The Ice-O-lator is the simplest & most efficient extraction method for the collection of mature resin glands from plant material. The use of very precise sieve size ensures only the collection of the desirable mature resin glands. As out door & indoor grown plants have different sized resin glands (Outdoor being smaller) we stock both outdoor & indoor Ice-O-Lator kits designed for the different types of plants. The washing machine was designed to agitate the dirt from the fibres of your clothes, therefore the washing machine is also brilliant at agitating the resin glands from plant material. Instead of washing powder to aid the agitation we use very cold water & blocks of ice. The cold water hardens the resin glands & plant material, causing the plant material to hold together better. The movement of the water & ice cause the resin glands to drop off their brittle pedestals and sink in the water. For those who wish to process a few kilos a day (4-6 dry leaf, 6-10 wet leaf) we have found the washing machine is a brilliant way to decrease the workload considerably. In the following photos we will show you how we have incorporated a washing
machine into the Ice-O-Lator process and use it to great effect with very little work involved.
Step 1:
Place your leaf material (1kg) in the zipped Ice-OLator bag & then add about 4kg of ice (Break into fist sized pieces).
Put the zipped bag in the drum of the washing machine, then ½ fill the washing machine with cold water.
Now check the temperature with your thermometer and get it to 4°C (41°F) (by adding more water or ice).
Now tie the small Ice-O-Lator bag tightly around the washing machines water out pipe(I use a clamp as well for security). & attach your 1m hose to the pump in the bucket. The large Ice-O-Lator bag now goes in the bucket, wrap the edges of the bag around the rim of the bucket & then clamp them down with your clamps.
Now hang the out pipe from the washing machine into the bucket and start the washing machine on its main wash cycle, in my case it is B setting.(make sure the water temp on the washing machine is set to zero !!).
Step 2:
The water will be pumped out of the bag & will flow through the two Ice-O-Lator bags, ( the smaller bag traps any leaf material that may have been in the water and the larger one will collect your mature resin glands) once the water is in the bucket use the 1m hose to pump the water from the bucket back into the washing machine. This process should happen 3-4 times throughout the main washing program.
Step 3:
The main wash has now finished & I am ready to collect my first load of resin glands.
I carefully remove both the bags in the bucket (keeping the smaller bag inside the larger one) & take them to the sink to be rinsed (Some of the resin glands will have stuck to the sides of the bags). After rinsing the smaller bag (inside & outside) I rinse the inside of
the larger bag, collecting all the resin glands in the bottom of the bag & then I drain all the water out. Using kitchen paper I then wrap the bottom of the large bag & press it together using my hands, this will make the wet resin glands easier to take out of the Ice-O-Lator bags & will also partly remove some of the water from the collected resin glands.
