Vacuum Purging Times

[pathsquid]

Was wondering how people gauged what temperature/length of time to purge their oil in a vacuum?

In past extractions, I have achieved shatter at oil temps of around 110-120 Fahrenheit (temperature of the OIL). For the first time I used fresh-frozen bud and am having some problems with the purge. I am about 80 hours into my purge of the first slab of the batch, and it consistently continues to bubble at my usual temperature. Normally my purge times are around half that and the residual bubbles are mostly gone.

At 110-120 it fills the purging dish in a thing film with very large bubbles that cover the hole dish that take a while to pop. After 80+ hours the product is still quite sticky. I have just turned it up to make the Oil 130 and the bubbles pop more freely.

I am worried that if I turn it up too high I will change the consistency of my final product, and that if I keep it on for too long it will become sap. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[soysoz]

Fresh-frozen has more THC in its carboxylic acid form to be decarbed. Depending on the size and consistency of the bubbles you may not be purging anymore but simply decarbing, especially for that length of time. The product may be more sticky again because fresh-frozen contains more volatile compounds than dried/cured buds, which make the end product potentially viscous and less shatter-y. Thoughts?

 

[pathsquid]

The bubbles are inconsistent and have a rainbow-ish gleam for the most part, so I am assuming they are butane, but I am unsure at this point.

Also, it seems to be holding in bubble form for a long period of time without breaking.

 

[soysoz]

Weird. Maybe your vacuum isn't holding properly or your gauge isn't calibrated right? If it's a really fat slab (thick), then a faulty vacuum could be causing this. Like you said though, this is happening with only the variable change being fresh-frozen, so I'm really not sure...

 

[hairetsu]

This is simply caused by extracting water from your material while extracting the essential oils.

You are purging more water vapor than butane at this point im 99.5% sure

When you run BHO, it's always smart to make sure your material is dried and cured to a point that its got very lil if any water moisture left.

You can however extract using fresh frozen material if you are freezing it down to -50 degrees, and maintaining this temperature while you are blasting with -50 degree butane, essentially leaving any frozen water behind" OR you can do a Single solvent dewax or winterization to remove any frozen water.

 

[pathsquid]

I think at this point is has partially dacarbed, as it is more liquid at room temperature then my 2 hour purged run of the same batch. Is there any way to make it touchable once it has decarbed a bit? It is unmanageable unless it is in the freezer, althrough it is nicely purged and smokes well.

 

[soysoz]

Hairetsu's probably on the money. If it's too sappy to handle and you're not planning on holding on to it for too long AND you dont want to keep it in the freezer, whip it into a colloid. Should be much easier to handle, but will degrade more quickly.