Solvent Question

I have one friend who makes HO using Isopropyl Alcohol 70%

he soaks, and then slowly evaporates everthing down to the oil

Hes insistant that there is nothing left behind, all solvent is removed

Another friend whom I gave some HO to said that he believes that isoproyl alcohol is denatured and the toxins from the denatured alcohol do not evaporate

Please any insight woudl be helpful

When an alcohol solvent is called for, I use denatured alcohol. It contains no water. The toxic methanol does evaporate and you can smell when it is all gone. I've never made hash oil, but I hear about a butane method (keep it under pressure), keep it cold. I use DNT alc to clean my pipe and extract/smoke the tar if I'm that desperate.

seems there is on definitive answer my friend been wondering myself. wheres the advanced chem people out there with the systems to do the research on this topic that been poppin up everyother post peace

Ethanol (the stuff you drink) is denatured with Methanol (wood alcohol) and IPA (isopropanol/rubbing alcohol). you can use a CRC (handbook/chemical reference manual) to know for sure - but raoult's law states that the vapor above a mixed solution is enriched in the more volatile component. [unless of course you have an azeotrope].

all that being said, even for very pure materials some residual solvent remains. this is usually tested with a normal phase column in a GC (gas chromatograph).

----

now, the solvent that i would recommend is Ethanol (the stuff you drink) 200 proof or 100%. (will have a little bit of water from the environment once opened - and sometimes before). use a double boiler, but a roto-evaporator would be best. it would also be great if you could pull a vacuum on it.

------------

another thing, is to MAYBE water cure the bud first then dry very well prior to using the extraction to obtain canabinoids. but definitely dry the bud as much as possible prior to extraction.

-----------

good luck.

three cheers for the ethanol solvent idea

also, one thing to note:

some denatured ethanol is commonly denatured with isopropanol (as compared to methanol or benzene)

that means that by using such denatured ethanol, you are not doing anything worse than an ISO wash