[sh1wn]

I do it the cold way and let it sit for a few weeks, It's probably longer than it needs to sit but the extra cholorophyll doesn't bother me. I use about 3 OZ of bud that that had been corse choped, I put that in a quart canning jar and then pour in 1/5 of everclear in, it should cover the bud, but still have room for things to move. After that I let it sit for a week or two turning it over twice a day, then it gets strained and I usually get a half a jar or so of really green alcohol back, I could probably get more but I don't have a press. Then I put a coffee filter on top the jar with a rubber band and set it on top my fridge until some of the alcohol evaporates off, I try to make it so 3 to 4 squrts of a dropper are a dose. My lung are to screwed up to smoke anymore so this works great for me, I mix 3 or 4 droppers with some water and shoot it down my feeding tube and i'm good for 3 to 4 hours. If you mixed a dose with a can of soda I don't think you would taste it. Anyways thats how I do mine, I have never tried the hot method but would like to try it one of these days, lot more work than letting it sit. Your pictures are great

[gog]

Does it really work just letting it sit? Maybe even in a warmer environment would be ideal?

-Go

[generalgrievous]

max... give her a try... you won't be dissapointed.

anti... i've washed butter before... just to try it. it works amazingly well. i don't mind the green taste in my brownie's or cookies though

the flavor of dragon is great in a beer... great.

i do dig on the stealth idea... think i'll give it a try... i know water curing can work on improperly flushed flowers somewhat...

sh1wn, gog... i was going to try the cold method when i stumbled upon master wu's thread at another site... this is why i decarb... i pulled it from master wu's OP...


This converts THCA to THC via a decarboxylation reaction.
In whole-plant cannabis, THC content is expressed as THCA (tetrahydrocannabolic acid) prior to decarboxylation into THC, which takes place when cannabis is heated during cooking, and smoked or vaporized ingestion. THCA is a mild analgesic and anti-inflammatory but does not have good affinity with our CB1 receptors, so in order to make a THC-rich tincture that has many of the same therapeutic effects as smoked ingestion (including rapid absorption, quick relief and ease of self-titration), we must convert the THCA in the plant matter into THC prior to extracting it through an alcohol soak.

THC vaporizes at about 380°F. We want to heat the cannabis to convert THCA to THC, but keep the temperature under 380°F. That is why 325°F is used. Between four and five minutes your oven (and house) will start to smell very strong. This is the time to remove the cannabis from the oven.

Notice also that there is considerable misinformation regarding heating the cannabis. It is true that you don't have to heat it to extract both THC and THCA, but the amount of THC in whole plant preparations is relatively small compared to after decarboxylation of the THCA. So if you want to maximize the strength of your tincture you must heat the cannabis prior to extraction.


i'm going to give a vegetable-glycerin-based tincture a try without the decarb at some point...

personally i'm currently out of dragon and have not heard from my friend in a while... going to cook up another this afternoon with some slightly different numbers... i've read in several places that CBD content is higher in leaf... couldn't find any scientific backing but batch 2, made from all shake, was just about the perfect blend of body and head...

shake... keep in mind when i say this, my shake comes from tightly trimmed flowers... as i prep my flowers for smoke or vape, i remove every little tiny, frosty leaf from the interior of the flower... i smoke the calyx... this shake adds up till i make the dragon.

i have 5.5 grams of shake and 3 grams of flowers for todays dragon, sitting out getting absolutely crispy dry before decarb... i'll shoot some pics and post results soon.

[Anti]

Originally Posted by gog

Does it really work just letting it sit? Maybe even in a warmer environment would be ideal?

-Go

Unless that environment is somewhere in excess of 300 degrees, it's not really going to do much.

But there ARE THC molecules in un-carboxylated herb... carboxylating simply helps to turn precursors to THC into THC.

So there will be THC in the unheated method. Heating simply brings out the MOST THC for your dollar.

[gog]

So could we decarb, yet not cook the alcohol mixture? or does it pay to cook it up too?

Sorry just trying to get some questions answered and out there.

-gog

[Anti]

Originally Posted by gog

So could we decarb, yet not cook the alcohol mixture?

Yes you could. To do an alcohol extraction without heat, you're going to want to put it somewhere dark and cool and then shake it up every day for a month or more.

or does it pay to cook it up too?

Heating the alcohol allows it to bond with the THC in minutes rather than weeks. Your choice.

[generalgrievous]

gog... i agree with anti... the alcohol also reduces during the extraction process... i'm shooting for 4 oz. finish dragon tonight... starting with 8...

seems to be your worried about boiling the alcohol... it's absolutely safe on a gas or electric stove top... i've done both. make sure your water bath is at a low boil or simmer... the jar your dragon is extracting in should not be in contact with the bottom of the water bath or you will have direct heat transfer... i use a steamer basket or a colander inside a sauce pot... i have broken the jar by adding it to already heated water once... poured her down the drain and started over

[generalgrievous]

5 g. shake, mostly bubba... 3 gram dog bud... 8 oz. 95% everclear...

5 min decarb @ 325f... 25 min extraction @ 161-164/boiling... used salt in the water bath this time and got it up to 199f...

3.5 oz. finished dragon...


0.5 oz less than my target yield... extracted with a heavier boil in the water bath and the alcohol jar... i'll chime in once i give her a test run...

[Barnt]

Very nice post. I've done similar but instead of alcohol I used olive oil and instead of fresh bud I used vaped weed. It has already been heated (about 410-380F is where my vape runs) so that step is done. Obviously there is less thc in the product, but I've read other places that much of the CBD's are left. I have nothing to back this up other than my edibles/tincture knocks you down at about .2g per dose. This is VAPED weed. To figure out the dose requires a few calculations. I like using the metric system myself.

Your first post used 8g and was left with 2oz of liquid. 2oz=60ml. 8g/60ml=.13. That means that each ml has more than half of what it took for my vaped weed to hit me. At 1/2 tsp thats 2.45ml. This equates to .31g. Strong stuff for sure. I'm a pretty regular smoker and I probably would be very comfortable with just 1ml.

Now since I was using vaped weed, the oil would taste horrible. Just as it was said before, just as with butter, oil can be washed with water. It's a little laborious, but using a by product for a potent tincture rocked. I also can make sneaker brownies using this method. No weed taste at all.

All in all though, I want a quick and easy way to make some bomb tincture that will last. Several concerns with oil:
1) when its heated, it breaks down and changes--some say it spoils even
2) research botulism and olive oil--it can grow some nasty stuff that can kill
3) its a pain in the ass

Your method seems so easy. I think I will try a batch like that, and then another by dissolving QWISO into everclear.

[Piel]

I did a new run yesterday, used about 1/2 an ounce of kieffed weed and maybe 10gr of good (not great) bud. I decarbed, added 500ml Everclear and about 250ml peppermint schnapps and after that I boiled it for about 30min. Tonight I´ll filter and do some more reducing.

This will be interesting.