How to Decarboxylate CBD Hemp Bud

Before you can effectively use your CBD bud to make edibles or extracts you first need to decarboxylate it. Hemp plants don't directly produce usable CBD, instead they produce CBD in an acid form called CBDa. Luckily all it takes to convert CBDa into CBD is a little bit of heat and time in a process known as decarboxylation.

Oven Method

This is the most widely available method of decarboxylation since nearly everyone has access to an oven or toaster oven. And while it's certainly not the most accurate you can still get good results with your oven if you know what you're doing. Just be warned that it will make your house smell like a dispensory for a couple of hours!

Step 1

Spread your bud out on a clean baking sheet. I recommend lining it with foil to make sure your bud never comes into contact with food grease or anything.

Step 2

Preheat your oven to 230F. Keep in mind that most ovens are off by a bit so it's best to put an oven-safe thermometer in so you can adjust the oven setting accordingly to maintain as close to 230F as possible. A little bit of fluctuation is normal but you want it to average around 230F overall.

Step 3

Put the baking sheet with buds into the center of the oven (or wherever you put your thermometer when calibrating the temperature). Leave the buds in the oven for 90 minutes. You shouldn't need to mess with it throughout that time and you should resist the urge to open the door to check on it as this will drop the temperature significantly.

Step 4

After 90 minutes your buds should be a golden brown color and pretty crumbly to the touch. Congratulations, you now have decarboxylated CBD bud. Store in a jar like you would with normal bud until you're ready to use it.

Calculating Potency

In order to know how strong your final decarboxylated bud will be you'll need to know how much CBDa and CBD there was to begin with. Most reputable places will post their cannabinoid test results on their website. These are usually provided in the form of a PDF or image file called a COA or Certificate Of Analysis.

Once you know the percentage of CBDa and CBD you can calculate the Total CBD percentage using this formula: CBD + (CBDa * 0.877)

So if your bud tested in at 1% CBD and 10% CBDa then the decarboxylated Total CBD would be 1% + (10% * 0.877), which ends up being about 9.77%.

If you're not a fan of math, don't worry, we made this little calculator to help you out: Decarboxylation Calculator.