Oils, concentrates...please help me out

I vape flower almost exclusively although I have been experimenting with making dry-ice hash (kief) and bubble hash lately. I am really curious, though, about delving into concentrates and oils as they seem to be very popular around FC. Problem is that I cannot buy anything like that around here. It's flower or nothing. So I will have to make my own.

So do most people around here make their own or buy it? Can anyone who does make their own give me a good starting point to begin researching. There is so much misinformation out there, and I have no idea where to even begin. Can someone help me out?

what sort of concentrates are you looking to make and what sort of research are you looking for?

I definitely want to make an oil as I have heard people talk about putting a drop or two of oil on top of ground flowers with great success. That sounds like something I want to try.

As for concentrates, I don't really know where to start. Like I said, I would have to make something myself, and I have heard it can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. I guess I want to start with something that is noob-friendly.

That's part of my problem, I think. I don't really know WHERE to start.

Iso oil can be easy to make.

You'll need:
a jar
99% iso
a coffee filter
a large pyrex pan
a smaller pyrex pan
a razor blade.

Start by first putting you material in the freezer, if it's whole buds, break them down into small pieces, the more surface area exposed the better.

Next heat up a pot of water, when it's boiling pour some into the large pyrex pan

next take your smaller pyrex pan and place it in the large pan filled with hot water.


Now take your material an put it in the jar and put in just enough iso to cover everything. you want enough iso in there so it can swirl around easily but not to much or it will take a while to evaporate.

Now once you pour the iso in, quickly put the lid on the jar and shake for 20 seconds or less ( the longer you shake the more oil you'll get but the less potent it will be)

Now pour the mixture into the small pan using the coffee filter to strain out the plant material.

Wash off the coffee filter and plant material to remove excess alcohol then toss it in the trash.

Now just wait for the alcohol to evaporate ( you may need to change the water once or twice to keep the heat up or you can place a heating pad under it to keep it warm)

when all the alcohol is gone and the pan is dry use the razor to scrape up your oil

When doing a iso or butane extraction never do this inside or use a flame as a source of heat ( no cig smoking when making this either)

Thanks Tea Party! I will start there. Quick question. I can order 99% iso but can only get 91% locally. Any chance 91% will work with your recipe above?

TheDudeNextDoor said:

Thanks Tea Party! I will start there. Quick question. I can order 99% iso but can only get 91% locally. Any chance 91% will work with your recipe above?

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I've always read 91% is superior to 99 because there is less of a rush to get all the iso out before you get oil over-saturated with plant matter (dark/black oil).

The alcohol way of making tinctures is pretty good, some people also use butane extraction. You can find ways to do it online/YouTube. With videos etc,
This usually involves a metal tube, a glass dish, a cup warmer/hot water bath, and butane (usually 5x refined)
The method is also used to get essential oils from flowers ie lavender and roses

TheDudeNextDoor said:

Thanks Tea Party! I will start there. Quick question. I can order 99% iso but can only get 91% locally. Any chance 91% will work with your recipe above?

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Make sure that there is no bitterant in your iso! - tastes like crap and will effect the taste of your end product - Sometimes it's worth it to use less proof to get water instead of bitterant, recently used everclear to great results although I had to get rid of a little extra h2o

Is there any way to tell for sure if the ISO I have contains a bitterant? The only ingredient listed is 91% isopropyl alcohol.

get a glass tube and a can of butane and you can make yourself some BHO

which is pretty and ez to make, you just want to be sure you are outside doing it

I like oil off a Ti pad using a curve

all the best and be well

Dequelo

TheDudeNextDoor said:

Is there any way to tell for sure if the ISO I have contains a bitterant? The only ingredient listed is 91% isopropyl alcohol.

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Usually it will be written on the label, or you can look it up online
a pretty sure way to test it though is to smell it. the bitterant has a very distinct chemical smell , not 'clean''
also, if you still cant figure it out just dap your finger in it and touch it to your tongue. you can tell right away

I havent read the whole thread, but I wanted to say make your own bho. it's better than the other options imo! more tasty ime, it's also faster on the evap too.

make a small extracter tube from a keif press

drill one hole one end and 3 smaller holes the other. holds 3 to 3.5 grams packed really tight.
coffee filter cut to small circles and i use teflon tape in the threads.

TheDudeNextDoor said:

I definitely want to make an oil as I have heard people talk about putting a drop or two of oil on top of ground flowers with great success. That sounds like something I want to try.

As for concentrates, I don't really know where to start. Like I said, I would have to make something myself, and I have heard it can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. I guess I want to start with something that is noob-friendly.

That's part of my problem, I think. I don't really know WHERE to start.

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Teaparty is dead on with his method. Im gonna give you mine just for reference.

1 If the flower is still slightly moist, grind down your flowers and pour the grounded matter onto a piece of tinfoil and dehydroxidize the herbals at your ovens lowest setting, for 2- 10 min tops depending. You will know, if you stir it with a fork while in the oven you will notice the tri's will begin to stick to the fork, you really want to pull it them out just before or at this point(after the learning curve you will know)This accomplishes the same goal as teabag is achieving by freezing them. It allows the tri's to be knocked off quickly so the ISO(semi-polar substance, because its 9 % water if you use 91% ISO, water will break down chlorophyl. You want as little chlorophyl to break down as possible, none being optimal. I use 91% sense its readily available at your local super market or pharmacy.

2 take ground herbs and put them in a jar( Ill show you what i use at the end) Pour the iso onto your grounded flowers, agitate quickly, and pour the liquid and wet flower into a doubled up coffee filter and ring threw onto a pyrex plate. You want to get the flower out of the ISO as fast as possible. I have it down to 5 seconds in the iso, "per pull", meaning i make 3 plates out of a slice. I can get from flower to a dab in 20 min. The third plate will have the most plant matter in it so i save that up for making strong ass edibles, not the cookie your buddy gave you and you thought you felt it. Im talking cookies that will knock you on your ass, or canabutter, ect ect.

3 Now like Teaparty said is true. Alway be out doors for this part. I personally do it with a double boiler on my stove with the windows open. Stupid yes. Have i ever had a problem? No. Basically you will take your pyrex plate, now with the liquid that you wrung threw the coffee filter on it. Place the plate on the top of the double boiler and let the steam cook the ISO out, you can watch it disappear, i like to use med to a lower heat, but i also will do it on high heat sometimes if im in a hurry, you just need to make sure your there to keep the liquid moving. I personally like to keep the, soon to be oil, on the plate moving 80% of the time, so it's all finished at the same time. Once there is no more liquid on the plate, and the smell changes from ISO to the exact smell of the strain you used, it will smell delicious, your done.

4 Now is where you grab your razor while the plate is still warm after removing it from the double boiler, and scrape off that beautiful amber that will soon be glass.

5 Now if you want to to step your game up a bit, and practically eliminate the learning curve. You need to order one of these.(below link) This is a coffee maker that is the most functional iso contraption I've come across. In the beginning we are a little slower at getting the herbs out of the ISO, this will solve that.

6 Welcome to the world of concentrates!

http://www.amazon.com/AeroPress-Cof...UTF8&qid=1344779553&sr=8-2&keywords=aeropress

how would you use the aeropress?

707vallejo707 said:

how would you use the aeropress?

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I flip it upside down,pull the plunger back half way, drop the funnel that come with it into the bottom(which is on the top upside down) add your ground herbs, get the scoop thing they give, add the ISO while agitating with the scoop, when all herbs are covered by about a quarter to a half inch, it will all be floating around because your stirring. I place 3 of the circular micron filters in the cap(have ready to go) snap on the cap, flip the aeropress right side up and press the plunger as fast as you can directly onto your plate, and your good. Then i repeat the process 2 more times on the same batch, your second pull will be almost as good as your first, which will be amber. If a little plant matter breaks down the oil will be a little darker, just be as fast as you can. The aeropress will help. And the third pull i press into my edibles dish and just put it in the cabinet and let it cure, i just allow it to build up. What the aeropress is, is pretty much a huge syringe with micron filters on the end, that uses air pressure to strain the liquid threw the filters. Trust me if your gonna be doing iso extractions, pick one up! And it also make one hell of a cup of coffee.

it does make the best cup of coffee ever, but is that black rubber plunger going to foul the taste of the oil when used upside down? it feels oily and has a slight tire odor.

i use it upright, like making coffee, only with frozen broken up herb and everclear from the freezer.

i press it into a coffee mug and pour that into my evap dish. then i make a cup of coffee with that mug. (hippie speedball)

StickyShisha said:

it does make the best cup of coffee ever, but is that black rubber plunger going to foul the taste of the oil when used upside down? it feels oily and has a slight tire odor.

i use it upright, like making coffee, only with frozen broken up herb and everclear from the freezer.

i press it into a coffee mug and pour that into my evap dish. then i make a cup of coffee with that mug. (hippie speedball)

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AWESOME! I'm totally going frozen for a try, if anything i usually de-hydroxides with heat. I have never had a problem with taste, and I've made 3 or 4 strains at once in different batches, and you can distinctly taste the wonderful flavor of each individual flower. Wether or not its killing me, i should look into. Also if anything id consider the rubber on mine dry, far from oily. I wonder if thats a build up of both. Thats a great question? Im not sure.

I like the look of that device. I have used a bodum a couple of times so I could freeze the bud already in it and worked well. Does this remove that last bit of iso easily, is much left in the 'puck'?

A potato ricer is pretty quick for squeezing those bits of plant matter but this looks way tidier and less clunky. Worth it if I already have a clunky adequate method?

Slinkytreekreeper said:

I like the look of that device. I have used a bodum a couple of times so I could freeze the bud already in it and worked well. Does this remove that last bit of iso easily, is much left in the 'puck'?

A potato ricer is pretty quick for squeezing those bits of plant matter but this looks way tidier and less clunky. Worth it if I already have a clunky adequate method?

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It will not disappoint. Especially for the price. And you can press it empty. I actually collect the used filters in a tupperware, let them dry out, and do an iso shake soak for edibles, or something not as strong for friends. And the actual puck of flower I'm left with, goes in the trash. Im sure you could use it for something but I'm good at that point.

I would never leave my flowers in the alcohol, anywhere near as long as that video. I would have been on my 3rd pull by the time he poured his first filter. His shit is fucking clean though.

I agree about the steep length in the vid, quite long. Freezing the iso and bud has been the biggest step by far that cleaned up my oil. The difference is night and day. I did a batch each way and was blown away at how dirty my normal quick 5 sec wash was when at room temp.

My other bits of advice would be don't agitate the plant matter with any forks or sticks, just swirl for 5 seconds or so and do a longer rinse if you really want what is left. Even if you just pour past the bud it gets all the good stuff, just inefficient with the amount of iso. As for evaporating, I totally recommend a tefal vegetable steamer with a pyrex dish and some tea towels to block up the sides. I build a cardboard vent over it to the window and you can enter the kitchen without even smelling it. You can decarb in there too and it's much easier to scrape when warm, shards go everywhere and stick to thumbs and shit when you scrape it while hard. Fill just past the line with water and it will never boil dry within the 45 mins timer, next time it pings, it's done and stays warm for 30 mins plus for an easy scrape.

The if you want to clean it up more try these steps as linked to me by pipes I believe. I am yet to try the full clean up as acetone is in the post still.
https://mycotopia.net/forums/holding-tank/63232-bho-butane-honey-oil.html

I still think iso kills or just plain ignores a lot of the subtle delicious terpenes but it's way safer than butane evaporating and chemically clean/affordable/easy to source. Bubble is the holy grail for flavour in my book but a waste of effort unless with good bud and still needs purifying to be as potent as good oil.

Is it safe to vaporizer iso-extract considering there will always be trace amounts of alcohol left over even after purge. I am in the process of making some qwiso oil now as described in the above method. Got some premium og buds and 99% iso frozen and mixed gonna let soak for 3 hrs before straining.
Would like to know how hazardous it is to smoke through a convection vape.

I feel like we are missing the most noob-friendly form of concentrate... Rosin! Just go to the thrift store and grab a hair straightener and pick up some parchment paper at the local grocers. That's all you need to get some great, clean concentrate very safely.
I do ISO washes for larger batches and get nice tasty shatter usually, but for on demand ease of use rosin is a daily driver for me. There's a great thread about it in "Concentrates", and I'm happy to post a summary of the process if you need it. Good Luck!

DopeShow said:

I am in the process of making some qwiso oil now as described in the above method. Got some premium og buds and 99% iso frozen and mixed gonna let soak for 3 hrs before straining.

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Bud, you can't soak in ISO for that long. It's 30-45 seconds tops for me. That stuff is gonna be chlorophyll soup I think