Terpenation at Terpene Station

[Young Bull]

We've experimented with bottom floods and overflowing the first two and bottom dumping two more. We added the flush after the dump, because of you think about the quality of the last dump, you will know what the material in the column was left soaked in.

Another flood and dump will get it, but it takes less butane just to flush it.

So are you saying you do two flushes, then two bottom dumps, then one flush? I’m a little confused on how the process for that would work. Please correct my outlined procedure below.

1.0 Open all valves, except for valve #4, the butane supply valve. (Would it be better to leave this valve open but have the liquid port of the tank closed for the initial vacuum?) If so that would make the next steps..

2.0 Turn on high vacuum pump and pump system down to -29.5″Hg.
2.1 Close valve #4, the butane supply valve,
2.2 Open the liquid port on the butane tank

3.0 Close valves #1 and #3; the vacuum and dump valves

4.0 Turn off high vacuum pump and turn on the recovery pump.

5.0 If you don’t have a sight glass put your hand on your vent tube, otherwise watch your sight glass and open valve #4, the butane supply valve.

6.0 When you feel the chill in the vent tube or see the butane in your sight glass if you have you need to record the number of second it took to fill the tube with the current packing density.

7.0 Wait for the same amount of time to pass again as the butane overflows through the vent tube and then close valve #2, the vent valve, and then close valve #4, the butane supply valve.

8.0 Continue to pump with the recovery pump, until the internal pressure is reduced to -10″Hg.

9.0 Open valve #2, the vent valve, then open #4, the butane supply valve and wait for the butane to reach back up to the top again.

10.0 Wait for your recorded amount of time to pass again as the butane overflows through the vent tube and then close valve #2, the vent valve, and then close valve #4, the butane supply valve.

11.0 Continue to pump with the recovery pump, until the internal pressure is reduced to -10″Hg.

12.0 Open valve #2, the vent valve, then open #4, the butane supply valve and let the butane reach the top again.

13.0 Close valve #2, the vent valve, and then close valve #4, the butane supply valve.

14.0 Open valve #2, the vent valve and then slowly open valve #3, the dump valve

15.0 Wait for butane to finish dumping and close valve #3, the dump valve, and valve #2 the vent valve. (do you know by seeing the frost/feeling it? Wish I had a sight glass at the bottom too.)

16.0 Continue to pump with the recovery pump, until the internal pressure is reduced to -10″Hg.

17.0 Repeat steps 12.0 - 16.0

18.0 Repeat steps 9.0 – 11.0 (You said you added a flush after the last dump but isn’t a dump the last thing you’re going to have to do to empty out the column?)

19.0 Close the liquid port on your butane tank.

20.0 Open valve #2, the vent valve, and open valve #4, the butane supply valve to vacate the supply hose of butane.

21.0 Slowly open valve #3 the dump valve.

22.0 Continue to pump until the system reaches -22″Hg, at which point close valve #5, the recovery valve.

23.0 Unscrew the butane flood hose from valve #3

24.0 Close the vapor valve on the butane tank

25.0 Turn off the recovery pump

26.0 Close valves on the recovery pump

27.0 Remove the recovery hose from valve #5

28.0 Then remove the filter drier(When I get one)

29.0 Remove butane supply hose from the tank and open the valve on that hose to let out any butane

...unscrew the butane flood hose which has a valve on it....
...Then I remove the appion hose from the tank and open the valve on that hose to let out any butane...

(ICDOG is that valve a separate upgrade or something I missed?)

30.0 Open and close the valves on the recovery pump to remove any butane inside

31.0 Open valve #1, the vacuum valve and turn on the high vacuum pump.

32.0 Pump the system down to -29.5”Hg and close valve #1, the vacuum valve.

33.0 Shut off the hard vacuum pump and allow the system to sit under hard vacuum for about 20 minutes to purge.

34.0 Very slightly open a valve an the terp to bring it up to pressure

35.0 Remove vacuum hose from valve #2

36.0 Remove collection vessel and put in deep freezer

37.0 Disassemble all tri-clamp parts, wash seals, set column out to dry.

38.0 Remove frozen collection vessel from freezer and carefully remove the oil with a blade.

39.0 As the oil warms up to room temp in a jar warm the ethanol up to around 85f in my water bath.

40.0 Dissolve the oil in the ethanol and put in the deep freeze until it has all coagulated. (2 days?)

41.0 Chill Buchner funnel then filter solution through Buchner funnel using standard filter paper under vacuum assistance.

42.0 Refreeze solution.

43.0 Grey Wolfs syringe filter process, details to come

44.0 After final filtration pour into Pyrex pan and put into the evaporation chamber.
(My evap chamber has a water bath holding the pan at 85f, with measures taken to keep any water vapor or condensate away from the extract and dust out of the chamber.)
(Grey Wolf or anyone else, Should I be worried about alcohol vapors going through a series of inline fans? Sparks?)

45.0 Sometime after the last of the ethanol has evaporated turn off the heat source and let the oil set up.

46.0 Use warmed up metal pie picker upper to remove shatter from pan (Advice here?)

When the ice no longer reforms, pull it the rest of the way down with the high vacuum pump and let it sit for 20 minutes or so at -29.5" Hg.

What do you normally do with your cotton candy once you’ve got it out of the terp? Do you process it any more if you’re just making normal non-winterized oil to dab?

Young bull. When I am shutting down which for my non pour method is when the vac is down to about -20 to -22.

Are you using the recovery pump to pull it down to that or the vacuum pump? What does the rest of your non-pour method entail after you take your terp apart?

I sometimes do a final filter after winterizing to 0.2 microns, using syringe filters, if I want a super clear extract. The ones we did for the High Times article were filtered to 0.2 microns.

What is your process using syringe filters? The ones I can find have Luer lock inlet connections and the largest syringes I can find with that connection are 60cc, which seems like it would take quite a few syringes to filter it all, do you have a better process I’m just not thinking of using the .2 filters?

So assuming I had decent starting material and never let my extract get over 85f my oil will form up into a solid state shatter? Fully purged at this point of all butane and ethanol? Does anyone see any flaws in my extraction plan? I’m sorry for the extremely lengthy posts but I’m trying to put together a more complete guide from start to finish, building it to extracting oil for myself and then the community.

Thanks in advance for any help I get

 

[hounddogg]

I had rust in the tank along with some water. Not wanting to blow ten pounds of butane to atmosphere, I went and got another recovery tank until I can figure out if I can salvage the gas in the rusty tank.

 

[icdog]

Young Bull where have you seen # 7 in your list? I have not seen that addition anywhere.

 

[Young Bull]

Young Bull where have you seen # 7 in your list? I have not seen that addition anywhere.

It was my interpretation of when Grey Wolf said

We've experimented with bottom floods and overflowing the first two and bottom dumping two more. We added the flush after the dump, because of you think about the quality of the last dump, you will know what the material in the column was left soaked in.

Another flood and dump will get it, but it takes less butane just to flush it.

I wasn't sure how else to interpret overflowing/flushing, I'm open to corrections and suggestions of any kind that's why I posted it, what are your thoughts? If its not to much work could you alter that to your version of things? The more input I get the better I'm just trying to sponge up as much knowledge as I can as to minimize failure. Measure twice, cut once

 

[HighStateToke]

What action is "flush" referring to? From my understanding, "dump" refers to opening valve #3 to release the column into the recovery tank. "Flood" refers to a bottom up fill. While "overflowing" refers to a bottom up fill but continuing to flood while butane flows through the vent tube. Please chime in if that is incorrect
It seems counterintuitive to me to run butane in one direction, only to finish by running it in the other direction, even though that is part of the original instructions. I would assume this would leave extract near the end of one side of the column but that doesn't seem to be the case..I'd like to know why my logic is flawed.

GW, would you mind clarifying what you said on the last page?

We added the flush after the dump, because of you think about the quality of the last dump, you will know what the material in the column was left soaked in.

Another flood and dump will get it, but it takes less butane just to flush it.

 

[Gray Wolf]

What action is "flush" referring to? From my understanding, "dump" refers to opening valve #3 to release the column into the recovery tank. "Flood" refers to a bottom up fill. While "overflowing" refers to a bottom up fill but continuing to flood while butane flows through the vent tube. Please chime in if that is incorrect
It seems counterintuitive to me to run butane in one direction, only to finish by running it in the other direction, even though that is part of the original instructions. I would assume this would leave extract near the end of one side of the column but that doesn't seem to be the case..I'd like to know why my logic is flawed.

GW, would you mind clarifying what you said on the last page?

If you have butane and material soaking in a tube, and suddenly let it all drain out, the material is left wetted with the oil saturated butane. The backflush is intended to wash off that last bit of enriched oil.

Another soak would get most of it, but another soak may green up the material. We started doing that after we noticed a yield increase if we ran two floods bottom up and overflowing and two floods bottom up, but with a bottom dump.

Look at it like rinsing the filter with fresh solvent, after filtering.

 

[Gray Wolf]

So are you saying you do two flushes, then two bottom dumps, then one flush? I’m a little confused on how the process for that would work. Please correct my outlined procedure below.

1.0 Open all valves, except for valve #4, the butane supply valve. (Would it be better to leave this valve open but have the liquid port of the tank closed for the initial vacuum?) If so that would make the next steps..

2.0 Turn on high vacuum pump and pump system down to -29.5″Hg.
2.1 Close valve #4, the butane supply valve,
2.2 Open the liquid port on the butane tank

3.0 Close valves #1 and #3; the vacuum and dump valves

4.0 Close vacuum valve. Turn off high vacuum pump and turn on the recovery pump.

5.0 If you don’t have a sight glass put your hand on your vent tube, otherwise watch your sight glass and open valve #4, the butane supply valve.

6.0 When you feel the chill in the vent tube or see the butane in your sight glass if you have you need to record the number of second it took to fill the tube with the current packing density.

7.0 Wait for the same amount of time to pass again as the butane overflows through the vent tube and then close valve #2, the vent valve, and then close valve #4, the butane supply valve.

8.0 Continue to pump with the recovery pump, until the internal pressure is reduced to -10″Hg.

9.0 Open valve #2, the vent valve, then open #4, the butane supply valve and wait for the butane to reach back up to the top again.

10.0 Wait for your recorded amount of time to pass again as the butane overflows through the vent tube and then close valve #2, the vent valve, and then close valve #4, the butane supply valve.

11.0 Continue to pump with the recovery pump, until the internal pressure is reduced to -10″Hg.

12.0 Open valve #2, the vent valve, then open #4, the butane supply valve and let the butane reach the top again.

13.0 Close valve #2, the vent valve, and then close valve #4, the butane supply valve.

14.0 Open valve #2, the vent valve and then slowly open valve #3, the dump valve

15.0 Wait for butane to finish dumping and close valve #3, the dump valve, and valve #2 the vent valve. (do you know by seeing the frost/feeling it? Wish I had a sight glass at the bottom too.)

Reflood the column before pumping down.

16.0 Continue to pump with the recovery pump, until the internal pressure is reduced to -10″Hg.

17.0 Repeat steps 12.0 - 16.0

18.0 Don't tepeat steps 9.0 – 11.0 after dump (You said you added a flush after the last dump but isn’t a dump the last thing you’re going to have to do to empty out the column?)

On the last dump, after the column has dumped, you simply flood some butane through it from the top down, to rinse off the good oil sticking to it. Like rinsing out a filter.

19.0 Close the liquid port on your butane tank.

20.0 Open valve #2, the vent valve, and open valve #4, the butane supply valve to vacate the supply hose of butane.

21.0 Slowly open valve #3 the dump valve.

Should already be open at this point, from last dump and rinse

22.0 Continue to pump until the system reaches -22″Hg, at which point close valve #5, the recovery valve.

23.0 Unscrew the butane flood hose from valve #3 ?????

24.0 Close the vapor valve on the butane tank

25.0 Turn off the recovery pump

26.0 Close valves on the recovery pump

27.0 Remove the recovery hose from valve #5

28.0 Then remove the filter drier(When I get one)

29.0 Remove butane supply hose from the tank and open the valve on that hose to let out any butane



(ICDOG is that valve a separate upgrade or something I missed?)

30.0 Open and close the valves on the recovery pump to remove any butane inside

31.0 Open valve #1, the vacuum valve and turn on the high vacuum pump.

32.0 Pump the system down to -29.5”Hg and close valve #1, the vacuum valve.

33.0 Shut off the hard vacuum pump and allow the system to sit under hard vacuum for about 20 minutes to purge.

34.0 Very slightly open a valve an the terp to bring it up to pressure

35.0 Remove vacuum hose from valve #2

36.0 Remove collection vessel and put in deep freezer

37.0 Disassemble all tri-clamp parts, wash seals, set column out to dry.

38.0 Remove frozen collection vessel from freezer and carefully remove the oil with a blade.

39.0 As the oil warms up to room temp in a jar warm the ethanol up to around 85f in my water bath.

40.0 Dissolve the oil in the ethanol and put in the deep freeze until it has all coagulated. (2 days?)

41.0 Chill Buchner funnel then filter solution through Buchner funnel using standard filter paper under vacuum assistance.

42.0 Refreeze solution.

43.0 Grey Wolfs syringe filter process, details to come

44.0 After final filtration pour into Pyrex pan and put into the evaporation chamber.
(My evap chamber has a water bath holding the pan at 85f, with measures taken to keep any water vapor or condensate away from the extract and dust out of the chamber.)
(Grey Wolf or anyone else, Should I be worried about alcohol vapors going through a series of inline fans? Sparks?)

Unlikely to be at correct fuel air ratio.

45.0 Sometime after the last of the ethanol has evaporated turn off the heat source and let the oil set up.

46.0 Use warmed up metal pie picker upper to remove shatter from pan (Advice here?)



What do you normally do with your cotton candy once you’ve got it out of the terp? Do you process it any more if you’re just making normal non-winterized oil to dab?

Usually it goes into the vacuum oven for final purge.




Are you using the recovery pump to pull it down to that or the vacuum pump? What does the rest of your non-pour method entail after you take your terp apart?

With cotton candy, after freezing a bit, I just run a thin blade around the inside of the wrapper to separate it from the extract, and pop off the bottom, so that the material is just sitting there readily accessible. I then use a thin bladed spatula to pop the pile loose from the lid, and transfer it to parchment paper.

After warming the cotton candy in the oven, I press it together in a ball and flatten it to make a patty. After warming up some more, I thin the puddle to the desired thickness by tilting the paper and moving the puddle around using gravity.

At that point, I put it back in the vacuum oven and make what ever the plan calls for, usually shatter or wax.

What is your process using syringe filters? The ones I can find have Luer lock inlet connections and the largest syringes I can find with that connection are 60cc, which seems like it would take quite a few syringes to filter it all, do you have a better process I’m just not thinking of using the .2 filters?

We use a Luer connection. Syringe filters are not a good process for large amounts of material. We first vacuum filter the material to remove most of the material, before moving to the syringe filter, because the clog fast if you don't.

So assuming I had decent starting material and never let my extract get over 85f my oil will form up into a solid state shatter? Fully purged at this point of all butane and ethanol? Does anyone see any flaws in my extraction plan? I’m sorry for the extremely lengthy posts but I’m trying to put together a more complete guide from start to finish, building it to extracting oil for myself and then the community.

Thanks in advance for any help I get

Answers in red.

 

[Gray Wolf]

I had rust in the tank along with some water. Not wanting to blow ten pounds of butane to atmosphere, I went and got another recovery tank until I can figure out if I can salvage the gas in the rusty tank.

The gas should be OK, after you drain the water. I would just transfer it to the new tank, after dewatering. You can always run it through a filter dryer to remove any absorbed moisture.

 

[Gray Wolf]

What action is "flush" referring to? From my understanding, "dump" refers to opening valve #3 to release the column into the recovery tank. "Flood" refers to a bottom up fill. While "overflowing" refers to a bottom up fill but continuing to flood while butane flows through the vent tube. Please chime in if that is incorrect
It seems counterintuitive to me to run butane in one direction, only to finish by running it in the other direction, even though that is part of the original instructions. I would assume this would leave extract near the end of one side of the column but that doesn't seem to be the case..I'd like to know why my logic is flawed.

GW, would you mind clarifying what you said on the last page?

In my vernacular.

Flood from the bottom up. The butane enters the bottom of the column and exits from the vent at the top.

Dump means opening the lower isolation valve so that the column empties into the pot.

Flush means rinsing out residual oil by spraying with butane from the top of the column after dumping, washing residuals out the bottom.

 

[Backyard Farmer]

Hi I'm currently in the process of building a larger machine , the welder who is helping with the project normally builds machines for the food industry ...they use Nitrogen as a purge gas for their welds , I've seen Graywolf mention using Argon...does it make a difference?

The welds will be done on a turn table

 

[Young Bull]

I apologize for my ignorance, I'm new to running this machine. How would you flush from the top down? What would the valve sequence look like to do that? I just can't picture how you pump butane up the vent tube?

 

[icdog]

YB take a look at the MKIV thread, GW put up pics, look at the top for the setup for a top down flush. Its a new thing.

 

[Gray Wolf]

Hi I'm currently in the process of building a larger machine , the welder who is helping with the project normally builds machines for the food industry ...they use Nitrogen as a purge gas for their welds , I've seen Graywolf mention using Argon...does it make a difference?

The welds will be done on a turn table

While Nitrogen is commonly used for carbon steel, especially with a flux core GMAW (MIG) process, Argon is the shielding gas of choice for welding chromium based stainless steels.

I also prefer the GTAW (TIG) process for installing the fittings, but would use bare wire GMAW with an Argon mix if I was building the wrappers and cans on a turn table. Hopefully on a turntable positioner, so I could do them all at down hand position 1-G.

 

[Gray Wolf]

I apologize for my ignorance, I'm new to running this machine. How would you flush from the top down? What would the valve sequence look like to do that? I just can't picture how you pump butane up the vent tube?

There is a tee between the vent valve and the top of the column. That leg also has a valve on it, which goes to butane supply.

When you open the dump valve after the final flood, you also open that butane supply valve, to rinse the material as it dumps.

 

[Gray Wolf]

Here is a picture

 

[Grow4Flow]

are the triclamps not using the finger screws anymore?

 

[icdog]

What psi are you guys seeing your terp hit during a flood?

 

[Backyard Farmer]

10 to 15 psi

 

[icdog]

What kind of yield are you getting. I seem stuck at 10% no matter what bud quality I run. I don't run trim yet.

 

[JColtrane]

I get around 5 psi, but I'm using n-tane and I feel it has lower pressure. when I use can gas, I'm at 10 psi. I tapped clipper 12, which is isobutane and i would get up to 15 psi all the time. I like the low pressures .... it save my terps in my oil