MJ-XILE
- 3
- 1
Hey everyone, fellow grower and dabber here. I have been researching and trying to consume as much info as possible about the best ways to make and purge BHO and I am having a little bit of an overload of info and have a few questions for those more experienced than myself. Let me start out with my process and then share my thoughts on ways to improve it.
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First off I start with kief, not plant material. I take my sugar trim and throw it in a 3.5 gal bucket with the bottom cut out and a 160 micron bubble bag over it (filter on the cut out bottom) with well broken up dry ice (smaller the better imo), pop the lid on and stick that into a 5 gal bucket for collection. I then shake it for a bit and put the collected kief (using cards and brushes to collect it) into a container and shake some more. The first shake will be the purest and each one after that getting more green until I have about 3 different grades (similar to using a 73/90/160 micron bag set). I usually end up with about 2-4 oz of kief per bucket of trim.
Then I get all geared up with gloves, long sleeves, respirator, safety glasses, etc. Once I have my kief I then use all of the greener stuff first and stick it in my extraction tube (my preferred extractor for kief is the free standing O'Kief Extractor 1, free standing so no cold hands, holds plenty of kief, and stainless steel so it won't break if you drop it) and run the butane through (Vector 5x refined all day every day) into a 9x9 which is sitting in a 9x13 with near boiling hot water, outside and away from any possible flames/heat. After I have gotten all of the oil out I can I let it sit in the water bath for a bit until it stops bubling itself and then I use something to pop the bubbles and to whisk out the remaining butane (I use a sterilized street sweeper blade). Once I am confident that the butane is gone I will stick the 9x13 on top of the pan I used to boil the water on low for a little double boiler action, I let it sit there for 30 minutes while whisking it.
After it has been 30 minutes I use straight razor blade and scrape all of the oil up and stick the oiled blades on wax paper and then place the sheet in the freezer to let the BHO harden. I then break the oil off onto the paper and scoop it up into my hand to soften it back up and then ball it up. It usually turns out like hard rock candy, but occasionally it turns out more waxy depending on the heat I used to double boil, but prefer the rock candy type which is what I usually get if on low heat. I then weigh it (usually get about 5 grams of BHO per tube, or ~21% return) and then test it for flavor and potency.
=====
From my own research and experience I know I need to change a few things:
-I need to use parchment paper and not wax as it will get in the BHO (from experience and research)
-Since I am using kief I need to figure out ways to prevent blowouts, losing 24+ grams of kief/5+ grams of BHO is not good, and it's happened one too many times. I have read that adding buds, marbles, or screens may help. I usually make sure that it's not packed too tight, as well as use a skewer to make a path for the butane to travel down the tube. The blowouts usually happen from the top of the extractor and I may need to get one that prevents blowouts but they are spending and not free standing like I like.
-I am not sure if whisking while purging to pop bubbles is a good idea as Butane may be getting trapped in the BHO. I wouldn't say I am whipping it, but whisking it. Not sure if I should be doing this anymore.
-I am going to be try throwing it in the oven at 180 degrees for 10 minutes when I bring it inside instead of whisking, and then double boil it.
-I would like to get a better return, there seems to be some oil in the extractor that clogs up and won't make it through, which could also create blowouts.
-I need to purge it better and get a consistent process down (heat/times etc.) to get the rock candy consistency I want.
I have been doing a lot of research into the best purge techniques and at this point am going to stick with the double boil method until I get the money together for what I want. I am leaning towards getting a Vacuum Pum like the Mastercool 90066-A and a Vacuum chamber like thisthis, but also want to be able to add heat while vacuuming. as from my understanding vac without heat is pointless. I came across Vacuum Ovens in my research and am curious if anyone has tried them for BHO? They are more expensive, starting at around $1200, but there are used ones for a lot less on eBay. I am also wondering if a scientific hot plate is nescesarry to purge with or if I should just stick with the double boil method. If I go with a vac setup I want to do it right, no foodsaver or mittyvac.
I guess my questions come down to this:
Double boil heat purge or $1000-1500 for a vac setup? Will I notice the difference in quality of BHO and is it worth it?
Hot plate + Vac Chamber or should I get a Vac Oven?
Whisk while purging outside/inside or no?
Ways to prevent blowouts with the O'Kief?
Oven before double boil? Oven at all?
Best temp for double boil? Water? Oil? Best double boil method?
I know this is long winded and somewhat scatterbrained, but any thoughts on improving my process and BHO quality are much appreciated, thanks!
=====
First off I start with kief, not plant material. I take my sugar trim and throw it in a 3.5 gal bucket with the bottom cut out and a 160 micron bubble bag over it (filter on the cut out bottom) with well broken up dry ice (smaller the better imo), pop the lid on and stick that into a 5 gal bucket for collection. I then shake it for a bit and put the collected kief (using cards and brushes to collect it) into a container and shake some more. The first shake will be the purest and each one after that getting more green until I have about 3 different grades (similar to using a 73/90/160 micron bag set). I usually end up with about 2-4 oz of kief per bucket of trim.
Then I get all geared up with gloves, long sleeves, respirator, safety glasses, etc. Once I have my kief I then use all of the greener stuff first and stick it in my extraction tube (my preferred extractor for kief is the free standing O'Kief Extractor 1, free standing so no cold hands, holds plenty of kief, and stainless steel so it won't break if you drop it) and run the butane through (Vector 5x refined all day every day) into a 9x9 which is sitting in a 9x13 with near boiling hot water, outside and away from any possible flames/heat. After I have gotten all of the oil out I can I let it sit in the water bath for a bit until it stops bubling itself and then I use something to pop the bubbles and to whisk out the remaining butane (I use a sterilized street sweeper blade). Once I am confident that the butane is gone I will stick the 9x13 on top of the pan I used to boil the water on low for a little double boiler action, I let it sit there for 30 minutes while whisking it.
After it has been 30 minutes I use straight razor blade and scrape all of the oil up and stick the oiled blades on wax paper and then place the sheet in the freezer to let the BHO harden. I then break the oil off onto the paper and scoop it up into my hand to soften it back up and then ball it up. It usually turns out like hard rock candy, but occasionally it turns out more waxy depending on the heat I used to double boil, but prefer the rock candy type which is what I usually get if on low heat. I then weigh it (usually get about 5 grams of BHO per tube, or ~21% return) and then test it for flavor and potency.
=====
From my own research and experience I know I need to change a few things:
-I need to use parchment paper and not wax as it will get in the BHO (from experience and research)
-Since I am using kief I need to figure out ways to prevent blowouts, losing 24+ grams of kief/5+ grams of BHO is not good, and it's happened one too many times. I have read that adding buds, marbles, or screens may help. I usually make sure that it's not packed too tight, as well as use a skewer to make a path for the butane to travel down the tube. The blowouts usually happen from the top of the extractor and I may need to get one that prevents blowouts but they are spending and not free standing like I like.
-I am not sure if whisking while purging to pop bubbles is a good idea as Butane may be getting trapped in the BHO. I wouldn't say I am whipping it, but whisking it. Not sure if I should be doing this anymore.
-I am going to be try throwing it in the oven at 180 degrees for 10 minutes when I bring it inside instead of whisking, and then double boil it.
-I would like to get a better return, there seems to be some oil in the extractor that clogs up and won't make it through, which could also create blowouts.
-I need to purge it better and get a consistent process down (heat/times etc.) to get the rock candy consistency I want.
I have been doing a lot of research into the best purge techniques and at this point am going to stick with the double boil method until I get the money together for what I want. I am leaning towards getting a Vacuum Pum like the Mastercool 90066-A and a Vacuum chamber like thisthis, but also want to be able to add heat while vacuuming. as from my understanding vac without heat is pointless. I came across Vacuum Ovens in my research and am curious if anyone has tried them for BHO? They are more expensive, starting at around $1200, but there are used ones for a lot less on eBay. I am also wondering if a scientific hot plate is nescesarry to purge with or if I should just stick with the double boil method. If I go with a vac setup I want to do it right, no foodsaver or mittyvac.
I guess my questions come down to this:
Double boil heat purge or $1000-1500 for a vac setup? Will I notice the difference in quality of BHO and is it worth it?
Hot plate + Vac Chamber or should I get a Vac Oven?
Whisk while purging outside/inside or no?
Ways to prevent blowouts with the O'Kief?
Oven before double boil? Oven at all?
Best temp for double boil? Water? Oil? Best double boil method?
I know this is long winded and somewhat scatterbrained, but any thoughts on improving my process and BHO quality are much appreciated, thanks!
