Need Clarification on Ethanol Extraction

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BigDaddyDingDong

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So I have a general question about live resin extraction with Everclear.

I have flower already chopped and in the freezer and I have the Everclear ready to go. I also have an alcohol distiller to separate the alcohol from the resin and I have a vacuum chamber to put resin under negative pressure to remove any remaining alcohol. Are these steps correct?

- Break up/grind flower.
- Soak ground flower in Everclear in closed mason jar and place in freezer.
- Filter alcohol/resin from flower.
- Place under grow light for a few hours to get that amber/honey color.
- Distill alcohol to separate from resin. Re-cooping the alcohol with cold loop.
- Put resin under negative pressure on temp controlled hot plate to remove any trapped alcohol within resin.
- Done!

I can't find a straight guide on this. Does this sound right? What temps should I use during the distilling stage and the vacuum chamber stage? I'm using uncured flower I have in the freezer right now that I plan on using. What I've read on live resin extraction I do not see anything about decarboxylation.
 
Gmix

Gmix

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I thought the point of using everclear was to replace alcohol

I don’t like the stuff it leaves a funny taste others don’t seem to notice it & say it’s great.

Anyway if nothing else bump
 
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BigDaddyDingDong

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I thought the point of using everclear was to replace alcohol

I don’t like the stuff it leaves a funny taste others don’t seem to notice it & say it’s great.

Anyway if nothing else bump
It is alcohol but it's waaaay to strong to consume and would taste like rubbing alcohol. It's 92% Ethanol. It's commonly used for extraction as it's food grade and easily accessable depending on where you live.
 
cronicoldguy

cronicoldguy

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@GNick55 has a video showing his process. https://www.thcfarmer.com/threads/new-updated-2023-qwiso-methods-etc.155359/

So I have a general question about live resin extraction with Everclear.

I have flower already chopped and in the freezer and I have the Everclear ready to go. I also have an alcohol distiller to separate the alcohol from the resin and I have a vacuum chamber to put resin under negative pressure to remove any remaining alcohol. Are these steps correct?

- Break up/grind flower.
- Soak ground flower in Everclear in closed mason jar and place in freezer.
- Filter alcohol/resin from flower.
- Place under grow light for a few hours to get that amber/honey color.
- Distill alcohol to separate from resin. Re-cooping the alcohol with cold loop.
- Put resin under negative pressure on temp controlled hot plate to remove any trapped alcohol within resin.
- Done!

I can't find a straight guide on this. Does this sound right? What temps should I use during the distilling stage and the vacuum chamber stage? I'm using uncured flower I have in the freezer right now that I plan on using. What I've read on live resin extraction I do not see anything about decarboxylation.

- Have solvent and flower both in freezer and both down to sub zero before soaking. All vessels/filters/funnels used to extract should be at sub zero as well.
- Best to break up and grind the flower in same vessel as you are going to soak in. You will have less transfer loss. I bust it up pretty fine. A french coffee press works great. A coffee filter can be used with it as well, but the fine metal screen works by itself. Tricones will get past the metal screen by itself though.

- "Place under grow light for a few hours to get that amber/honey color."
I cant say for sure this (UV light) actually removes the chlorophyll as I have never tried it. If removing colour is all you are after, I would skip this step. Waste of time.
But if you want to actually remove the chlorophyll and it's horrible taste, use carbon. You not only get the amber colour you want, the horrid taste of chlorophyll will be gone. As well as other uglies. Using carbon requires slightly more advanced filtering to remove the carbon once added. But not a big deal and well worth the effort.

Evaporation:
- The lower the temp you evaporate at - the better. Under vacuum is the best and offers the best chance at retaining volatile constituents such as terpenes. A simple fractional still can be pieced together cheap using Amazon. The biggest expense would be a vacuum controller. On the flip-side, there is the Source Turbo. It is around $500. Very small footprint and does exactly what it says it will do. I have one and have used it lots prior to my current setup. The only thing I dont like is it is fully automated. This isnt bad for most people. I just like full control over the process. You will recover the solvent as well with either of the above.
If the above is out of the question, then a double boiler will serve you well. Just do it in a well ventilated space.

"I can't find a straight guide on this. Does this sound right? What temps should I use during the distilling stage and the vacuum chamber stage? I'm using uncured flower I have in the freezer right now that I plan on using. What I've read on live resin extraction I do not see anything about decarboxylation."
- EtOH vaporizes at around 78C. So if using a double boiler, you will be good. Highest temp your solution is going to see is 100C. This is below the temperature threshold of decarbing. But given enough time, there is the potential it could decarb somewhat. Also, decarbing usually results in the loss of terpenes.
Using a rice cooker is simple but can be trickier. You cant control the temperature and it could get considerably hotter than 100C. This could ruin the end concentrate. I evaporate under vacuum at 40C, using vac pressures from 50 TORR down to 25 TORR (atmospheric pressure is approx 760 TORR for reference).

Vacuum Purging:
I use an actual vacuum oven to purge. But I am sure the temps and pressures will be about the same. I purge at 44C and 27-28 inHG. Because I purge it fairly good in the rotovap prior to vac oven, it usually takes only about 6-7 hrs.

I hope this helps. Again, check out @GNick55 's video.

EDIT: To decarb or not to decarb.
This depends on what your intended use of the concentrate is. If for smoking/vaping no decarb is required. If for edibles, then decarb will be required. Also, very good idea to use 195 Proof Everclear or food grade EtOH as the solvent if for edibles.
 
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