Oil made with butane won't dissolve in Everclear (lavender)

I made a butane extract of ground lavender as a practice run. There's a bit of oil but it won't dissolve in 190 proof ethanol. This leads me to believe that for lavender, butane is a better solvent.

Might the same be true for cannabis?

Is it beneficial to use two dissimilar solvents (butane for the first run and ethanol for a second run) of the same material?

did you try to warm the alcohol and let it sit?
I actually find it easier to dissolve BHO into ethanol, than RSO back into ethanol.
I know your talking about lavender.

I blasted some flowers not too long ago, then made RSO with the post blast material.

I did warm the ethanol a bit and it's been sitting for over 24 hours. If I stir it, the ethanol takes on a slight color but then it settles again. No matter what I do, the oil and/or waxes stay at the bottom undissolved in the ethanol.

I wonder if glycerin would work better. I imagine a neutral flavorless odorless oil would work. Grape seed oil? I know olive oil is supposed to be a better solvent but I don't know about eating that on a cookie... it might taste weird.

I don't recall reading anything about cannabis being a problem. Maybe lavender is different in that regard.

I'm having the same issues with cannabis. I first extracted with butane through a tube, then let the weed completely evaporate and did a cold ethanol wash. I tried to use the alcohol wash to dissolved the BHO into... no go. So I had to use butane to dissolve the BHO then mixed that into the alcohol and purged it all to a brown oily mess. I used food grade glycerin to mix with the oil and that seemed to work better, though not a thorough integration. Since that was too thick (I want dropper dosing) I added Everclear to thin it, which worked but some oils or waxes separated again. I tried a few drops on a cookie and it did nothing for me. Then I realized I forgot to decarb the extracts. So I decarbed the glycerin mix. Afterwords, the solution seemed more uniform but again, too thick after evaporating the ethanol. So, I added more ethanol and it's separating again.

I'm beginning to think I need to keep the BHO separate from the tincture. I guess that makes sense if the differing solvents extracted different solubles.

I feel so stupid. I thought I'd researched thoroughly enough to avoid making a mess. Not so...

What is ur end game? what are you trying to make and do with the extract?

whip your bho into crumble and crumble it to dissolve. thats what I did. maybe its just easier with more surface area?

I'm trying to make a liquid extract that tastes reasonably good to add a few drops to a cookie or add to hot coffee or tea. I don't want to smoke, dab or vape. This is to treat a neurological condition, anxiety and depression.

I made some capsules once by double boiling coconut oil, lethicin and flower.. extremely potent.

this will be a liquid at 77 degrees and a solid below that.

i think i got the recipe from badkat's website.

Thank you. Capsules would work but I like the idea of dosing with drops. This makes each dosing adjustable, depending on need and potency of the liquid.

Are you opposed to RSO? I’ve been making gummies lately. Pretty accurately dosed. With both BHO and RSO. I prefer RSO

Make RSO and from there you can dose accurately and dissolve into whatever you’d like.. alcohol, glyrecine (or combo), oils etc

I first extracted with butane to make BHO. Then I air-dried the material and made ethanol extraction but I only chilled the alcohol and material in my freezer (I didn't use dry ice to super-cool anything). Then I mixed the two extracts and vacuum purged at low heat (via an Extractcraft Source Turbo).

I tried several drops on a cookie again last night. It didn't do much so I guess I need to decarb again.

brown_thumb said:

Thank you. Capsules would work but I like the idea of dosing with drops. This makes each dosing adjustable, depending on need and potency of the liquid.

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you wouldnt need to put the liquid in capsules, you could keep it in a dropper.

brown_thumb said:

I first extracted with butane to make BHO. Then I air-dried the material and made ethanol extraction but I only chilled the alcohol and material in my freezer (I didn't use dry ice to super-cool anything). Then I mixed the two extracts and vacuum purged at low heat (via an Extractcraft Source Turbo).

I tried several drops on a cookie again last night. It didn't do much so I guess I need to decarb again.

Click to expand...

I guess I meant are you opposed to skipping the butane extraction entirely and just soaking either pre-de-carbed material or decarbing the final extract..
peeps seem to favor decarbing the extract, using man oil bath to maintain temps.
Too involved for me. I just fill a turkey bag with flower, trim, w.e., tie it up. Pop it in a 270 oven till it hits temp, then maintain 250 for 30 min.
Quite potent.

I'm not opposed to any methodologies nor solvents. I do need to keep this simple and cheap while wasting the least amount of plant material.

I did some green dragon a few months ago and that was definitely effective but I hated the Everclear burn. This latest plant material is crap, relatively speaking. But it should do something to help. I probably didn't decarb enough. I was trying to be careful not to overdo it.

I have a small deep fryer that can be turned down very low. I can decarb in that but placing the vessel inside a large pot with a lid and a stand-off to keep the container away from the base of the pot seems to work okay. I use an oven thermometer with remote probe sitting in the solution to monitor temperature. This method works to moderate the temperature within the cooking pot so it doesn't swing too much one way or the other.

I decarbed again and made certain all the bubbling stopped.

I bought soy lecithin granules to help with emulsification. First I tried dissolving the lecithin in Everclear... no go. So I added some water... no go. Poured that out. Tried straight extra virgin olive oil, gently heated... the granules softened but not much dissolved. So I added some water and BAM... the magic started. I added a little more water while stirring and the lecithin became a very smooth thin paste.

I added the lecithin to the warm extract and within two minutes of stirring the consistently became smooth and homogeneous like a thin jelly preserve.

I licked the stirring spoon and am hoping for the best.

brown_thumb said:

I decarbed again and made certain all the bubbling stopped.

I bought soy lecithin granules to help with emulsification. First I tried dissolving the lecithin in Everclear... no go. So I added some water... no go. Poured that out. Tried straight extra virgin olive oil, gently heated... the granules softened but not much dissolved. So I added some water and BAM... the magic started. I added a little more water while stirring and the lecithin became a very smooth thin paste.

I added the lecithin to the warm extract and within two minutes of stirring the consistently became smooth and homogeneous like a thin jelly preserve.

I licked the stirring spoon and am hoping for the best.

Click to expand...

nice.. you gotta kinda bloom the granuals. grab liquid lecithin. Sunflower to avoid the soy shit.. and also its ready to dissolve.. I use it to homogenize my gummy mix.

my RSO method is super simple. ill swing back in a few with the recipe incase you wanna try.

Thanks TT, yes... I do need some recipes.

The extract is now pretty darned good. A buddy stopped by last night to try some of it. We drizzled it on lemon Oreo cookies. IMO, we overdid it somewhat but it was fun. We each had a half dozen cookies, coated on both sides with extract. As usual, it took several hours before I felt anything but then POW... it hit. I tripped a bit for a few minutes then off to sleep a solid six hours. I don't often sleep that well.

The down side to this is I'm sure this friend will want to come over to sponge.

Thats great news bt.. nice work.
Here is basically what I do.. there's plenty of wiggle room and experiments.

To make RSO:
Place material into glass jar. I find a half gallon ball jar to be best.
You will need enough ethanol to cover this material.. twice.

First warm the ethanol.. as close to boiling (160 ish) as you can safely get. For me the safest option is to place in a flat bottom pyrex container or jar on top of electric griddle.. do not seal container. Its not butane, and I honestly don't do it outside.. but do it outside.. cas if i didn't say that I'd feel terrible.

Pour hot ethanol over material till covered by a bit.. half an inch id say... Then mash and stir the material with a wood spoon for 30 seconds... let rest for 30 sec. then swirl jar for 30, then rest for 30, swirl for 30, etc... do this for bout 3 minutes.

Place the container back on the griddle to maintain temps near boiling (150-160) for 45 min... remove from heat and let it sit for an hour..

pour through a mesh strainer, then coffee filter..

winterize for several days (2 isn't enough for me.. after 4 days of freezing i pull a ton of green out)

evaporate.

I do not do a second wash.

I also decarb material before washing, at 250 (material temp, not oven setting) for 30 minutes (timed once temp is reached)

Though I have decarbed extract (bho) by melting into a preheated pyrex dish.. then cover dish with foil and back in oven to maintain 250. I just prefer to "precarb"


what you do with the RSO is up to you.
I make gummies, since i don't really have a sweet tooth, and eating 6 cookies sounds exhausting lol. so when it's time I dissolve it into a little ever clear which is added to my gummy mix once warm. There is sunflower lecithin - equivalent in weight to RSO used - in my gummy mix. I also add a little vegetable glycerin to emulsify.

Thanks for the info, TT. I might try to make some gummies. They seem like a great way to dose... take 1 or 2 or 3 or 10.