home grower eager to improve his RSO

[GDub51]

I treat my Ankylosing Spondylitis with cannabis, much I grow myself. I'm always looking for safer, easier, and more efficient ways to extract THC/CBD from my home grow. Have used the same alcohol previously washed over fresh decarbed bud again and again to try to increase the THC/CBD content. I'm trying to find someone who has done this to confirm it works.

 

[1diesel1]

Welcome to, The Farm!!:)
I use everclear to make RSO.

 

[DistyDemon]

Ethanol and isopropyl alcohol (really any oil or the like), can only absorb so much oil before it cant absorb any more. It better to do 2 or even 3 washes to insure you get all that you want out in your final product. I can give you a SOP for any extract, but I do not mess with butane or co2 extracts.

 

[Dan789]

I treat my Ankylosing Spondylitis with cannabis, much I grow myself. I'm always looking for safer, easier, and more efficient ways to extract THC/CBD from my home grow. Have used the same alcohol previously washed over fresh decarbed bud again and again to try to increase the THC/CBD content. I'm trying to find someone who has done this to confirm it works.

For my alcohol tinctures, 2oz. Decarb'd buds, approx 1 quart 200 proof ethanol 60 days infusion time, then reducing over heat till 65-70% then bottle. As long as no open flame is used and the reducing is done outside away from the house, it’s relatively safe, that said don’t try this at home without consideration for what you’ll do if something untold does happen... I’ve done it for thirty days duration and the extraction isn’t quite up to snuff...
I don’t grind the bud before immersing into the ethanol, as I feel the bud structure allows the ethanol to contact all the THC and terpenoids, and allows for a cleaner filtering afterward, but that just my method.

 

[Jimster]

I treat my Ankylosing Spondylitis with cannabis, much I grow myself. I'm always looking for safer, easier, and more efficient ways to extract THC/CBD from my home grow. Have used the same alcohol previously washed over fresh decarbed bud again and again to try to increase the THC/CBD content. I'm trying to find someone who has done this to confirm it works.

Please overlook an old timer's ignorance, but I'm not familiar with RSO. In any event, you shouldn't need to decarb your source material if you are going to smoke/vape the finished product, since the heat involved in smoking/vaping should decarb it. Unless I stuck my ancient foot in my mouth because I don't know what RSO is.

 

[GDub51]

Please overlook an old timer's ignorance, but I'm not familiar with RSO. In any event, you shouldn't need to decarb your source material if you are going to smoke/vape the finished product, since the heat involved in smoking/vaping should decarb it. Unless I stuck my ancient foot in my mouth because I don't know what RSO is.

RSO= Rick Simpson Oil, considered the inventor of the alcohol extraction technique for cannabis. Which involves exposing the weed to the alcohol then reducing off the alcohol till "gone". The resulting product is taken under the tongue where a supposed "rice grain" size dose can relieve even acute pain. My point is my home grow does not have the THC/CBD concentration apparently than "his" stuff. Sooooooooooooooooooooo, I'm back to ground zero on my question. Which I will pose again more succinctly.

 

[GDub51]

For my alcohol tinctures, 2oz. Decarb'd buds, approx 1 quart 200 proof ethanol 60 days infusion time, then reducing over heat till 65-70% then bottle. As long as no open flame is used and the reducing is done outside away from the house, it’s relatively safe, that said don’t try this at home without consideration for what you’ll do if something untold does happen... I’ve done it for thirty days duration and the extraction isn’t quite up to snuff...
I don’t grind the bud before immersing into the ethanol, as I feel the bud structure allows the ethanol to contact all the THC and terpenoids, and allows for a cleaner filtering afterward, but that just my method.

Thanks Dan, however my question is not about a new RSO recipe. I am looking for anyone who has done the double or triple exposure that I'm doing to confirm if and how much more THC/CBD wind up in the goo. I am also doing this now with MCT oil. Though it cannot be reduced like alcohol, it can be "double or triple exposed" to enrich the result as well and it doesn't taste like excrement. In fact my first batch was with a Vanilla flavored MCT and it's great straight. One tablespoon of the stuff added to anything you eat or drink works like a black diamond 1000mg brownie. I may just be leaving alcohol behind for good with this stuff!! I'll give the details in a separate post.

 

[Jimster]

We used to make this stuff during the 70s, when you had a bunch of so-so buds. Screen out the seeds/stems, soak in alcohol (it didn't really matter if it was for 3 days or 3 months, since the THC dissolved pretty quickly from the screened up buds. Then you simply evaporate it off, or do a vacuum evaporation. From memory, it wasn't all that different than the oils of today, although the taste is different. There weren't any flavors, it was just hash or pot oil, whatever you wanted to call it. We never decarbed it because it would decarb upon smoking it, plus there was an urban legend going around that decarbed stuff lost it's potency faster than non-decarbed, but I haven't found any research to support this.

 

[Dan789]

So my experience with oil extractions are this...as you can’t reduce the oil with any conventional means, then it follows (my logic) that only more bud, higher quality bud, or longer extraction periods will result in any higher concentration of said THC, and other desirable terpenoids .
With my magic butter maker coconut oil extraction (which I deviate from included recipes, by more cycles over a few days), I end up with a gooey dark mass of the remnants of the bud at the bottom after filtering out through a metal screen coffee strainer, then paper coffee filter. Though I have no way of determining what amount of remaining active ingredients are in that filtered out mass, I do suspect that only a longer exposure to these materials will result in a higher concentration within this oil. One ultimate method would be to encapsulate some of this filtered mass, ingest this and note any reaction...other than that we’re all flying by the seat of our pants...
I’ve looked into trying to some of the available methods for determining THC concentrations but haven’t come across anything that seems likely to return discernible results. Even considering the purchase of the home testing machines but most that seem viable are in the $600-$700 range...

 

[GDub51]

So my experience with oil extractions are this...as you can’t reduce the oil with any conventional means, then it follows (my logic) that only more bud, higher quality bud, or longer extraction periods will result in any higher concentration of said THC, and other desirable terpenoids .
With my magic butter maker coconut oil extraction (which I deviate from included recipes, by more cycles over a few days), I end up with a gooey dark mass of the remnants of the bud at the bottom after filtering out through a metal screen coffee strainer, then paper coffee filter. Though I have no way of determining what amount of remaining active ingredients are in that filtered out mass, I do suspect that only a longer exposure to these materials will result in a higher concentration within this oil. One ultimate method would be to encapsulate some of this filtered mass, ingest this and note any reaction...other than that we’re all flying by the seat of our pants...
I’ve looked into trying to some of the available methods for determining THC concentrations but haven’t come across anything that seems likely to return discernible results. Even considering the purchase of the home testing machines but most that seem viable are in the $600-$700 range...

I'm not suggesting any reduction in the oil just more bud exposures to increase content. A Finished batch used over a Fresh batch of bud two or three times to increase the THC/CBD content. You can add some fresh oil each exposure to compensate for that lost to the process or leave it reduced for the greatest concentration. Your right that this extra exposure technique is problematic with alcohol, I don't like the taste so I don't care how intense it is. BUT with MCT the taste is not a factor. There is none unless you add it. I got a vanilla flavored MCT that I like. I'm looking for anyone else that has tried double or triple exposures with various extractors to increase the THC/CBD content of the generally weaker home grown material many of us work with. Yes I hope to do better than 10% this year! Planted White Widow and Gorilla Bomb this year.

 

[Dan789]

I'm not suggesting any reduction in the oil just more bud exposures to increase content. A Finished batch used over a Fresh batch of bud two or three times to increase the THC/CBD content. You can add some fresh oil each exposure to compensate for that lost to the process or leave it reduced for the greatest concentration. Your right that this extra exposure technique is problematic with alcohol, I don't like the taste so I don't care how intense it is. BUT with MCT the taste is not a factor. There is none unless you add it. I got a vanilla flavored MCT that I like. I'm looking for anyone else that has tried double or triple exposures with various extractors to increase the THC/CBD content of the generally weaker home grown material many of us work with. Yes I hope to do better than 10% this year! Planted White Widow and Gorilla Bomb this year.

You continue to miss my point...good luck.

 

[GDub51]

You continue to miss my point...good luck.

not sure what your point is. IT's not about longer runs or trying to reduce the oil, its about running the once exposed oil back over a FRESH batch of flower two or three times in order to increase it's THC etc. content. Has anyone done this, and does it seem obviously more potent for doing so?

 

[Jimster]

not sure what your point is. IT's not about longer runs or trying to reduce the oil, its about running the once exposed oil back over a FRESH batch of flower two or three times in order to increase it's THC etc. content. Has anyone done this, and does it seem obviously more potent for doing so?

Please excuse my ignorance of the process, but once you get to a certain concentration, it can't be concentrated by running it over more buds because the oil becomes saturated by the oil and it can't dissolve any more. Consider salt water. Add a bunch of salt to the point it doesn't dissolve anymore, which is fully saturated. No matter how much more salt that you add, you can't make it any more concentrated since the water is holding as much salt as it can. Same with THC concentrates using alcohol or other solvents. They have a finite amount of THC that they can dissolve. Trying to add more will make more of the concentrate, but won't make it any more concentrated.
If you were only getting a portion of the THC and the solvent can hold more without becoming saturated, then running it over more flowers might increase it's concentration, but once it is fully saturated, it can't hold any more THC unless heated up, which increases it's ability to dissolve chemicals.
Or did I miss the impetus of the question totally?

 

[GDub51]

Please excuse my ignorance of the process, but once you get to a certain concentration, it can't be concentrated by running it over more buds because the oil becomes saturated by the oil and it can't dissolve any more. Consider salt water. Add a bunch of salt to the point it doesn't dissolve anymore, which is fully saturated. No matter how much more salt that you add, you can't make it any more concentrated since the water is holding as much salt as it can. Same with THC concentrates using alcohol or other solvents. They have a finite amount of THC that they can dissolve. Trying to add more will make more of the concentrate, but won't make it any more concentrated.
If you were only getting a portion of the THC and the solvent can hold more without becoming saturated, then running it over more flowers might increase it's concentration, but once it is fully saturated, it can't hold any more THC unless heated up, which increases it's ability to dissolve chemicals.
Or did I miss the impetus of the question totally?

Now that you understand my question, what then IS the saturation point for MCT?