[Mellowyellow25]

Originally Posted by midsummer

...I am thinking of making bubble hash, dissolving in everclear. I would then filter this through a coffee filter then winterize as per you description. Any thoughts?

I'm not an expert on bubble hash, sorry, but from what I do know, using any form of chemical extraction is anathema to the whole process.

...for those who can only get 160 proof (80% ETOH with 20% h2O) any thoughts on how to reduce the water content?

You can purchase commercial ethanol 190 on the web for non-drinking use and have it shipped to Florida if higher proof ethanol is not sold there. Ethanol Extraction is one company making this product. You can also distill 160 proof to produce 190 or even 200 proof 100% pure ethanol.

[BudToaster]

love your thread, thanks!


i have been trying to come to grips with this topic for sometime. and i have some questions:


What is the point of using a polar solvent, i.e. everclear, to winterize since lipids require a non-polar solvent?


it seems that using an everclear extraction from the start will extract less lipids, but more of the other unneeded plant components. the heat squish will melt the lipids, so they will be in the squish rosin, no? then, the everclear liberates the thc while not including the lipids (plant waxes), using the syringe filter to strain out the thc.


is this correct?


but for the everclear extraction, i can't figure out how the everclear gets at the thc, which is locked inside the trichomes - which i assume are wax, i.e. lipid.

[Mellowyellow25]

Originally Posted by BudToaster

What is the point of using a polar solvent, i.e. everclear, to winterize since lipids require a non-polar solvent?

This should explain it for you, I'm not a chemist.

https://www.quora.com/Is-ethanol-pol...npolar-and-why

... I can't figure out how the everclear gets at the thc, which is locked inside the trichomes - which i assume are wax, i.e. lipid.

Sorry. Do not understand the question.

I suggest you try this for yourself. Then come back and we can compare notes. What you ended up with vs what I got. Compare vaping using this winterizing method vs no winterization at all.

[BudToaster]

yeah, i kind of do the winterizing but without the syringe filter ... i decarboxylate, then do an everclear extraction, then let the ethanol evaporate at room temperature ... but i think the extract has a lot of wax in it - dark and sticky and nasty tasting ... i guess if i froze the syringe and then strain using the filter, THEN do the evaporation phase, the filter would remove the undesirables.


i really like your press - clean and simple ... and cheap.

[Mellowyellow25]

Originally Posted by BudToaster

... I kind of do the winterizing but without the syringe filter ...

You need to do the 24 hour freeze and use the syringe filter to separate and remove the garbage. The clarity afterwards will become obvious with the nasties remaining behind that filter in the syringe.

I show a photo of what remains. We can debate what's in there until the cows come home, but in the end, it's not anything anyone needs to be inhaling day after day, IMHO.

[BudToaster]

Originally Posted by Mellowyellow25

You need to do the 24 hour freeze and use the syringe filter to separate and remove the garbage. The clarity afterwards will become obvious with the nasties remaining behind that filter in the syringe.

I show a photo of what remains. We can debate what's in there until the cows come home, but in the end, it's not anything anyone needs to be inhaling day after day, IMHO.

i totally agree ... i definitely want to get rid of the crap.


okay, so i think i understand ... there are two extraction techniques of interest to me: (1) ethanol wash (QWET), (2) rosin press (RP).


So the QWET extracts some chlorophyll, while the RP extracts some lipids/waxes. the cholorophyll is difficult to get out of the QWET, but the rosin can be dissolved in ethanol (much less needed than for QWET) and the waxes can be solidified with cold and strained out of the dissolved rosin and the little bit of ethanol is then evaporated off ... leaving behind a very clean thc substance.


going to try this after the next bud fairy visit.

[Mellowyellow25]

Originally Posted by BudToaster

i totally agree ... I definitely want to get rid of the crap...the rosin can be dissolved in ethanol and the waxes can be solidified with cold and strained out of the dissolved rosin and the little bit of ethanol is then evaporated off ... leaving behind a very clean thc substance.

This is basically what's happening, yes.

I make my rosin using the little press as opposed to doing a wash because I produce just enough for my immediate needs. I'm still working on the 1 ml of concentrate I created on Jan. 26th and I vape most every night. It goes a long way, being so thick and pure.

Chlorophyll can be avoided in the pressing in two ways, I've discovered.

By using recently harvested flower you will get more rosin and a cleaner rosin that first press. Very golden without any obvious plant matter... green specs.

Second, by not reusing the pancake from that pressing you will end up with a cleaner product with really no chlorophyll at all. It's a bit if a trade off... quantity vs quality. Again, for personal consumption, I prefer the latter.

[Mellowyellow25]

My Medicine Cabinet

I grow a single plant "stealth" is a small, steel cabinet I have modified for this purpose. This gives me complete control over a number of variables like temperature and humidity. So far, it has also eliminated any fungal contamination or infiltration of pests. I try to grow as organic as possible. I use no pesticides. The only nutrients I use are what comes in the Fox Farm Ocean Harvest soil mix together with the bat guano and the clam shell calcium I mix in. I put a hand full of bone meal on the top, one time. From then on I only water using what I source from a natural spring in town.



There is a small fan inside that gently circulates the air and a muffin fan at the top that draws fresh air in from three screened ports at the bottom and out the top through a charcoal filter.

I use three compact fluorescent lamps as my only light source. These CFL's are much under appreciated of late what with all the new, fancy LED systems on the market. The lamps I use are of a higher output than what you find at the home improvement stores, though. These are rated for 250 watts each (4000 lumens) but only draw 65 watts from the 110v outlet. You can find them at the online commercial lamp suppliers for around $18 each. It costs me about $20/month to run my cabinet. I harvest every three months. So far, I have averaged around 60 grams of dried flower.



Since I grow autos, I use 6500 degree "daylight" bulbs for the entire grow. No need to swap them out for the warmer lamps when it comes time for the flowering stage. It really cannot get any easier than this.

Life, at this stage, is just too short to spend all day fussing with what is basically just a weed, after all. Put the seed in the right soil blend, water it once in a while and just leave it alone. It will take care of itself.

[Mellowyellow25]

Did another round of pressing yesterday. Sill working with my harvest from a bit over a month ago, so relatively recent flower.

By accident, I had the temperature set too low. I adjust the voltage to my heater plates using a an autotransformer and I have a marking on the dial that will give me around 180 degrees F. The dial got rotated a bit so it was putting out less current to the plates for the first few pressings. So my press was only running at around 140 degrees F.

This turned out to be an interesting development, though. Instead of getting a rather smooth flowing sticky oil I ended up with a sort of butterscotch colored waxy paste substance. Very dry and easy to scrape from the parchment paper.

Not sure if this is a good thing or what. Still need to do some more experimentation. I did add this to my final rosin collection for processing into concentrate.

[Mellowyellow25]

Concentrates in an Hour:

Have this very cool idea for a nitch cannabis business. Making custom vape concentrates for customers. Basically, you'd have a small workstation set up inside an exhisting cannabis store. There would be a rosin press on the counter along with the tools, warming vibrator plate, collection tubes and syringes needed to make the end product. I'm working on a method to flash-freeze the ethanol solution to speed up the separation and winterizing process.

So, the way this works is, a customer comes into the store and picks some fresh flower she wants made into a vape cartridge. She pays for the flower and for the concentrate service and is told to return in about an hour. The concentrate concierge then goes to work creating a pure custom vape cartridge for her.

This could be a definite money maker. Either the store sets this workstation up or someone offers to run it for the store and split the profits.

An alternative arrangement would have the workstation operator rent the space inside the store. Kind of like an expresso kiosk inside a shopping mall.

It would set that cannabis store apart from the rest and draw more customers in if only to watch the concentrate concierge do his/her thing.