Cannabis Oil from Stems
- Thread starter Gray Wolf
- Start date
Most definitely, please do!
It was always my opinion that everything good was on the outside of the stems too, until I ran the sample and now I'm wondering WTF?
To pursue the thread, I picked up an electric chipper to break the stems down to smaller pieces and am shopping for a better final pulverizer than a coffee grinder for the higher volume BHO run. I'll pass on the next tests results too.
GW
G
greasehorse
Have you tried liquid CO2 for extraction used the same way as butane? Pulls oil but no nasty butane odor chemicals added...
JiggabooJones
Member
i keep hearing about this but never see anything practical
spookyteabag
Member
I just chopped a bunch of immature plants coz they were supposed to be autoflowering but weren't. Being a Scottish war-baby I thought 'waste-not-want-not' and stuffed the leaves in a jar of water for a quick cure. I noticed the stems were very sticky so I cut them into short lengths, put them in a jar and shook them with a little cold 90-odd percent ethanol for about a minute. I drained off the spirit and evaporated it and got a surprisingly pleasant result.
No, sadly I haven't because of the cost of equipment, but have designed a simple minded system starting with liquid C02 and heating it to reach above the minimum temperature and pressure required to reach critical fluid properties.
Alas it is one of many projects competing for my continually stretched personal allowance, and standing in line.
GW
PS: It hasn't moved more rapidly to the top of my list because I don't have problems with nasty tastes and odors after I finish subsequent processing of the meds.
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Ryu
Member
I have some 'twiggy jelly hash' made with stems n twigs you don't grind up and it still potent.
It does however always get eaten or given to friends who lace spliffs with it. I can't bare to smoke it, even a 30 min iso soak on bud tastes so much better than it. (no i don't soak for 30 mins
)
A good friend who juggles says it is very inspiring for him, I was going to do cannabrex with twiggy oil and same with bho from bud to try and get a clearer idea if this was worth following up. Got chuckled at by smoking mates as a scrooge as I was saving their twigs, hardly a scrooge if they be smoking my buds, lol.
It does however always get eaten or given to friends who lace spliffs with it. I can't bare to smoke it, even a 30 min iso soak on bud tastes so much better than it. (no i don't soak for 30 mins
)A good friend who juggles says it is very inspiring for him, I was going to do cannabrex with twiggy oil and same with bho from bud to try and get a clearer idea if this was worth following up. Got chuckled at by smoking mates as a scrooge as I was saving their twigs, hardly a scrooge if they be smoking my buds, lol.
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Question. were you using n-hexane? or were you using Tetrafluoroethane? as the are quite different although similar.
The residual Benzene in some hexanes make me nervous, however it could be filtered out below 5°C, or evap'd @ 80. 10 PPM generally.
I DO love the high vapor pressures, very attractive.
The residual Benzene in some hexanes make me nervous, however it could be filtered out below 5°C, or evap'd @ 80. 10 PPM generally.
I DO love the high vapor pressures, very attractive.
The suggestion of R134a seems accidental yet it's the first mention of it as solvent at this site. Someone who's not into the ozone layer should compare butane and R134a side by side. Well I know people have, tell us about it I mean.
R134a barely makes nonpolar, with water's dipole moment and a dielectric constant over 9. It isn't that comparable to very nonpolar hexane. It should be better for high THCA material than hexane or butane, so it wouldn't surprise me if people reported potent high yield results. But for decarboxylated material, the -ane's will be the most selective.
Heptane is reasonably priced by the quart in art stores in the US, and it's a side product for people who separate ether and heptane from cheap starting fluid by distillation. It's a higher boiler so it has the problems that go with that.
10 ppm benzene in a kilogram of hexane, if that is true, = 10 mg. Boil off 99%, 0.1 mg. See chemophobia.
R134a barely makes nonpolar, with water's dipole moment and a dielectric constant over 9. It isn't that comparable to very nonpolar hexane. It should be better for high THCA material than hexane or butane, so it wouldn't surprise me if people reported potent high yield results. But for decarboxylated material, the -ane's will be the most selective.
Heptane is reasonably priced by the quart in art stores in the US, and it's a side product for people who separate ether and heptane from cheap starting fluid by distillation. It's a higher boiler so it has the problems that go with that.
10 ppm benzene in a kilogram of hexane, if that is true, = 10 mg. Boil off 99%, 0.1 mg. See chemophobia.
Hi ya'll
Hi ya'll
Wanted to update ya'll on our stem extraction progress and notice all the reasons I shouldn't post while testing products.
Hexane or R134A will both work and aerosol hexane often contains R134A.
I previously posted the MSDS for 1,1,1,2 Tetrafluoroethane, so here is one for the Hexane.
Safety data for hexane
[SIZE=+1]Click here for data on hexane in student-friendly format, from the HSci project [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Glossary of terms on this data sheet. The information on this web page is provided to help you to work safely, but it is intended to be an overview of hazards, not a replacement for a full Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS). MSDS forms can be downloaded from the web sites of many chemical suppliers.
[/SIZE][SIZE=+1]General
Hi ya'll
Wanted to update ya'll on our stem extraction progress and notice all the reasons I shouldn't post while testing products.
Hexane or R134A will both work and aerosol hexane often contains R134A.
I previously posted the MSDS for 1,1,1,2 Tetrafluoroethane, so here is one for the Hexane.
Safety data for hexane
[SIZE=+1]Click here for data on hexane in student-friendly format, from the HSci project [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Glossary of terms on this data sheet. The information on this web page is provided to help you to work safely, but it is intended to be an overview of hazards, not a replacement for a full Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS). MSDS forms can be downloaded from the web sites of many chemical suppliers.
[/SIZE][SIZE=+1]General
- Synonyms: n-hexane, normal hexane, hexyl hydride
Molecular formula: C6H14
CAS No: 110-54-3
EC No: 203-777-6
EC Index No: 601-037-00-0
- Appearance: colourless liquid
Melting point: -95 C
Boiling point: 69 C
Vapour density: 3 (air = 1)
Vapour pressure: 132 mm Hg at 20 C
Specific gravity: 0.659
Flash point: -10 F
Explosion limits: 1.2% - 7.7%
Autoignition temperature: 453 F
- Stable. Incompatible with oxidizing agents, chlorine, fluorine, magnesium perchlorate. Highly flammable. Readily forms explosive mixtures with air. Note low flash point.
- May cause impaired fertility. Harmful by inhalation. Irritant. May cause CNS depression. Prolonged exposure may cause serious health damage.
Toxicity data
(The meaning of any abbreviations which appear in this section is given here.)
ORL-RAT LD50 28700 mg kg-1
IHL-RAT LC50 48000 ppm/4h
Risk phrases
(The meaning of any risk phrases which appear in this section is given here.)
R11 R20 R38 R48 R51 R53 R62 R65 R67.
- Harmful in the environment - may cause long-term adverse effects.
- (The meaning of any UN hazard codes which appear in this section is given here.)
UN No 1208. Hazard class 3. Packing group II.
- Safety glasses. Effective ventilation. Remove sources of ignition from the working area. Safety phrases
(The meaning of any safety phrases which appear in this section is given here.)
S16 S36 S37 S39 S45 S53.
Besides throughly enjoying my moments of confusion and insanity, I've been experimenting with methods of grinding stems suitable for volume production and have trashed a fair amount of equipment, as well as making progress.
While grinding stems seems pretty straightforward, as it turns up, the rope fiber doesn't grind well and creates problems by binding up equipment.
After an initial round of experiments trashing kitchen appliances, I purchased a McCulloh electric garden chipper/shredder for the initial reduction and after 4 or five passes through the chipper I sieve out the fines using a 1/2" wire screen.
Several process interruptions were required to dismantle and clean out the bird nests, but we ended up with two piles. One pile of chips for further reduction and another off to the Skunk Pharm's paper making project.
My associates and I at the Skunk Pharm previously tried grinding in an opposing face grain mill, and managed to bind the mill up and break the auger shaft. We also tried a meat grinder and kept binding it up with fiber as well, but stopped short of twisting the drive shaft in two.
Our group currently has a new grinder enroute from Romania for trial, which promises to produce the further reduction that we require for extraction and we should be off and running on further trials to extract and identify what the dark honey colored oil from the stems contains.
GW
While grinding stems seems pretty straightforward, as it turns up, the rope fiber doesn't grind well and creates problems by binding up equipment.
After an initial round of experiments trashing kitchen appliances, I purchased a McCulloh electric garden chipper/shredder for the initial reduction and after 4 or five passes through the chipper I sieve out the fines using a 1/2" wire screen.
Several process interruptions were required to dismantle and clean out the bird nests, but we ended up with two piles. One pile of chips for further reduction and another off to the Skunk Pharm's paper making project.
My associates and I at the Skunk Pharm previously tried grinding in an opposing face grain mill, and managed to bind the mill up and break the auger shaft. We also tried a meat grinder and kept binding it up with fiber as well, but stopped short of twisting the drive shaft in two.
Our group currently has a new grinder enroute from Romania for trial, which promises to produce the further reduction that we require for extraction and we should be off and running on further trials to extract and identify what the dark honey colored oil from the stems contains.
GW
Halogenated hydrocarbons like 1,1,1,2 Tetrafluorethane's break down if heated beyond their disassociation point and Hydrofluoric acid is one of the biproducts.
Inhaled HF fumes destroy the lungs and as many of ya'll know, HF is the acid that will dissolve even glass.
As far as ingestion, the MSDS ostensibly covers known hazards. I say ostensibly, because medical science constantly changes its views and if trends continue, today's mother's milk will be tomorrow's hemlock.
GW
Thanks Gray Wolf. How will you be analyzing this oil? Gas Chromatography? Or column chromatography? I'm gonna guess THCA as the main concentration of thc. I appreciate all your research. My questions on solvent were not to suggest a disregard for saftey, just to ease my inquisitive mind. Cheers 
Thanks Gray Wolf. How will you be analyzing this oil? Gas Chromatography? Or column chromatography? I'm gonna guess THCA as the main concentration of thc. I appreciate all your research. My questions on solvent were not to suggest a disregard for saftey, just to ease my inquisitive mind. Cheers
May I defer answering your question about analyzing if I promise to do so in excrutiating detail later?
I will simply note that the ecconomic tumble in the US closed a number of labs and our group has accumulated dirt cheap high technology lab equipment that we believe offers yet a third exciting new alternative to both analyzing and custom blending the various cannabinoids to order.
I will tell you more after proving that our concept does or does not work, both to protect our intellectual property and so I don't feel so stupid telling you if it a flop.
Thanks for the good thoughts, and no worry, I appreciate you calling me on my moment of insanity and it was a point well taken.
Peace bro and happy holidays!
GW
Good points! I was contemplating how to run the control samples so that it is emphatically clear which oil is extracted where from the stems.
I was planning quiso first and then grinding and extracting, but the quiso with abrasion is a better idea to strip the outer surfaces clean faster! Thanks!
GW
