Distill and extract your own essential oils at home!

[killick]

So I've been looking at options for making concentrates at home, safely and without breaking the bank. I've been looking at this website for awhile now http://www.heartmagic.com/EOoptions.html but haven't read any independent reviews as yet. The website is old, and the top level links to the guys music CDs. Not that thats a bad thing, I just would like a bit more validation.

Anyhoo, I'm more interested in the 2 litre tincture kit (can be bumped to 5 litres). The standalone kit, which includes hotplate and 'everything you need to get started' is around $465.

I'm not a lab guy. I'm more of one now than I was a couple of years ago, but at heart I'm still an engineer with an IT fetish, and a chronic pain patient on a limited budget but lots of gov-provided herb to use.

I know we have a few lab rats around in here. @herbivore21 being one of our more prolific posters with loads of great info distilled down to the levels of some of us mere mortals.

So, having said that, and posted a painful website to navigate (the tinc kit is about 1/4 way down the page) does anyone have any thoughts, pointers, or alternatives? This stuff looks kinda neat, but it's an expensive yard ornament if it's not the right thing...

Thanks for looking

 

[t-dub]

Have you looked at the Magical Butter Machine? I used Everclear with it to make some RSO and it worked pretty well. Last time I checked the machine still didn't decarb exactly as they planned but this was easily remedied with a pre-decarb in the oven or using an extra cycle on the machine. There is a thread here on it:

http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/magical-butter.7975/

@momofthegoons is the local expert on this, she is also in a Magical Butter group elsewhere on the net.

http://magicalbutter.com/

 

[Deleted Member 1643]

Wouldn't only oils that vaporize at lower temperatures than steam be recovered? It that what you want?

 

[Dragpo]

So, having said that, and posted a painful website to navigate (the tinc kit is about 1/4 way down the page) does anyone have any thoughts, pointers, or alternatives? This stuff looks kinda neat, but it's an expensive yard ornament if it's not the right thing...

I'm sure this setup will work, but as an engineer this may be more preferable.
Nothing fragile and breakable.

http://www.extractcraft.com/store

And if you have bucks to burn go here: http://store.edenlabs.com/coldfinger-apothecarian

https://www.youtube.com/user/COLDFINGEREXTRACTION

 

[t-dub]

Wouldn't only oils that vaporize at lower temperatures than steam be recovered?

No. Alcohol is both a polar and nonpolar solvent that strips the plant of its medicine. Heat is used to decarb, facilitate extraction, and to evaporate and possibly recover solvents while leaving the medicine behind.

 

[Deleted Member 1643]

Thinking of steam distillation. So, main advantage (over simple QWET, for example) is reclaiming solvent? Will terpenes be lost due to heat? Would take a while to pay for itself.

 

[t-dub]

Will terpenes be lost due to heat?

Thats one of my main bitches about concentrates. They never satisfy me like flowers. Something is always missing from the body. I believe terpene loss is at the center of this.

Closed systems that recover solvents are expensive however evaporating grain alcohol isn't cheap either. Its up to each of us to study the processes involved and make the decision for ourselves as to what suits our needs best. There are ways to recover any solvent like alcohol, butane etc but it involves more equipment and more study as the safe operation of the apparatus must be achieved.

 

[Deleted Member 1643]

For small quantities, prefer QWET evaporated with no or very little heat. Delicious results with no expensive equipment to purchase.

Would reclaim EtOH if terpenes preserved. Could terpenes be collected first with a two-step process and added back?

 

[herbivore21]

I gotta say, distillation can be used for much more than making tinctures and edibles! It is also useful beyond a way of recovering solvents!

Want solvent free ejuice tank compatible extracts? Distillation can get you there!

Want to make your own terpene extracts? Making use of distillation can also get you there. This is not necessarily the only way though, and more advanced processing will be required for the higher quality terp extracts we find (ie: Blue River extracts terps or similar).

That coldfinger setup looks interesting and potentially useful for some of the above. The source is not really up to the applications I'm talking about above though.

There's no doubt stuff on the market to do basic short path distillation etc that is cheaper and not branded for cannabis. I know that in many cultures, there are old traditions of distilled plant essences being used in food and drinks for example as well! Products designed to manufacture these essences would likely be able to be repurposed without much stress and cost less than anything marketed for cannabis use.

I'm not going to go into this topic much further in though because as the original link in the OP explains, this is really not stuff that you should do without practical lessons from a chemistry teacher.

It is important to understand a lot of general lab safety; appropriate uses of stands and clamps, any hoses or gaskets (all must be fit for the vacuum being used), various limitations of the use of various solvents according to their properties, using the right vacuum source with the right precautions and more to do this safely. Still, I can see a time when we will get more purpose built products that allow this to be done safely at home without specialist training. Something like this may exist already in fact as I mention above.

I have been watching this space for a while and once I find something that will do this well and can be used by those who are not chemists at home, you guys will be the first to know and we'll all be gawking at one another's beautiful distillates (this thread seems like a good place to share such a discovery so I'll keep it in mind and any of you guys please do the same if you spot something!)

In the meantime, please be sure to do your due diligence with setups like that in the OP (in my view it would be best to be taught by a qualified chemistry teacher!) and then some if you pursue this kind of technique. You may also find that with appropriate training and know-how, you can find cheaper and more effective solutions

@killick many thanks for the kind words too my brother! I hope that you and yours have been very well sir!

 

[killick]

Thanks guys. I'm not thinking about the vacuum option, just the tincture option. And after 5 hours of processing then it needs to be winterised, and then evapped again. Maybe the cash is best spent on a vacuum purge arrangement? Once i can get a reasonable shatter I'll be a happy bunny.

It's funny, but the gov sends me 10 grams of flower per day, and converting that into useable form can be a full time job. I'm just aiming for simple. I have a GOM, and 3 MB machines (weird story , one is still in box for sale). This weekend I'm getting a couple of tents and lights for the winter hobby, and a form of shatter world be a nice outcome, without the use of Tane.

Thanks for tips and pointers! Once again FC is my fave place on the interwebs. Look me up of you are every in the south okanagan, and we can compare fave strains

 

[killick]

@Accept - I've just started making my own EC (thanks gom), so solvent reclaim won't be much of an issue. Just back to scraping, and keeping feathers and such from falling into an uncovered pan (I joke, bit did drop a vape into an evapping tray. That kinda sucked... bit I giggled, so it didn't suck that much...