Making Butter/Oil with dry/cured shake, do I need to decarb?

[Green&Gold]

I'm trying to scientifically figure out the optimal process for making canna-oil/buttter with bottom of the bag type shake, the plant material is well dried, not fresh. I keep seeing conflicting information regarding whether its necessary to heat the plant material and the fat to decab/activate/convert the THCA to THC?

In the "Cooking Oil Made Complicated" thread there is the suggestion that dried plant material is already decarbed and does not require additional heat for decarb purposes. If this is true, do I only need to heat the plant material and fat to aid the THC bond to the fat? What temperature for what length of time is required to bond the THC to the fat?

 

[geopolitical]

To be honest, there's no way to be sure short of a lab assay. Remember, higher temps don't just activate THCA into THC, they also break down existing THC into other less savory byproducts. In my personal experience toasted pot produces a slightly "dirtier" feeling high than low temp completely dried material. I've used both, toasted pot definitely has a place and some recipes don't work well without it. Savory foods work best with toasted in my experience.

The THC actually dissolves into the fat, the fat acts as a solvent (like dissolving sugar into water) and the THC is the solute. So do some of the natural plant waxes and other lipid loving compounds which may contribute to the taste/high/shelf life of the end product.

Here's Ed weighing in on it Green.

"Although decarboxylation takes place rapidly at 106? C, it proceeds at a more gradual pace by placing the cannabis in a room with low relative humidity and room temperature. As the temperature rises, the rate of decarboxylation increases.

Cannabis can also be placed in a food dehydrator to remove the carboxyl group. Although the heat in the food dehydrator doesn't rise to 106? C, the temperature is warm enough to promote drying and the release of the water and CO2. When the marijuana is crispy and brittle you can be assured that the carboxyl group has been removed from the cannabinoids and they are ready for extraction or removal from the plant material."

http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2794.html