We often get fed up with cleaning the sticky gunk off of our grinders and decide to dispose of them. However, there’s an easy way to revive your grinder and retrieve the residue plant material stuck on it.

This complete guide to cleaning your metal grinder will help you save time and money!

When to Clean the Weed Grinder

Your grinder cleaning habit depends on how and how often you use it. If you use fine kief as a topping or for the bong, you’ll definitely need to clean it once a week. 

In contrast, if you don’t grind as often and use chunky leaves for joints (because they produce consistent burn), you can clean your grinder once a month.

Essentially, if your grinder makes a squealing sound when twisted and its base has hard deposits of sticky plant matter, it needs cleaning.

How to Save Your Kief?

Before you salvage the cannabis, put the dirty grinder in the freezer for 15 to 30 minutes. It’ll make cannabis trichomes brittle and easier to scrape. Once frozen, dismantle the herb grinder, brush the build-ups from each grinder piece using a toothbrush or toothpick, and collect the cannabinoid-packed kief on a rolling tray — so you can enjoy its THC goodness later.

Solvent For different Grinders

The cleaning method varies with the type of grinder you use. You must only use warm water or a mixture of vinegar baking soda for acrylic and plastic grinders. Acrylic grinders will melt, and plastic will deform if the water is too hot.

For metal grinders, however, use a mixture of coarse salt and isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) or plain boiling water. The following steps are ideal only for metal grinders.

5 Step cleaning process for Metal grinders

1. Before you immerse parts of the grinder in isopropyl alcohol, give them a thorough hot water wash (ideally, with dish soap) and wipe them dry. It will ensure not having to replace the alcohol solution too often.

2. Fill a zip-lock or plastic bag with isopropyl alcohol and coarse salt and add only the pieces that need cleaning (usually grinding wheel, kief catcher, and mesh).

3. If the parts are not well immersed, shake the pieces every 10 minutes.

4. Depending on how dirty the grinder is and how much gunk has deposited in the crevices and threads, keep it soaked between 20 minutes to an hour (several hours for deep clean).

5. If any, clean the remaining gunk with a nylon brush and dry each part with a paper towel.

Assemble each part, and your shining clean grinder is ready for use!

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