Alcohol (Ethanol) extractions on hash/kief

[Redrum92]

I'm curious if anyone has experience with this/techniques to share. I have 2 things I need ideas on processing:

1) A relatively small amount of pressed hash from various sources, mostly finger hash from trimming. There is leaf/dust/hair mixed in, and want to clean it up. Considering mashing it up in Everclear and pouring through a coffee filter. Thoughts? If I can avoid isopropyl, I'm going to

2) Trim itself. Might attempt to dry ice it, just ground bud + dry ice chunks on a screen. Thoughts there? (Don't want to do BHO or rosin at the moment)

 

[chilliwilli]

I have done this with hash it makes a nice dark concentrate. But alcohol takes a long time to evaporate complete. When i blast bho i collect the oil with 96% ethanol to get rid of the butane. After that it takes weeks untill the oil turns into shatter. Don't remember how long it was with the hash extract but in the same time range.

 

[@peace]

I'm curious if anyone has experience with this/techniques to share. I have 2 things I need ideas on processing:

1) A relatively small amount of pressed hash from various sources, mostly finger hash from trimming. There is leaf/dust/hair mixed in, and want to clean it up. Considering mashing it up in Everclear and pouring through a coffee filter. Thoughts? If I can avoid isopropyl, I'm going to

2) Trim itself. Might attempt to dry ice it, just ground bud + dry ice chunks on a screen. Thoughts there? (Don't want to do BHO or rosin at the moment)

I have made hash oil and tincture from alcohol. As chilli stated it takes a while for the alcohol to evaporate for oil, it's better to have a thin layer of alcohol with a large surface area to evaporate vs. something smaller that makes the alcohol "deep" if that makes sense. I put mine under a cardboard box in a greenhouse to speed it up/ keep it out of direct light.

I make sure that I reserve some alcohol to pre soak the coffee filter, if not it will absorb quite a bit of your mixture if your working in smaller volumes. As the alcohol/ hash mix is evaporating over days, I start to prop up one end of the container a bit each day, so that the final hash oil ends up in a corner of the container, vs. spread across the entire bottom. This makes scraping it up easier.

I have never tried dry ice.

Good luck!

 

[Redrum92]

I have done this with hash it makes a nice dark concentrate. But alcohol takes a long time to evaporate complete. When i blast bho i collect the oil with 96% ethanol to get rid of the butane. After that it takes weeks untill the oil turns into shatter. Don't remember how long it was with the hash extract but in the same time range.

I have made hash oil and tincture from alcohol. As chilli stated it takes a while for the alcohol to evaporate for oil, it's better to have a thin layer of alcohol with a large surface area to evaporate vs. something smaller that makes the alcohol "deep" if that makes sense. I put mine under a cardboard box in a greenhouse to speed it up/ keep it out of direct light.

I make sure that I reserve some alcohol to pre soak the coffee filter, if not it will absorb quite a bit of your mixture if your working in smaller volumes. As the alcohol/ hash mix is evaporating over days, I start to prop up one end of the container a bit each day, so that the final hash oil ends up in a corner of the container, vs. spread across the entire bottom. This makes scraping it up easier.

I have never tried dry ice.

Good luck!

Ah, good to know! If I can find a safe way to speed up the ethanol evaporation process, I might, or I'll just be patient. Thanks for the input. All good tips!

 

[chilliwilli]

Ah, good to know! If I can find a safe way to speed up the ethanol evaporation process, I might, or I'll just be patient. Thanks for the input. All good tips!

Heating over a waterbath works but u will loose some flavour.

 

[Gray Wolf]

Extracting hash with ethanol is a good way to avoid the chlorophyll without having to use subzero techniques.

When extracting leaf or bud, I freeze the material to -18C/0F to slow down extraction of the longer chain molecules, like waxes, carotene, chlorophyll/pheophytin. It works even better at -50C, using dry ice or LN2.

You can remove the alcohol by evaporation in a large surface area, thin film dish like a pyrex pie plate or casserole dish. You can speed it up by adding low heat or blowing air across it.

You will end up with some beige colored water that can be removed by setting the container in the freezer until the oil solidifies and then pour/wick off the water.

You can also remove the alcohol using a vacuum chamber. I heat the vacuum chamber to 125F and pull vacuum to 10,000 microns/-29.5" Hg.

9.4.7.4 Alcohol Extraction Overview - GrayWolf's Lair

Ethanol is one of the oldest solvents used to extract cannabis concentrates and due to its heavily taxed cost and hit and miss availability around […]

graywolfslair.com

9.4.7.1 QWET - GrayWolf's Lair

Quick Wash Ethanol is an extraction process by which we freeze the material and chill the Ethanol before extracting, so that we limit the pickup […]

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[Redrum92]

Got two distinct fractions after extracting, so I mostly separated them. Assuming the dark one on the left is the good stuff. Not a clue what could be on the right. Waxes? Less volatile terpenes?

This was from a small amount (probably 7-10g) of finger hash/trimming gunk, not bud. Wasnt expecting so much "extra" from something that is already somewhat a concentrate.

 

[Ca++]

I'm watching with interest. I have some 99%+ ethanol and a fair bit of scissor resin I'm meaning to mess about with. I may just put the resin in the filter, and pour over it. Probably pouring over the same alcohol, a few times. I'm imagining the balled up resin will just fall apart.

I'm not going to put it through a carbon filter, but would like to get as honey coloured as I can. I have no interest in black oil, or risking that in order to get a good payload.

 

[Ringodoggie]

Just curious. How did you separate them?

CBD is red. I believe early use of CBD oil was called "red oil", or something like that. Just tossing it our since it's a reddish color.

 

[Redrum92]

Just curious. How did you separate them?

CBD is red. I believe early use of CBD oil was called "red oil", or something like that. Just tossing it our since it's a reddish color.

Interesting! That had never occurred to me.

I just had the ethanol extract evaporating in a jar in the fridge since I wasn't in a hurry, and by the second day it had separated itself very cleanly into 2 layers. I'm guessing a density thing, but as I've forgotten all of my chem idk. Was easy to siphon off the top layer (the orange one) with an oral syringe

 

[Ca++]

I wouldn't think it wise to evaporate off solvents in a sealed cavity. The type of door switch fitted, could easily be one that makes sparks.

The separation is interesting. I imagine the ethanol used wasn't 100%, and as such, likely contained water. I think that might be driving it. However, it seems the water was on top, suggesting the ethanol weighed more than water. I guess it could, carrying oil. I really don't know.

When using iso, you can add water, then salt. The salt goes in the water, and then the iso and water separate. The oil stays in the iso. Some stuff prefers the water though. It's a washing technique we hear little of. It only works with iso though, as iso won't take on salt.

I'm suggesting something was happy in the water, not the ethanol. Making them separate. The ratio of these two products could point towards this idea, or away from it.

 

[Redrum92]

I wouldn't think it wise to evaporate off solvents in a sealed cavity. The type of door switch fitted, could easily be one that makes sparks.

The separation is interesting. I imagine the ethanol used wasn't 100%, and as such, likely contained water. I think that might be driving it. However, it seems the water was on top, suggesting the ethanol weighed more than water. I guess it could, carrying oil. I really don't know.

When using iso, you can add water, then salt. The salt goes in the water, and then the iso and water separate. The oil stays in the iso. Some stuff prefers the water though. It's a washing technique we hear little of. It only works with iso though, as iso won't take on salt.

I'm suggesting something was happy in the water, not the ethanol. Making them separate. The ratio of these two products could point towards this idea, or away from it.

If it were something like butane or something, absolutely. Such a small amount of ethanol evaporates very slowly under those conditions for me, and with how often I'm in and out of my fridge, I can't imagine it built up to any significant level. Took 2 weeks to evaporate maybe 30-40ml lol. I can't imagine there was more than 1-2ml of ethanol per ~6 sqft of space at any given time, but I suppose that's something good to keep an eye on.


That's an interesting variation! Appreciate the idea. I was trying to learn some things about ethanol specifically because it is so easy to casually evaporate, or just safer/easier to use in general. Next time that I have the time/effort to put into IPA, will definitely give that a try!

And you're probably onto something with the upper layer being more water soluble things

 

[Ca++]

Happy to hear your not going to blow your eyebrows off

I like a good IPA, but Iso extraction has never had a good result for me. It's a bit too aggressive I think. I get road tar, not runny honey. I just spoke of salting, as it's another way of separating fluids with solubles that will only stay in one of the fluids. My second attempt at the same explanation, as some later speed readers may miss things if you don't circle them.

Iso is just not nice, and getting it out is hard work

 

[Gray Wolf]

I use a pie plate or casserole dish and pour the alcohol solution out in a thin layer to maximize surface area.

When evaporating off the ethanol, after most of the alcohol is gone, the oil will sink to the bottom and the remaining water and alcohol will float on top with a beige color. If you stick it in the freezer, the oil will harden, and you can pour/wick off most of the water.

 

[Ca++]

Anyone put the solution on a cigarette, so it soaks in?

 

[Redrum92]

I use a pie plate or casserole dish and pour the alcohol solution out in a thin layer to maximize surface area.

When evaporating off the ethanol, after most of the alcohol is gone, the oil will sink to the bottom and the remaining water and alcohol will float on top with a beige color. If you stick it in the freezer, the oil will harden, and you can pour/wick off most of the water.

I left it in jars out of lack of space. Definitely would've been better off with more surface area like you suggest. This has just been a little test run and obviously I am learning tons! Thanks guys

 

[Redrum92]

Happy to hear your not going to blow your eyebrows off

I like a good IPA, but Iso extraction has never had a good result for me. It's a bit too aggressive I think. I get road tar, not runny honey. I just spoke of salting, as it's another way of separating fluids with solubles that will only stay in one of the fluids. My second attempt at the same explanation, as some later speed readers may miss things if you don't circle them.

Iso is just not nice, and getting it out is hard work

Good to know. I have spent a lot more time working on growing, and have done very little extracting. I always save my trimmings but end up getting overwhelmed with other work and end up just making it into edibles.

 

[Rgd]

I am learning tons!

main thing is

---> get all the solvent out

 

[Gray Wolf]

Anyone put the solution on a cigarette, so it soaks in?

I've painted the inside of papers with concentrate and then smear it with another paper before rolling them
into a joint.

 

[Ca++]

A second paper. That never crossed my mind. It's a bit of a task just drawing a line in the right place, to get a roll on that doesn't make a mess.

I don't imagine that dosing cigarettes before the solvent has left, would be very accurate. However it does seem very easy.

I don't smoke tobacco, but I'm always happy to mess about.