cannabis oil/extraction solvent

[irishbud]

Hi all. I'm looking for some help to make some cannabis oil from my upcoming crop. After reading so much and the many different methods/solvents I find myself totally confused. I got interested in trying to do this after seeing the video below: http://www.youtube.com/results?q=es...c.1.23.youtube-reduced..0.10.1152.JMgRux2B5C0

In this method which looks so easy the solvent used is 190proof alcohol wbich is not available in my country. Store purchased 100 proof is all that's available herewhich I don't think is good enough, is it?
My next option is some type of ethanol. Now I have no idea which is the best but mainly healthiest so I'm hoping someone can chime in and help me understand what I need to be doing here. This website is a company here in Ireland which sell solvent, these are available to me if anyone will have a look.
http://www.carbon.ie

Thank you

 

[GET MO]

Can you isopropyl, like 99%? that's what I would use. and Id probably order it off amazon.

 

[Phatlee]

Perhaps look into acetone? You use that for Sohxlet extractions and you can boil it off. Im sure you can find acetone at any hardware store where youre at....

 

[Phatlee]

Uh. Forget what I just posted. I didnt check on the youtube video link until after I posted....

 

[Only Ornamental]

Hi,

This method looks nice!
Though I didn't (couldn't) watch it with sound so I'm not sure: Do you use what's left in the distiller? Why should that still contain essential oil? I suppose the aim of the procedure is to obtain a THC rich extract and not a distilled essential oil which would be the clear solution condensing and leaving the "cooking pot" (and AFAIK essential oil and ethanol can't easily be separated).

I don't know for sure whether other solvents than cold ethanol (commonly refered to as alcohol) will work too (though isopropanol should work); just try it with no matter which leafs (not even cannabis!) and see whether the cold extract (no need to distill either) gets green or not. The really nice thing about that procedure is, unlike many others with non-toxic solvents, that it doesn't extract chlorophyll which can make up a huge part of an extract and which stinks when smoked.
And that is why you should use dry alcohol. Though if it works with isopropanol too... that would be a loooot cheaper! You may reduce contact time to omit chlorophyll extraction: THC and essential oil are in the glands ON the leafs and extract quickly whereas chlorophyll is IN the leafs and takes more time. You can feel when you extracted long enough: the leafs aren't sticky anymore. Hold a small piece in your hands and let it get warm (frozen buds are never really sticky), then rub .

And DON'T use acetone! That is perfect to isolate all the chlorophyll and likely to explode in your face once you start heating and cooking (lower boiling point -> more gas all around you and the electric equipment).

Good luck and have fun!

 

[justpassnthru]

Hi all. I'm looking for some help to make some cannabis oil
This website is a company here in Ireland which sell solvent, these are available to me if anyone will have a look.
http://www.carbon.ie

Thank you

OO..might be easier to list what is available, instead of that last link... So, these are your choices?

Solvents
Acetone
Toluene
Butyl Glycol
Butyl Di Glycol
Iso Propyl Alcohol
Industrial Methylated Spirits
M.E.K.
Ethyl Acetate
Xylene
Methanol
Ethanol



Have you considered Vodka??? I haven't read of anyone using this method...so, I too, am very curious if anyone is?
I am a bit more curious as to results? jpt

 

[Only Ornamental]

@irishbud
DON'T LISTEN TO JUSTPASSNTHRU, he already had his overdose for tonight!

@ justpassnthru

Might be nice to NOT recommend solvents which are (at least under certain circumstances) toxic! Or do you have a problem with cannabis consumers *g*?
Aromatic solvents (toluene, xylene) and the glycol ethers have pretty high boiling points and low gas pressures and they will certainly remain to a not-so-cool degree in a home made oil! Besides, the former when burnt aren't that good, neither for taste nor health.
Methanol and especially industrial quality is fairly toxic, especially when evaporated maybe in a closed room and inhaled during the work-up. YOU may be able to roll a joint blindfolded (and that's pretty cool) but becoming blind due to your "advice" just sucks .
Please, don't copy-paste solvent lists (with grammar errors and alike in it; I have the excuse of being non-anglophone) when you have no idea what your babbling! People may get hurt or worst!
And Vodka, even the best one, isn't going to work, too much water inside .
Not gonna repeat myself on acetone; ethyl acetate is as useless in this regard and methyl ethyl ketone (M.E.K.) nearly is as bad (and too expensive to just try)...
You might really consider to use ethanol or isopropyl alcohol next time when you do your extraction and not the scumm you recommend; it's already getting on your brain cell!

 

[Koondense]

I vote for isopropanol, going to use it for the same reason as OP but a different, simpler method - QWISO extraction.

Any thoughts about that?


@Ornamental - very informative posts!

 

[Only Ornamental]

simpler method - QWISO extraction

This confirms that cold isopropanol works fine

There is in principle not much of a difference between the two methods: The extraction principle (cold alcohols, no chlorophyll) is the same, just the way to get rid of the solvent afterwards may be different and makes use of a "bonsai moonshine distill" in case of the essential oil approach (I don't know how QWISO-guys usually do it).

@Koondense: You're welcome (but which one of the two did you mean ).
Still trying to get my 25 posts for PM access without writing shitty threads like "jou cool pix man"

 

[Koondense]

I'm sure there are more than just two informative posts, Ornamental

Yes, ISO seems to do the job very well, better at low temps.
Check out some threads regarding QUISO extraction in the "concentrates" forum section.
The method is almost idiot-proof, that's why I chose it(can be done on the spot), not that I consider myself an idiot, LOL


I want to ask you a question, how much time should pass between filtering the solvent and evaporating it? I have an issue with transport, so I would like to evaporate it the next day, but don't know if the wait would damage the THC and terpenes in the solvent. Do you have any thoughts on that?


Oh yeah, you can answer with more than one post

 

[Only Ornamental]

Stability of THC and essential oil (terpenes) at room temperature or below isn't such a problem... you shouldn't wait a month though... Seriously, it's the oxygen which is bad, not the solvents (well, water should be avoided if possible as it catalyses oxidation) and a day or two in solution (stock it in the fridge, better safe than sorry) won't do any harm.

 

[Koondense]

So I assume a 99,5 ISO is necessary to use if one wants to store the solution for a short time.
Some use the 70% ISO which should not be stored but evaporated asap.

That's great to hear, because the pieces of the QWISO puzzle are nicely coming together.


I can put my hands on some industry grade ISO marked with EC200-661-7, which I found is the 99,9% version(internet says 100%), so the purest there can be.
Could you perhaps check on the link if it's the real deal? Many thanx

 

[Only Ornamental]

Sorry, but the MSDS (material safety data sheet) doesn't help; do you have the specification sheet (might be lot. dependent)?
Theoretically, you would have to take pharmacopeia grade stuff if you intend to consume it as a medicine or food grade ones if you use it as dietary supplement (even if you evaporate most of it prior to consumption). Although, most of the high-purity chemicals are above the USP/Ph. Eur. or food standards... Sometimes, it's OK to have 0.01% impurity in one but not the other but you don't know if it's there unless you have the exact composition (and you don't find that in the MSDS but the specification sheet)...
Honestly (though I shouldn't say that), low toxicity high-purity solvents pose usually no real threat for your health regarding their impurities...

 

[Koondense]

Thanx Ornamental, I too think it's not gonna be a problem, it's by far the purest solvent I can get my hands to, even the pharmacies here don't supply anything better than 99%, so I guess the remaining part is water, like in the 70% version.

Oh, the specs say it's 100% pure with no impurities at all, but being a skeptic, I have to check everything, twice at least

 

[Only Ornamental]

Uhhhh... it might contain a few ppm of other alcohols like ethanol and heavy metals like copper and zinc

 

[Only Ornamental]

P.S. I suppose I owe an apology to justpassnthru...

Sorry man, I misunderstood your post; mainly because of the googly eyed smiley you used. That one looks to me like a glue-sniffing junkie in a painter supply store and so I figured you truly like those solvents...

Still, I didn't found your posting very helpful. You see, there is no comment of yours on the solvents AND a solvent is just a liquid that is used to dissolve something (True, irishbud's link wasn't helpful neither; I didn't click on it *shame*). Hence, many liquids are solvents under certain circumstances and they aren't that toxic or dangerous:
Water for tea and coffee
Molten butter for cannabutter
Alcohol (ethanol) for liqueurs
Olive oil for spicy pizza oil and alike
Vinegar and brine used in the production of olives
and so on...
By the way, isopropanol and acetone are also solvents frequently used in everyday life and even preparation of food stuff and no one cares too much (unfortunately).

Being nitpicking, at least, speak of organic solvents (has nothing to do with 'organic' as in organic veggies) to exclude water .

Have a nice day and hopefully less rain than we do here around!

 

[donb5]

Hi all. I'm looking for some help to make some cannabis oil from my upcoming crop. After reading so much and the many different methods/solvents I find myself totally confused. I got interested in trying to do this after seeing the video below: http://www.youtube.com/results?q=es...c.1.23.youtube-reduced..0.10.1152.JMgRux2B5C0

In this method which looks so easy the solvent used is 190proof alcohol wbich is not available in my country. Store purchased 100 proof is all that's available herewhich I don't think is good enough, is it?
My next option is some type of ethanol. Now I have no idea which is the best but mainly healthiest so I'm hoping someone can chime in and help me understand what I need to be doing here. This website is a company here in Ireland which sell solvent, these are available to me if anyone will have a look.
http://www.carbon.ie

Thank you

Besides ethanol extractions there are petroleum derived organic solvents that do a very good job of extracting Cannabis oil. But with anything other than ethanol as the solvent, boiling off all the solvent is very important due to potential toxicity if any remains in the oil. Rick Simpson's Run from the Cure video contains good, simple instruction footage for extracting cannabis oil, as good and easy to follow as any I have seen. Using it I have prepared batches of Cannabis oil that were successfully used by cancer patients to beat their cancer. One of the most commonly used organic solvents is hexane (usually reagent grade or similar quality), which is also used in the food industry to extract oil from nuts and seeds.

Though hexane and other organics are more specific (better) extractors for Cannabis than any alcohol is, since the organic solvents extract the desireable constituents and minimize uptake of undesireable constituents, I still prefer using ethanol (drinking or grain alcohol) because the others who use my oil can never complain of any residual toxicity, since ethanol (Everclear) solvent is food grade and if not completely purged from the oil, is of little to no concern.

If your available ethanol is lower proof (for instance, 100 proof Rum) the water in the alcohol unacceptably reduces the extraction power and adds to alcohol's tendency to pull undesireable constituents like chlorophyll. But the taste of chorophyll in the oil is not harmful, just a bit unpalatable.

You'lll find lots of methods online (google: alcohol separation from water) that claim to instruct how to separate water & alcohol, but I have never had to perform any, sorry.

Good luck,
donb5

 

[Only Ornamental]

@donb5
Really?

One of the most commonly used organic solvents is hexane (usually reagent grade or similar quality), which is also used in the food industry to extract oil from nuts and seeds.

First, hexane gets out of use do to its high neurotoxicity (replaced by pentane, heptane, cyclopentane, and cyclohexane). AFAIK it is no more legal (in many countries) to use it for food-related stuff, though it still is used in industrial processes (things like making machine oil)...
Are you sure of your statement?

Reagent grade is the worst of the 'good/pure' grades (but seems to be the best available one in common commerce) and is widely used where the stuff doesn't get ingested as is. As soon as it's about food, medicine or alike, reagent grade without any further informations/specifications may not do it. Too many toxic contaminants and residues are possible. OK, household chemists may still use it to upgrade their leisure-consumables and smoking a cigarette certainly is more toxic... And true, "consumable" grade is often less pure but the impurities being often water...

Just wanted to clarify that, because your post may imply that the 'consumption' of A) hexane and B) reagent grade (without further knowledge) is principally OK....

 

[donb5]

I'll not disagree with that, Only, only I wonder if US foodmakers, some at least, are not still able to used hexane and use it to extract nut seed and (I think) even some vegetable oils (not sure)

 

[Only Ornamental]

*Blork!* Glad that I don't live there ! That's why I buy my olive oil only as 'extra vergine'.