Alcohol kills Botrytis and Powdery Mildew

Hi,

I just harvested a phenomenal plant, a cross between ChemDawg and Cannatonic, called 'DawgTonic', which yielded 13.5 ounces of drippingly frosty bud, as well as 3.5 ounces of super frosty mold, which kiefs out at about 7 grams per ounce of trim.

Exactly 1/2 ounce of this plant had small places with botrytis, but the infection didn't seem that bad to me: not too mushy, and the buds were still well formed, only they had turned gray and a bit greasy. Because I had a whole 1/2 ounce, I didn't want to just throw it away if I could get any use out of it.

I called up Analytical360 in Seattle, where I had had a couple of tests done in the past on the RSO I make, and asked them point blank if the Everclear method of extraction to make oil would kill the mold spores of botrytis and powdery mildew. The microbiologist there said a resounding 'Yes, the ethanol extraction method does kill any harmful spores from these two molds', but he cautioned me about aspergillus mold which produces a toxin that isn't killed by alcohol and is quite dangerous to ingest. I will do some research on this aspergillus mold, but I've had no problems with it yet, so I'm just going to go ahead and make some oil out of this 1/2 ounce with a bit of botrytis, keep it separate for myself to see if there's any qualitative difference.

Any nay-sayers?

Here. Its a half ounce toss that shit! why would ya even want to use your same equipment on it? Im not a microbiologist but I grow medicine. In my eyes if there's any question its not medicine. 1

One Love 731 said:

Here. Its a half ounce toss that shit! why would ya even want to use your same equipment on it? Im not a microbiologist but I grow medicine. In my eyes if there's any question its not medicine. 1

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Good point about keeping my other equipment in mind. I will be careful about this.

But, if there is no doubt in a guys mind who has a degree in microbiology that, "Yes, the alcohol extraction process kills botrytis and powdery mildew mold spores", then it is worth a trial on myself that I will report back about.

I appreciate the purist point of view, but I've been occasionally scraping mold off my cheese for 68 years and putting it in my sandwiches with no ill effects, and if everybody lumped 'mold' into the same hexed category, we wouldn't have penicillin, as well as many other products produced by molds. Who knows, perhaps my botrytis mold oil will cure closed mindedness. Want some?

I use the same lab and them boys do definitely know their stuff.

I've lost way to many family members and friends to issues that could of been cured with cannabis. I only wish I would of gained my knowledge of cannabis earlier so as to save them. At your age I'm not sure I would take the risk but am all for personal freedom, your health is yours. As long as your not passing it to anybody else who am I to say whats right or wrong for you.

Damn do I really come across as closed minded? Is it possible that anybody who didn't full heartedly agree with your post could still be open minded? I am here to learn.

Just be careful friend, if your not sure what kind of mold your working with maybe send her to the lab before ya make your oil. just a thought. 1

Spores aren't the problem when extracting from moldy bud. The problem is that you'll be extracting various things from the mold too. Bad flavors, at least, even if that kind of mold isn't bad for you.

I've done it though. I hate to waste good bud. An ice water extraction followed by an alcohol or butane extraction seems like the best way to prevent the moldy flavor from making it into your oil.

Just be careful friend, if your not sure what kind of mold your working with maybe send her to the lab before ya make your oil. just a thought. 1

Totally agree.

Has anyone here gotten sick from mold? I know it's possible; it just hasn't happened to me. I wouldn't know what to look for to figure out if it's dangerous or not.

The first time I made oil with moldy bud, the taste was nauseating. It reminded me of every time I took a bite out of something moldy. I still didn't throw it away. I used it to make capsules that got me high as fuck every time. I actually miss that batch of pills now that they're gone.

had 3 people i know partner up on a outdoor grow for headsmoke. each one ended up with a lung infection a few months after harvest .. we dont know 100% if it was the weed.. but that was the only thing they all had in common. 2 didnt smoke cigs.. 1 did.. and all 3 of them were healthy n shit. so we dont know. but it would be nice to know. i tried to tell em.. just cut off the shit outside and let it stay outside.

just throw it you still have a good yield

hiya
get rid mate,,not worth it plus like others have said your yield was fine,,,,toss that 1/2 oz asap...s2

I know that Hydrogen Peroxide is the only that can kill spores... no water, no alchol, no other low tossic solvent.

Maybe you can use alchol and then filter with a lab. paper filter, it should be enought to stop spores, but I don't guarantee.

I'm trying to clean a moldy Iceolator: clean it with fresh water some minutes, then dissolve it in alchol and filter with paper filter, now it's evaporating. I will let u know!

Thanks for all the input.

When I forget to put vinegar in my chicken's water, it gets moldy, or maybe mostly it's just algae growing, but some of it is surely mold, and they seem healthy enough. My hummingbird feeder doesn't even seem to get used much until the little black mold develops in and around it, then the little devils can't stay away. While making some apple wine, I forgot a 5 gallon bucket, which sat around for a month or 2. When I finally found it, it had a thick layer of stinky mold on top. I was going to chuck it, but I sieved most of the nasty mold off and decided to throw in the yeast, let it cook and see what I came up with. In a couple of months the percolator stopped and I tested the wine. It was as clear as the unmoldy ones with not a hint of mold smell or flavor. I lost track of which bucket it was and it got drank up with the rest of them.

Here's an interesting article about molds, in which was the following information:

"Another mould, Botrytis cinerea, is essential to dessert wines such as Sauternes and Trockenbeerenauslese. Grapes attacked by the "noble rot" become partially raisinised, reducing their water content and increasing their sweetness. Many wine-makers will deliberately spray Botrytis spores over their vineyards."
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/oct/26/food-mould-safe-or-toxic

I know some molds are quite dangerous, but the botrytis mold seems to be not one of them. I will make sure that it is botrytis; I will not use any of my regular equipment to make my oil, but I will make my oil and test it (if it's just botrytis and not aspergillus).

M314: I've been quite sick from mold before. While visiting Viet Nam in 1995 or so, I stayed in an unventilated room during the monsoon season. After about 5 days I felt like I had pneumonia and felt like Hell. I picked up one of my bags on the floor, and both the floor and the bottom of my bag were covered with green mold. I moved out of this room and recovered in about the same amount of time one would recover from a nasty cold.

Another time I knocked out the shower enclosure wall in a rental while the renter was still there. The inside of this wall was covered with black mold. I told the tenant that we would leave it open overnight so it could air out, and I would replace the drywall and tile the next day. The next day the tenant complained that she had a hard time breathing and was vomiting all night long. Together we decided that it was the exposed mold from the wall that was her problem. When I put the wall back together (after spraying it with copious amounts of bleach), her problem went away.

I was kind of hoping Graywolf would chime in, but, oh well.

Enough talk: I'm making some oil.

And a little something from Eloquentsolution at skunkpharm:
"i have personally extracted botrytis laden bud, diluted with ethanol x 10, filtered with .45 micron then .02. the filter sizes were selected after researching the spore size of botrytis. the notorious odor was gone, there were no spores visible under scope and the flavor was pristine. it was tested by four skunk pharmers before it was given to a cancer patient.

the skunk pharm does understand the need for pure clean meds as many we make meds for have compromised immune systems. it is the reason we ran the experiment. much of what was donated to us had issues and we still needed to provide high quality meds.

really, i can understand your hesitation in running this process. but if you wish to do a little research, you will find the a fore mentioned process to be true. thanks, dudz, for standing up with science!

btb, only some forms of mold are dangerous. botrytis is not one of them. sure tastes nasty though.

anyone in oregon wishing to toss out botrytis bud, please toss it my way! heheheshe "

Ive actually been to Skunkpharm and donated trim and labor just over a year ago. Great people, If Graywolf says your mold is solid your solid. Sorry if I offended you in any way, it was not my intention. Thanks for all you do and keep up the good work. 1

One Love 731 said:

Ive actually been to Skunkpharm and donated trim and labor just over a year ago. Great people, If Graywolf says your mold is solid your solid. Sorry if I offended you in any way, it was not my intention. Thanks for all you do and keep up the good work. 1

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No offence taken; hope you feel the same. Getting to the bottom of things sometimes gets a little testy. Like my ex-wife used to say:"The truth will set you free...but first it pisses you off".

I've done the first part of my oil making. The alcohol/Cannabinoid solution is sitting in the sun right now until it turns from green to brown. It looks as clear and pristine as any of my other runs. In an hour or so, I will cook off the alcohol and see what I get. Since Eloquentsolution assures me that botrytis is not one of the poisonous molds, I'm not going to bother with a scientific syringe filter, just the regular coffee filter. The reasons for this are that I am no longer worried about poisoning myself should a few spores slip through my coffee filter; I want to taste-test this oil with some of my clean oil; and even if it does taste raunchy, I mix my oil half with olive oil (soooo much easier to titrate and use) and drop it into capsules, so taste isn't a factor.

I don't smoke that much, as I'm a bit THC intolerant, but I take the oil every night as a sleep aid. I used to get between 4-6 hours per night of sleep, but since taking the oil I get between 7-9 hours of sleep. I will take some of this new botry-oil tonight, and if I'm alive tomorrow, I'll report back.

It's a half an ounce for cryin' out loud!

Throw that crap away! You've more than 13 oz. of good stuff..

Why even bother with it? Yuk!

If you smoke it and then drink the alcohol; does that work?

Pinball Wizard said:

If you smoke it and then drink the alcohol; does that work? [URL="https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=61&pictureid=77497&thumb=1"]View Image[/URL]

[URL="https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=61&pictureid=1255768&thumb=1"]View Image[/URL]

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best answer yet!!!

Bud Green Sr.: In case you missed the quote by Eloquentsolution over at SkunkPharm:

"i have personally extracted botrytis laden bud, diluted with ethanol x 10, filtered with .45 micron then .02. the filter sizes were selected after researching the spore size of botrytis. the notorious odor was gone, there were no spores visible under scope and the flavor was pristine. it was tested by four skunk pharmers before it was given to a cancer patient.

the skunk pharm does understand the need for pure clean meds as many we make meds for some who have compromised immune systems. it is the reason we ran the experiment. much of what was donated to us had issues and we still needed to provide high quality meds.

really, i can understand your hesitation in running this process. but if you wish to do a little research, you will find the a fore mentioned process to be true. thanks, dudz, for standing up with science!

btb, only some forms of mold are dangerous. botrytis is not one of them. sure tastes nasty though.

anyone in oregon wishing to toss out botrytis bud, please toss it my way! heheheshe."

I made my oil from the botrytis bud and got a return of about 2 grams from the half ounce. I may have gotten more, but I didn't squeeze out the remaining alcohol from the scuds, nor did I do a second wash. It actually looks a bit cleaner, after winterizing, than some of my other runs.

The way I did it was by putting the buds in a glass Ball jar and crushing them up with a stick of scrap wood from my shop. Then I just pored enough 95% Everclear over the mash until it was covered. I shook the jar for 4 minutes and drained it into another Ball jar and let it sit in the freezer for 48 hours. I strained it all through a coffee filter and cooked off the alcohol. The remaining oil was very clear and medium dark amber, smelling nothing of any mold. Working with this sick bud in this way allowed me to keep it away from the equipment I usually make my oil with. I said I would try this oil last night, but it looks like I won't even be able to try it tonight, as I resoaked the oil in alcohol so that I could put it into a smaller container that I can weigh out on my most accurate gram scale which won't take the tare of the larger container I needed to initially boil off all the alcohol. Still, I will try it very soon and report back.

Pinball Wizzard:...Well, never mind ;-)

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