the bio-droid training facility... green dragon experiments.

....welcome to the bio-droid training facility and my green dragon experiments... i will be documenting my cannabis tincture learning process here... and hope for participation from other board members... after discovering master wu's recipe and becoming quite intrigued, i've spent the last several months buried in green dragon research and development.

first off... absolute respect and honor go to master wu for showing me the way... unfortunately he abandoned his thread long before i discovered it and i never got to speak with him, hopefully he moved on to bigger and better things.... i could only imagine how many learned from his thread, and i can only hope to spread his knowledge and my trial and error to many more.

i started this journey because i have a close friend who recently received her card... she doesn't smoke and the providers here in NM do not offer edibles, extraction, or tinctures... this is where i come in. for anonymity sake i'll call her viktoria... her condition closely resembles fibromyalgia, i know not what that is, what i do know is this girl consumes a stupid amount of pain meds through out the day. percs, 30 and 15 mg morphine's, muscle relaxers, and all sorts of other stuff... she talks of horrible side effects that make me cringe.

i'm proud to say that with the first batch of dragon i gave her... she did not take her evening meds for 2 weeks straight... and left behind some nausea. she did have some interesting side effects from the dragon, like a slight buzz in the morning. nothing compared to the pharms...i'll not go any further in the hopes that viktoria her self will chime in on the topic...

i made about 15 batches in the old house with bad electric oven... it fluctuated about 75 degrees during my 5 min. decarb which required me to use some tricky timing... happy to say that's all behind me, in the new facility a have the perfect gas oven that hold 325f exactly... no fluctuation.



i've since made my best 3 dragons, 3 different combinations... with 3 end products. my next 3 post will be method, documentation and pics of these 3 dragons...

if you have any interest in cannabis tinctures, green dragon is the way... please feel free to join in, comment or critique in any way...

green dragon... one.

green dragon... one.

this was my strongest dragon so far... overwhelming at a 1/2 tsp.

ingredients...
4 g. A grade bud chemD x spacedawg, the 'blue' pheno
4 g. shake from A grade bud.
4 oz. everclear 95% grain alcohol
foil
quick read digital thermometer
oven thermometer
sauce pot and steamer basket or any water bath you can put together...
coffee filter to strain dragon from cannabis... i use a potato ricer to squeeze the last bit...

method...
decarb in oven for 5min at 325f.
extract for 20 min. in boiling alcohol.

process...

4 g. bud... 4 g. shake...



i grind my bud in a coffee grinder, the shake stays as is...



bud and shake gets mixed and must be dry for a proper decarb... preheat your oven to 325f... use a thermometer in the oven and forget the dial... than a preheat a bit longer... this gives a more consistent oven temp



spread flat on foil and into the oven for 5 min at 325f... it will smell strongly and give you a slight puff of vapor upon opening the oven... this is the look of properly decarbed cannabis...




cannabis goes into a pint mason jar with 4 oz. everclear...



this will go into the water bath, everything at room temp... if you put the jar in boiling water it will break...



at see level water boils at 212f, and alcohol at 172f... i'm in the high desert and water boils around 200f, alcohol around 163f... the alcohol, water, cannabis blend has a combined boiling point...
a water bath around 185 keeps the alcohol at a consistent rolling boil... i time 20 min. from the moment the alcohol starts to boil, and keep the water bath at a very light boil/simmer



this reduced to 2 oz. of dragon... it's what i was after but it was too strong... especially for viktoria...



i drizzle through a coffee filter, than squeeze the filter and cannabis in my potato ricer... this can yield a bit more dragon



this dragon was overwhelming strong at 1/4 to 1/2 tsp, my prefered dosage... gonna shoot for 4 oz. reduced dragon on my next personal batch... the next is light strength for viktoria...
my pics of the process were not the best and lacking for this round... they are much better over the next 2 batches... if anything i've said is confusing please let me know...

nice post! but your pics arent working!!!!

I've found a way to make tincture that doesn't involve soaking bud in everclear, I think the purity of anything soaked like this is questionable. I've tasted a number of tinctures over the years and most of them taste like shit (like lawn clippings soaked in everclear, barf!)

Basically I start with clean and filtered honey QWISO (I use ISO, denatured, or acetone, whichever I can get 4-8 gallons of when I need it) and purge it well. It needs to be dry and decarboxylized before use.

Then simply take about 2 grams of honey oil, mix it with a 1/2 oz of everclear and dissolve it at room temps. This takes a while to dissolve but well worth it. When there are no chunks remaining I put in a splash of 100 proof peppermint schnapps, for a little sweet and flavor. I use little squeeze bottles with a dropper tip. 4 drops and you're STONED. It actually tastes good, is small and concealable, and should last forever.

Start with a purified extract and then dilute it with alcohol. Otherwise you end up with a lot more cholorophyll and other crap that just doesn't get you high and generally tastes bad.

green dragon... two.

green dragon... two.

sneakinman13 said:

nice post! but your pics arent working!!!!

Click to expand...

13... thnx for stoping by... are my pics not serving their intended purpose or are they not showing on your monitor ? ... everything seems to be status quo with my links...

Lazyman said:

Start with a purified extract and then dilute it with alcohol.

Click to expand...

sounds kick ass lazyman and i absolutely want to try your method. thnx for breaking it down. i make BHO but have not tried QWISO yet... i've done some research and have some ISO so i give it a try soon... when i do i may hit you up for some guidance.
for the record my dragon tastes nothing like lawn clippings or shit... i drink it in water or beer... adds a slight green flavor like anything cooked with canna butter... it's very good, especially in the beer...

what's your decarb process for honey oil... ?


ok back to the matter at hand...

ingredients...
4 g. shake from A grade bud.
5 oz. everclear 95% grain alcohol
foil
quick read digital thermometer
oven thermometer
sauce pot and steamer basket or any water bath you can put together...
coffee filter to strain dragon from cannabis... i use a potato ricer to squeeze the last bit...

method...
same 325f. decarb for 5 min.
20 min. alcohol extraction in water bath.

process...

before going into the preheated 325f. oven ...



right at 5 minutes as the oven door opens...



properly decarbed cannabis, and my patient little kitchen helper... there's a very distinct smell here... i've gone too far and the smell is not the same... more toasted...
after the bong whack test i can say there's some kick ass THC in here...



left this one soaking in the everclear for 12 hours or so... gotta work sometimes...



this was the first time i extracted with a cover... did absolutely nothing...



2 oz. finished product... still on the strong side for my friend viktoria... but keeping her off the evening morphine and percocet... she takes a single dropper full, i measured it at an 1/8 tsp...



tried to get a pic of the emerald green color here...got some killer color pics in the round 3...



thought this would be a light batch but this was my most perfect to date... drank some in my water bottle at work... 1/4 tsp at a time... perfect body high, leveled off every edge and pain... perfect head high... not overwhelming or scattering... just cruising through an evening at work on clouds... happy... no stress.

your pics just werent showing up on my screen working now! i diggggg
might give this a try here soon
thanks

amazing. Ive never done anything like this, but i applaud your honest attempts to help a friend in pain.

green dragon... three.

green dragon... three.

13 ans 27... thnx for stopping by the thread...

i'm very happy to try and help my friend... we've known each other for 15 years... keep in mind i'm a heavy consumer of dragon myself it would seem... and i'm never gonna stop.

i'm looking into high cbd strains for this project... what i can find available on the seed market is cannatonic from resin seeds... possibly has a 1:1 cb to thc ratio, right around 6% each... i'm considering purchasing...

ok... once again...

ingredients...
4 g. bud chemD x spacedawg, the 'blue' pheno
4 g. shake from A grade bud. mixed strains from myself and my med provider.
8 oz. everclear 95% grain alcohol
foil
quick read digital thermometer
oven thermometer
sauce pot and steamer basket or any water bath you can put together...
coffee filter to strain dragon from cannabis... i use a potato ricer to squeeze the last bit...

method... same time and temps...
decarb in oven for 5min at 325f.
extract for 20 min. in boiling alcohol.

process...

4 g. bud... 4 g. shake...




before 5 min. in the very preheated 325f. oven...




after the decarb process... passed the bong whack test with flying colors and a massive head rush...




in 8 oz. 95% everclear... right as it starts to boil...




can't seem to catch a boil in a pic... looks like a wave... this is the alcohol boiling down...




pulled it out to try and catch a pic of the boil again...




after the 20 min. water bath extraction...




5 oz. after filtering... i wanted to reduce this down further, next time a longer extraction time... it has a very emerald green look... like kryptonite...




i like dragon beers... it makes a green cloud in the beer... i believe absinthe drinkers call this the green fairy...





this batch is mellow... i like a full tsp. in my beer or water bottle... i did overwhelm myself with this one last night but i had several servings... self titration is key when consuming...

if anyone has any info on other cbd rich strains... available or otherwise... please please chime in...

This is very interesting. Thank you General for posting, taking the time to make this proper green dragon tek. Should be trying this soon.

My one attempt at Green Dragon came out VERY green and tasted like a sip of some DANK (and everclear.)

Something I've been giving a lot of thought to lately is the idea of water-curing the buds before they go into the tincture. If you water cure for a few days to a week (explained in more detail below) you can remove most of the coloration, chlorophyl and terpines (odor).

So... if you water cure, then let it dry for a day or two... then carboxylate, then boil in everclear, you should end up with the same potency, but much less fragrence or taste.

When making cannabutter, this can also be done. One canna-chef said he makes a batch of canna-butter, lets it solidify, dumps out the water, adds fresh, lets it all melt together again, lets it solidify, dumps out the water, and repeats the whole process 3-4 times. By the 4th trip (according to him) you end up with butter that looks basically like butter. (Yellow, not green) and smells... like butter.

Then anything you make will taste like food, but get you high.

Water curing made simple:

Take some bud. Put it in a container and submerge it in water. Every 6-12 hours, slowly pour out the water and then add fresh water. When the water stops turning green, remove the bud from the water and hang to dry. It will dry very quickly (a day or two).

It will now be "stealth" weed that smokes very very smooth, with very little fragrence or flavor. Most of us would not prefer this when we're smoking (unless we're going to a concert, for instance) but it seems like a big "win" for cooking or tincturing.

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

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

-Go

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.

gog said:

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

-Go

Click to expand...

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.

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

gog said:

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

Click to expand...

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?

Click to expand...

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

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

dragon four....

dragon four....




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...

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.

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.