Does anyone use stainless steel plates instead of aluminum? Is it worth the extra money? Is a pre press recommended for doing buds? If I buy 4x7 plates can I still press small amounts by positioning the buds on the edges of the plates?
I only ever press small amount but if you place the material on the edge the upper plate wants to be at an angle putting wear and tear on your press . I thought I made a mistake when ordering the 4x7 coze Im so small scale but now I am getting used to the 4x7 and I like them.
What I do is put the buds right in the center, I press at low temps anyway (82, my go to number for flower or hash right now) so the oil does not have time to cook on the plates, Some of my lower buds I press yield nice clear extracts, with hardly any ''gold'' color to it depending on the material used (if the trichs are all clear, aka harvested early, the extracts from the first press can be so clear even if the oil stays on the plates for the 10-20 sec while I press) I press anywhere between 1 to 14 grams at a time with popcorn buds, I only have a 10 ton press so I dont think I could squish more. The only time I get the oil to ooze out of the plates is when I clean my hash, hash does not need a lot of pressure so for hash I do press right on the edge of the plates (the most hash I have pressed so far in one go is 3-5 grams)
I get my best rosin from flowers... at low temps fresher flowers (dried but not cured) do budder very quickly, so best is like 1-2 months old flowers that are still very terpy. Ive pressed at slightly higher temps and that's how you get the shatter consistency but me I am really after the quality, I dont care if its buddery, shattery, gooey, as long as its terpy.
I think the biggest advantage for using the big plates is you dont need screens for pressing small amount of buds, buds can get super flat without squirting out of the plates.
short answer
I have not tried smaller plates to know, but I like the big ones and I am small scale. oh and my plates are aluminum from low temps plates
