Hello fellow cannabinoid lovers! I am fairly new to this forum, but am a veteran in the cannabis subculture. I have been making oil for over 10 years now and have tried many different methods. Started out with ISO oil and after a while, got sick of black oil, and I didn't like the chemistry behind the extraction. I also discovered how dangerous a critical solvent extraction can be. From my experience, using butane as a solvent with the proper extraction tool can be a quick, efficient way to make a very potent cannabis extract. With a little tweaking, one can gain many different consistencies to their finished product.
Here we go!
Yesterday I decided to run around 10-15grams of bottombag/popcorn buds. I made sure that the product was crumble dry beforehand.
Materials needed are.
-Desired amount of buds/bottom bag/trim.(ex. buds=10% return) The extraction ratio will change depending on the medium used, and if one prefers using whole or crushed up buds.
-Butane(Only certain brands will do, no camping butane, and dont give up, most smoke shops will have high-grade butane. I usually either use colibri or Xikar. Look for a "NEAR ZERO IMPURITIES) label.
-Hose clamp(s). These are for fastening your filter to your extraction tube.
-Extraction tube. There are many kids, Most people either use glass or stainless steel these days. I cant believe people used to use PVC pipe or those plastic ones. I just wouldnt risk it.
-Unbleached coffee filters(not the cone kind). I usually double up, and place on the end of my tube after it is filled. Then i fasten fairly tight-just enough so that it wont slip off from the pressure built up by the butane.
-Pyrex dishes! I use a two dish setup. One to catch my blast, and one underneith to contain boiling water. I have found this method to be one of the safest and with this method, one can purge most of the butane off before hitting the hot plate for curing(final purge)
-Pill bottle caps(to seperate the pyrex dishes from one another to allow water to flow through) I urge you to be creative! Anything will work as long as it doesnt slip away and put a decent amount of distance between both dishes.
-Razorblades. These will be your second best friend when harvesting as well as razing the big butane bubbles.
-Isopropyl alcohol. Your best friend. To clean your dishes and other equipment beforehand. Also great for getting oil off of places that cha dont want it!
-Hot Plate. This is completely optional and purging can be done with boiling water alone, it just takes quite a bit longer and although it is safer, after a while one will know what temperature to set the hot plate at, and just by looking at the oil one will know when to remove it from the heat. Big bubbles=Butane. Small bubbles = Terpines/cannabinoids.
-Receptacle. Again, be creative. I currently use a titanium oil dish which also makes it very easy to purge after collecting, but parchment paper works AWESOME as well as these silicone mats they have out. Last thing you want to use is a rolling paper, tin foil, plastic.....You will learn by trial and error.
My process.
Alex's Essential Extract.
I first load up my extraction tube with my material, packing it fairly tight with a bent straw from mcdonalds(lol) I pack the tube so that the material springs back a little bit but still stays packed down. I usually pre-pack my tube to have it ready to run.
After packing my tube I will then make sure my dishes are set up outside, and that my kettle is boiling. I have a great electric kettle that will boil, and then keep its temperature until you press a button teling it not to. It keeps many different temperatures and I have found that if one doesnt have a hot plate, heating the water to around 175-180 will allow for a good purging temperature.
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