Keeping moisture out?

[Bowb Aandweeve]

New to them,never had anybody else' concentrates, so I have no benchmarks and I'll be honest, with all the designations, I don't know what to call what I've been making but I do have a question. My process is freezing partially dried crushed bud in a thermos, adding 4x butane to cover plus an inch, then returning to the freezer for a 60 minute soak. I strain through a unbleached coffee filter, into a white Corningware casserole dish. I then put that into a water bath for initial decarb. After major solvent is gone, I put it on a heat mat at 100F , in a thing film method until ALL bubbles are gone. I then scrape it, ball it and let it sit again until it spreads out flat, then it's cooled and good to go.

Now the question-ish thing: I've found that if I leave the cover off the dish during the violent initial decarb, water vapor seems to mix in with my product and it never gets a nice clear color and stays a very moist consistency but if I cover the dish I get pure honey colored hard candy. So, is leaving the cover on, doing me good by keeping water vapor out or bad because even though I have absolutely no bubble in my product, it's somehow still saturated with some type of byproduct?

Side note: Sure tastes good.

 

[Gray Wolf]

New to them,never had anybody else' concentrates, so I have no benchmarks and I'll be honest, with all the designations, I don't know what to call what I've been making but I do have a question. My process is freezing partially dried crushed bud in a thermos, adding 4x butane to cover plus an inch, then returning to the freezer for a 60 minute soak. I strain through a unbleached coffee filter, into a white Corningware casserole dish. I then put that into a water bath for initial decarb. After major solvent is gone, I put it on a heat mat at 100F , in a thing film method until ALL bubbles are gone. I then scrape it, ball it and let it sit again until it spreads out flat, then it's cooled and good to go.

Now the question-ish thing: I've found that if I leave the cover off the dish during the violent initial decarb, water vapor seems to mix in with my product and it never gets a nice clear color and stays a very moist consistency but if I cover the dish I get pure honey colored hard candy. So, is leaving the cover on, doing me good by keeping water vapor out or bad because even though I have absolutely no bubble in my product, it's somehow still saturated with some type of byproduct?

Side note: Sure tastes good.

The added lid would raise the temperature of the oil higher and if you cooked to bubble free, you may be decarboxylating the oil.

 

[jump /injack]

"My process is freezing partially dried crushed bud in a thermos, adding 4x butane to cover plus an inch, then returning to the freezer for a 60 minute soak."

Might not want to put that back in the freezer, hasn't happened to me but some of the people on this forum say that it just might blow up. Maybe some of the others will chime in with some of the reasons for a possible explosion. Get it outside is the general feeling for safety, get it out of the house.

 

[Bowb Aandweeve]

The added lid would raise the temperature of the oil higher and if you cooked to bubble free, you may be decarboxylating the oil.

My assumption is: No bubbles, clear amber/honey color and flowery taste when vaped, then whatever I'm doing, I'm doing right, right?

"My process is freezing partially dried crushed bud in a thermos, adding 4x butane to cover plus an inch, then returning to the freezer for a 60 minute soak."

Might not want to put that back in the freezer, hasn't happened to me but some of the people on this forum say that it just might blow up. Maybe some of the others will chime in with some of the reasons for a possible explosion. Get it outside is the general feeling for safety, get it out of the house.

Frozen butane, in a freezer barely sublimates. It's not like the butane is quickly boiling off, it's barely ticking over. Once I remove it from the freezer and it starts to warm, I'm all about the ventilation and safety.

 

[hammalamma]

My assumption is: No bubbles, clear amber/honey color and flowery taste when vaped, then whatever I'm doing, I'm doing right, right?



Frozen butane, in a freezer barely sublimates. It's not like the butane is quickly boiling off, it's barely ticking over. Once I remove it from the freezer and it starts to warm, I'm all about the ventilation and safety.

Its not the butane you need to worry about, I'm pretty sure the propane is way more volatile.

 

[SpaceshipNelson]

Its not the butane you need to worry about, I'm pretty sure the propane is way more volatile.

^^^^^THIS!

 

[Gray Wolf]

My assumption is: No bubbles, clear amber/honey color and flowery taste when vaped, then whatever I'm doing, I'm doing right, right?



Frozen butane, in a freezer barely sublimates. It's not like the butane is quickly boiling off, it's barely ticking over. Once I remove it from the freezer and it starts to warm, I'm all about the ventilation and safety.

I'm not sure I understand the first question, but I think what you are alluding to is that the proof of the pudding is in the taste and effects, in which case I agree.

It doesn't take much butane to blow the doors off a freezer and it isn't necessary to stick it back in the freezer. I still have most of the liquid still left in a frozen thermos, even after 1 1/2 hours soaking sitting outside in the shade, draped in a towel.

 

[Bowb Aandweeve]

I guess, I wasn't as safety conscious as I assumed I was, so I thank you all for schooling me, my freezer thanks you and the local EMS, if they knew, would, I'm sure, thank you too.

Gray Wolf, sorry to be obtuse, sometimes I play with language too much but yes, my question was essentially:
If my product is a clear amber/honey color with no bubbles apparent in it at the finish, would it be considered to be properly decarbed with no potential residual byproducts left in the mix?

 

[Gray Wolf]

"Properly" depends on the end use and desired properties.

For maximum THC, 70% decarboxylation is about the maximum achievable, and if you decarboxylate completely, you will elevate the CBN content, and end up with a more sedative medication.

The residual solvents should be below levels of concern before reaching even the 70% decarboxylation level, so you have a choice.

The solvent bubbles are irregularly shaped and can be large, while the C02 from decarboxylation are small, more or less equally sized and fizzy.

You can have some of the small fizzy bubbles present, without having residual solvent.

To me, the proof of the pudding is in the taste and effects.

 

[gaiusmarius]

i think he means purged not decarbed in this instance.

 

[Gray Wolf]

i think he means purged not decarbed in this instance.

Sorry, in that case, I consider it purged when I see the multi sized solvent bubbles disappear and only the fizzy Co2 bubbles remain.

If you are totally bubble free, you are decarboxylated, which may be further than you want to go.

The way I tell, is if it looks good, I stick my nose close and take a big whiff. If it smells good, I try a dab and check it for taste and effect.

Our smell and taste thresholds are far more sensitive than the levels of concern.

 

[Bowb Aandweeve]

i think he means purged not decarbed in this instance.

After some rereading, yes he does and sorry for the confusion.

Sorry, in that case, I consider it purged when I see the multi sized solvent bubbles disappear and only the fizzy Co2 bubbles remain.

If you are totally bubble free, you are decarboxylated, which may be further than you want to go.

The way I tell, is if it looks good, I stick my nose close and take a big whiff. If it smells good, I try a dab and check it for taste and effect.

Our smell and taste thresholds are far more sensitive than the levels of concern.

Thank you, that's essentially the nugget I was looking for. My confusion between decarb and purge was my issue, I wasn't sure how "safe" the smaller bubbles were.

 

[Gray Wolf]

Don't feel lonesome, that seems to be where a lot of folks struggle.

 

[gaiusmarius]

hehe just shows how important words are... glad we got it sorted between the 2 of us, hehe, me as translator....lmao.

 

[nachoconqueso]

Hijack: why do people get a boner over removing co2? Learn me on what that accomplishes besides making a more uniform product.

Also, is this technically suppose to be called decarboxylation from a reaction standpoint? It's more like removing trapped co2 gas rather than a reaction that involves co2 as a leaving group. I think the reaction here is decarboxylation, but the physical process of removing trapped gas should be called something else.

 

[Gray Wolf]

Decarboxylation is causing a carboxylic acid to give up its COOH group.

 

[gaiusmarius]

Hijack: why do people get a boner over removing co2? Learn me on what that accomplishes besides making a more uniform product.

Also, is this technically suppose to be called decarboxylation from a reaction standpoint? It's more like removing trapped co2 gas rather than a reaction that involves co2 as a leaving group. I think the reaction here is decarboxylation, but the physical process of removing trapped gas should be called something else.

the process of removing trapped gas is called purging, or vacuum purging.

 

[Bowb Aandweeve]

Talk is cheap, here's what came out of unweighed fresh trim, cut and frozen then lightly crushed to about 1/3 of a Mason jar. One can of Vector covered it plus about an inch. I've been "sampling" it but it weighed in at 2.3g to start.

 

[Bowb Aandweeve]

^^^^Sorry, that was a Immortal Flowers Pre-98 Bubba Kush @ 68 days.

 

[Bowb Aandweeve]

^^^^Sorry, that was a Immortal Flowers Pre-08 Bubba Kush @ 68 days.

Ughhhhh, Pre-98. Could a mod clean this a little for me?