What is the best, most practical extraction method for the home grower?

My 2 Cents Worth

My 2 Cents Worth

TychoMonolyth said:

I'm tempted to try Gumby Hash.

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IMHO, you should NEVER use a power mixer with a drill when making bubble. Yes, it's highly effective in shaking loose trichomes, but it also shreds up your weed, releasing chlorophyll and other contaminants into the mix.

End result will be a bubble that is discolored - darker/greener - with a bad taste.

I use wooden stir stick, and laboriously do the mixing by hand. It's a pain in the ass, but when done properly the end result is worth it.

I always use the first run of trich's, and don't bother filtering it again.

Back in the "old" days, I would make ISO oil with a fair measure of success. It was always fun, yet nasty to make while cooking it on the stove top.





Then Bubble Bags appeared on the scene, with the ice water and silk screen stitched into the nylon. It wasn't a new idea, but it caught on big time. The best thing about this method is that it allows you to separate the different microns/grades of trich's for your final end product, something that a few other procedures can, but most cannot duplicate.



Recently, I was at a weed expo here in town and finally got to witness rosin being squished in front of me. Having sampled it before, it was still pretty cool to finally witness it. I had a nice 2.8 gram nug of Strawberry Hash Bud squished, and was amazed at the result. It yielded 20% of its original weight. It looked just like wax, and tasted like strawberries.




If you can afford it, a hydraulic press is the way to go. No doubt about it.


RMS

hush said:

I'm bumping this thread because I've decided I'm going to convert about a half pound of Honduras Breeze flowers into oil. I'm still thinking about last minute decisions, but it feels like I'm leaning toward giving bubble bags a try. I might just go ahead and order a set today because I really think that's what I'm going to try out...

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Hey Hush... I started with QWISO earlier than I would care to mention and it can yield a product that’s pretty much shatter but it’s messy and stinks and needs a bit of consideration as to how you know it’s purged of solvent well enough. Flavour was not as good as bubble bags in my opinion.

Lately I’ve been playing with water hash and so far I feel it’s the easiest safest method to get high quality extract (I only do 70-120 micron.... actually I would like a better bag set to try refining exactly what my preferred grade is) from your herbs... the yield is a bit lower for me but once I started winterizing my oil and removing waxes I found similarly low yields so that’s a wash ( pun intended)
Hash can be made into any other extract too if one desires...
I’m leaning towards water hash with the bulk of my trim/larf and other mid quality waste and dry sift for the really good looking stuff you would have paid good money for in high school...
I also want to get into Rosin.. lol I haven’t even bought dry sift screens yet let alone a press! Probably will within a year though. I suspect once I try Rosin it will be the go to most of the time... I always did like some googly goo.

YukonKronic said:

Hey Hush... I started with QWISO earlier than I would care to mention and it can yield a product that’s pretty much shatter but it’s messy and stinks and needs a bit of consideration as to how you know it’s purged of solvent well enough. Flavour was not as good as bubble bags in my opinion.

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Yeah I've made some awesome QWISO in my time. It's truly a phenomenal method for making homemade shatter. I would winterize mine and everything. Good stuff. But I don't like re-running batches, so it's not very efficient for me. It's just a good way of getting some phenomenal shatter at home without blasting butane. In terms of obtaining a bountiful product with minimal amount of labor and cleanup, I'm gravitating toward bubble.

Pretty much all the herb here in the hinterlands is tumbled before it’s sold...I can tell you there’s just no point in pressing such bud at all. Grind it up and put it in butter if you won’t use it directly - don’t forget the lecithin and a pinch of salt. Keep it warm, stir it frequently, it won’t be long before the ground herb gets soft and slippery enough to be invisible to your mouth. From there you can do anything with it. Put it on biscuits, make fudge, eat it by the spoon...

Something for me:


Funny i thought once over it, it was 4 years ago, and thought that heat could actually melt thc, so you could like melt it Abit, and collect the sticky hot mass fast.. Then i googled it and found out it was invented. It was what we all know as rosin tech.. haha i reinvented it, without the pressing Part . I had one difference i thought one could like grind the Bud/LEaves first, lay it flat on Surface, heat it evenly with hot air, collect with flat Surface touching it and glue the resin on it, shok-frost the glued Mass, to brake away the Plantmaterial..End up with a Surface with molten Crystal on it. That was Kind of my Invention..


Anyway. I dont know if that works..


And since i dont have the Time to try it, i googled further and found a easy Method: Dry Sift!


I know, the most common Method is to take a credit Card and do it by Hand on flat Surface without Mesh.. Thats not very practical cause to slow, but i saw them make nearly hundert Prozent Resin!


But then after longer Research i found a very practical Method, namely to use Big Mesh (40 Centimeter) like this:


And then i dont know nomore how he did it, but two Things are possible, cant remember: 1st: He could also sifted the Grinded/(or even thinner) Startmaterial with Creditcard , to softly press (very softly) the Material trough the Mesh while continousely scraching over the Mesh.. 2nd: I know he recollected the Sifted Material like 10 times, did it again, but he could have started with bigger Mesh first and each time took a finer Mesh, but what i vaguely remember is that he used the same Mesh everytime, just not 100 Percent shure.


I think it makes Sense that it works to refine the Material every Time, EVEN you use the same Mesh, cause i mean the normal Drysift method just filters the Material with a Creditcard on flat Surface out, and there is also no Change in Methology... Like said when done the Flat Surface method you end up with nearly pure Crystal(they showed microscopic photo)


So, im quiet shure i remember the one with the Mesh use the same mesh over and over. And i did explain why there is not two Meshs needed.


Yes and he ended up also with nearly pure Crystals, only that he was very fast especially when he would use bigger Amonts. Actually only then, cause with one bud it would not pay out...


I can also remember he used one of the thinnest Meshs wich are avaiable in Canna Crystal extraction..


Believe me , i am quiet shure he found a very prayctical Method, to get Solvent-less Crystalls nearly pure. I also remember that when done gently, most of the Crystals did not break, or Pop, only a couple..
And the others with Mesh did it all only one Time, or a secound Time later with a secound Mesh, but not like 10 Times, and that is the Message, that this is not even common Knowledge, atleast not that ive seen it anywhere else!


Thats what Comes out, after one time sifting:


but if you doo it 10 Times it gets nearly White.

Wondering if anyone makes their ethanol anhydrous before using? Very simple to do, just not sure its worth the extra step.

Also the Ethanol Method i googled well. There was ever Abit concern how much Ethanol is left in the Endproduct, and how unhealthy it is to smoke that. Since i did never find a clear Anwser to that question i was let with a possible minus Point for that.


The shure Minus Point in the Ethanol Method was the clorrophyll-Taste. But since i didnt give up on that very oldschool Feeling Method i found a possible Solution for that. You can simply put the Resin-oil you end up with into the direct Sunlight. That eliminates that Chlorrophyll-Taste acording to some post, somewhere. It vanishes well, if i remember right. The downside shurely is that you also kill abit of Potency .. Even if some Tribes dry their Ganja in the Sun i would rather not doo that, since nearly every Herb , and what not, shouldnt be exposed to heat and Light.. Thats the Reason for the Downside. But your Resin will Change from Green to orange/Brown after the Sunbath, and if i remember right it will kill most of the harsch Chlorophyll taste with that Method.


It Needs only short Exposure, i recall 2 , 3 Hours but no more shure. Belîeve me i dont just dream , rather extended Research. As Evidence he showed a Picture of that orange Resulting Mass.. I ve seen multiple times, Methanol Method gives you dark green, or black Mass. It s scientifically founded, that Ethanol solves much unwanted Substance into the Endproduct. Its basic Chenistry-knowledge. The Sun-elimination has also chemistry-based Explonation.. BUT if it then really works and nothing Interrupts that Process, or how well it really works that i cant tell, its another Question. You would have to try


But who really likes to filter the wet Plant-Alcohol Mix complicated trough Coffefilter, and further handle this gluey Mass? Its not that bad, shure not, but still a bit.

hush said:

I'm bumping this thread because I've decided I'm going to convert about a half pound of Honduras Breeze flowers into oil. I'm still thinking about last minute decisions, but it feels like I'm leaning toward giving bubble bags a try. I might just go ahead and order a set today because I really think that's what I'm going to try out...

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Thanks for bumping the thread, Hush, just in time for my own need to concentrate my recent outdoor crop (I think you've seen my "Six Ace Monsters Outdoors" thread) which I've been busy harvesting. (too busy to update the thread.) I got two and a half pounds of premium bud so far, and about twice that much trim and popcorn. And there are two plants I still need to harvest.



Last night I made bubble hash from my Snow Moon trim and popcorn, and today I'm using the wet leftover mess to make bud butter. I have a full pound of Zamaldelica popcorn that's going to become concentrate of some sort. I've been sifting the trim to remove the loose kief, but I need to get a tumbler to do it right. My little pollen sifter box is decidedly too small to make a dent in this huge pile of bud and trim. (though it has generated several nice piles of single-strain kief thus far, small or not.) I love having plenty of straight kief from Zamaldelica, Snow Moon, Malawi and Bangi HazexEthiopian. And I've barely started to harvest Panama. It will be my best producer, I suspect. She's still maturing her bud, outdoors with no protection except a blanket on cold nights. We've had two hard freezes so far, but the blanket has sheltered her through them both.

mowood3479 said:

Also, I’m 100% sure that using solvents doesn’t turn cannabis into heroin.
If it did, the world would be a far different place.

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We just call it "Hippie Crack". There is no actual crack in the BHO.

I have found a thread where another one uses actually different Meshs.. Looks like he bought a Set. I forgot he also did like 5 Siftprocesses. here is a nice "how to"-Explonation from Site one on: https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=253284


I just want to remember , you just can do it with a single mesh if you wanna try and not buy the Set...


Its fascinating that nobody really does that. I read it takes him 20 Minutes to get a fairly pure product.. I thought it did look less damaged at 20 Minutes, and later it looked less nice, less glossy, despite being more pure.
I mean already after 10 Minutes it is premium-Hash plus.


I just still have to find out if you can smoke unpressed Resin, or not.
I have experienced mostly that it really is not kicking propperly when unpressed.
On the other Hand in 1, 2 Ocassions i had the most delicious Taste, aswell as the best Flash, when adding this unpressed Skuff to a Grass Joint. It helped to burn down so evenly, and the Taste was Heavenly.
I never found out what the Reason was, that it was that good this time.


Probably like making Bread. If not everything is in perfect Balance: Air Moisture, Temperature, Timing, then it tastes like cheap Discounter..


I would say if you place like 4 Hand full of Start Material, it still takes you 20 Minutes, but you get a Golfball of nearly pure Crystals, so i would call this most easy Method

I remember using everclear to wash brown brick weed, worked really good the oil was a golden color when put up to the light if done right and got me super high with a smooth taste.

Tried the same method on some weed I grew years ago and it had the worst taste so bad I threw it out.

I put both the weed and alcohol in the freezer for a few days every time. I like bubblebags because even though the taste can be bland it's also smooth for me.

And actually , it should be pretty easily to make a mechanical Appperature to just shake down the Skuff. I have done it before, and just placed a Mesh (i used Stockings) on a Vibrating Motor, let it run for an Hour. No readjustmen, all good went trough, the blank leafes stayed behind. Anything vibrating, rumbling will do. Like another Person says:

huligun said:

I am personally designing one of these myself. Mine will sit in a chest freezer and vibrate the box with sonic and sub-sonic frequencies.

1. Grind your frozen herbs
2. Dump on the top screen.
3. Put back in the freezer with cord handing out
4. Turn on and the vibrations do the work. Few impurities work down and trichomes are not damaged because vibrations are making them fall through.

I plan on delivering prototypes to some shops in the next couple of weeks.

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I'm getting my Amazon order together right now... Should I order the little washing machine that gets bundled up with some of the bubble bag kits? Is it worth it? Keep in mind, I'm very lazy, so whether something is worth it or not, to me, equates to whether that something actually does the job effectively, regardless of what it costs. I'm the kind of person who will talk myself out of doing something laborious if my herniated disc is acting up or something. I'm a fan of machines that make life easy.

hush said:

I'm getting my Amazon order together right now... Should I order the little washing machine that gets bundled up with some of the bubble bag kits? Is it worth it? Keep in mind, I'm very lazy, so whether something is worth it or not, to me, equates to whether that something actually does the job effectively, regardless of what it costs. I'm the kind of person who will talk myself out of doing something laborious if my herniated disc is acting up or something. I'm a fan of machines that make life easy.

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So I used a drill and mixer paddle once. Much higher yields but it does affect how much green matter gets through screens... the finer grades were still decent but low grade gets really low grade. If your talking about back pain I would probably just use a machine and play with how long it’s on... I definitely have more experimenting to do.
I’m leaning now towards mechanical agitation in a Rubbermaid trash bin then let it settle two or four hours before gently agitating by hand (wooden spatula) prior to removing floating shwag layer.

Then pour through bags set up in 5 gallon pail with holes for drainage. Read about other guys doing this so they can process more than a pail full at a time.

The possible minus Point with the water Method is: you dont know how much to mixer it. If you did it to much, you have low Quality, if done to less and you are left with fully Wet Vegetable. Would you really wana collect that and use it for making Edibles?


This is only problematic for lower amounts. If you have big Amounts, you just trow it away , and paddle just only Abit. It Needs a bit of Brain/Concentration i guess, and you are unable to check the wet Mass to determine where you are, so you just have to feel it


I think its easyer to determine with a motoriszed Drysift. Let it run, and control from time to Time with your Hand and with your Eye, smell it.. reach the optimal Trash-Point and put it inito Trash

redlaser said:

Good point on technique being key, all comes down to temperature, and time at that temperature.

I don’t usually pay close attention to the temp of the water when combining coconut oil, water and cannabis. I put cannabis in the oven first to decarb it.

Boiling is around 220 if I remember right, so a slow crockpot would be a lot less, possibly explaining the need for longer cooking. Or perhaps to bring out more CBN as you point out.

Many ways to skin the poor cat, I’m mostly focused on THc so don’t want to lose any of that if possible.

Need to try to decarb at lower than 220 for 30 minutes in the oven to see if I can notice any benefit, sounds like I might.

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I’ve seen charts that use a different timeline, that show THCa conversion ~85% complete after 30 min. - which is to say, about the time it takes the heater to reach temperature...taking it much farther percentage-wise takes much more time, and results in more CBN.

It would be good to track the conversion process through those first 30 min to see if there’s an optimum point, beyond which we just burn electricity for no further gain. Medicinal value in THCa, so it seems like a happy medium to be relaxed about it.

How to motorize at Home, selftested, approved:

Motor shouldnt be fast as most Motors. I had a breadmixing-machine Motor.. You should be able to find a slow one if you Google for slow Motors.

i rember vaguely that i found no benefits reportet for decarboxaliation fast and hot over lomg and middlewarm..


here is a Chart how much Heat is needed for how Long to reach Maximum Thc.. Notice: if you decide to take the highest heat, the Thc degrades once reached optimum Time, so i wouldnt recommend do it too fast, but theoretically it seems all the same.
Here the Labor Measurements:



Besides i forgot if you actually need to decarboxide to make smokable product,,, haha, but i know how to do it. Yeah, dont Forget to preheat until it reaches wanted temperature.


So, I would choose per Example : 27 minutes, 122 C. /252 F.

Oh no, Looks like you reach less THC after longer lower heating, but still, if i do it for 7 minutes, i have to be very exact timed, after that thc sinks fast.. so i would stick with 27 Minutes and reach nearly the same THC Content, but savely..

romanoweed said:

I have found a thread where another one uses actually different Meshs.. Looks like he bought a Set. I forgot he also did like 5 Siftprocesses. here is a nice "how to"-Explonation from Site one on: https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=253284


I just want to remember , you just can do it with a single mesh if you wanna try and not buy the Set...


Its fascinating that nobody really does that. I read it takes him 20 Minutes to get a fairly pure product.. I thought it did look less damaged at 20 Minutes, and later it looked less nice, less glossy, despite being more pure.
I mean already after 10 Minutes it is premium-Hash plus.


I just still have to find out if you can smoke unpressed Resin, or not.
I have experienced mostly that it really is not kicking propperly when unpressed.
On the other Hand in 1, 2 Ocassions i had the most delicious Taste, aswell as the best Flash, when adding this unpressed Skuff to a Grass Joint. It helped to burn down so evenly, and the Taste was Heavenly.
I never found out what the Reason was, that it was that good this time.


Probably like making Bread. If not everything is in perfect Balance: Air Moisture, Temperature, Timing, then it tastes like cheap Discounter..


I would say if you place like 4 Hand full of Start Material, it still takes you 20 Minutes, but you get a Golfball of nearly pure Crystals, so i would call this most easy Method

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I'm fighting computer issues, and can't currently access more than one site at a time, so am not going to share the links as I typically do. I'll come back and correct that once I sort out the mess Foxfire's last upgrade made.

Bubbleman is one of the dry sieve gurus and has his own site, and I highly recommend that you follow him if refining your dry sieve techniques is your goal. http://fullmeltbubble.com/forum/forum.php

There is also a Hash group, at the top of this Concentrates forum page, which focuses on the best ways for both dry sieve and bubble. It used to be combined with the rest of us concentrate afficinadois, but was given their own subgroup by popular request????? I suggest that you check it out, as it is chock full of good information. https://www.icmag.com/ic/forumdisplay.php?f=65756

To another point, as fine as it is, even Full Melt Dry Sieve, is not anywhere close to pure crystal.

Rosin, hot pressed from FM Dry Sieve is not close either.

If crystal is your goal, check out the Diamond mining thread on isolates.

With regard to decarboxylation, material decarboxylates naturally and crops are harvested at different stages of their maturity, ranging from clear to amber trichomes, and trichomes vary in maturity at different locations on the same plant, sooooo looking for a fixed hard time temperature number to rely on for decarboxylation is problematic.

The various published decarboxylation time temperature curves, are approximations and can only be used for that purpose.

The chart that you shared is a good example, which shows that the higest THC levels were achieved using more heat at less time, and that at approximately 70% decarboxylation, the rate that THC was degrading into its degradation products, was greater than the rate any remaining THC-A was converted to THC.

Further research will show that is because the same heat that is decarboxylating the THC-A, is degrading the THC and other cannabinoids already present, to lower forms. There is a thread on that subject, with much debate on what those lower forms are.

More to the point, you can find other charts with other curves, but if you read the fine print you will see that they were also using different processes and procedures, highlighting that there is a world of difference in decarboxylation rates of herb and concentrate on a hot glass surface.

I've found the most accurate way to determine level of decarboxylation, is heat it and look for fizzy CO2 bubbles. I typically decarboxylate concentrate in a 250F hot oil bath and judge the progress by simply watching the bubbles. When the flurry of CO2 bubbles suddenly drops off in intensity, you just passed the top of the curve and are starting down the other side. About 70% and time to remove it from the heat, unless your goal is a more sedative concentrate.

It also begs the question of why decarboxylation is necessary?? Are you eating this or using it as a suppository?