Swamp Water / Golden Dragon a use for your abv/avb

momofthegoons said:

Lo and Rosie, you guys are driving me crazy. I'm at my summer cottage and it's a real struggle to find just about anything "exotic" up here, including candy making material. I have to wait until I go back down state in a couple of weeks to get what I need to make these candies.

One question Rosie, how long did it take for your swampwater to reduce down?

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That was two hours at most. I had the crockpot on High, which is fine I think if you check it (lifting it out and swishing it around before putting it back) more often than I did - I was distracted and didn't check it at all during the second hour. I had the kitchen ceiling fan on - don't know if that helped any, but Everclear really does evaporate very quickly. Keep in mind that I made a very small batch of swampwater in the first place, only 1/4 oz ABV -> 1/4 cup Everclear.

I don't think you actually need anything exotic per se - you don't have to have molds to try it out, a greased pan will work, and you just score them while the candy's still soft. When cool they break apart along the lines easily. -- Or maybe (it occurs to me) your summer cottage doesn't have a microwave? Or maybe it's the peppermint oil? Don't know if you have access to a 'whole foods' sort of store at all, but that's where I'd have gone if I weren't lucky enough to have a nice little cake decorating/candymaking store in my town. And there's always mail order, if you have enough time.

Lo said:

lol, Rosie!

First batch I used the mint and they came out fine but I dont' think they were strong enough.

Tried another batch this time used cinnamon (yuck, mint much better). Well I wanted to make them extra strong but I added a little too much hooch and they didn't harden properly...kinda, sorta hard but chewy, tacky. Taste like shit lol. I used some golden dragon and green dragon in this batch. You can taste that there is too much alcohol. Oh, but the potency is there....tv started looking really pretty last night lol!

Third time will be a charm! I'm going back to mint and will back down on the alcohol a bit.

Thanks so much Rosie, have had a blast with this project and looking at molds, etc. This is a great use and I'm excited to tweak the strength This idea is a winner!!!

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Thanks, I'm so glad you like it! Sorry to hear about the chewy batch.

I think evapping it down as far as you reasonably can is probably best for candy. I ended up with only 1/4 oz of thick tincture, and 1/2 tsp. of mint oil completely obliterated any other flavor.

I look forward to trying some with tincture of wandhash once I've collected enough. Oooh I will enjoy those.

You know, next time I make them I think I'll try making a how-to video. I'm back from my trip to the ol' hometown. Thought about George Carlin (bless his hilarious memory) and "high on the plane."

Thanks Rosie. Exotic might have been a bad choice of words. It's just really difficult to find food items up here that I take for granted down state, ie tomatillos, greek olives, fresh herbs, peppermint oil, etc. There was a time I couldn't find vanilla ice cream. Seriously. So I'll just have to be patient.

Ah, I get you. Then, yes, it'd really be best to wait. I plan on sticking with peppermint from now on. It's kind of crushing when you get a weird tasting batch... all that goodness you could have used somehow else! But my experiment with these only cost me 1/4 oz. of ABV, not too much of an investment. The first not-so-great stovetop batch I made used a LOT more ABV.

I am starting to think about butterscotch with ABVbutter... maybe including some wandhash tincture? aarrhh (Homer drool) ... Maybe!

I think I'm going to have to try the candy. I used way too much peppermint extract in my tincture. It tastes like mouthwash but it's pretty hot.

I think I might try Lemon extract for my next batch.

could absinthe be used for making golden/green dragon?

ive got some 138proof... would that work?

2clicker said:

could absinthe be used for making golden/green dragon?

ive got some 138proof... would that work?

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It would work fine I suppose, but i wouldn't want to waste it like that.. Don't know about you, but I have spent too much $$$ on some real nice Jades and wouldn't waste them like that.

Better to make a good tincture and add it to your drink if wanted.
Even the stuff you can buy now on the shelf on the local liquor store is still not cheap. I can say - the flavor does blend well, the herbal mixed with the fennel and anise & herbal notes does work.

after reading more on the subject:
http://boards.cannabis.com/concentrates/82380-definitive-green-dragon-revised-updated-combined.html

i realize that everclear is my best bet

im going the green route though, but i only wanna use a couple of grams of herb

as for consumption ill be using beer

cant wait

Quick question, I've left my ABV tincture sit for a couple days after filtering and extracting it as well as i could into a liquid and now I have a layer of dark powder at the bottom of my dropper bottle, does anyone know what this is and if i should filter it out or not? Thanks!

I would strain that. I think its material that got through your filter as it was more broken down than normal I think and that its stuff you dont really want but I honestly dont really know. I have noticed it before when I was letting it sit at longer times. didnt seem to hurt anything other than not tasting very good.

Echo said:

Quick question, I've left my ABV tincture sit for a couple days after filtering and extracting it as well as i could into a liquid and now I have a layer of dark powder at the bottom of my dropper bottle, does anyone know what this is and if i should filter it out or not? Thanks!

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That is where the mixture is turning back to solids. It is a good thing, basically hash oil. The alcohol has a saturation point where it can no longer hold any more and starts rendering these solids. The more you evaporate the mix, the more solids will form on the bottom. You can start with tincture that has no visible sediment on the bottom and as you evaporate it with a fan, it will begin to build up on the bottom.

i want to do a comparison of green dragon to golden dragon

if using the same recipe... how much ABV would equal that of fresh shrubs? 4/1... 6/1...?

I would guess probably 4 to 1 but I dont really know though as it would be dependent on the quality of your abv.

Made some swamp water with Everclear 151 (the real stuff - 194 proof - needs a special permit in this state). Put it in a dropper bottle, no idea what the volume is but it's perfect. One thing though: AUGH. You can't win trying to take a dropper straight. Put it under your tongue and it burns like hell, put it on top and you can taste it... absolutely vile.

But I'll be damned if it doesn't work. It's kind of like Star Trek Generations. "I hate this! It is revolting!" "More?" "Yes please."

put a bit into a drink and its all good. It bubbles real neat when put in a soft drink.

Cruising health food store the other day I came across this basket brewer for leaf tea made of nylon I believe.

It strains golden dragon very well, haven't tried w/ swamp water material yet.

Anyone have opnion on how the nylon would hold up to Everclear?? It sure strained very nicely

Anything food-safe should be okay with ethanol.

Made some swamp water using bacardi 151. I used about an 8th. of an ounce sweet kush, dark to golden brown, ABV. It sat covered in a glass container for 6 hours. I strained and drank about 4 teaspoons mixed with moscato wine. An hour later I'm begining to feel the rush and it builds quietly for the next 4 hours. Real intense high , I'm glad I'm home cause driving or riding a bike seemed out of the question. Wll maybe the bike would be cool, but I remained inside grooving on all the weird sensations. I'm writing this almost 18 hours later after sleeping and getting up and I can still feel the effects. I usually vape every morning ( vacation ) and today I haven't had the need or the urge. I'm still very mellow.

Thanks for sharing vapirtoo. Its great to see good effects from the bacardi 151 as not everyone can get the everclear.

Nylon will hold up very well with Everclear Ethanol Grain Alcohol. There should not be any problems.

ok ive got a lil under a 1/2OZ of ABV and wanna use it for something so ima try this, but instead of letting it sit and waiting for the everclear to evap i think ill try to use Master Wu's method of giving it a water bath for 20 mins.

should work right?

and i wanna get the everclear to ABV ratio correct. the OT states 2oz of everclear to 1oz of AVB... to me that sounds like not enough everclear, but i could be wrong. so if ive got a 1/2oz of AVB do i then use 1oz of everclear? i ask because im not sure that 1oz of everclear will even saturate 1/2oz of AVB let alone soak it.

any thoughts?

I go by volume and not weight and I typically use a 2 times the amount of alcohol as abv.

Say you do a cup of abv, do 2 cups of alcohol. Its not always necessary to let the alcohol evap, its just a way to concentrate it more and if it needs it or not is dependent on the quality of your abv which will vary from user to user.

Early on I used to drain (dark abv) my abv pretty heavily but now I leave more in my abv to give my swamp water more strength.

Hope that helps.

Beezleb said:

I go by volume and not weight and I typically use a 2 times the amount of alcohol as abv.

Say you do a cup of abv, do 2 cups of alcohol. Its not always necessary to let the alcohol evap, its just a way to concentrate it more and if it needs it or not is dependent on the quality of your abv which will vary from user to user.

Early on I used to drain (dark abv) my abv pretty heavily but now I leave more in my abv to give my swamp water more strength.

Hope that helps.

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it does thanks!

the only reason i asked is because the Green Dragon recipes call for 1oz of everclear to every 1g of herb

2Clicker:
Beezleb is correct, but there's more than one way to skin a cat so to speak.
Remember that the amount of ABV that is required is approximately 4X greater than fresh herb to get the same amount of extracted THC. I usually use just enough alcohol (ethanol only) to cover over the top of the entire ground herb and ABV about 1/2 - 3/4 inch. Do not under any circumstances use IPA alcohol in place of Grain Alcohol for the extraction. Then heat up to approx. 160-165 degrees F for about 30 minutes. You will have to keep topping up the alcohol during the heating process as the alcohol will evaporate rather quickly. Dont worry about exact amounts of alcohol vs. the amount of ABV or herb; just use the 1/2 - 3/4 inch rule. Dont forget to Decarboxylate your herb At 325 degrees F for 5-6 minutes if youre using fresh herb or stems rather than ABV. I also use finely ground up stems as well as any shake, and ABV. No need to Decarboxylate your ABV, just the fresh herb and any stems that you may have saved. There are quite a few of recipes around to make the dragon, but this one worked very well for me.

Lycanthrope said:

Remember that the amount of ABV that is required is approximately 4X greater than fresh herb to get the same amount of extracted THC.

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this is exactly what i was lookin for

thanks everybody!

EDIT***
i went ahead and gave it a shot tonight. brought water to a boil. put 2oz of everclear into a pyrex measuring cup. dumped 12g of light to moderate brown DBV (equivalent = 4g fresh herb... hopefully). place the pyrex into the just slightly boiling water. waited until the temp got to 160-170 and started timer. i only set the timer for 25 mins due to the fact that it took a good 10 mins to get the candy thermometer to read 160-170. then i pulled it out of the water bath and strained it. strained it twice for good measure.

results was a dark green/brown liquid that smelled horrible and tastes the same. i mixed a lil less than a teaspoon (2 droppers full) into half a beer and slammed it. its been over an hour. i havent eating in 6 hours. feeling the liquor mostly at this point. i didnt wanna wait for the thc to kick in so i took a one-hit of some quality while waiting for the effects. cant really tell if the high i have is from the shrubs i combusted or the thc in the tincture... i suppose that if it was the tincture that i would def know it... ? unless of course i just didnt take enough... ill see how the rest of the night pans out. im thinking about doubling the dose (with coffee or soda) before i go to work in the morning. ive got a pretty lax schedule so if its too much i can skate outta work.

lol, strength varies greatly from batch to batch. I would suggest testing dosage at home when you don't have to be anywhere. Results can vary from "I don't feel a thing" TO "Holy shit, I'm too damn high"

Generally my swamp water batches dose can vary from a tablespoon to a shot depending on how strong. I also find that evaporating off some of the alcohol allows for smaller doses.

Good luck and be careful!