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Vacuum purging BHO.

KONY

Active member
Veteran
If your making shatter you have to purge for 72 hours in a real vac oven. You have to flip it after 48 to get micro bubbles out. Snap and sap is a whole different story tho
And people say lower temps taste better but ever time I make sap and shatter out of the same mats the sap taste way better and smells amazing

Purge time is entirely dependent on how thick the slabs are. If you are doing just ones for headstash or a small grow, purging for 72 hours for stable shatter is not needed at all and I feel sad for those lost terps.
 

Dirt Bag

Member
Will the bubbles eventually stop @ 115°F /-29.9Hg?
If I had to guess, I'd say this slab is perhaps 1/8" at its thickest point and just keeps on bubbling. Bubbles are between 1/16" and 1/4" in diameter and take between 4 and 10 seconds to develop and pop. They slow down, get larger, and clump together without popping for a longer time when the pressure increases. Running the vacuum immediately brings it back up to the aforementioned speed and consistency. So, will they eventually stop? Ever!?
 

SkyHighLer

Got me a stone bad Mana
ICMag Donor
Veteran
From my experience, no they'll keep on bubbling away forever if you don't create a vacuum level 'break point' where the bubbling can be seen to slow to a crawl.

You need a high enough temperature for the oil to be liquid enough for quick and easy movement of the solvent to the surface, therefore the recommendation of 110-115F.

You need the vacuum level deep enough for quick and easy movement of the solvent to the surface, but if you keep the pump running on and on (-29.9" Hg) the solvent could be purged to a safe and undetectable level, but you're now pulling off mostly just terpenes.

Therefore: 115F, and down to -29.5" Hg in a thin film, until the bubbling slows to a crawl.

Try it on a fresh batch, it doesn't take long to purge butane/propane with this formula. Once the bubbling has slowed to a crawl like escargot, you can check for yourself my assertion, slightly increase the vacuum past -29.5" Hg and the bubbling action will increase.

I personally never take the vacuum level past -29.5" Hg because I think it's highly stressful on terpene rich oils that have a predilection to budder up. Imo, that's why these guys using lower temperature and let the pumps run on and on for days so often end up with yucky budder at the end.

I have no objection to fiddling with temperatures/vacuum levels/duration for artistic purposes, but basic solvent purging retaining the most terpenes possible is simple, and I want that known.
 
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