Contaminated BHO... Can I clean it?

[AmeriSkunk]

@Gray Wolf, I was hoping you would spread some of you knowledge my way. I will totally try that. I think what I'm going to do is highly dilute the solution again with 91% iso(idk where to get etoh) so when I pour over the charcoal it doesn't less of my thc soaks in. Also how would you recomend to strain this? Obviously with more coffeefilters to hold the charcoal in plac. I'm assuming I should make the drip channel narrow so it creates a slight downward pull causing the alcohol mixture to actually filter through the charcoal at the bottom vs being sweated through the filetrs from everywhere the alcohol is touching. Also should I powder the activated charcoal? Or just look for an aquarium grade charcoal that is in fairly fine chunks? If I powder it I'm afraid some of the powder will get through the filetrs. I also thin the regular paper idea could work but Gray is on of my ICmag heros, I'm sure he knows what he's talking about vs my theorys

@HippyDan, its just frustrating to me because I got educated on the evaporation properties of butane and also real world application where we use tane on a daily basis without even knowing... it is used as the propellant in tons of cooking sprays and we ingest that... so if your going to bitch about the safety of bho, your a hypocrite if you use pam or any canola oil spray ect....

 

[Gray Wolf]

I think what I'm going to do is highly dilute the solution again with 91% iso(idk where to get etoh) so when I pour over the charcoal it doesn't less of my thc soaks in.

Also how would you recomend to strain this? Obviously with more coffeefilters to hold the charcoal in plac.

I'm assuming I should make the drip channel narrow so it creates a slight downward pull causing the alcohol mixture to actually filter through the charcoal at the bottom vs being sweated through the filetrs from everywhere the alcohol is touching.

Also should I powder the activated charcoal?

Or just look for an aquarium grade charcoal that is in fairly fine chunks? If I powder it I'm afraid some of the powder will get through the filetrs.

91% ISO will work.

No need to powder the charcoal and there are a couple of ways to use it.

The first is pour the charcoal through a packed column of charcoal. Plug a column like a butane extraction tube with a filter or cotton waste, and fill it with activated charcoal. Pour the mixture through it and then filter.

The second way is to just mix the charcoal with the alcohol mixture, shake it well, and then filter it out. The second way is easiest.

I filter three different times and ways. The first filter is through a wire mesh filter to get the big chunks out to preserve the second filter.

The second is through a Whatmann 150mm No 1 lab filter or a commercial size coffee filter.

To speed it up, I sometimes use a vacuum assist. Either a vacuum pump, or a water faucet vacuum aspirator (~$12), in concert with a vacuum filter adapter (~$20) to fit a 1.75 liter grain alcohol bottle. You can get the faucet aspirator and filter adapter at your local scientific supply store or on E-bay. Mine came from American Scientific.

The third time is through a syringe filter, using a 0.45 or 0.2 membrane. You can pick both of those and a syringe up on E-bay cheap.

As it turns out, it is your lucky day, as it is spring break and our biochemistry student Joe was here frolicking in the lab, so I asked him how he would take out zinc. He said that the charcoal should work.

He also upstaged me with perhaps a better suggestion.

If you use a hydrophobic membrane syringe filter, they have a glass pre-filter, with a negative charge. If you pass the ISO/oil solution through it, the positively charged zinc will stay behind on the glass filter.

Another way that he mentioned, is re-dissolving the oil in a non polar solvent like Hexane, and then mixing it with two or three times its volume with water in which shampoo containing ammonium lauryl sulfate has been mixed and shaking well. If you put it in a separatory funnel, the water and the zinc will be on the bottom and the hexane with the cannabinoids will float on top.

Separate off the layers, and pour in fresh water saturated with non-iodineized salt, shake, separate, and drain. Repeat as necessary until the hexane is pristine, and then evaporate off the hexane.

Except for the shampoo part, you can find my procedure posted under Getting the green and waxes out afterwards. It also shows how to use a ziploc bag for a separatory funnel.

 

[AmeriSkunk]

wow man, I dont think you left any stones unturned. Thats probably the most clear and educated answer I have ever got on any forum ever, which leads me to believe you are probably one of the smartest people I have ever conversed with. Especially pertaining to cannabis related things.

I think I will go with the tube method you described, I will run it 3x with 2x filters on the bottom. I wish I had a hydrophobic membrane syringe filter like you spoke of, that seems like it would do the best job.

Thats awesome that the biochemistrty guy was there to answer this question also, I really apreciate you going out of your way yo help me.

Also I wanted to talk to you about the E-cig jiuce, I was thinking about that the first time I ever saw one of those... and you have done it.. Your the man, lol. The only man in the world with one of these blowing concentrated thc that i know of... I have mad respect for you. On a scale of 1-10, how diffacult is it to make, chemicals to acquire, plus scientific know how? I want to be able to vape oil in one of those so bad. Ill message you soon about all this. if your bogged down just shoot me a link or point me in the right direction please. thanks for all your help man

 

[Gray Wolf]

wow man, I dont think you left any stones unturned. Thats probably the most clear and educated answer I have ever got on any forum ever, which leads me to believe you are probably one of the smartest people I have ever conversed with. Especially pertaining to cannabis related things.

I think I will go with the tube method you described, I will run it 3x with 2x filters on the bottom. I wish I had a hydrophobic membrane syringe filter like you spoke of, that seems like it would do the best job.

Thats awesome that the biochemistrty guy was there to answer this question also, I really apreciate you going out of your way yo help me.

Also I wanted to talk to you about the E-cig jiuce, I was thinking about that the first time I ever saw one of those... and you have done it.. Your the man, lol. The only man in the world with one of these blowing concentrated thc that i know of... I have mad respect for you. On a scale of 1-10, how diffacult is it to make, chemicals to acquire, plus scientific know how? I want to be able to vape oil in one of those so bad. Ill message you soon about all this. if your bogged down just shoot me a link or point me in the right direction please. thanks for all your help man

Thanks for the good thoughts bro and you are welcome! It is real easy to look good with my one face and four heads scheming and conniving.

Actually I know of at least three other skunk pharmers using acetate in their E-Cigs right now and two panel members have tested it thus far. All giving it two thumbs up!

For posterity, our E-Cig project manager student Joe got the first puff, Eloquentsolution the second, and I got the third.

Growgeek the jolly green giant sucksd hind tit with forth, because he had to work at his real job and you must be present to win here at the pharm.

Acetate is easy enough to make (maybe a 1 or 2) and requires minimal equipment, but uses potentially lethal chemicals, so a course in general lab chemistry and safety would be a good idea.

As far as chemical acquisition, it was about a one (1) difficulty for us to buy acetic anhydride and sulfuric acid in liter quantities using a legitimate business account at the local scientific supply store.

Acetic anhydride is controlled and monitored, but not illegal to purchase or own. Both it and concentrated sulfuric are used in the manufacturer of illegal drugs however, so purchasing it ostensibly puts us on the DEA watch list.

As we only use small quantities of it and we are not concerned at what they may find regardless of how deeply they dig, we purchase our supplies boldly and openly for our R&D anyway.

 

[AmeriSkunk]

I really wish I knew what your talking about... Im not "in the know" anymore, I took a 3yr hiatus from the forums, they tempt me alot, I got busted growing in the same city I currently live in 3yrs ago, finished my probation met a great woman, ect.. but i need to be tempted at this point, next january is my big west coast move, with or without her. I crave growing like a crack head feinds for his skeez. Plus im a cannabussiness man with a big ass vision, all mentally mapped out I just have to get there and do what I do best, and thats grow dank buds. hopefully i havent got rusty, its kinda like riding a bike I cant really forget, not with my simple organic methods

so do you guys run a cannabis related science lab or something?

 

[Gray Wolf]

I really wish I knew what your talking about... Im not "in the know" anymore, I took a 3yr hiatus from the forums, they tempt me alot, I got busted growing in the same city I currently live in 3yrs ago, finished my probation met a great woman, ect.. but i need to be tempted at this point, next january is my big west coast move, with or without her. I crave growing like a crack head feinds for his skeez. Plus im a cannabussiness man with a big ass vision, all mentally mapped out I just have to get there and do what I do best, and thats grow dank buds. hopefully i havent got rusty, its kinda like riding a bike I cant really forget, not with my simple organic methods

so do you guys run a cannabis related science lab or something?

Welcome back! You came to the right forum to pick up on the latest thoughts.

No, us'n skunk pharmers are not so elaborate or big time and membership has actually dwindled with original core members moving away.

Two of us remaining core members are retired engineers just having fun, another works full time at a medical research facility, and the fourth is a full time biochemistry student.

Our chemical lab is in my garage, the tissue culture lab in Growgeek's dining room, and the DNA lab is at student Joe's.

Eloquentsolution and my kitchens and backyards suffer most of the rest of the abuse.

We also own some private corporations amongst us, related to medical MJ and education, that allow us to purchase what we need for R&D.

Sometimes thinking bigger is easier than trying to get around all the obstacles to private individuals.

State incorporation fees and a business license are relatively cheap and as our businesses have no income, nor hires any employees, costs to operate are cheap and a write off.

Alas, with no income they are still limited to our personal allowances, so we are limited in the scope of our R&D.

You might consider what it would take to found a MMJ corporation in your locale and to take a chemistry lab class at the local university.

Ohmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

 

[AmeriSkunk]

Very cool things you are doing man, and I have been wanting to open a legit cannabuisness for a while now, thats what the whole west coast move is about. First im going to have to grow for a year or so then I should have the funds to do all that. I have someone who would be a financial backer as of right now its just that i dont want to get involved with him, financially. hes a good friend but I know how he is about money and its not that I think something would happen, i just dont want to open that door with him because he will feel entitled to a portion of all my earning when really he only deserves a portion of the first harvest, because of startup costs, ect.

The basica plan is to grow with 10kw at first, harvest, double my watts, harvest again, save grow, save, grow, open dispensary, then really grow big. Thats what its about for me, the ability to grow huge, that equals huge profits, theres money to be made on 10kw grows but its chump change compared to a warehouse op.

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And for cleaning the oil... , I think all im going to be able to do is quad filter it, I just bought all the needed items for the purification process and heres the problem....

to me it apears to be pulling all and I do mean all of the thc up into the charcoal, also the fine dust is going through two coffee filters, so it will be double contaminated if I strain the entire batch like this. I truely and honestly feel at this point that my only option is to slowly drip the solution through 4x coffee filters 2 or 3 times.

its not that it cant be done, it just cant be done with coffee filters, I need something even tighter than that. maybe the .02 micron screen would work. So now i have the 3g's or so of bho thats left(I lost some the first pour because the oxide particles had settled and were now curculating in the bottom and if I had poured this in, it would have defeated the entire purpose of letting the particulates settle.
but anywho, the oil was okay before, still had a slight burnt metal flavor to it but the hash oil flavor was dominant. plus i think i wil be making absolutes from now on, I really like the texture, high ans smoothness

 

[Gray Wolf]

Unless you use some sort of polarized process, I doubt you will remove the zinc.

A syringe and syringe filter for getting out the rest of the charcoal is less than $50.

Very cool things you are doing man, and I have been wanting to open a legit cannabuisness for a while now, thats what the whole west coast move is about. First im going to have to grow for a year or so then I should have the funds to do all that. I have someone who would be a financial backer as of right now its just that i dont want to get involved with him, financially. hes a good friend but I know how he is about money and its not that I think something would happen, i just dont want to open that door with him because he will feel entitled to a portion of all my earning when really he only deserves a portion of the first harvest, because of startup costs, ect.

The basica plan is to grow with 10kw at first, harvest, double my watts, harvest again, save grow, save, grow, open dispensary, then really grow big. Thats what its about for me, the ability to grow huge, that equals huge profits, theres money to be made on 10kw grows but its chump change compared to a warehouse op.

**************************************************

And for cleaning the oil... , I think all im going to be able to do is quad filter it, I just bought all the needed items for the purification process and heres the problem....

to me it apears to be pulling all and I do mean all of the thc up into the charcoal, also the fine dust is going through two coffee filters, so it will be double contaminated if I strain the entire batch like this. I truely and honestly feel at this point that my only option is to slowly drip the solution through 4x coffee filters 2 or 3 times.

its not that it cant be done, it just cant be done with coffee filters, I need something even tighter than that. maybe the .02 micron screen would work. So now i have the 3g's or so of bho thats left(I lost some the first pour because the oxide particles had settled and were now curculating in the bottom and if I had poured this in, it would have defeated the entire purpose of letting the particulates settle.
but anywho, the oil was okay before, still had a slight burnt metal flavor to it but the hash oil flavor was dominant. plus i think i wil be making absolutes from now on, I really like the texture, high ans smoothness

 

[AmeriSkunk]

I agree, I think the only way would be to use some type of chemical reaction process. I'm not too worried about actually getting it out, this was just sort of a science project to me. I don't have any charcoal particles to remove. I poured a tiny amount though the carbon and it came out clear, like brand new alcohol. It stripped the oil all the way out of the mixture, I also diluted the mixture to make it 20oz so i would have plenty of liquid to work with(20oz's takes forever to reduce, I did an actual double boil on my stove for well over an hour). Then I slow dripped it through 4 filters at once, that cleaned it even further, then I evaped. The only thing that seems to be a cause of concern to me is that zinc oxide is acidic, its making my oil very viscous, more than an absolute should be. Which leads me to believe the vapors will be slightly acidic. But alas, no lung pain or anything and I've been vaping this oil, not as much as I would be had it not been tainted but still, its safe. If I were to vape all this in one session I'm sure the hospital would be in my future but its zinc, if its consumed in safe levels its actually a good thing for my body. And I'm very in tune with how my body is working, so I have no fears

Have a great weekend man

 

[foaf]

I personally wouldn't worry about the safety of a little zinc now and then. If it tasted bad to smoke/vap it, I would just make edible something out of it, capsules or butter or something. That's what I did with the oil I got from my failed propane hash oil. It had the smallest left over mercaptan smell, nothing unsafe, but nasty to smoke.

 

[Gray Wolf]

I personally wouldn't worry about the safety of a little zinc now and then. If it tasted bad to smoke/vap it, I would just make edible something out of it, capsules or butter or something. That's what I did with the oil I got from my failed propane hash oil. It had the smallest left over mercaptan smell, nothing unsafe, but nasty to smoke.

Good point! If it isn't toxic, and just tasts bad, cannacaps will fix that right up.

I blend it with 30% MCT or virgin coconut oil by weight, and add enough corn starch to make silly putty out of it (about 10gm/3gm/22gms of cannabis oil/coconut oil/cornstarch.

I stuff that into 0 capsules and even the bad tasting stuff works out as long as it doesn't also upset the digestive tract like bad tasting, but mostly salubrious when not in excess chlorophyll does to some folks.

 

[AmeriSkunk]

I think the only thing I could really do with it would be to make capsules, it even smells like metals when you put your nose close without it being hot, so I think it would jack jup some edibles, idk, brownie mix is pretty rich so it might work

 

[Crunchy Taco]

throw it away, you don't really want that.

 

[Trichgnomes]

throw it away, you don't really want that.

Ditto. Some lessons are more expensive than others.

Everything is relative, and no matter how precious, rare, or expensive, cannabis may seem-- it is a flower--and is replaceable. Safety first.


Or if it is really that important to you, and you are sure that there is nothing toxic, take GW's advice, and canncap it.

 

[AmeriSkunk]

precious, rare, irreplaceable, lol. I got a lot more sitting in my bong pantry, orange kush to be specific, the stuff tatste amazing off the two stage six arm perc