Help hush experiment with oils

[hush]

Hey all.

I'm finally getting into oils, now that I have lots of trim to work with. I plan on using this thread as a journal of sorts, posting up pictures of what I make, asking questions, receiving advice, taking notes, and making more oils.

First on the list tonight is a batch of qwiso I made from all the hand-rubbed charas I collected during the manicure of my recent Sadhu harvest. I soaked the charas in 91% IPA until it was dissolved, then filtered through coffee paper, and evaporated on a plate using a fan pointed at it. Here is the end result:

What does it mean when qwiso looks like brown sugar?

I've never had it look like this before. It flaked and shattered all the while I was scraping it off the plate, so it was fully dry. None of it was goopy or oily. I haven't tried pressing it together or anything. It just looks exactly like a little pile of brown sugar.

 

[hush]

I realized I didn't know how to store this stuff once I scraped it up. I eventually decided to put it into a glass vial I had laying around. I don't know how (or if) I'll be able to get it out, but at least it's contained in something now.

It's very much like a crystalline, fish scale type of powder. I guess this might be considered somewhat waxy? I don't really know how to work with extracts. I need to learn now.

In the past, I've always scraped up the oil when it was still just slightly sticky, and then let that dry out. It made a putty like substance that could be molded into snakes, kind of like hashish. So this was the first time I left the fan running for like 10 hours after the time where I would normally start scraping.

Is this something that can be remelted and formed into a single piece?

All in all, it is very potent, and it fully melts. I just vaporized some that I capped a bowl with, and it completely melted, then bubbled up and vaporized. Tasted nice and sweet. I just wish I knew how to handle the stuff.

 

[hush]

I went out earlier today and bought a fondue pot so that I can finally try heat purging, and decarboxylating, and all the things that can be done with having a heat source like this. Now I just need to get a candy thermometer or something, so I can be accurate.

I also picked up a French press. I figure that should help for quick filtration during first qwiso runs.

I want to start my experimenting with qwiso, because isopropyl alcohol is so readily available. I use the 91% because it's all I can find in drug stores. I know I can pick up iso-heet from the auto parts store, for the 99% stuff, but it's way expensive that way. I've gotten good, honey colored oil many times before from first runs of qwiso, so whatever water that's in there doesn't pick up too much noticeable stuff.

The run I pictured above was just the hand rubbed kief I had on a plate that I was just getting sick of looking at... that experiment was about dissolving into alcohol, which I had never done before. Strangely, it took forever to dissolve, and there was lots of dust swirling around in there that must have been green plant matter, and probably some flakes of my skin from all the rubbing, lol. So I imagine that's why it is so dark.

The real experimenting starts this weekend, with all the trim from my recent harvest.

That's the high grade on the left, and the fan leaves on the right. The only fan leaves I have are the ones from the mature colas, the ones that are all sticky because they had no petioles, you know what I'm talking about. Anyway, all the leaf is hash grade, extremely sticky, coated in trichomes.

Here is the bag of the high grade sugar leaves:

And here is the bag of sticky fan leaves:

Altogether we have three quarters of a pound of leaf here, so I should be able to learn a lot by the time it's all gone...

 

[nakadashi]

The brown sugar is probably because your bud was still totally fresh so the chara is undecarboxylated THCa, so it still has that brittle consistency. If you want it to be gooey you can decarboxylate with heat.

When you do your QWISO runs you can expect the same results as long as the trim remains fresh.

 

[hush]

So could I just heat the leaves in the oven first, before even beginning the extraction? Would that decarb things properly? Well, I guess I would still want to freeze it all again though afterward, prior to the extraction.

That reminds me, I also need to experiment with ways of keeping the entire extraction really cold. I'm going to try using a saltwater bath with my runs this time around. Previously I've just pulled the ingredients out of the freezer and tried to work quickly. Now I want to keep it cold throughout.

 

[Weezard]

Howzit Hush?

I recently acquired a chest freezer to keep everything chilled while I work.
Was on sale, dirt cheap, at Costco.
I now do the entire process inside the freezer because it takes a while to filter, etc.

No more bright, green filter papers.
Just light amber oil.

And when I'm done, I can store food in it.

Aloha,
Weezard

 

[nakadashi]

So could I just heat the leaves in the oven first, before even beginning the extraction? Would that decarb things properly? Well, I guess I would still want to freeze it all again though afterward, prior to the extraction.

That reminds me, I also need to experiment with ways of keeping the entire extraction really cold. I'm going to try using a saltwater bath with my runs this time around. Previously I've just pulled the ingredients out of the freezer and tried to work quickly. Now I want to keep it cold throughout.

Yes, lots of info on this forum on how much heat to use and for how long. Just don't forget you can overdo the decarb, and of course the process will also cause some desirable terps to be lost. Personally I don't know if there is a point to decarboxylating your trim if you want to smoke the hash (rather than eat). I like hash a bit harder, and if you find it too hard to work with, a little heat will make it pliable and more like what you are used to.

 

[hush]

Howzit Hush?

I recently acquired a chest freezer to keep everything chilled while I work.
Was on sale, dirt cheap, at Costco.
I now do the entire process inside the freezer because it takes a while to filter, etc.

No more bright, green filter papers.
Just light amber oil.

And when I'm done, I can store food in it.

Aloha,
Weezard

That's a smart idea! I originally thought about how awesome it would be to have a walk in freezer to do the extraction in. As far as I can tell, the next best thing is working in a cold bath. I need to find a source for dry ice, because that would stay colder than a saltwater bath.

Yes, lots of info on this forum on how much heat to use and for how long. Just don't forget you can overdo the decarb, and of course the process will also cause some desirable terps to be lost. Personally I don't know if there is a point to decarboxylating your trim if you want to smoke the hash (rather than eat). I like hash a bit harder, and if you find it too hard to work with, a little heat will make it pliable and more like what you are used to.

I guess the truth is I don't know if I should be decarbing anything or not. I had to look it up to truly know what it meant. Okay, I see what it's all about now, and it seems it makes for a more narcotic stone, which I can understand how that would be good for edibles, because of how the body metabolizes cannabinoids. So, I guess decarbing would be best avoided, in general, for oil I want to vape rather than eat.

About the crumbly texture of this extract, I gotta say, after leaving it alone and coming back to it the next day, I was able to easily sprinkle the contents of the vial out onto a plate, and it seems pretty easy to work with after all! I spoke too soon. It also seems that I could warm a dinner plate, sprinkle the crumbles onto it, and they would melt down into pieces that would coalesce. I'll have to give that a try.

 

[Weezard]

That's a smart idea! I originally thought about how awesome it would be to have a walk in freezer to do the extraction in. As far as I can tell, the next best thing is working in a cold bath. I need to find a source for dry ice, because that would stay colder than a saltwater bath.



I guess the truth is I don't know if I should be decarbing anything or not. I had to look it up to truly know what it meant. Okay, I see what it's all about now, and it seems it makes for a more narcotic stone, which I can understand how that would be good for edibles, because of how the body metabolizes cannabinoids. So, I guess decarbing would be best avoided, in general, for oil I want to vape rather than eat.

About the crumbly texture of this extract, I gotta say, after leaving it alone and coming back to it the next day, I was able to easily sprinkle the contents of the vial out onto a plate, and it seems pretty easy to work with after all! I spoke too soon. It also seems that I could warm a dinner plate, sprinkle the crumbles onto it, and they would melt down into pieces that would coalesce. I'll have to give that a try.

Why not just melt it in the bottle and then pour out the size "dots" that you want onto a chilled plate to harden?

Aloha,
Weeze

(I'm not really lazy, I just like to rest before I get tired)

 

[hush]

That's a good idea! I guess I will try that out.

I think what I'm going to do with the little vial pictured above is I'm gonna redissolve it and then add it to another extraction, just because it's a tiny amount, and I'm about to get into large amounts here soon.

 

[hush]

Okay, I have just begun official experiment #1.

Starting material was just a few grams of dried high quality trim. This will be a small extraction, but I am testing to see how well keeping isopropyl alcohol chilled helps to keep the product pure.

I had everything in the freezer for over 24 hours ahead of time so the temps were stabilized. I poured the alcohol over the dried leaf while keeping it all in the freezer, stirred it with a bamboo skewer, and then closed the freezer door. I waited thirty seconds, stirred everything again, then removed it from the freezer. I poured it all through a coffee filter into an empty jar, which was already setup and prepared ahead of time. I made sure not to let the mass of leaf matter fall into the filter, to minimize the chance of the alcohol continuing to dissolve stuff. This was the first run.

I then added fresh chilled alcohol to the jar of leaf matter, stirred it up, swirled it around a bit, shook very lightly, and put it in the freezer for thirty seconds. I then repeated the swirling and light shaking, leaving it in the freezer for another thirty seconds, and doing this again until a total of 2 minutes or so had passed. I then took it out, poured through a fresh coffee filter into a jar already setup and prepared, keeping the leaf mass out of it for quick filtration. This was the second run. In color and appearance, both liquids looked exactly the same, in every way.

I then took the jar of leaf and poured more fresh alcohol into it, this time giving it a good, healthy shake, and put it in the freezer for about a minute. I then shook it up again real good, and put it right back in the freezer. I kept this going every minute for about 5 minutes, took it back out, and poured into a coffee filter already setup for the job, keeping the leaf mass out. When it all drained through the filter, I added a small amount of fresh alcohol to the leaf mass, swished it around a bit, and poured it all, including the leaf, onto the same coffee filter, to rinse out whatever might be left, and then I even gave it a bit of a squeeze, to get all of it out. This was the third run. This time, the alcohol had a neon yellow tint to it.

All of the jars were placed in the freezer, sealed with lids, where they will stay until evaporation day.

 

[hush]

I have already begun evaporating the first run, which was poured onto a Pyrex dish, and covered with an air conditioner filter. I then set a small fan on top, blowing directly downward.

This is left outside for however long is needed for the alcohol to entirely evaporate away. It's been over 12 hours already and it still has more alcohol to evaporate. Once it is finished, I will be back.

 

[hush]

Okay here is the qwiso from the first run, all scraped up:

As you can see this is a very pure oil, being almost white in color. I still don't know how I will store this. I think I'm going to heat the plate so that it all melts a bit, and see if that will help congeal it into one piece.

 

[Weezard]

Brilliant!
No dust, no bugs, and maximum 360 degree dispersion of fumes!
Only suggestion?
Put several newspapers between the pan and that tile.
That will allow it to come up to room temp after enough alcohol evaporates to slow the chill effect.
The water can take a long time to evaporate
Unless your alcohol was 100%, you will have some water that will contain no resin and can be discarded.
Edit:
You posted picture while I was composing.
That's the cleanest first run I've ever seen!
Looks like you are about to go into business.

Aloha, and thanks for the data.
Weezard

 

[hush]

Hey thanks Weezard..

Can you tell me what you mean by the chilling effect? I mean just because this run came out okay doesn't mean I can't improve my methods... I'm curious about this, and the adding of newspaper you were talking about. Thanks!

 

[Weezard]

Evaporation is endothermic.
That is, it absorbs heat.
That's how sweat, and swamp chillers work.

The faster the evaporation, the deeper the chill.
That chilling slows evaporation.
Setting it on a huge heat-sink like that tile. will slow it down even more by taking that heat more efficiently.
That's why we do the preliminary evap. with heat.
I understand and applaud your reluctance to do so.

Have you considered a vacuum pump.
The faucet kind is cheap and will allow rapid evaporation at low heat.
I condense and reclaim my ethanol so the heat is not a problem.
And, of course, I use an induction range as the heat source so there's no ignition source.
Looks kinda Rube goldberg but it works a treat.

 

[hush]

Awesome, that's the kind of info I'm looking for. Thank you so much. Yeah, I'm just trying to do this in a relatively safe manner, hence the diy desk fan evaporator, lol. If I can learn more about the world of concentrates and oils, I definitely plan on investing in appropriate kitchen gadgetry.

So here is what that oil looks like after having heated the plate up a bit, and then chopping the lump over and over again, to get it all into one piece:

It appears to have consolidated the resin, but it did so at the expense of the color. It is now all amber/red colored instead of that light gold color I thought it would be. Oh well. Now I am off to give it a vape and try it out!

 

[hush]

I just sampled the oil. Here are my impressions while they are fresh...

I used the razor to chop off a sliver of the chunk. The piece came off like a solid piece of glass. It really does look like a chip of glass, like maybe from a beer bottle.

I placed it on top of a bowl of green, held a lighter right above it, and started slowly inhaling. The solid chunk then turned into a molten puddle of bronze oil, which started bubbling, and then slowly melted down into the herb.

I exhaled it all and proceeded to cough my lungs out for a good half a minute, and took a few deep breaths. The next hit was more of a regular bowl hit, burning the herb, but I could taste the delicious flavor that always seems to accompany all the qwiso I've ever smoked. Then the bowl was finished.

I am mighty high right now. This seems to supply more of a head high than I get from smoking the buds, which is a very clear headed, heavy body kind of high. I still have plenty of the body high, and buzzing vibrations all through my body, but now there is a heavy, dreamy head high to it.

So now I think I just need to warm the plate first, before I actually scrape it up, after evaporation has finished. I think? It seems that heating it gently was what seemed to make it able to be congealed into one piece.

So that's what I'll try with experiment #2, which will be with the second run.

 

[Crusader Rabbit]

Good read. Thanks for making a record of this.

 

[SpaceshipNelson]

Evaporation is endothermic.[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] That is, it gives off heat[/FONT]

View attachment 241102

View attachment 241103

Respectfully; Although evaporation IS an endothermic process, I just want to clarify that is actually absorbing energy...

"Evaporation is an endothermic process, in that heat is absorbed during evaporation."

(just want us all to be on our science game) :-D