After a few ounces of the sticky icky, it’s inevitable that your grinder will get gunked up to the point of annoyance or even failure. Even the best grinders need a little maintenance to keep them grinding smoothly, with the exception of the Brilliant Cut.

There are several different ways to clean a grinder, but these two methods will cover everything you need to get your weed grinder back to new.

DON’T WASTE THAT GUNK

All of that caked on gunk? That’s a naturally occurring cannabis concentrate – grinder hash.

Amazon has what you need
Can’t find what you need around the house? Amazon to the rescue:
– wooden picks (salon quality)
– isopropyl alcohol
– cleaning brushes (anti static)
– big-bottomed ziplock bags (*giggity*

Your grinders teeth have been chewing up trichomes and precious cannabinoids for months or even years. Harvest as much as possible first without any solvents, the resulting kief dust will be rich in THC and flavor.

Step 1. Put your grinder in the freezer
Freezing your grinder will help the trichome heads and grinder hash release from the metal surface. As the grinder’s aluminum surface freezes, the grinder hash will become less sticky and it will be easier to remove.

Step 2. Brush and Pick
With a freshly frozen grinder, use an old toothbrush or other soft bristled brush to sweep out the loosened trichome heads and grinder hash. Use a toothpick or broken chopstock to pick the tight crevices. I usually avoid metal picks because they can damage the Aluminum grinder, but sometimes I’ll pull one out for tougher cleaning jobs.

Old toothbrushes work really well for brushing the grinder teeth and surrounding areas, but try to get as much loose debris out of the grinder before using a toothbrush as the toothbrush bristles often hold onto as much kief as they sweep out.

Cleaning your grinder too often? Get a better grinder!! The Brilliant Cut grinder NEVER NEEDS CLEANING! See my full review.

Troytime420

Step 3. Isopropyl Alcohol Bath Time
When you’re satisfied with your harvest, or just fuckin tired of picking, it’s time to give your grinder a bath! Ispropyl Alcohol is the bathwater of choice for cleaning your grinder. THC doesn’t dissolve in water, but it does dissolve in alcohol. I like to use 91% isopropyl alcohol. 71% isn’t strong enough and 99% is too strong.

Put your grinder in a thick ziplock bag or a mason jar and cover it with alcohol – don’t worry, you can re-use this alcohol over and over again and it won’t go to waste.

Be careful with glass jars. I’ve use the technique in the video dozens of times – but shortly after shooting this video the jar IN the video shattered and dumped dirty ISO all over myself. It was scary and dangerous and it could have been avoided.

Gentle shaking and stirring will help the alcohol wash away the stubborn grinder grime.

Appreciate my honest and objective approach to cannabis products? Support me on Patreon

Step 4. Dry Your Grinder
I actually don’t do this religiously. Alcohol evaporates really fast. Lab workers often use alcohol to dry their glassware so it doesn’t have streaks and water spots. It leaves surfaces clean and dry with no trace or alcohol or any other contaminate.

That said – you’ll probably want to wipe down your grinder anyway. Use a paper towel to wipe off any remaining alcohol or remnants of weed juice.

Let it air dry for 5 minutes or so before grinding your first nug just to be sure there is no alcohol remaining in the teeth.