was about 1:1 -- so in theory it should have been about the same strength.
So I'm not sure where potency deviated here.. the only thought I have at this time, is it may be due to loosing some THC with the over blending, producing these micro particulates that perhaps took some THC with it..
And to be honest, having witnessed the strength of the blender motor during cleaning cycle, I believe the machine's blender would have pulverized the buds to the same degree as if I had not pre-grinded them ahead of time.. the blender motor is very strong.
Thoughts on that logic anyone?
Anyway, currently I'm batching new brownies with the initial oil render. I have used a heaping 1/2 cup per the above same Duncan Heinz recipe (previously just under 1/2 cup, to currently just over 1/2 cup).
I will be munching tomorrow night to see how this batch worked out, and perhaps its just a matter of oil volume used in the brownie mix.. will report shortly.
More to come..
Cheers,
The Honk.
: (don't mess with me's baking medicine, LOL)
WOW.. welcome to the world little apprentice.. shoot: first time I ever toked I was out of for a couple of days (15 years old). I CANNOT imagine had I done that with edibles.. GOODNESS.. what an intro for the kid.. but nothing like diving in head-first.. 
to 420 Magazine!