Avi Makes BHO From Dry Ice Keif

I've been making BHO for years now, only until recently (early last year) have I switched from blasting thru dry ice keif instead of plant matter. My reasoning is that per each can of butane I am yielding so much more from dry ice keif than from plant matter, essentially saving myself tons of $$ on butane, instead spending a little bit on dry ice.

Hope Y'all enjoy my Dry Ice Keif to BHO pic-torial!

You will need:
Dry Ice
160 and or 220 micron bubble bags (typically for making ice water hash)
5 gallon bucket (CLEAN)
butane
extraction tube
coffee filter
pyrex dish (bigger the better, imo)
parchment
vacuum purge setup

First step is to place your bubble bag inside the 5gal bucket just as you would do to make ice water hash. Add plant matter and broken up dry ice, allow to sit for several minutes, letting the dry ice super cool the plant matter.



Next, lift the bubble bag partially out of the bucket, and shake the full bubble bag up and down. Soon after you start jostling the bag of plant matter and dry ice; a fine layer of dry ice keif will form inside the 5gal bucket.



Continue to shake the bubble bag vertically to extract dry ice keif into the 5 gal bucket; checking periodically for the slightest hint of green color to the keif collecting inside the bucket.

Be cautious of sublimated dry ice vapors... aka co2, don't inhale, ventilate, etc.

When you see green it means the plant matter is being broken up very fine and forced thru the bubble bag, essentially contaminating your dry ice keif with plant matter.
Generally I stop shaking my dry ice keif before I see green in it; empty the bucket; then begin shaking again... often I make 2 grades of dry ice keif, the blonde and the green. Then make 2 batches of BHO, one with the blonde, another with the green... sometimes they turn out very similar, surprisingly.


^^ "blonde" dry ice keif, ready to blast.

Now, blasting thru dry ice keif is more than just a little bit different from blasting thru plant matter. The main difference being that pressure will build up inside your extraction tube, because the keif is compressed and becomes more dense when butane is introduce and pushed thru the tube.
For this reason I DO NOT use glass extraction tubes for this method; altho I have before and will give the following advice to anyone using a glass extraction tube:
fill tube only 1/2 full, generally about 20 grams of dry ice keif per tube is my rule, altho I have gone as high as 40 grams in bigger tubes. When pressure forms inside the tube you may see liquid butane build up on top of the dry ice keif, don't worry, let it build up; it will begin to drain rapidly. generally a longer skinny tube (1.5 inches diameter max to avoid channeling) is better for this process if you are using glass. Not only to avoid butane channeling thru the dry ice keif, giving an incomplete extraction; but also to allow more space for liquid butane to fill. The main problem I have experienced with liquid butane buildup is if your tube is too full, and the liquid reaches the top of the tube, you can no longer introduce butane into the tube, and pressure begins releasing from the top... no es bueno.
ALSO
when this pressure builds up, you must have a strong enough filter, a coffee filter will NOT work. Back when I used glass extraction tubes, I would cut a circle out of a bubble bag (220 micron usually) and air-clap it onto the base of the extraction tube, double zip tie plus rubber bands... trust me you do not want the filter coming off mid-blast.

OK, having said all that about how to blast thru glass tubes; how I used to do it...
Now I use a lil plastic tube prodcut a friend gave me, called the "honeybee extractor"



basically a threaded heavy duty plastic tube, one hole for butane introduction at the "top", and on the cap several holes for the extract to escape from the "bottom". This item can easily be replicated in stainless steel with threaded cap, drill holes.

I place a coffee filter in betweeen the cap and tube, then thread them together, to ensure NO dry ice keif makes it's way into the butane hash.


BLAST OFF safely & outdoor or in a super-well ventilated area far far from sparks or open flame

You will notice the much darker color of the initial liquid coming out of the extraction tube, especially compared to blasting thru plant matter (IME).



I place the pyrex dish I'm blasting into in a pan of hot water (no more than 110 degrees f), gets them purge bubbles forming asap.


^^ This is the "safe look". Until enough butane has purged out to give you this look, keep outside or in your ultra-safe area.
When I get these big bubbles forming it is time to scrape the pyrex and place all that you collect onto parchment paper and commence to vac purge the remaining butane out of the hash.


^^ This is my super-ghetto vac purge setup... I'm sure many ICmagers have pimped out big glass bell jars and pumps that get right to the sweet spot (30 hg or so?). This foodsaver vacuum sealer and foodsaver vac chamber work just well enough, but not nearly as well as a real pump & chamber; but good enough for my liking.

I spread out the hash very thin on parchment paper, give a quick heat on both sides with my ceramic heat gun on low setting (under 110 degrees f, ideally).
then vac
repeat


^^ finished pic thru the parchment paper.

product is finished when it is stable at room temp, easy to handle... ready to dab

This round we ran 4 cans, yielded just less than 12 grams of oil, and I failed to weigh the dry sift keif, altho i'm guessing it was about 30 grams.

very nice work avi! looks lovely,,thanks for sharing,,s2

Super cool Avi!

Very smart idea. One of these days I'm going to do this too with fan leaves..

You still fill half-full even in a stainless tube?
Does it help to use a glass one and be able to see if your about to over-flow the tube from the butane backup?
Think it is worthwhile to mix in a handful of small buds and sugar trim in with the keif and be able to use a more full column? or just go with straight kief in a 1/2 pack (loose fill) column?

stainless, clear glass... whatever... you do NOT what the pressure backing up all the way to the top... letting off that pressure is messy and can contaminate your product.... it's safer to put LESS in the tube and run more cans thru it than try to fill up the tube and have to release pressure due to buildup. mixing with buds and trim.... sure why not, but that takes up alot of room in the tube also.. if anything put the plant matter against the screen to reduce pressure against the screen.

doesn't matter how loose you pack the trim, because when the tane gets to the keif it usually compacts it with pressure, maybe different mixed with buds/trim.

good luck, let us know how it turns out!