FF's Tincture Tumbler (DIY howto, insanely easy)

[FastForward]

As you probably know, I'm trying around with a bunch of different extraction methods. One of them is making tincture which needs to be shaken twice a day because the greenery and the glycerine separate, so shaking keeps the THC moving and absorbed into the glycerine.

Well, we're all stoners who often automate our watering systems because it's a pain in the ass. So why not do the same for tincture?

And so I present.....*drumroll*....The Tincture Tumbler :banana:

Parts:

Mirror Ball Motor (mine from Maplins in the UK @ £10, should be able to find one at your local electronics or DJ place)
Piece of round plastic (I used a plastic gear I had and drilled the centre out)
Box (ideally wood for easy mounting)
Superglue or some kind of strong epoxy (e.g. Araldite)
Piece of wood to support the far end

The photos are self explanatory. It works great! Need to make it hold a bigger jar, but for a first cut it'll do.

Fancier designs could put rollers at the far end but my piece of wood seems to work nicely. Any ideas/improvements welcome.

 

[dj.scotfree]

WOW FF!!! Pure Genius ;) Would you do a 30 day or 60 day with that?

 

[hubcap]

theres just that added level of "hell yeah" when things are DIY.

thumbs up FF.

 

[theherbalizor]

WICKED!!!

I would def wanna be checkin the motor after a few hours, then days of constent use to make sure it isn't going to burn up and cause a fire.

But seriously some great stoner ingenuity there.

 

[Nuglover]

Need to put some kind of roller bearings on the wood block to cut down on friction and put less stress on motor and gear. Looks sweet though. MacGuyverisms...gotta love 'em!

 

[Green81]

Nice1 FF, your quite clever :)

 

[Fear]

id like to know if it speeds up the process at all?

 

[Krypto1]

very nice =)

 

[Dalonewolf]

two roller skate ball bearings attached to bolts can act as a holder at the end of the tumbler, replacing the wooden holder and cutting the friction. I will second Hubcaps HELL YEAH good work.

 

[FastForward]

id like to know if it speeds up the process at all?

I did a SHITLOAD of reading last night, and in a nutshell it should speed it up somewhat, but in order to really speed it up you need heat.

Am in the process of trying to get hold of a crockpot to simmer tincture in, then tumble it whilst cooling....

Thanks for the good words. Will do some tests when I have more shake, but it has to be quicker than twice a day shaking? (i.e. constantly)

The only way to tell will be to compare a tumbled sample versus a shaken one, and then see how the glycerine colours over time....I suspect the tumbled one will change faster....will try it later on

 

[FastForward]

Too funny...sometimes I think with my short term memory that I'm in a Bill and Ted film, or Lost....because I do stuff that I forget about but need, then remember I needed and the stuff arrives...like I knew I was going to need it....

Anyhow, the postman arrived with some lovely lavender (thanks man) that I'm smoking as I write this. I opened up my e-mail to find a confirmation of a £14 crockpot that I bought last night at 4am. Going to go pick it up later this afternoon:

(crockpot aka slow cooker....I think crockpot is a US term)

 

[theherbalizor]

ahh so thats what a crockpot is! Now I see. lol.

So whats a chaffing dish? ha ha ha.

Loving your experiments mate.

 

[Kalcu]

Crock pots are great for low and steady heat.

But can you explain a glycerine tincture? I have heard of ethyl alcohol, but glycerine sounds strange to me.

Edit: Okay I am reading your FF's extraction experiments thread. Looks great, now I know it's vegetable glycerine things are making more sense. That sounds nice, not having the burn or odor of the ethanol.

Anyhow, I read about how you used to small of a filter. That is actually a good thing, but better if some heat was used to dissolve the oils out of the trichs. So say you did your normal quick wash, then used a little heat after that so all the oil gets away from the cells. Since after all, the true oil doesn't have cellular material....which is what you were worried about filtering away.......although these cells aren't much but people get picky.

 

[FastForward]

Kalcu - The bottom line is that THC is glycerine soluble, so just putting green in with glycerine will produce a tincture over time. However, the more I read, the more it seems that THC in unburned plants is actually THCA and needs to be converted to THC through a process called decarboxylation which is basically heating it.

The next plan is to heat glycerine over 24 hours on a low heat to accelerate the process and increase the potency. Got my crockpot and a jam strainer and am all ready to rock. Just need to wait for my shake to dry enough. I'm probably going to make ISO out of it first, because there's pm in it, and then mix the ISO with the glycerine and heat. Not ideal because you get chlorophyll in there, but it's something to try with pm buds.

 

[Kalcu]

Okay, I have heard of decarboxylation with slow curing........and even pressing hash...but never put them together.

 

[coldnorth]

Kalcu - The bottom line is that THC is glycerine soluble, so just putting green in with glycerine will produce a tincture over time. However, the more I read, the more it seems that THC in unburned plants is actually THCA and needs to be converted to THC through a process called decarboxylation which is basically heating it.

The next plan is to heat glycerine over 24 hours on a low heat to accelerate the process and increase the potency. Got my crockpot and a jam strainer and am all ready to rock. Just need to wait for my shake to dry enough. I'm probably going to make ISO out of it first, because there's pm in it, and then mix the ISO with the glycerine and heat. Not ideal because you get chlorophyll in there, but it's something to try with pm buds.[/QUOTE

mad scientist ff, cant wait to see what you have cooking lol :bong2: always a pleasure :)

 

[m0lecule]

I wish I was that handy! Genius!

 

[Texas Kid]

Very nice my brutha....now I need one with a gallon pickle jar in it....lol

Tex

 

[FastForward]

Thanks a lot guys. Things have progressed a little since I made the tumbler. The tumbler was great but it had limited capacity, as TK wisely points out. Also, if you're going to spend 2 months lovingly spinning your tincture, you might as well make it worthwhile....so more capacity was needed. Also, the obvious design flaw was the wooden end, and over time it just wasn't reliable enough (kept coming off - needs a roller).

So, I bought some eq to do it rather than build. I'm good at ideas and prototypes, but crap at actual engineering. I bought a rock tumbler/polisher from a rock shop...but jewellers also use them. As you can see from the photos it's a motor in a box that drives a single rail, with the other free spinning. The barrels are rubber and there's rollers at the ends. You're meant to put metalware or rough rocks in there, with grit and polish and time comes out shiny, smooth and lovely.....but it works joy for making tinc :)

One criticism is that it spins a bit too fast, but not the end of the world. Might try to get a voltage reducing power supply to see if I can't drop it a few rpm. Cost £130, so not cheap...but I'm on a real mission with this tinc....

 

[Texas Kid]

Use one of those fan speed controllers with a dial setting on them. They are about $20 and work great, that would give you infinate controll over your tumble speed

Tex