Concentrates for Noobs - Q&A
- Thread starter FlyingLow
- Start date
then your chamber is too wide to fit in the skillet if you chose to go induction with an aluminum chamber you just need one of these.
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/1/1...stainless-steel-induction-interface-disk.html
that one is 8" but I bey u can find a 9" induction interface if you look.
I think mine was a 50micron... I cant remember but I got a kit. from bestvaluevacs so whatever they recomend is what I have.
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/1/1...stainless-steel-induction-interface-disk.html
that one is 8" but I bey u can find a 9" induction interface if you look.
I think mine was a 50micron... I cant remember but I got a kit. from bestvaluevacs so whatever they recomend is what I have.
jdee
Well-Known Member
I have one and it's quite useless for this purpose. The flat surface makes poor contact with your most likely concave bottom chamber. If you want something that actually works and works well, nothing beats a flexible heating mat on top of a towel so that it can make full contact with your chamber. Plugging your heating mat into a temperature controller (the temp probe would go between the towel and the heating mat) like a dorkfood dsv (or a diy pid) will give you very consistent results. I use SRFR-12/2 from http://www.omega.com/pptst/SRFR_SRFG.html . Also a guy on ebay is doing these for a better price you can just message him your requirements for a heater (you can just use the descriptions from the omega mats) and he will post up a link for you like so http://www.ebay.com/itm/271539717585. These temperature strips inside your chamber will be a great visual aid to know the exact internal temps RLC-60-90/120-10 @ http://www.omega.com/pptst/RLC-60.html.
Just for fun I took my PID out of the setup, and replaced it with a light dimmer extension cord plugged into an energy meter (volts/watts/amps) The heating mat is now controlled with the dimmer and the energy meter tells me the exact power draw in watts. ~40watts gives me ~115f
The whole setup is $65 ($40 ebay heating mat, $15 energy meter, $10 dimming extension plug)
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215z
Well-Known Member
NoobQs
@FlyingLow dropped his hot glass nail on the floor. Why and when will I need to manipulate a hot nail? Are there tools I should get to mitigate the risks of handling hot nails?
How does a newbie choose between daisy, castle, and club banger nails?
@FlyingLow dropped his hot glass nail on the floor. Why and when will I need to manipulate a hot nail? Are there tools I should get to mitigate the risks of handling hot nails?
How does a newbie choose between daisy, castle, and club banger nails?
pigfoot
Dabs are vapor too!
Just put the nail in the piece, heat it, dab, and leave the nail till it cools, no need to handle while hot.
There are small differences, but any quartz nail is cheap, durable and tastes good. The banger style is a favorite here. http://www.ebay.com/itm/181450730905?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
I have great results with my cimarec with a SS flat bottom chamber most of the time. Temp control is super easy with no noticeable fluctuation. I check my oil temps often with an IR gun. I've used it with a pyrex round chamber. I think the bottom is concave on that too. Seemed fine then. The stir feature is quite awesome for other things as well.
FlyingLow
Team NO SLEEP!
So I went from a Quartz Castle to a domeless ceramic, and now back to the castle.
I found while the taste was comparably good, I really did not like the ceramic. Took too long to torch and no way of really telling if the temp was right. With quartz, I find I can torch till the slits glow, then wait a few seconds and go... with ceramic, I went through a lot more butane.
The ceramic was great for large pulls, and did hold temps far better, but it would also leave a ton of black residue in the top of the nail. The "self cleaning" by torching also takes much more time and I found it nearly impossible to completely clean with my smaller Vector Nitro size torch. The quartz does not leave near as much residue and cleans much easier IMO.
Anyway, I am back on quartz. Quick heat ups, great taste, cleans easy
I found while the taste was comparably good, I really did not like the ceramic. Took too long to torch and no way of really telling if the temp was right. With quartz, I find I can torch till the slits glow, then wait a few seconds and go... with ceramic, I went through a lot more butane.
The ceramic was great for large pulls, and did hold temps far better, but it would also leave a ton of black residue in the top of the nail. The "self cleaning" by torching also takes much more time and I found it nearly impossible to completely clean with my smaller Vector Nitro size torch. The quartz does not leave near as much residue and cleans much easier IMO.
Anyway, I am back on quartz. Quick heat ups, great taste, cleans easy
it took a big propane torch to clean my ceramic... it took a lot more heat thsn I thought it would.So I went from a Quartz Castle to a domeless ceramic, and now back to the castle.
I found while the taste was comparably good, I really did not like the ceramic. Took too long to torch and no way of really telling if the temp was right. With quartz, I find I can torch till the slits glow, then wait a few seconds and go... with ceramic, I went through a lot more butane.
The ceramic was great for large pulls, and did hold temps far better, but it would also leave a ton of black residue in the top of the nail. The "self cleaning" by torching also takes much more time and I found it nearly impossible to completely clean with my smaller Vector Nitro size torch. The quartz does not leave near as much residue and cleans much easier IMO.
Anyway, I am back on quartz. Quick heat ups, great taste, cleans easy
i still perfer quartz myself.
but I have been enjoying the banger style... I think its worth a try too @FlyingLow pm if interested
FlyingLow
Team NO SLEEP!
@farscaper ~LOL thanks for the offer man; I really appreciate it and sorry I did not respond sooner. I caught VAS and have been spreading my hobby funds thin! Should the deal with my plenty sell tomorrow (knock on wood- deal pending through CL), I will shoot you funds for that banger.
I have been loving my quartz as well, no more ceramic unless in emergencies.
...I guess it may be nice in groups, as it does retain heat very well- especially when capped.
That is one thing I do miss, is that the carb cap I used is pretty ineffective with the castle's slits. The cap was super effective with the ceramic.
And as I go deeper into concentrate, I absolutely see the need for dedicated oil rigs. I am only using one bub right now and I am cleaning it every time before I have flower. Otherwise the oil taste lingers and overwhelms any other subtle flavors... It is a 14" sheldon black travel bubbler and now I must decide if it will be oil or flower use from now on.
My mouthpiece is about 2x taller than the one in the pic above
I have been loving my quartz as well, no more ceramic unless in emergencies.
...I guess it may be nice in groups, as it does retain heat very well- especially when capped.
That is one thing I do miss, is that the carb cap I used is pretty ineffective with the castle's slits. The cap was super effective with the ceramic.
And as I go deeper into concentrate, I absolutely see the need for dedicated oil rigs. I am only using one bub right now and I am cleaning it every time before I have flower. Otherwise the oil taste lingers and overwhelms any other subtle flavors... It is a 14" sheldon black travel bubbler and now I must decide if it will be oil or flower use from now on.
My mouthpiece is about 2x taller than the one in the pic above
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hishighness
Well-Known Member
Checking back in with many more questions:
So I got my kief and unfortunately it's very green. Like very very green. I tried freezing the kief/doing a 1 minute and even 45 second ethanol wash to no avail, came out green as hell. I left it in the sun to kill the chlorophyll which it kind of did but still came out dark and not see through at all.
So I ask once again, what the heck determines clarity of the wax?? Really running out of ideas here, I mean it's clear if it's thin enough but once it's .25-.5 inches thick turns straight black. Is there any way at all to get see-through wax without using fresh/high quality buds? Has anyone tried making shatter from hexane washes?
Next question, this has happened twice now, after I leave it in the sun to kill the chlorophyll, it leaves this red liquid.
Is the red the "burnt up" chlorophyll? I tried just filtering it to remove it but that didn't work, I think it came out fine when I froze the liquid and then filtered it but honestly can't remember. Looking into graphitized carbon now (as recommended by Graywolf) but no idea how well that would work.
So I got my kief and unfortunately it's very green. Like very very green. I tried freezing the kief/doing a 1 minute and even 45 second ethanol wash to no avail, came out green as hell. I left it in the sun to kill the chlorophyll which it kind of did but still came out dark and not see through at all.
So I ask once again, what the heck determines clarity of the wax?? Really running out of ideas here, I mean it's clear if it's thin enough but once it's .25-.5 inches thick turns straight black. Is there any way at all to get see-through wax without using fresh/high quality buds? Has anyone tried making shatter from hexane washes?
Next question, this has happened twice now, after I leave it in the sun to kill the chlorophyll, it leaves this red liquid.
Is the red the "burnt up" chlorophyll? I tried just filtering it to remove it but that didn't work, I think it came out fine when I froze the liquid and then filtered it but honestly can't remember. Looking into graphitized carbon now (as recommended by Graywolf) but no idea how well that would work.
well... define your definition of clarity...Checking back in with many more questions:
So I got my kief and unfortunately it's very green. Like very very green. I tried freezing the kief/doing a 1 minute and even 45 second ethanol wash to no avail, came out green as hell. I left it in the sun to kill the chlorophyll which it kind of did but still came out dark and not see through at all.
So I ask once again, what the heck determines clarity of the wax?? Really running out of ideas here, I mean it's clear if it's thin enough but once it's .25-.5 inches thick turns straight black. Is there any way at all to get see-through wax without using fresh/high quality buds? Has anyone tried making shatter from hexane washes?
Next question, this has happened twice now, after I leave it in the sun to kill the chlorophyll, it leaves this red liquid.
Is the red the "burnt up" chlorophyll? I tried just filtering it to remove it but that didn't work, I think it came out fine when I froze the liquid and then filtered it but honestly can't remember. Looking into graphitized carbon now (as recommended by Graywolf) but no idea how well that would work.
I consider clarity to do directly with the opacity or cloudyness of the extract.
ie I think of "wax" as being very lown in clarity cause its completely opaque.
sugar wax... you know the sorta waxy but still has that shatter shine well it has more clarity.
obviously shatter and errl top in clarity since they are more often dewaxxed or decarbed which will degrade and break down the lipids blah blah blah...
but then there is color...
now imo there are 2 things that influence extract color.
strain and cure age
some indicas naturally have darker resins than say a full sativa...
but typically with extracts the majority of color is dictated by the oxidiation of the resins. freshly cut and frozen buds extracted shortly after harvest show that yellow golden color... I ran some lemon kush that was lemon drop yellow almost white. but as the cure on the buds aged that color progressed into deeper yellows and ambers.
typically when I see keif runs (never done myself) they are darker becuase the buds were subjected to more oxidiation during cure so that the trichome heads would more easily fall off... you cannot mechanically extract moist bud for keif IMO. just gums up a screen.
hope thats helpful @hishighness
edit: I too want to try refining really dirty extract through lab grade carbon.
works great for taking the smell out of fishwater!
StickyShisha2
Well-Known Member
Checking back in with many more questions:
So I got my kief and unfortunately it's very green. Like very very green. I tried freezing the kief/doing a 1 minute and even 45 second ethanol wash to no avail, came out green as hell. I left it in the sun to kill the chlorophyll which it kind of did but still came out dark and not see through at all.
So I ask once again, what the heck determines clarity of the wax?? Really running out of ideas here, I mean it's clear if it's thin enough but once it's .25-.5 inches thick turns straight black. Is there any way at all to get see-through wax without using fresh/high quality buds? Has anyone tried making shatter from hexane washes?
Next question, this has happened twice now, after I leave it in the sun to kill the chlorophyll, it leaves this red liquid.
Is the red the "burnt up" chlorophyll? I tried just filtering it to remove it but that didn't work, I think it came out fine when I froze the liquid and then filtered it but honestly can't remember. Looking into graphitized carbon now (as recommended by Graywolf) but no idea how well that would work.
i have a theory. Remember highschool chem?
it may be possible to remove the red/green with water.
dissolve it into ethanol. then add equal part distilled water. shake.
the water should force the oil out of the mix, once it is 50/50.
after it settles, the water should look a bit dirty with the oils floating on top.
i suspect this method would lose a lot of terps.
and then lose even more when drying out the wet oil
hishighness
Well-Known Member
@farscaper here are two examples of what I mean by clear, one and two. Shatter can be dark and clear but I guess what I'm getting at is is there a difference between "cloudiness" and "clarity"? Because when I hold my stuff on top of a light source I can see through it, but in regular light it's just too dark. Is this darkness just because it's from oxidized resin or is it because there's "bad" material in there that's making it cloudy?
@StickyShisha I had a thought like that myself but dismissed it since I figured water would be way too big a bitch to get rid of. Looking into it now, separation seems possible with the introduction of salt (there are other ways too but I don't want to have to turn my place into a laboratory).
Anyone have any thoughts on this? Basically do the ethanol wash, filter it, mix with distilled water, shake it up, let it sit, mix with salt, shake it up, let it sit, separate and all the chlorophyll should be in the water.
Edit: But now that I think of it is there any reason the chlorophyll would rather bind to the water instead of just staying with the ethanol? Really got no idea, I need to ask my girl, she's the chemist
@StickyShisha I had a thought like that myself but dismissed it since I figured water would be way too big a bitch to get rid of. Looking into it now, separation seems possible with the introduction of salt (there are other ways too but I don't want to have to turn my place into a laboratory).
Anyone have any thoughts on this? Basically do the ethanol wash, filter it, mix with distilled water, shake it up, let it sit, mix with salt, shake it up, let it sit, separate and all the chlorophyll should be in the water.
Edit: But now that I think of it is there any reason the chlorophyll would rather bind to the water instead of just staying with the ethanol? Really got no idea, I need to ask my girl, she's the chemist
063_XOBX
Ganjapreneur
@hishighness
What kind of screen are you using to strain your run? If you're just using a coffee filter for a kief run I'd assume that it's not fine enough and some of the kief/plant material is making it through before considering any other points of failure.
What kind of screen are you using to strain your run? If you're just using a coffee filter for a kief run I'd assume that it's not fine enough and some of the kief/plant material is making it through before considering any other points of failure.
hishighness
Well-Known Member
I use a lab filter + 2 coffee filters run through a buchner funnel with vacuum assist. My girl also suggested I get a very fine lab filter, I'll probably try either that or just get the carbon (as I assume the carbon filter is equally fine)
@hishighness throughout all of this you have to remember to keep your eyes on the prize. What is more important to YOU? That it looks clear? That it tastes great.? That it gets you medicated.? Unless you are doing it commercially, perfect your process for your needs. I personally don't want to winterize because I don't want to sacrifice any flavor. I use a 25 micron SS screen (upgraded now to 10 micron). I freeze everything before runs. Most of the waxes are filtered out.
hishighness
Well-Known Member
@farscaper yes I did winterize and refilter, nothing came out that I could see which I think is strange considering this is very green kief (though I did leave it very short amount of time).
@DieHard unfortunately I would not be able to afford my wax without doing it commercially. The people I work with are very very very particular since 100% of their business is done in 20 seconds, walk in, look at it, either they want it or they don't (if they didn't know me they wouldn't even consider getting some black looking wax and I wouldn't either honestly).
Clarity and color are factors I thought determined a good product. But now I find that even though I am doing all the right things, and my product is very well purged and stable, it does not look the way it "should". So now I wonder how important are clarity and color really? Ultimately I think I'll have to get my stuff tested so I know for sure, as that would be the only way to "prove" its quality.
Edit: Oh yeah, and I spoke to my chemist regarding mixing water with the ethanol and she said that the ethanol would be riddled with salt if you tried to do that to separate and would be left in the wax when it evaporated (and makes sense since ethanol/water/salt mixes when doing a hexane wash). If you tried to distill the water out she said the chlorophyll would probably stay in the solution with the ethanol. She isn't very experienced in these types of extractions (obviously) but what she said made sense so I don't think I'll try it.
Still very interested in trying the carbon but would have to order some most likely.
@DieHard unfortunately I would not be able to afford my wax without doing it commercially. The people I work with are very very very particular since 100% of their business is done in 20 seconds, walk in, look at it, either they want it or they don't (if they didn't know me they wouldn't even consider getting some black looking wax and I wouldn't either honestly).
Clarity and color are factors I thought determined a good product. But now I find that even though I am doing all the right things, and my product is very well purged and stable, it does not look the way it "should". So now I wonder how important are clarity and color really? Ultimately I think I'll have to get my stuff tested so I know for sure, as that would be the only way to "prove" its quality.
Edit: Oh yeah, and I spoke to my chemist regarding mixing water with the ethanol and she said that the ethanol would be riddled with salt if you tried to do that to separate and would be left in the wax when it evaporated (and makes sense since ethanol/water/salt mixes when doing a hexane wash). If you tried to distill the water out she said the chlorophyll would probably stay in the solution with the ethanol. She isn't very experienced in these types of extractions (obviously) but what she said made sense so I don't think I'll try it.
Still very interested in trying the carbon but would have to order some most likely.
Since you are doing commercial runs I can understand the concern for an appealing looking product.
I get my SS screens from http://www.316twholesale.com/.