An ounce of 2nd-rate shatter - what to do?

[Deleted Member 1643]

Taking a year off growing to attend to other things, eyeing the jar of second and even third wash QWET shatter accumulated over several years. Much of it is dabbable, but a little harsh and what flavor remains isn't great.

Decarbed, it would be fine for edibles, but never really got into edibles. Is now the time? Also, poor effects with PG tincture, but never tried an alcohol cannabis tincture.

Clean it up? The first step would be to winterize. Getting good results lately winterizing QWET extracts, which is surprising considering the extraction uses ultra-cold ethanol to begin with. Still, once the volume is reduced, a few days in the deep freeze precipitates a small additional pellet. But winterizing probably won't be enough.

A non-polar/brine wash? Have some heptane on hand from a different prep. Tried a few times, but never seemed worthwhile. Try again?

Never tried distillation, so it seems like a fun science project. Haven't looked into methods, but some new gear would be required. Also, never used distillate - might not like it. Need to set up an atomizer that can handle it. Of course, if all else fails, we're just back to edibles or tincture at this point.

What would you do?

 

[invertedisdead]

Decarb, infuse into coconut oil and fill capsules. I use cellulose caps over gelatin in recent times.

If you really wanted to experiment you could wash your starting material in solvent until crystals form: that would negate most of the flavor and residual wax lipids as they would be in your pour off.

 

[Deleted Member 1643]

If you really wanted to experiment you could wash your starting material in solvent until crystals form

Eureka! Forgot about "diamonds" (never tried). Thanks!

 

[shredder]

What would you do?

You have enough to try more than one method. Not a dire situation to be in, lol.

As far as edibles go, I wasn't a big fan either until I stepped up my game and got better at it. Rather than just strong capsules at night, we now have chocolates with sweet orange oil for both the terpenes in orange oil and the orange oil hides the weed taste. And we use medicated honey butter, medicated maple syrup, alcohol tinctures, and the standard brownies and cookies. Now its my our main method of medicating. It helps to have a variety of choices. We have some from 18mg to 100mg, some for night and some for daytime.

 

[Deleted Member 1643]

Now its my our main method of medicating.

It's probably a matter of getting used to edibles. Mainly good experiences, even with simple firecrackers. Made some memorable chocolates once... The variability in time before effects is the major drawback, IMO. Do you get reliable sublingual absorption with alcohol tincture? How do you handle the burn?

 

[shredder]

It's probably a matter of getting used to edibles. Mainly good experiences, even with simple firecrackers. Made some memorable chocolates once... The variability in time before effects is the major drawback, IMO. Do you get reliable sublingual absorption with alcohol tincture? How do you handle the burn?

Knowing or accurately estimating the starting material's mg of cannabinoids is a great help in consistent dosing. Then divide that number by the portions and you have your dosage in mg's.

We cooked off 1/2 of our tincture on a coffee warmer. Then replaced the missing alcohol with maple syrup. It still has a bite, but it's much easier to tolerate. In food or drinks it's almost undetectable.

edit for further on the tincture we made. It was made with 3ml of a strong oil. I estimate 2700 total mg dissolved in 1 fluid ounce of 200 proof alcohol. This made each drop 4.5 mg. The alcohol, although food grade, was plenty rough, cooking it down and adding maple syrup made it much better. If your buying alcohol id recommend the 195 proof and still cooking some off. Unless of course your 25 yr old and bullet proof, lol.

 

[Deleted Member 1643]

Received a request for gummies, so found a workable vegan recipe. (It uses carrageenan instead of agar for a more appealing, elastic texture.)

Used pooled second and third QWET runs from a Barney's Peppermint Kush plant that was harvested early. The lowest quality of the three pooled shatter preps from different plants. Tried Skunk Pharm's dry ice winterization which precipitated some undesirables. Purged/decarbed 1g at 250F in an oil bath and mixed with 3ml sunflower lecithin while warm.

The gummies were calculated to be 10mg per, but the first batch is fewer and larger than expected. (The mixture is thick and sets quickly. Any pro tips?) The other problem with edibles is impulse control. So easy to pop a delicious, chewy gummy candy.