BHO v RSO v DME v Rosin v bubble hash.

[Kevuk]

I was looking at rotovaps a few nights ago.

Vevor seem to be the best U.K. option. I was wondering about alibaba options. @Moe.Red s links take me to the alibaba home page.

Alcohol is a preferable method over butane so if It smokes great that’s the route I want to take.

I think I read it takes a lot of chlorophyll and other nasty tasting stuff out of the plant, so wasn’t great tasting.

I’ve read so much over the last week, I can’t remember where it was.

These are the 2 I looked at.

 

[Johnlandy420]

It’s all personal preference- we have the ability to to press rosin - which I like - my wife likes the bho

I just never understood why anyone would want a solvent present? Oddly enough a lot of my buddies prefer BHO too.

 

[Moe.Red]

Alcohol is a preferable method over butane so if It smokes great that’s the route I want to take.

I think I read it takes a lot of chlorophyll and other nasty tasting stuff out of the plant, so wasn’t great tasting.

Alcohol is IMO both easier and safer at home. The drawback is that as a solvent, it is not as good as Butane or Hexane at locking in to cannabinoids.

I have a bunch of videos on this topic, you will see me running both dark green and blonde thru the rotovap. The dark green is several aggressive washes to get as close to 100% off the plant as possible. It also grabs some unwanted stuff making it green. This is not the stuff that is destined to be smoked, it will go thru another process such as short path or chromatography column which strips away everything except cannabinoids. That means it removes terpenes too, so this is a bulk kinda thing for producing non-full spectrum extract.

The blonde stuff is what I use for edibles where you taste it (gummies, etc not capsules) or for smoking. This becomes full spectrum and tastes similar to the original bud. If you bud tastes like hay, this will too. But on the primo stuff, its pretty amazing quality.

The difference between green and blonde is only in the way you wash. The rotovap doesn't change.


Sorry my alibaba link did not work. I was linking to a machine almost the same as mine. I have a 5 liter that I got from China. Vacillated back and forth on that or a US made one for a while, but ultimately I am very pleased after running hundreds of liters thru this thing. My only regret is that I wish my chiller was one size bigger so I can run all day without the temps creeping up.

If you have specific questions about the hardware I'll try to help.

 

[Moe.Red]

I just never understood why anyone would want a solvent present? Oddly enough a lot of my buddies prefer BHO too.

It's not that people want the solvent, its that Butane fits the THC molecule like a key in a lock. Efficiency for extraction is very high.

Given proper treatment which typically means a vacuum oven to remove the butane, it is a very "healthy" way to smoke weed. Inhaling burned organic plant matter is most doctor's biggest issue with cannabis as medicine, this eliminates that completely.

 

[Johnlandy420]

It's not that people want the solvent, its that Butane fits the THC molecule like a key in a lock. Efficiency for extraction is very high.

Given proper treatment which typically means a vacuum oven to remove the butane, it is a very "healthy" way to smoke weed. Inhaling burned organic plant matter is most doctor's biggest issue with cannabis as medicine, this eliminates that completely.

Given the choice I don’t understand why someone would want to smoke anything extracted with a solvent. (I’m a hypocrite because I smoke my buddies BHO crumble all the time). Butane may fit like a lock and key but you can’t ever purge 100%. So yes efficiency is outstanding but purity not necessarily. Intentions matter. Personal or commercial? A press is just so simple and if the flower ain’t doing it, whip up some bubble hash to step it up. All respects to @Moe.Red

 

[Moe.Red]

Butane may fit like a lock and key but you can’t ever purge 100%.

Turns out that is not true. You can, and it gets done every single day commercially. But at home? I see your point. We aren't required to have the stringent testing (in my state concentrates must be tested at 0 solvent prior to sale) done by the big boys, and how do you know when it is done? Without commercial lab facilities, you are potentially leaving some behind.

At least with Ethanol, who cares if you do?

 

[Johnlandy420]

Turns out that is not true. You can, and it gets done every single day commercially. But at home? I see your point. We aren't required to have the stringent testing (in my state concentrates must be tested at 0 solvent prior to sale) done by the big boys, and how do you know when it is done? Without commercial lab facilities, you are potentially leaving some behind.

At least with Ethanol, who cares if you do?

Lol look man I’m trying to prevent another “in home explosion” from improper butane usage. Ethanol ftw.

 

[GanjaFarmer24]

Smoking solvent is bad m'kay, so if you use any kind of solvent to make concentrates, its important to let it "cure" and to burp it the same way you would do with green bud.

 

[Moe.Red]

Smoking solvent is bad m'kay, so if you use any kind of solvent to make concentrates, its important to let it "cure" and to burp it the same way you would do with green bud.

Sorry I was referring to edibles. But you bring up a very good point. I'll put together a safety thread with appropriate links, MSDS, etc. Up to this point the assumption is that people know sucking on an exhaust pipe is bad.

Lol look man I’m trying to prevent another “in home explosion” from improper butane usage. Ethanol ftw.

Try getting your insurance to pay to rebuild your burned up garage after they find out you were doing BHO when the fire started. Again, maybe time for a safety thread we can just link to going forward.

This more than all other positives combined is why I will not do BHO at home. From a guy who used to make biodiesel in the garage.

 

[Moe.Red]

 

[Kevuk]

Alcohol is IMO both easier and safer at home. The drawback is that as a solvent, it is not as good as Butane or Hexane at locking in to cannabinoids.

I have a bunch of videos on this topic, you will see me running both dark green and blonde thru the rotovap. The dark green is several aggressive washes to get as close to 100% off the plant as possible. It also grabs some unwanted stuff making it green. This is not the stuff that is destined to be smoked, it will go thru another process such as short path or chromatography column which strips away everything except cannabinoids. That means it removes terpenes too, so this is a bulk kinda thing for producing non-full spectrum extract.

The blonde stuff is what I use for edibles where you taste it (gummies, etc not capsules) or for smoking. This becomes full spectrum and tastes similar to the original bud. If you bud tastes like hay, this will too. But on the primo stuff, its pretty amazing quality.

The difference between green and blonde is only in the way you wash. The rotovap doesn't change.


Sorry my alibaba link did not work. I was linking to a machine almost the same as mine. I have a 5 liter that I got from China. Vacillated back and forth on that or a US made one for a while, but ultimately I am very pleased after running hundreds of liters thru this thing. My only regret is that I wish my chiller was one size bigger so I can run all day without the temps creeping up.

If you have specific questions about the hardware I'll try to help.

Thanks I appreciate that.

Your rotovap set up is awesome.

The vevor rotovap I posted has a max rpm of 90, which seems a little low. I’m sure I could do better on alibaba for the price.

I have seen a few 2lt set ups on YouTube that use the same water circulator vacuum as you, but use it as a chiller too (filled with ice).

I want a set up that I won’t want to upgrade after a few uses. I’d rather buy a chiller initially if it’s needed, rather than use a water circulator if it’s not adequate.

Any advice or recommendations are greatly appreciated.

I like this type of set up as it’s flexible. I can make rso (dad), vape carts (bro has MS) and something to dab for myself.

I would have only used butane outside and the weather where I live is reliably wet.

 

[Moe.Red]

If you are going to use the vacuum As a chiller get the smallest system available. I can’t make it thru 3liters without adding ice and that is just for vacuum. A1liter system would still work that vacuum hard without a separate chiller.

I also question if you can get the temp low enough to save the terps if that is important to you.

 

[Kevuk]

I’ll definitely go with a chiller. I’d rather buy everything at once.

I would have taken a chance on the 2lt vevor rotovap, as it has a higher rpm than the 5lt one. It’s sold out and I don’t think it will be restocked.

Going to have a look on alibaba now.

 

[Moe.Red]

On the whiteboard behind the rotovap in that vid I wrote down my set points.

Bowl temp 35C
Vacuum 25 - 30 torr
Chiller temp start with -20C and it will not keep up so it ends up at about 0C by the end of the run. That gives you a vapor condensation temp of 15C.

The reason I go so low with the temps is terpenes start to give up the ghost around 40-45C, so staying under that the whole run everywhere maintains terps.

My RPM is set for 125, but 100 is fine too.

In a perfect world I would prefer my chiller had the ass to maintain -20 or at least -10. But it needs to remove a lot of BTUs when you run fast like I do. You can totally slow things down and bring the vacuum to like 70 torr and the chiller maintains, but then the run takes twice as long. It's sort of a balancing act.

FWIW - there is no way I could use the vacuum as a chiller as well with my setup and get good results.

This one looks pretty good:

Ce Certified -15 Degree To Ambient 3l Complete Closed Lab Air Cooled Recyclable Chiller For 0.5l 1l 2l Rotovap - Buy 3l Recyclable Chiller,3l Recyclable Chiller For 0.5l 1l 2l Rotovap,3l For 0.5l 1l 2l Rotary Evaporator Product on Alibaba.com

Ce Certified -15 Degree To Ambient 3l Complete Closed Lab Air Cooled Recyclable Chiller For 0.5l 1l 2l Rotovap - Buy 3l Recyclable Chiller,3l Recyclable Chiller For 0.5l 1l 2l Rotovap,3l For 0.5l 1l 2l Rotary Evaporator Product on Alibaba.com

www.alibaba.com

 

[Moe.Red]

Also if you have a 3d printer there are some parts you will want to make that will make your life a lot easier, especially with prep and winterization. I can send you the files.

If you don't have one, I'll make them for you if you pay shipping.

What is your source for Ethanol? In the states, some people have trouble finding it and it is taxed like crazy because the kiddies can drink it. I use Everclear.

 

[Kevuk]

So frustrating Ali links take me to the homepage.

Ethanol is available on eBay and Amazon. I don’t think kids would drink it over here. Beer is cheaper than coke in the U.K. It’s the only thing that is cheaper than when I was a kid and I’m in my 40‘s. Crazy how cheap it is.

I don’t have a 3D printer. Really appreciate your help with that

 

[Moe.Red]

So frustrating Ali links take me to the homepage.

Sorry dude, it works for me. I think it is because it is sensing your IP is not in North America so you have a different website.

Do you have access to half gallon ball jars?

Amazon.com

The actual volume is not important, but the mouth is. I'm hoping that is standard even if yours are sold in liter sizes there so my parts still work for you.

 

[Kevuk]

Yes I can get hold of ball wide mouth jars. They have a U.K. site.

 

[Moe.Red]

Turns out that is not true. You can, and it gets done every single day commercially. But at home? I see your point. We aren't required to have the stringent testing (in my state concentrates must be tested at 0 solvent prior to sale) done by the big boys, and how do you know when it is done? Without commercial lab facilities, you are potentially leaving some behind.

So I think this statement is wrong. I went down the rabbit hole reading up on Butane, and learned quite a bit. Here is some of it:

Is BHO safe?​

The key aspect of making BHO that is safe for consumption is the evaporation process. If the liquid substance is not evaporated correctly, then people might end up smoking both the good and the bad substances, making it unsafe and unhealthy. That being said, if you compare properly evaporated BHO with regular marijuana that most people smoke, good BHO is much more pure.

While critics argue that smoking BHO must include a certain amount of butane being inhaled in the process, even with the purest and most properly prepared BHO, it’s important to consider that the average lighter also contains butane as fuel. If you use a regular lighter to smoke a pipe, then you are also bound to inhale some of that butane, aren’t you?



I also found out that BHO is illegal (felony) in many places including CA.

The more I read and learned, the more I wanted nothing to do with it.

But to @Johnlandy420 point, the vast majority of folks making BHO will have trace amounts of butane in them. The process used by commercial labs where it is legal includes vacuum oven for 6 hours, then flip the shatter, reheat to get it flowing, and vacuum again. What I have read is that properly done, butane is no longer measurable in the final product. But since this is illegal in many places, commercial labs don't want to touch it so what is on the market may not be held to these standards.

My takeaway is that if you live in a locale where it is forbidden, any product that you find in that locale is suspect.

 

[Kevuk]

What do you think of DME?