Concentrates for Noobs - Q&A

[Michel]

Hi there Bho heads , what pump should i get with a 3 gallon chamber as a minimum?

Also When dewaxing my product do i freeze the butane in the pyrex measuring cup or pour it into an airtight glass container like a Kiln Jar before putting it into the Freezer.

Hi, just a few things to consider, excuse if you already knew them:

Don't put butane in the freezer when it's not in its original can or a gas tank. Never pour liquid butane from a container to another. Never use airtight containers to store butane. Never vacuum purge with high amounts of butane trapped in your concentrates.

As long as you are extracting or handling butane, do it outside, please.

Dewaxing can be done safely inline with a CLS or you use everclear or ISO as solvent to refine your product ( which shouldn't be necessary as long as you aren't running trim or low quality hashish.)

But I'm not a specialist, perhaps someone can jump in and give you a link for a pump you need!

 

[herbivore21]

Carb capping helps to achieve the Leidenfrost Effect. this allows dabbing at temperatures lower than those that would cause vaporization without the aid of a carb cap.

The leidenfrost effect only occurs at higher temps than I ever dab bro, a carb will help achieve this at the right temps though as you say

 

[thecrook]

Hi, just a few things to consider, excuse if you already knew them:

Don't put butane in the freezer when it's not in its original can or a gas tank. Never pour liquid butane from a container to another. Never use airtight containers to store butane. Never vacuum purge with high amounts of butane trapped in your concentrates.

As long as you are extracting or handling butane, do it outside, please.

Dewaxing can be done safely inline with a CLS or you use everclear or ISO as solvent to refine your product ( which shouldn't be necessary as long as you aren't running trim or low quality hashish.)

But I'm not a specialist, perhaps someone can jump in and give you a link for a pump you need!

Thank you Micheal* (E2C lol sorry) that was one of the major confusions i had and i’m really appreciative for the info! Since Ethanol is very hard to obtain where i live , i may have to winterise and use iso unfortunately which is why i had looked into dewaxing by freezing the tane and filtering out the particle but i assume i need lots of dry ice etc to be able to do outside since i can’t use the freezer. Probably cheeper to just pay the duty on the ethanol and be done with it. Do you then return the winterised product to the chamber once you use ethanol and purge at vac at room temp ?

 

[Michel]

I never winterized since I never felt it was really necessary. I don't have much experience to be true and did only a few open blasts.
Can be I'm missing something but to be honest, I'm not into chemical concentrates until I can afford a Tamisium or another closed system since I'm convinced open blasting can't be handled without serious health risks or some financial investments

 

[amberevil]

@thecrook
http://www.bestvaluevacs.com/3cfmpump.html

Thats a good pump for you, I recommend getting a whole set up with a chamber from them but it sounds like you already have that. They have a lot of other small parts you might need too.

I didn't understand your question about winterising. But you would evape any liquid butane, dissolve in alcohol, freeze for 48 hours, strain, evaporate alcohol, purge with a vacuum. But over time that alcohol builds up in your pump oil if you dont use a cold trap.

Honestly, dont winterize. You will most likely lose flavor and for what, 5 or 10 percent stronger concentrate. Just take a slightly larger dab and injoy the flavor. To keep out most of the lipids fats abd waxes just freeze your tube packed and ready to blast and your butane cans for 24 hours. If you blast with everything cold, most the fats wont come out anyways. And I blast with trim. Dont open that that is called winterising.

 

[thecrook]

Thanks for the replies , Im just going to go for it and order everything , the pump i seen is similar to the one u linked but 2 stage one so hopefully will be quieter. I was under the impression i had to change the vacuum oil quite regularly to avoid messing up the pump like u said as cold trap is more money on top again for time being lol.

Im planning on freezing the packed tubes and canned butane etc too , if i go the winterising way i can find out if theres anything i really wanna take out anyway before spending another 50£ on 0.5l of ethanol , i just like the idea of the best cleanest product i can make from the off regardless of losing some flavours etc , From what i can see i can retain the flavour later in the extraction game when i get a CLS with inline dewaxing collum etc on it then i won’t bother winterising if its not necessary

again thank you though, is amazing what you can learn in a few days trawling the net

FC seems great site too

 

[amberevil]

Its definitely arguable to say that winterising doesn't make your concentrate any "cleaner" or "better" it makes it a higher cannabinoid ratio yes but does that really make it cleaner or better?

 

[thecrook]

I’m confused , when winterising am i not allowing the plant fats,waxes and other stuff I’ve heard people mention and seen in the filters , to freeze and separate from the alcohol solution as remains unfrozen so i can then filter them out. without them being part of the liquid and making it through my filter? Or am i missing something about what I’m actually going to be removing

 

[amberevil]

Your correct, but what im trying to say is it is debatable that removing lipids, waxes, and fats makes your concentrates "better" or "cleaner".

 

[thecrook]

ah i see, I’ve already ordered the funnel etc now so I’m going to try both this weekend and see which i prefer. One batch winterised, the other just purged in vac to sample hopefully this weekend .

The time scales etc seem so varied from different stuff I’ve seen or read for purging but is that due to some people winterising and needing to remove an alcohol in the chamber in comparison to removing butane that has a lower boiling point? If just removing butane from my product how longer purge would you advise trying the first time before flipping? Going to have to try and work out the offset of the heat pad against temp at oils level too because i imagine once i close the top i won’t be able to take reading of oil without removing lid again or can i do as i seen in videos just shine it through the lid ?

 

[amberevil]

Sounds like a fun experiment.

For purging it all depends on what you like and your equipment. I aim for 110 degrees, and 28.5 (because thats where my vac tops at). I go for shatter and dont flip at all. I usually do that for like 48 hours.

Everyone is comfortable with different ways. Some people dont want to wait that long and others dont want to use temps that high. You will find what you like, just try to be consistent so you can learn. By that I mean dont just start and 100 and get impatient and jump up to 130, but who knows maybe you will like to do that. Just have some fun and number one BE SAFE.

 

[thecrook]

thanks for the tips AEvil, I have much to learn ill keep notes possibly start a thread or something to document my journey.

I went with a 4cfm dual stage pump hopefully shud do the trick on ripping a vac its only a 3 gallon chamber. If the heat pads accurate and can keep a steady temp will i be purging with the vac pulled but pump off after the initial 2 hours or so and just burping the chamber every now and then or is it really jus make it up as i go along and see what works ?

See a lot of people leave a small amount of solvent in their extract and pour the product out into raw parchment or slick sheet before leaving a bit longer out the chamber before purging u prefer this to scraping once almost everything is gone?

 

[DieHard]

@thecrook
I do not allow my butane/oil solution to exceed 100F while there is still liquid butane visible. You want to purge at the lowest temperature that your oil will be pliable enough to allow the bubbles to escape. This can differ by strain. Remember that you can boil water at room temperature under enough vacuum. Be careful when using heat and vacuum because you don't want to boil off all of the flavor and/or Actives. This is the first batch I have run in a while. I forgot the micron screen on the end of my tube, so I got some tiny particles of veg in there, but is is still really good. It is well purged. The bubbles are from consolidating it. A mix of several strains that I had around. 3G out of 14g starting material. Super stable shatter.

 

[amberevil]

Im a little confused what you mean by pump off after the first two hours. I only have my pump to achieve vacuum pressure, than turn off. There is no need to leave it on once at vacuum. Depending on how much you are purging you might even have to start at a lower vacuum and work your way up to avoid the muffin from hitting the top and sides of your container. But dont worry you will see that.

I wounld not put any bho that has not fully purged on anything but glass or 100 percent ptfe(like slick sheets)

 

[thecrook]

Die head that looks lovely bro Thanks for your imput gonna have some fun next weekend! i wouldn’t say no to that leaf stuck in there lmao

AmberEvil - I meant that I’m going to be purging in a chamber with one of those pads that sticks to the bottom and i dont know how long it going to take to reach temps that will stay stable enough to not affect the vacuum so thought would possibly have to run it constantly until the chamber stays at a constant temperature to not decrease my vacuum ? Again i dont even have the chamber or mat or heat gun to test it in my hands yet so this is just an assumption

 

[DieHard]

My tool kit.

 

[thecrook]

looks pretty much what I’m getting except the heat source and chamber is different , looking at your i not sure this pad will cut it but it does say it accurate within a degree and is for vac chambers so i hope it works lol or it jus a wasted 80£

If winterising into the flask can i poor that mix directly onto the ptfe inside a pyrex or does it need to go into pyrex and then be scraped up after

 

[DieHard]

Prolly will work. I put mine together with stuff I already had.

 

[thecrook]

looks good tho bet does job if i had all that lying around i would consider doing the same .

 

[DieHard]

The vac and chamber are from BestValueVacs. The BBQ Guru controls the electric skillet's temp.

 

[Melting Pot]

@thecrook
I do not allow my butane/oil solution to exceed 100F while there is still liquid butane visible. You want to purge at the lowest temperature that your oil will be pliable enough to allow the bubbles to escape. This can differ by strain. Remember that you can boil water at room temperature under enough vacuum. Be careful when using heat and vacuum because you don't want to boil off all of the flavor and/or Actives. This is the first batch I have run in a while. I forgot the micron screen on the end of my tube, so I got some tiny particles of veg in there, but is is still really good. It is well purged. The bubbles are from consolidating it. A mix of several strains that I had around. 3G out of 14g starting material. Super stable shatter.

Looking yummy
Did u blast on ptfe?

 

[Monsoon]

went with a 4cfm dual stage pump hopefully shud do the trick on ripping a vac its only a 3 gallon chamber. If the heat pads accurate and can keep a steady temp will i be purging with the vac pulled but pump off after the initial 2 hours or so and just burping the chamber every now and then or is it really jus make it up as i go along and see what works ?

Might want to be careful with running the pump, according to Skunkpharm it can pull enough of a vacuum to risk boiling off cannabinoids.

AmberEvil - I meant that I’m going to be purging in a chamber with one of those pads that sticks to the bottom and i dont know how long it going to take to reach temps that will stay stable enough to not affect the vacuum so thought would possibly have to run it constantly until the chamber stays at a constant temperature to not decrease my vacuum ? Again i dont even have the chamber or mat or heat gun to test it in my hands yet so this is just an assumption

What do you mean by "...stay stable enough to not affect the vacuum"? I don't really think the relation between temps and vacuum is an issue at least for purging concentrates. I have the 3Gal flat chamber and heat pad setup from BestValueVacs. The temp on the inside surface of the chamber will be about 6-10F lower than what you set it on the PID, you can do tests beforehand to figure it out yourself. When I'm purging I'll run the pump for 5-10 minutes until the reaction slows and then turn it off. I'll run it for a few minutes every now and then to try to pop some of the larger bubbles and I usually only unseal it when I flip it every 12-24 hours.

I had an idea the other day to line my vacuum chamber with a SlickSheet and pour my alcohol wash into there for evaporation with just the heater pad running and then use the vac when it's ready to purge.

 

[thecrook]

Thanks for your replies, am just going to read your qwiso tek looks good

What i meant is that if the temperature fluctuated once i pulled a vacuum that i would increase or decrease the pressure inside the chamber and l would lose my vac faster or am i just over thinking things now

 

[DieHard]

Looking yummy
Did u blast on ptfe?

Yes! So much better. No more scraping... Just fold and peel.

 

[LadyWax]

Hi, guys!
Wanted to share this review of the super terpy Live Resin, maybe this is not proper forum, but this is educative and dabbing Check it out