Graywolf
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Much of the oil that I produce doesn't get smoked or vaporized, but instead goes into oral or topical meds.
Amongst other differences that makes, is the need to decarboxylate to make the cannabinoids more orally active. That means that it has to cook the equivalent of about 122C/252F for 27 minutes to achieve 70% decarboxylation anyway, so I combine the final purge and decarboxylation by using a 250F hot oil bath.
I have also developed a process that simplifies clean up and subsequent mixing, so as to not lose excessive amounts of oil to the film left behind in containers.
I've run everything from prime bud, to ground and sifted stems, but for processing buds, trim, or fan leaves, I start by placing it on a cookie sheet in a 200F oven and cook it long enough that it is just frangible enough to be scrubbed through a pasta strainer to remove the sticks and stems and make it a uniform size. I test for the exact frangibility point by rolling the material between my finger and thumb.
I do not wish to have it bone dry, nor do I use a food processor or mixer to chop it up, as it may introduce fines in the process that add to filtering requirements.
I bought my pasta strainer at a restaurant supply store, and it has a double layer of mesh; one fine, and another coarser one reinforcing it. I wear a leather glove and just scrub it until it passes through the mesh and discard the remaining stems in a separate bag for different processing.
After passing through the strainer, I gallon Ziploc bag or jar the material up until I use it, to keep the moisture content low.
Since building a butane extraction and recovery system, my process is different than what I will describe here, but this is how I did it before the new system.
I begin stuffing the column by wadding up a coffee filter and ramming it into place first, to cover the injection port. That will diffuse the butane entering the column and prevent plant material from blowing backwards, should I remove the butane can with pressure remaining.
I use the top cut off of a 2 liter plastic seltzer water bottle for a funnel and pack the material firmly and evenly, but not tightly, using a wooden dowel at three to four stages on a 36" tube and two on a 12".
I double a commercial coffee filter and stretch it over the open end and cover that with a patch of 160 thread count bed sheet as a blowout preventer. I hold that in place with a rubber band, or twine, or a screw clamp, or wire tie.
I trim the excess filter material off after clamping, so it doesn't soak up oil, and if I am careful removing the filter assembly after an extraction, I can continue to reuse use it several times, to minimize oil losses to filter media.
Amongst other differences that makes, is the need to decarboxylate to make the cannabinoids more orally active. That means that it has to cook the equivalent of about 122C/252F for 27 minutes to achieve 70% decarboxylation anyway, so I combine the final purge and decarboxylation by using a 250F hot oil bath.
I have also developed a process that simplifies clean up and subsequent mixing, so as to not lose excessive amounts of oil to the film left behind in containers.
I've run everything from prime bud, to ground and sifted stems, but for processing buds, trim, or fan leaves, I start by placing it on a cookie sheet in a 200F oven and cook it long enough that it is just frangible enough to be scrubbed through a pasta strainer to remove the sticks and stems and make it a uniform size. I test for the exact frangibility point by rolling the material between my finger and thumb.
I do not wish to have it bone dry, nor do I use a food processor or mixer to chop it up, as it may introduce fines in the process that add to filtering requirements.
I bought my pasta strainer at a restaurant supply store, and it has a double layer of mesh; one fine, and another coarser one reinforcing it. I wear a leather glove and just scrub it until it passes through the mesh and discard the remaining stems in a separate bag for different processing.
After passing through the strainer, I gallon Ziploc bag or jar the material up until I use it, to keep the moisture content low.
Since building a butane extraction and recovery system, my process is different than what I will describe here, but this is how I did it before the new system.
I begin stuffing the column by wadding up a coffee filter and ramming it into place first, to cover the injection port. That will diffuse the butane entering the column and prevent plant material from blowing backwards, should I remove the butane can with pressure remaining.
I use the top cut off of a 2 liter plastic seltzer water bottle for a funnel and pack the material firmly and evenly, but not tightly, using a wooden dowel at three to four stages on a 36" tube and two on a 12".
I double a commercial coffee filter and stretch it over the open end and cover that with a patch of 160 thread count bed sheet as a blowout preventer. I hold that in place with a rubber band, or twine, or a screw clamp, or wire tie.
I trim the excess filter material off after clamping, so it doesn't soak up oil, and if I am careful removing the filter assembly after an extraction, I can continue to reuse use it several times, to minimize oil losses to filter media.