Cannabinoid loss from decarbing or Lab error?

[overgrowit]

Hi,

Recently I made some chocolates with some BHO that tested at 60% Cannabinoids.

I took 1 gram of this BHO and dissolved it into a small amount of coconut oil and placed in a oven to be heated to 250 degrees for 25 mins. I used a infrared thermometer to check the temp.

Then, I mixed the oil mixture thoroughly into melted chocolate and poured into a bar mold.

The mixture was just enough to make 24 pieces of choclolate.

So by my calculations, 1 gram of 60% BHO gives me 600mg Cannabinoids. 600mg divided by 24 pieces gives me 25mg per piece.

Well, I had a friend bring samples to a lab to see the consistency from one piece to another. Both pieces tested nearly the same at 9mg per piece. So they were consistent with each other but much less potent than intended.

So where did the rest of the cannabinoids go? I don't think any was vaporized during decarb because of the lower temp, but maybe there is something i am missing. Maybe the testing isn't as accurate for edibles?

If anyone has experience with making edibles like this i could really use some input.

Thanks

 

[N_fuzed edibles]

They tested at 9mg cannabinoids or 9mg thc?

 

[Healthreasons]

They tested at 9mg cannabinoids or 9mg thc?

The total cannabinoids were 11.6mg per piece. Broken down by 9.5 THC and 1.7 THCa.

Perhaps decarbing prior to adding the coconut oil would offer a different result?

 

[N_fuzed edibles]

Maybe it all wasn't dissolved into the oil?
How do you plan on activating the thcA in the bho?

 

[overgrowit]

N_fuzed edibles, healthreasons is correct, it was 11.6mg total cannabinoids per pieces. The thca was activated by the decarb process. From what i understand, if you try to convert 100% of the thca through a extended decarbing process, you will risk a large percentage converting to cbn.

The thing that doesn't make sense to me is, even if none of the BHO was decarbed it should still show up in the test as total cannabinoids. Or, on the other hand, if it was decarbed for to long and thca converted to cbn it should still show up in the total cannabinoid percentage.

There is always the possibility that the missing cannabinoids are collected in other pieces of chocolate, this would happen if it wasn't mixed properly. I don't think this is the case because the BHO dissolved fully into the coconut oil, much better than when i tried vegetable glycerin. And the coconut oil mixed very well with the chocolate. Also, the test results did have some consistency from piece to another.

I did some reading about testing edibles and it seems that the process isn't always as accurate as testing flowers or oil. It depends on the method of testing. Some methods involve extracting the cannabinoids from the edible into a solution for testing. If the edible is made with fat and oils some of the active ingredient will not release its bond, resulting in low percentage numbers. It sounds like we need to talk to the lab to determine how much loss they estimate.

Here is an article about trouble with testing edibles if anyone is interested. http://www.cwanalytical.com/trouble-edibles

 

[N_fuzed edibles]

I am not convinced that the decarboxylation process had anything to do with the losses.

How much coconut oil did you use to dissolve the 1 gram of bho?

 

[DeceiverZ]

The total cannabinoids were 11.6mg per piece. Broken down by 9.5 THC and 1.7 THCa.

Perhaps decarbing prior to adding the coconut oil would offer a different result?

I would agree. I think adding the coconut oil first might be acting as a buffer for the temps required to fully decarb the canna oil.

If your goal is to dilute the canna oil I would hold off on doing that post decarbing. I normally just put the canna oil by itself on a flat glass dish petri type dish and leave it in my oven for 35min @ 250F. I assume 95% conversion from THCA -> THC and once it is cooled I will weigh out the remaining decarbed canna oil (easily achieved if you previously weighed out your glass container) and then start to dilute that with coconut oil, butter, etc.,

With this process we've been able to get within 10% margin of our target dose. Please let me know if you have any more questions.

-DZ

 

[overgrowit]

N_fuzed edibles, I used 2 teaspoons of coconut oil.

DeceiverZ, I figured the same thing, to decarb before dilution like you suggest. According to the tests 9.5mg of thc was converted out of 11.6mg giving me 86% conversion. So it did work, but not 100%
I had good luck putting it on a silicone mat in the oven and monitor the co2 bubbles and temp with a IR thermometer. Then into the freezer for a few minutes so it can be handled again.

Thank you everyone for your input it is helpful to hear what others have to say.

The mystery to me is, where did the missing 320mg of cannabinoids went to? At this point i am pretty sure it something off with the test.
I had 600mg to start with. In a perfect world the samples should have tested at 25mg each (600mg/24 pieces). The two samples actually tested at 11.6mg cannabinoids per piece. That is 13.4mg missing in each piece or 321.6mg in all 24 pieces.

I can understand that there will be some loss due to the film of chocolate left over on the mixing bowl, but not that amount. The ingredients were measured perfectly to make exactly 24 pieces of equal weight and every last drop of oil was used.

The heat never got high enough to actually destroy the molecules so I think it has to do with them binding to the fat in the coconut oil making it difficult to accurately test.

 

[DeceiverZ]

You're probably right about some of the THC binding to the fat. I'd say next time we're looking at test results, we should decarb the oil, THEN send that in for testing before diluting it into coconut oil and adding to any recipe. This would remove much of the doubt and testing two random pieces of chocolates afterwards would give a good deal of insight as to what might be happening when we test.

-DZ

 

[Healthreasons]

You're probably right about some of the THC binding to the fat. I'd say next time we're looking at test results, we should decarb the oil, THEN send that in for testing before diluting it into coconut oil and adding to any recipe. This would remove much of the doubt and testing two random pieces of chocolates afterwards would give a good deal of insight as to what might be happening when we test.

-DZ

DZ, I like the idea of decarbing and then testing. That should take the mystery right out!