OK, let me preface this by saying, no I am not a chemist, and yes, just using solvents bought cheaply can make for some level of risk and toxicity, but done properly, that risk should be very minimal I don't wanna get into the inevitable "OMG never touch this random toxic thing!" kind of posts. If you don't feel comfortable with product made the way its being discussed in the thread, fine, but we don't need to hear that over and over I'm just interested in cheap, easy and relatively safe ways to make concentrates, from our actual experiences.
Now I'm no grower or expert either, but I know what I've tried and how it worked. I also know some of the hazards and pitfalls and have put myself at considerable risk over the years I've cooked harder drugs in the past, have over 10 years clean now, but I just wanna stress, that yes, safety matters to me, but cost effectiveness, ease and product results are what matter most to me For me, this can be recreational but is primarily a medicine, and I have to make it count, because I can't afford to just buy all I need as some can.
I primarily started experimenting because I got a friend with good source of cheap trim and bottom leaf from a volume grower I live in a trailer, so bubble hash is very impractical, as i have no freezer, just a slot that keeps things frozen sort of and ices over. So we pick the stuff for the buds and smoke em I don't see the point in wasting buds making oils I hear the "quality in is quality out" mantra and its somewhat valid, but i like the buds as they are and even bottom leaf alone (from quality strain plants) has enough cannibanoids to make this worthwhile. Plus, for me, the more bottom leaf the better, as it adds all that wonderful CBD to the product, and while yield is lower with leaf, Id argue that potency isn't as big a deal as folks say IMO, you get just as high off a similar amount, its just buds are tastier, higher yield and sure maybe somewhat more potent, but not so it matters to me.
Anyway, that said, we do blow BHO when we can afford to and when we can get together to do it, we do it outside safely as we can, but I can tell you other than quality of product, I have nothing I like about the process.
So I've done QWISO many times over the years and never come up with a product you could put in a dabber that didn't look black and taste nasty I hear cold is key, tried it, still was never happy with vaping the end product, stony, but bad nasty taste and dark color Would consider trying activated charcoal, but yeah, just never found this to make anything better than smoking quality Throw it on a bud, smoke it, then it taste fine.
So, recently I tried three batches with three paint store solvents, each 1 US quart and all around $10usd each, Denatured Alcohol (basically 90% ethyl, 10% methyl to make it relatively anhydrous), VM&P Naptha (Zippo Fuel essentially or paint and varnish thinner), and Acetone. All branded Sunnyside, available with ease locally, and all evap cleanly Yes, again, I know its industrial grade, but ease and cost count to some of us, and AFAIK, its safe, no residual solvent smells, tastes. Id bet some cash a commercial lab would test my stuff and find it acceptable as far as end product. I think the real hazard here is heated purging and fume inhalation. Heated purging is a necessity for me, as I live in trailer with cats Air evapping would not only expose my buddies to fumes, but they'd be sure to spill sticky product.
Simple method, keep weed and jar and solvent (except Naptha) in top slot of fridge at freezing temp, cold as I can couple hours, Naptha you warm in a water bath for the extraction, comes in a nice metal can, easily fit in my rice cooker I use for purging. I don't eat it so no de-carbing, and I think the heated purge does some of it anyway, but also no grinding, just dry crumbled de-stemmed stuff is ideal Stems contribute little and just act like sponges retaining solvent and reducing yields. Soaks should be short as possible with gentle agitations and and washes I do not separate the washes, but rather evap them together. Then I simply strain it off with a screen and coffee filter (screen over filter to keep plant material out of coffee filter), this allows you to collect kief from filter later and makes it filter quicker.
I think purging is where the health risk is The fumes can be awful. Denatured alcohol is better, though not at all pleasant, its only 10% toxic by volume anyway. Naptha I almost like the smell of, but would you willingly huff gas? Sure boiling naptha is awful for ya, not to mention flammable as hell, and acetone is the worst! Eventually I wanna build a closed system so as to recover solvents and for safety. In any case, for now I boil in a rice cooker on high outdoors I set a flat screen on the pan, with a small desk fan on top for weight and to blow fumes and walk away till about 2/3 is purged, usually about 20 min, I assume around 100c Then I take it on my lap with the fan to agitate and of course hot pads on, just slowly agitating as it boils off When it gets very thick, you can let it go to "warm" to finish and its good to stir and pop bubbles the help the purge You can also use a few drops of distilled water, because it boils at higher temp than the solvents, and helps finish the purge.
So the results I got were, that DN Alcohol, had highest yield, but lowest taste and color quality, the potency was very close, but way too much chlorophyll and sugars got through, not at all vapable.
Naptha made a nice product, with decent yield, deep brown in color Not "good taste" but entirely vapable and some who tried it liked it, but not me.
Acetone had the lowest yield, but I also had less than a bottle and less weed, but that cant account for the small yield entirely. I used the same weed and like 2/3 as much weed and solvent, and came out with slightly less than half as much. May try longer soak in fridge, but am open to suggestions? The quality tho! Very potent and tasty! A delight to vape, damn near BHO quality, just bit darker brown and nice and translucent.
Since writing the above I have read more about filtration maybe being the problem with alcohol and taste? It was suggested to use a 0 micron filter or less, but IDK, where to get cheaply? Experience anyone? Definitely willing to experiment more with it, as I get a usable product, just wanna refine for taste.
So anyway, my goal was a nice oil, vapes and tastes like BHO without the vessel, cost and risk of BHO Acetone is my new solvent of choice, because I got exactly that, but the whole purpose of this thread was to share experience, and develop methods to improve on, so have at please, I look forward to learning!
Now I'm no grower or expert either, but I know what I've tried and how it worked. I also know some of the hazards and pitfalls and have put myself at considerable risk over the years I've cooked harder drugs in the past, have over 10 years clean now, but I just wanna stress, that yes, safety matters to me, but cost effectiveness, ease and product results are what matter most to me For me, this can be recreational but is primarily a medicine, and I have to make it count, because I can't afford to just buy all I need as some can.
I primarily started experimenting because I got a friend with good source of cheap trim and bottom leaf from a volume grower I live in a trailer, so bubble hash is very impractical, as i have no freezer, just a slot that keeps things frozen sort of and ices over. So we pick the stuff for the buds and smoke em I don't see the point in wasting buds making oils I hear the "quality in is quality out" mantra and its somewhat valid, but i like the buds as they are and even bottom leaf alone (from quality strain plants) has enough cannibanoids to make this worthwhile. Plus, for me, the more bottom leaf the better, as it adds all that wonderful CBD to the product, and while yield is lower with leaf, Id argue that potency isn't as big a deal as folks say IMO, you get just as high off a similar amount, its just buds are tastier, higher yield and sure maybe somewhat more potent, but not so it matters to me.
Anyway, that said, we do blow BHO when we can afford to and when we can get together to do it, we do it outside safely as we can, but I can tell you other than quality of product, I have nothing I like about the process.
So I've done QWISO many times over the years and never come up with a product you could put in a dabber that didn't look black and taste nasty I hear cold is key, tried it, still was never happy with vaping the end product, stony, but bad nasty taste and dark color Would consider trying activated charcoal, but yeah, just never found this to make anything better than smoking quality Throw it on a bud, smoke it, then it taste fine.
So, recently I tried three batches with three paint store solvents, each 1 US quart and all around $10usd each, Denatured Alcohol (basically 90% ethyl, 10% methyl to make it relatively anhydrous), VM&P Naptha (Zippo Fuel essentially or paint and varnish thinner), and Acetone. All branded Sunnyside, available with ease locally, and all evap cleanly Yes, again, I know its industrial grade, but ease and cost count to some of us, and AFAIK, its safe, no residual solvent smells, tastes. Id bet some cash a commercial lab would test my stuff and find it acceptable as far as end product. I think the real hazard here is heated purging and fume inhalation. Heated purging is a necessity for me, as I live in trailer with cats Air evapping would not only expose my buddies to fumes, but they'd be sure to spill sticky product.
Simple method, keep weed and jar and solvent (except Naptha) in top slot of fridge at freezing temp, cold as I can couple hours, Naptha you warm in a water bath for the extraction, comes in a nice metal can, easily fit in my rice cooker I use for purging. I don't eat it so no de-carbing, and I think the heated purge does some of it anyway, but also no grinding, just dry crumbled de-stemmed stuff is ideal Stems contribute little and just act like sponges retaining solvent and reducing yields. Soaks should be short as possible with gentle agitations and and washes I do not separate the washes, but rather evap them together. Then I simply strain it off with a screen and coffee filter (screen over filter to keep plant material out of coffee filter), this allows you to collect kief from filter later and makes it filter quicker.
I think purging is where the health risk is The fumes can be awful. Denatured alcohol is better, though not at all pleasant, its only 10% toxic by volume anyway. Naptha I almost like the smell of, but would you willingly huff gas? Sure boiling naptha is awful for ya, not to mention flammable as hell, and acetone is the worst! Eventually I wanna build a closed system so as to recover solvents and for safety. In any case, for now I boil in a rice cooker on high outdoors I set a flat screen on the pan, with a small desk fan on top for weight and to blow fumes and walk away till about 2/3 is purged, usually about 20 min, I assume around 100c Then I take it on my lap with the fan to agitate and of course hot pads on, just slowly agitating as it boils off When it gets very thick, you can let it go to "warm" to finish and its good to stir and pop bubbles the help the purge You can also use a few drops of distilled water, because it boils at higher temp than the solvents, and helps finish the purge.
So the results I got were, that DN Alcohol, had highest yield, but lowest taste and color quality, the potency was very close, but way too much chlorophyll and sugars got through, not at all vapable.
Naptha made a nice product, with decent yield, deep brown in color Not "good taste" but entirely vapable and some who tried it liked it, but not me.
Acetone had the lowest yield, but I also had less than a bottle and less weed, but that cant account for the small yield entirely. I used the same weed and like 2/3 as much weed and solvent, and came out with slightly less than half as much. May try longer soak in fridge, but am open to suggestions? The quality tho! Very potent and tasty! A delight to vape, damn near BHO quality, just bit darker brown and nice and translucent.
Since writing the above I have read more about filtration maybe being the problem with alcohol and taste? It was suggested to use a 0 micron filter or less, but IDK, where to get cheaply? Experience anyone? Definitely willing to experiment more with it, as I get a usable product, just wanna refine for taste.
So anyway, my goal was a nice oil, vapes and tastes like BHO without the vessel, cost and risk of BHO Acetone is my new solvent of choice, because I got exactly that, but the whole purpose of this thread was to share experience, and develop methods to improve on, so have at please, I look forward to learning!
