Concentrates Blog

Heres a jar before the 2nd filter

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Exactly what I was thinking…

It takes a long time unless you have a vacuum pump but I use 2 coffee filters

Currently on my 3rd coffee filter run with the extract I want to use for vape oil :grimacing:

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I sware after this run its going in the dish :sweat_smile:

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'Hint, put it in a silicon dish…not glass

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@thedeernad Do you have a vacuum pump to purge or how are you purging the last bit of solvent out of the distillate?

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@Donkey typically i set the dish in my drying tent (currently unoccupied) with a fan blowing a gentle breeze around it, takes a day or 2, but the ethanol evaporates quite well on its own…sadly I do not have a vacuum pump but I see one in my near future

@Caligurl i have some silicone concentrate containers that i use to collect all the good stuff in after its done evaporating. I have a heatgun and a little stand that holds the pie dish in a vertical position to assist me in collections. I’m always looking for a better way though so I will be for sure looking into larger silicon vessles!

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Also ran the wash thru a better quality coffee filter one more time this morning :grimacing:

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So I hook up my Source Turbo to a glass beaker and use the vacuum pump on it to pull the liquid through the filter(s). Then I use the Source to evaporate the alcohol out but the cool thing is that you can re-use the alcohol. It’s a closed loop extraction. I totally forgot I didn’t have the blog on ILGM… it’s on a different forum. I’ll copy it to here later today

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So I got my Source Turbo!! I also purchased a Buchner Filter Kit!

Since the process would be so much faster, I decides to experiment with the difference between using the freezer or dry ice for the winterization part of making the QWET.

First The Source Turbo!

The Source Unboxed
It’s got a cool little app so I can watch it when I’m doing something else! (I’m not at 5k feet… I had to use a pic from the instructional video so it would be clearer. I’m at 2k feet.

And my Buchner Funnel/Filter Kit. The pump is a waste of time and, in the end, ended up somewhere in my garage.

Buchner Funnel Filter

For the test, I used 1 oz of quality bud from my Nepali Pink, then split it into two exact amounts (14.2 grams each). Decarbed in the oven @ 235 for 55 minutes.

FREEZER: Note this process is a little different from my first QWET tutorial but I also wanted to experiment with not shaking it much at all to see if I could eliminate more of the chlorophyl.

I let the Everclear and the broken up bud sit in the freezer for 24 hours (separately).

Combined 1 Cup Everclear with the broken up bud, gave it a light shake, then back in the freezer for 1/2 hour.

Removed, gave it a gentle shake, then back in for 1/2 hour.

Immediately remove and strain through a double mesh stainless steel strainer, stuck that back in the freezer for about 15 minutes.

Prepared my funnel for filtering. Secured the flask with pole clamp (lightly but snug).

Placed the gasket under the funnel and then inserted the funnel onto the flask.

Wet the filter paper with some a few drops of Everclear and started vacuuming with the hand pump (well hubby did lol…that’s what he’s around for right? That and rescuing spider from the house because he refuses to kill them unless they are unwilling to go).

**UPDATE. I now use the Source itself to pump. I place a hose over the vacuum port an it works MUCH MUCH better and faster!

I filtered 2 and 3 times… here is the difference from 2nd to 3rd filter:

The final liquid goes into the crucible and gets screwed into the Reclaim Chamber, put the lid on and fill the ice tray.

I ran it in turbo mode and it took less than 2 hours. Here’s what I ended up with:

And you can see the ‘reclaimed’ Everclear:

DRY ICE METHOD:
I won’t bore you with the details… I used the same process as above except I put both the decarbed bud and the Everclear in a freezer baggie at the same time and packed them in a cooler with the dry ice. I bought one block which was about 7 pounds and broke it up:

Now for the dry ice, I did the same process but it only sat in the cooler for 2 hours before I combined the material with the Everclear. Once combined, I left it in there for 1/2 hour, removed and shook lightly and back for 1/2 hour.

Exact same filter process except this time I just used the coffee filters. Almost identical looking 2nd and 3rd filtering as the freezer method.

Dry Ice Run 2 and 3

YIELD OF FINAL CONCENTRATE:
Freezer Method: 1.53 grams
Dry Ice Method: 1.23 grams

Was it because the dry ice maybe had less plant material in it? The world may never know LOL.

VERDICT?
A) With the dry ice costing $1.88 per pound x 7 pounds =$13.16
and getting less yield than with the freezer method I’m going to stick to the freezer method…

B) Throw away the stupid hand pump that came with the Buchner Funnel Kit.

Next I want to experiment and see the difference between soaking and shaking times…

UPDATE:
I now use the Source itself to vacuum the liquid through the filter and it works great! You need a step-down hose to connect the factory hose to the Source.

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Im thinking about getting a Source, would be great to be able to reclaim the everclear!

Purchasing a Buchner funnel kit…what level of micron filter paper do you use for you filtering passes?

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@Caligurl I want one of those so bad!! I use Best Value Vacs 710 solution. It’s 95% 200 proof food grade alcohol and 5% something else to get rid of the liquor tax. 1 gallon for about $25. Let’s you do the wash in 10 minutes. Very little chlorophyll. Then do it in an air still that lets me reclaim. BUT huge flaw, even though I have it almost 100% closed the temp gets to 180f slightly giving the distillate a resi hit flavor. I have a 110v reostat to add into the fix for now to get the temp down, but that large turbo is in my future!! Love seeing a real user and results.

Top photo is the color after making MCT oil for my mother. 500mg distillate.

The one one the scale is how dark it got using my still method. Little bit of orange creamsicle terps fixed that in the vape carts.

38g flower and got 4g of shatter like rosin after 7 days in the vac chamber.

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@thedeernad if you want the green to go away, put it in the sun light for 5-10 minutes at a time. The sun destroys the chlorophyll, but not long enough to ruin the tincture. Someone gave me that info and I verified it does work.

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@Donkey thanks for the tip! This is my preliminary run for turning a concentrate into vape oil! I think let the ethanol wash on the buds for a bit too long. It’s going to be primarily for me, and some of my lab rat friends to try too so ill let the color go for now, I got some terps coming to add to it😁

I have some everclear left and plenty of trim still laying around so as soon as I get my Buchner filter setup I’ll be trying again!

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The last few MCT tinctures I made came out real nice, though I had been decarbing the bud before the wash, this go around im doing the decarbing on the concentrate itself…

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2.5 micron too little on filter paper for the Buchner?

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But honestly, the last filters just through a drip coffee filter

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I read that coffee filters are typically around 20 microns…I got 10 micron filter disc’s, gonna give it a shot with a fresh wash, cheesecloth → cold coffee filter → buchner 10 micron and see how clean i can get one, supplies will be here tomorrow :+1:

I still did see slight particulates on my more filtered of the 2 washes I have right now…

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Excellent post! This helps the rest of us understand the process better. When using the machine, where to improve, and end up with a decent result first try. Really appreciated. @Myfriendis410

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