Extraction Newbie

[testymctester]

I have been buying concentrates for too long and need to become self sufficient. I have been reading this concentrate forum for a long time and think I have a good idea of what it takes to do this right/safely. It's time to take the leap.

I have plenty of trim and flowers I can use for a couple test runs. I usually make cold water hash (which I can get just about full melt/dabbable) if I use fresh frozen trim. I would like to review my plan below with the experts here and see if anyone has suggestions to improve my process. Thanks!

I need to get a few things still, but I will document my progress as I get everything put together and complete my first few runs.

I already picked up an extraction tube and multiple size Pyrex dishes. I plan to lightly pack my fresh frozen material (small nugs, larf, and sugar leaves) into the tube and take it outside. I will empty 1 can of butane per ounce of material through the extraction tube. The tube will drain into a smaller Pyrex dish sitting in a larger Pyrex dish with warm water and a heating pad underneath. I will use a laser thermometer to measure the temperature of the oil to make sure it does not go over 110F during the initial purge. I will take the smaller Pyrex inside where I will scrape the semi-purged oil onto parchment paper.

Ok, hopefully I am not too far off on that first part. I know I definitely need some help with the vacuum purging.

I am thinking about picking up an induction cooktop like the NuWave. It comes with a stainless steel pot that I think would work well for the vacuum chamber. I have also seen these prebuilt chamber lids with fittings and guages and I'm looking at a 3 cfm vacuum pump to complete the setup. Looks to be about $400 or so for the cooktop, vac chamber, and pump.

I'm hoping that I can take my semi-purged oil on parchment paper, put it into the stainless pot, turn the heat on the induction cooktop to 110-115F or so, and then experiment with the vacuum pump to figure out the best approach to get an absolute/shatter/glass consistency.

Any reason why the induction cooktop is a benefit or a pain in the ass over a griddle? The exact temperature control seems attractive, but I don't have a whole lot of confidence in the precision or accuracy. Please let me know if I missed anything or if you would suggest a different approach for an extraction newbie.

 

[bull619]

I use 2 NuWave's and they work well. I would try getting a cast iron griddle pan that fits your chamber. I line the bottom of the chamber with a silicone mat to help keep the heat even. The regular NuWave which I have uses 10 degree increments. I usually have it set between 120-140. Generally the oil will be 15-20 degrees lower than what you set the cooktop at. I used a griddle for a while but the accuracy is very inconsistent.

Another option is a heat mat for your chamber. I believe the two most mentioned companies are Omega and Briskheat. Do a search to find out more. They have nbeen talked about pretty in depth. The rest of your tech seems solid. Good luick.

 

[-Boris]

Instead of freezing my material I dehydrate it in a standard fruit/meat dehydrator from walmart that has temps below 100f. I personally like to let it go all day but you can do it in about 5 hours at 115f if you grind the material. Then I pack my clean, dry tube fairly tight but not too tight to the point where your jamming it in there (I've done successful runs with tubes jam packed but its just a pain in the ass to work with). once packed then its okay to freeze the tube if you choose. Also I like to warm-up my butane cans because butane will naturally flow from warm to cold. On one occasion I was experimenting, and I froze both my tube and tane which caused the resin and butane to freeze solid in the tube clogging it. what a waste.. As for blasting I have never blown myself up blasting onto a griddle outside with sufficient air movement. If your going for shatter, I would recommend scraping up your bho after it has been on heat long enough so that it doesn't foam up when you scrape.

As for vacuum purging I have the exact same 3 cfm pump you listed, and I'm not happy with it at all as it barely pulls 27Hg. Don't be cheap with a pump the higher the cfm the better, this is the pump that I will be upgrading to.

When I purge I have my chamber submerged in a pot of water (chamber raised from floor of pot on a cooling rack) and on top of my griddle. Inside the chamber I have a steel rack with a silicone baking mat cut to size on top (for even heat distribution and to prevent burning from the steel rack). For shatter I thin film purge at 95-110f and for at least 48hrs flipping once in between.

This is just the way I prefer to do things, take from it what you will. Happy hash making. cheers!

 

[Gray Wolf]

I would cut the fresh material into 1/4" chunks and pack firmly, but not tightly into a tube before freezing it. That will help prevent ice from humidity coating the trichomes.

Your evaporating butane won't be anywhere near 110F until the butane is visibly through boiling, so just take it out of the warm water when it looks like the butane is gone. I just use warm tap water, so no electrical devices are required.

300 Series stainless steel is non magnetic and doesn't work well with induction heating. You might add a carbon steel plate inside to provide the heating.

I like our single stage 6 cfm pump lots better than our two stage 5 cfm pump. Much faster than the size differences would suggest.

I would raise your temperature to 115F. You shouldn't need more than an hour in a thin film at that temperature and vacuum level to achieve a purged shatter.

 

[-Boris]

You shouldn't need more than an hour in a thin film at that temperature and vacuum level to achieve a purged shatter.

Hi Wolf,

I was wondering if you had any input about that "rainbow reflection in the bubbles during purge that has been mentioned by Rumpwax and others on youtube. I was wondering if these bubbles are visible after 1 hour at 760torr and 115f like you mentioned.

Theory has it, that the rainbow illusion is caused by residual butane, which sort of makes sense to me because butane is petrochemical?
Or maybe its the "mystery oil" that will forever be within?

The reason for asking is my current 3cfm pump and 1 gallon desiccator setup can only reach around 27"hg, and I am seeing these colorful bubbles as long as 48hrs and longer in purge.

I'm sorry if this has already been answered before, I can't find it anywhere. The amount of information that you share is an absolute blessing to the community, and any input you have would be most appreciated.

 

[Gray Wolf]

Hi Wolf,

I was wondering if you had any input about that "rainbow reflection in the bubbles during purge that has been mentioned by Rumpwax and others on youtube. I was wondering if these bubbles are visible after 1 hour at 760torr and 115f like you mentioned.

Theory has it, that the rainbow illusion is caused by residual butane, which sort of makes sense to me because butane is petrochemical?
Or maybe its the "mystery oil" that will forever be within?

The reason for asking is my current 3cfm pump and 1 gallon desiccator setup can only reach around 27"hg, and I am seeing these colorful bubbles as long as 48hrs and longer in purge.

I'm sorry if this has already been answered before, I can't find it anywhere. The amount of information that you share is an absolute blessing to the community, and any input you have would be most appreciated.

Both butane and all of the terpenes, including the diterpene cannabinoids, are hydrocarbons. The basic difference being that Butane a simple single bonded, fully saturated alkane and the terpenes double bonded aromatic alkenes.

Watching rainbows is not an accurate method of determining an adequate purge, as they all produce them.

 

[testymctester]

Ok, awesome. Thanks for the help Bull, Boris, and GW!

Looks like I should chop my material, then freeze in the tube, and I can just use a warm tap water bath when outside blasting. Also, sounds like I need to find a better pump.

Hopefully I can have everything delivered this week and try my first run next weekend. Thanks again for all the help guys!

 

[testymctester]

Everything was ordered earlier in the week, but won't get here until Monday. So, it looks like the first extraction will have to wait until next weekend. I went a totally different direction than I suggested in my first post. Decided I didn't want to mess around with the induction thing for now. Might have to go with a silicone heat mat if the temp accuracy/stability is my biggest issue.

I ordered a Robinair 4 CFM pump rated at 15 microns for $265, a ceramic plate electric burner with adjustable thermostat for $50, and a 1.5 gallon vacuum chamber for $110. $425 w/ free shipping.

The ceramic burner is 7.25" round and so is the 1.5 gallon steel pot for the chamber. I'm hoping this will provide me with an even and steady temp for purging! I'll post pics when everything is setup.

 

[-Boris]

Since electric burners don't distribute even heating I would suggest placing your chamber in a wider pot and filling it with water.

 

[-Boris]

**raise the bottom of the desiccator from the floor of the water pot.

 

[testymctester]

Since electric burners don't distribute even heating I would suggest placing your chamber in a wider pot and filling it with water.

**raise the bottom of the desiccator from the floor of the water pot.

Thanks Boris! I am hoping that the thick ceramic burner on the unit I picked up will distribute the heat evenly. I'll definitely setup a water bath with the chamber raised off the bottom as you suggested if it doesn't work out as I hoped.

 

[Gray Wolf]

You can also use sand.

 

[testymctester]

You can also use sand.

Thanks GW! Any particular type of sand?

 

[nakadashi]

Thanks GW! Any particular type of sand?

I used reptile sand from petco and it worked pretty well.

 

[Gray Wolf]

Thanks GW! Any particular type of sand?

Any cleaned sand will work, and as ND notes, reptile sand fills that bill.

 

[testymctester]

Thanks guys. Still waiting on the chamber, but it should be here today. Can't wait to get to work this weekend.

 

[testymctester]

So, I don't know what happened with the damn vacuum chamber or whatever. It was supposedly delivered by the shipper yesterday, but it definitely was not delivered to my house. I called the seller and he sent me another one immediately. It should be here by Tuesday.

I'm considering just making a lid this weekend if I can source the parts locally. Looks like I'll wait another week if I can't find everything in town. Thinking about getting my feet wet blasting some older nugs to get a feel for the extraction process before using my good trim.

I'll post updates as I have them...

 

[Icu 812]

I don't know how well this would work but you can take a old refrigerator compressor and turn it into a vacuum pump heres a link to a example http://www.paragoncode.com/shop/vacuum_pump/ plenty of youtube vids on it to. If its something that will work for this I am not sure but I am sure someone out there will probally try it. If this is helpfull plz let me know. If useless likewise let me know
Stay safe everyone

 

[testymctester]

Hey ICU. I have a bad ass vacuum pump. I'm missing the acrylic/polycarbonate lid with valves and fittings to turn a stock pot into a vacuum chamber.

I decided not to worry about it and just wait a couple more days. Hopefully they deliver it to my house this time...

 

[Gray Wolf]

I don't know how well this would work but you can take a old refrigerator compressor and turn it into a vacuum pump heres a link to a example http://www.paragoncode.com/shop/vacuum_pump/ plenty of youtube vids on it to. If its something that will work for this I am not sure but I am sure someone out there will probally try it. If this is helpfull plz let me know. If useless likewise let me know
Stay safe everyone

A very slow vacuum pump for our purposes.