I’ve decided to try and make a tincture, or let it evaporate to an RSO…if I am correct. I took 2 oz. of trim that I put in the freezer without drying. I took it out of the freezer, cut it up and put in a Mason jar and decanted it. While the weed turned brown, it was wet from being frozen.
I did the shake, shake with Everclear every 15 min for an hour. I strained and did a second wash with Everclear. I used the whole bottle of alcohol.
I strained the second time and let it filter through 2 coffee filters. Then I poured it into two pyrex dishes and now its 24 hrs later. This is what it looks like now, it seems a little cloudy and these black spots are along the edges…is this normal?
hmmmm. not sure about the black stuff… the cloudy part is fine.
It might just be drying oddly. Sometime I get darker spots on the bottom of the dish. I use silicon dishes though.
I’d just let it be and when you are done evaporating it you could just scrape around it but it sounds like you did everything ok.
The finished product is dark. Check out my blog on concentrates. At the very top, you will see my dark spots and what the final product looks like
I have extracted a lot of other plants with high terpene content. Everclear is not 100% alcohol - there is some water. There are many compounds you will extract - some dissolve in water and some in alcohol.
As the evaporation continues and the ratio of water to alcohol changes some of the compounds come out of solution and can form micelle complexes.
With other plant extracts I filter again after I bring them back up in the carrier of choice - oil, glycerine etc.
I am not an expert by any means but it worked for me to get rid of the “scum”.
Let me know how everything turns out but I am sure @Caligurl will help you out! She’s great.
Golly jee @JaneQP, you flatter me… I’m learning as I go but I have so much MJ to experiment on, I’m on operation warp speed lol! You have a ton of knowledge!
Agree with JaneQP! You won’t be able to filter and I wouldn’t bother, sounds like you filtered enough. The coffee filters only get out somuch. I’m going to invest in on of these for next round (blackthumbbetty recommended it to me)
artnaturals is having a sale on 99% isopropyl alcohol $20.99 for 4, 33.8 oz bottles. free shipping on orders over $40.00 (us only). I’d put the link up but it’s not amazon.
I tried iso with my other plant extracts since it was way cheaper but because it is produced from petroleum products it ruined the smell of my extracts and was a waste of time and product. Now I stick to everclear. Yes it is expensive but a local liquor store gives me a discount if I buy a case.
Also I am starting the process for an ATF permit to get the good stuff less expensively for my home business with other plant extracts. Lots of hoops to jump through.
I can’t use it for MJ but it will save money so I don’t feel bad for buying a case of everclear every now and then - except for the other customers wondering if I still have a liver!
I did quite a bit of research on a plant material with a high terpene content. In one article three processes were used. Ethyl alcohol, 50:50 water and alcohol and water. The ethyl alcohol extraction had the highest terpene content.
@Caligurl. I had a friend that made homemade wine and used a water distiller to pull off the alcohol. She always threw out the first 50-100 mLs since that fraction was high in methanol. Then she added fruit and made moonshine.
You have to monitor the temps since alcohol and water have different boiling points.
I haven’t tried the Iso alcohol yet. I got the link from a Dr. (M.D. type) friend of mine that said he used it many times to make extracts & Rick Simpson used it, so I figured I’d try it & dry it all the way down to shatter & black oil. I’ll reply back if I die er anything.
@Caligurl, @emgoldslo. A friend of mine (retired Dr.) who is regimented as how things are done sent me this on tempering chocolate I’ll probably heat it stir in the oil & throw it in the fridge. But you might like this if your into cooking. I do like the parts about the crystals things, I like shiny things!
Thanks! It’s funny you posted this because I was watching a video that showed several ways to temper chocolate to refresh my memory. I’ve always had good success with the microwave method (Method #1) … break up 2/3 of the chocolate and microwave 10 seconds, stir, 10 seconds, stir, 10 seconds stir and keep repeating that until it’s just melted but you can still see some chunks of chocolate in the dish, then I add in the remaining pieces of chocolate that I left out and stir it until it melts then cool to room temp.
When I went through culinary arts school, we used to melt the chocolate to 110-115 in a double boiler then pour it onto a marble slab, spread it out as thin as you could then scoop it back together and spread it out again (this cooled it off). Then back into the double boiler until about 87-91 degrees. Method 2
It’s been a long time since Culinary Arts School but either method, you really don’t need a thermometer, you just dab a small amount on your wrist and it should feel hot the first time and warm the next.
I figured I would go into this more in one of my next upcoming recipes - I’ll be making a special Valentines Day treat!
