Not sure if i'm buying this. We run an apeks machine and get all of our batches tested after we winterize and range from 45%-65%. I see companies advertising 70% and up, not sure if it's true. We have run indoor nug runs as well and still haven't gotten higher than 65%. Any input to prove me wrong or educate me?
Co2 oil 80+% THC?
- Thread starter vapeking
- Start date
At my last company we always saw our co2 oil between 70-80%. If you are not getting all of the ethanol out after winterizing I would expect results like you are getting. Do you get residual alcohol checked?
leroy_jenkins
New member
I have gotten quite a few tests over 70%, a few in the lower 80's and 1 that was 89.9% all out of an Apeks 1500-1L.
Percentages are a funny thing which a few folks ive consulted with recently didnt really 'get' so ill start the sharing of my understanding there. You can only ever have 100% of a something. If you have a hash oil that tests at 50% THC, whats the other 50% made of? Typically speaking it would be made up of other cannabanoids, terpines, plant waxes and lipids, water, and 'other'. The other stuff could range anywhere from residiual cO2, to chloroyphil, to dead mold spores, even heavy metals and salmonella have made if from soil to hash oil.
When it comes to lab testing, you need a lab that can provide services you need and with standards and results you can depend on.
A lab should be able to test for all known cannabanoids. What if you unknowingly ran a holy grail of a plant and ended up with an oil that was 50% THC and 40% CBV, but your lab didnt test for CBV? It would 'look' like junk oil on testing, but be worth hundreds of thousands as a testing standard and priceless as medicine.
Im finding that there alot of labs, and alot of things said, but not alot of consostant science to back up the words.Ive found that most labs cant accurately test oils for water, or solvent residual. It seems that some labs test for some terpines, but few test for all. The state requirements for molds look for spores which develop into living colonies, but say nothing for dead spores which remain and thus are not tested for. Pesticides are also required for testing, but the ones thst are tested for are rarely used by the modern medicine farmer and there are hundreds which are not tested for at most labs, many of which will actually concentrate in your oil rather than purge off. I am told that wax and lipid content should be fairly straightforward to test for, but know not of a lab in my area which does it.
Then there is the vast differences lab to lab and sample to sample as well... once on a blind test a lab I know of recieved 2 samples of Co2 oil from the same slab, one came on at 72% THC, the other 59%. Most recently a slab of my own ended up split between 2 different dispensaries, each having their own lab test it. One came back with 63.6%, the other mid 83.4%.
My last tidbit for you is that it 'seemed' like I was getting higher cannabanoid tests from my cO2 slabs when I was hot room and fan evaporating than when I was slow and low in the vac oven. I never ever even came close to cannabanoid killing conditions according to the charts, but the oil even seemed to be less potent out of the vac oven....
Percentages are a funny thing which a few folks ive consulted with recently didnt really 'get' so ill start the sharing of my understanding there. You can only ever have 100% of a something. If you have a hash oil that tests at 50% THC, whats the other 50% made of? Typically speaking it would be made up of other cannabanoids, terpines, plant waxes and lipids, water, and 'other'. The other stuff could range anywhere from residiual cO2, to chloroyphil, to dead mold spores, even heavy metals and salmonella have made if from soil to hash oil.
When it comes to lab testing, you need a lab that can provide services you need and with standards and results you can depend on.
A lab should be able to test for all known cannabanoids. What if you unknowingly ran a holy grail of a plant and ended up with an oil that was 50% THC and 40% CBV, but your lab didnt test for CBV? It would 'look' like junk oil on testing, but be worth hundreds of thousands as a testing standard and priceless as medicine.
Im finding that there alot of labs, and alot of things said, but not alot of consostant science to back up the words.Ive found that most labs cant accurately test oils for water, or solvent residual. It seems that some labs test for some terpines, but few test for all. The state requirements for molds look for spores which develop into living colonies, but say nothing for dead spores which remain and thus are not tested for. Pesticides are also required for testing, but the ones thst are tested for are rarely used by the modern medicine farmer and there are hundreds which are not tested for at most labs, many of which will actually concentrate in your oil rather than purge off. I am told that wax and lipid content should be fairly straightforward to test for, but know not of a lab in my area which does it.
Then there is the vast differences lab to lab and sample to sample as well... once on a blind test a lab I know of recieved 2 samples of Co2 oil from the same slab, one came on at 72% THC, the other 59%. Most recently a slab of my own ended up split between 2 different dispensaries, each having their own lab test it. One came back with 63.6%, the other mid 83.4%.
My last tidbit for you is that it 'seemed' like I was getting higher cannabanoid tests from my cO2 slabs when I was hot room and fan evaporating than when I was slow and low in the vac oven. I never ever even came close to cannabanoid killing conditions according to the charts, but the oil even seemed to be less potent out of the vac oven....
yeah we're using the Apeks 20L 1500 Psi system, and hadn't had anything test in the 70's and used top shelf nug as well. Maybe you are right about the Lab, but they seem to be a reputable lab and really the only one in town i believe. We have done tons of runs and get every batch tested after we winterize so not sure what the issue is. We don't test for the residuals but we use rotovaps and do a final 24 hour purge under vacuum so pretty sure the alcohol is out. I mean dabbing our winterized oil will damn near give you a panic attack lol. Our vape pens which are mixed with PEG are also plenty strong to get the job done. jUst confused with all these runs how we haven't hit 70% + running good material out of top notch extractor! We run 10 lbs at a time and would really like to be getting 70-80%!!!
I'm guessing this was used in pens? it wasn't too viscous at 90% to work in pens?
leroy_jenkins
New member
No, I meant CBV, which is short for Cannabivarin. The only thing I know about it is that one of our labs mentioned that no one tests for it because the reference standard is tens of thousands of dollars and that this is because the few ml's they need takes 2000 lbs of flower to extract it from... apparantly it is also the 'next CBD' in terms of cannabanoid popularity, but I am of the belief that the whole cannabanoid and turpine profile make the magic happen.
Cannabivarin is an oxidation product of THCV.
Just clarifying; your post confused me because it insinuated that it could be found in large quantities (40% f the total cannabinoid fraction), but cannabivarin would only be found in trace amounts, even in a THCV-rich variety.
Even without a standard for calibration, one would expect any decent lab would see such a huge peak on the chromatogram, and hook up the MS detector to identify the peak.
Thanks for the clarity.
-Chimera
Just clarifying; your post confused me because it insinuated that it could be found in large quantities (40% f the total cannabinoid fraction), but cannabivarin would only be found in trace amounts, even in a THCV-rich variety.
Even without a standard for calibration, one would expect any decent lab would see such a huge peak on the chromatogram, and hook up the MS detector to identify the peak.
Thanks for the clarity.
-Chimera
Depends on how your machine is set up and the process. I've seen CO2 fractionated off on decompression, that had the cannabinoid fraction THC in the high 90's.
It was used in pens but diluted about 50% with PEG. Without the PEG it would have been too viscous for pens.
There is a company in Oregon claiming those potency levels uncut.....I've attempted to question how that is possible without response.
Claiming what levels uncut? I'm still thinking labs have different ways of testing, find it damn near impossible, we are not getting maximum potency out of our batches!!! Our oil looks and works top notch, but if I'm wrong I would like to know what I'm missing. By the way props to you guys for getting those high test results, I'm never a hater do your thing, and I'm gonna keep trying to improve our methods. Getting great feedback from the dispensaries that are carrying our pens, but there's always room for improvement, that's why we're on here. I wish I could trade some of my indoor grow knowledge for some co2 extraction knowledge lol. I'm well seasoned in the garden and new to the oil thing!!
One Presence
New member
I'm running an Apeks 1500-5L and when I first started I was running at 1200 psi/65F, I got 76% THC out of year and a half old Lemon Kush trim. Since then I have switched my parameters a bit and am still in the 60s to high 70s range depending on my material. One thing I have to mention is that I do not typically winterize so I am suspicious that you may possibly be losing some percentages to your removed fats and waxes. Perhaps run a test prior to winterizing? Another place for variability would be your run time. What is your average cycle time?
we run 2 hrs a lb and run about 10 at a time. We are winterizing and potency is apparently supposed to go up because you are taking all the material that is not thc out (waxes, fats, etc.). We do get consistent tests in the mid 60's but haven't hit 70% yet and have ran super top shelf indoor hug and only got a 65%. I think it could be different testing labs, it's gotta be because we have run and tested every post winterized batch we have ever done, hundreds of them and never hit 70%. And theres a vape company named mighty meds that claims over 70%, but think its false. The package 70% is printed on like they didn't even test it, if they did how could they consistently get over 70% on every batch and we haven't gotten it once? We want patients and have to know the real test results so we need to make sure the lab is testing consistently. Was your 76% test a one time deal or all the time?
