Recommendations for QWET Extraction

[xer0]

I'm going to do my first QWET extraction tonight and was hoping to get some last minute advice.

I am working with 190 Everclear and 28g of some really nice brick weed, all bud. I've read up on skunkpharm's tech and am probably going to stick pretty close to it. The only things I am considering changing is I will probably grind the bud since it is brick and because of that I am thinking about only doing a 1.5 minute wash instead of 3 minutes. I also will likely skip the winterization part.

I've done two runs of QWISO before, one with ABV and one with about a quarter of brick. I was pretty happy both times and the second time with the quarter was real nice, dark when all together but if you held it to the light it was a nice amber color that was bright gold when spread very thin. Only reason I am going away from the ISO is the taste. While it wasn't horrible it wasn't good either. I'm hoping the ethanol extraction gives me a tastier end product that works nicely with my new Omicron v2.

 

[2clicker]

grinding the herb to fine will produce small particles that may/will get through whatever filters you use. i would advise against the 1.5 min wash. go ahead with the 3 min wash. ethanol is less aggressive than ISO and takes a little longer. a 1.5 min wash will be a limited return, but it will likely be potent. in my experience 3 mins is perfect. you can even do a second wash to get more, but it will be more sedative and less heady.

i agree about the iso taste. never again.

 

[Abysmal Vapor]

Don't skip winterization if u want good taste even 15 mins in the fridge will increase the quality in the taste department for sure

 

[darkrom]

DO NOT GRIND IT.

DO NOT. You will absolutely lower the quality by a great deal. The difference between amazing shatter and black goop can sometimes be grinding the material.

 

[z9]

Grinding will result in more clorophyll being extracted every time, especially with alcohol. Just break everything up nice and small by hand, wear some latex gloves if need be. I always do because I hate sticky fingers. Freeze everything before the wash and you'll be fine doing a 3 minute wash as recommended by @2clicker.

The taste will definitely be more pungent with ethonal than with iso

From my limited experience with winterization, it removes a lot of the flavor and others have reported this as well. Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not saying don't winterize, I just thought its purpose was to clean up the concentrate not increase the flavor.

 

[StickyShisha2]

OMG, i was about to post about the QWET i watched being made this past weekend.
the outcome was slightly yellowish clear shatter. Best i have seen.


the bud was packed into the extracting container and put in the freezer for a few hours before it got its 1 minute washes with super cold 190 proof organic grape alcohol.

 

[xer0]

Thanks for the advice everyone!!

I decided to heed that advice and not grind the bud. I broke it all down by hand into little pellet sized chunks. Not exactly an easy task with this stuff as it was sticky and very compressed. My wrist hurts but it feels a bit rewarding.

The bud is chilling in the freezer now with the EC and will be run later today. I'm pretty excited.

 

[2clicker]

good decision! make sure to gently shake during the soak. i do this once a minute on the minute. then end with a final shake as im removing it from the freezer. dont shake the hell out of it like you may if doing an ISO run.

regarding winterizing... you can get closer to an absolute this way, but it can be a PITA and sometimes not worth it IMO. if you dealing with considerable amounts then its a great idea. if your running 1/8-1/4 of material then its not going to make as much of a difference. i dont winterize and i get some damn translucent shatter.

i fliter once with a gild tone coffee filter into another jar and then filter again with an unbleached paper coffee filter (maybe switching to Mean Skreens soon). all of this filtering is done while the wash is still very cold.

i have been considering trying winterizing again, but last time i tried it was a PITA and i lost more than i would have liked to a second paper filter. just didnt seem worth it in the end to me. maybe th syringe filter would be the ticket here.

 

[xer0]

good decision! make sure to gently shake during the soak. i do this once a minute on the minute. then end with a final shake as im removing it from the freezer. dont shake the hell out of it like you may if doing an ISO run.

regarding winterizing... you can get closer to an absolute this way, but it can be a PITA and sometimes not worth it IMO. if you dealing with considerable amounts then its a great idea. if your running 1/8-1/4 of material then its not going to make as much of a difference. i dont winterize and i get some damn translucent shatter.

i fliter once with a gild tone coffee filter into another jar and then filter again with an unbleached paper coffee filter (maybe switching to Mean Skreens soon). all of this filtering is done while the wash is still very cold.

i have been considering trying winterizing again, but last time i tried it was a PITA and i lost more than i would have liked to a second paper filter. just didnt seem worth it in the end to me. maybe th syringe filter would be the ticket here.

The first run is done and evaporating now. I did it exactly as you described and got a really light amber color return.

Now I'm just hoping for a decent yield.

 

[2clicker]

The first run is done and evaporating now. I did it exactly as you described and got a really light amber color return.

Now I'm just hoping for a decent yield.

sounding good. my last batch yielded .75g on the first run and .15 on the second. this was 7g of less than top shelf flowers but smelled amazing and had decent trich coverage. with top shelf i would expect a 15-20% return.

remember to run those herbs again. usually i dry it out before running it again, but im thinking of possibly soaking right away after the first filtering and right back into the freezer.

 

[xer0]

Got 1.3g per run not including the dabs I took while scraping. Not as much as I was hoping for to be honest but I am absolutely thrilled with the quality of it. They're both so clean tasting and smooth compared to the QWISO.

The first run is very heady, perfect for waking up to or using as a pick me up. Its very light in color compared to anything else I have ever seen personally. Yellow-gold when very thin, amber when thicker. The taste is very nice. I would say that it tastes a lot like how the bud smells in the bag...if that makes sense.

The second run followed the same rules as the first and it clearly had pulled a lot more chloroform as the liquid on the plate was bright green. That being said I don't think this stuff is bad to dab at all. It also tastes great although not near as pronounced as the first run. The effects are pefect for evening time unwinding and going to sleep. I could also see this stuff being very good for anxiety control.

Overall its great to properly enter the world of concentrates. I've been drooling over this stuff for a long time and its impossible to find around here so its been a real treat for me. It was fantastic being able to do a dab through my Omicron/Kiss cart as I walked from my car into Walmart to do some last minute Christmas shopping. No holiday stress or social anxiety for me today. I didn't even freak out when I saw the cop car sitting by the entrance because my girl told me that she couldn't smell anything.

Has anyone tried doing a third run to see if its worth it? I've done third runs on my two ISO runs and wasn't upset with them. Actually the third run of my abv provided decent yield. Wasn't the best but it wasn't horrible either.

 

[2clicker]

you got 1.3g per run?

what weight was your starting material?

did you let the herb dry between runs?

sounds like you did a nice job. congrats!

 

[xer0]

Yup...probably more like 1.5g per run if you don't include the little bits I lost and what I had dabbed while scraping.

I used 28g of very dense brick buds...no sticks/seeds...just buds but it is brick weed. I didn't dry it between runs, just let the bud sit in the freezer for a few minutes before running again.

As I sit here vaping some of this bud I feel like it is giving me a much stronger CBD effect then I have gotten from either run so far. Its really making me want to run it a third time. I am also considering grinding this time as I don't really care if this run isn't pure as it will likely be a reserve stash...I just want to get as much as I possibly can at this point.

 

[2clicker]

so you think around 3g from 28g of brick weed? id say that is pretty successful. if you have the means try an oz of high grade next time you will get a larger return no doubt.

oh and go for the third wash. see what happens and report back.

 

[walrus]

Got one of these for Christmas. While I was enjoying the first cup of coffee I made with it, I couldn't stop thinking about trying it for a QWET run...

 

[2clicker]

Got one of these for Christmas. While I was enjoying the first cup of coffee I made with it, I couldn't stop thinking about trying it for a QWET run...

while that does look easy and fun, i would say its a bad idea. at least when it gets to the part of smashing the material at the end. from what i understand you want to avoid smashing herb when filtering. forcing stuff like that will also force stuff you dont want through the filter. best to let gravity take care of that for us.

i coukd be wrong though.

 

[poonman]

Has anyone ever rinsed 2 separate batches with the same iso ?To attain a higher THC % with the final product .

To clarify a bit ;
Once you've filtered the first rinse and it's clear of grinds .
You would use the same filtered THC/iso , to rinse a NEW batch .
Then filtered again .

Would that work ?
or
Is it Overkill ?

tia

 

[mephisto]

The aeropress with stainless filter is a great device to help filter after winterization. I use the paper filter on top of the stainless. No smashing of the material, just stop short to avoid squeezing out the un-wanted greens.

@poonman, I will let you know how this works, getting ready to run some PX/kush nugs. I think the solvent reaches a "saturation" point pretty quickly where no more actives will dissolve.......

 

[walrus]

while that does look easy and fun, i would say its a bad idea. at least when it gets to the part of smashing the material at the end. from what i understand you want to avoid smashing herb when filtering. forcing stuff like that will also force stuff you dont want through the filter. best to let gravity take care of that for us.

i coukd be wrong though.

I was thinking I could dump the bud and alcohol through a regular kitchen strainer into the aeropress. The strainer would catch the majority of the plant material and the aeropress would be used to quickly strain out the fines. Basically the same method I already follow but now the alcohol takes about 10 minutes or so to drip through a regular coffee filter. Also could be used for straining winterized bho more quickly. Basically it's just a big syringe filter.

 

[2clicker]

I was thinking I could dump the bud and alcohol through a regular kitchen strainer into the aeropress. The strainer would catch the majority of the plant material and the aeropress would be used to quickly strain out the fines. Basically the same method I already follow but now the alcohol takes about 10 minutes or so to drip through a regular coffee filter. Also could be used for straining winterized bho more quickly. Basically it's just a big syringe filter.

sounds like a win to me. ive been considering getting some glass syringes with syringe filters. 5 or 10 micon. for filtering winterized runs.

 

[xer0]

So I went ahead with the third run after it dried out. I still didn't grind but I was much more aggressive with my shaking. I did it every 30 seconds for the first 2 minutes and then again for 20 seconds after I pulled it from the freezer. The result was a greenish runoff with brown sediment on the bottom. I ran that through the coffee filter and it came out a very nice yellow/green color. This run honestly looks a bit nicer than my second run. Its very thick...much thicker than either of the other runs were.

 

[Tstat]

I made some with popcorn buds and it came out great. Now I'm out. I have a BUNCH of trim that was fresh frozen. Would that work? I usually have my son make bubble from the trim, but he's not around and I don't like doing it due to my back problems.

 

[2clicker]

So I went ahead with the third run after it dried out. I still didn't grind but I was much more aggressive with my shaking. I did it every 30 seconds for the first 2 minutes and then again for 20 seconds after I pulled it from the freezer. The result was a greenish runoff with brown sediment on the bottom. I ran that through the coffee filter and it came out a very nice yellow/green color. This run honestly looks a bit nicer than my second run. Its very thick...much thicker than either of the other runs were.

just know the green is likely chlorophyl. you may have gotten a larger return than the second wash but its likely not as potent. you should consider winterizing the third run if you want to clean it up at all. usually my third run gets made into ejuice for use around the house in the evenings. it gets mixed with any reclaim i may have. i use this in a dedicated glassomizer of which i put the coils through hell. i dont worry about winterizing for that reason. if i were dabbing the third run i would winterize it.

did you mix the first and second run?

I made some with popcorn buds and it came out great. Now I'm out. I have a BUNCH of trim that was fresh frozen. Would that work? I usually have my son make bubble from the trim, but he's not around and I don't like doing it due to my back problems.

as long as the trim has good trich coverage i imagine it would work exactly the same. except that you will need more weight of trim to equal that of flowers, but yeah it should work the same.

 

[Tstat]

Well, I decided to throw about 1/2 once of White Widow/Big Bud in and just use that. I bought a bubble machine for the other shit.

I really improved this time! The first run yielded a little over 2 grams. It's not as hard as shatter and slightly malleable. First hit nearly killed me, LOL. I then ran it again and got almost a gram of darker goodness. Terrific taste and just dissolves on the nail.

All I did was freeze the buds (first run I didn't crumble them up, second run I did) and get the Everclear as cold as possible. Then I combined them and shook for a few seconds, put it back in the freezer for one minute. I repeated this process for a total of 3 minutes. Then I poured it through a coffee filter (regular white one) and through a strainer into a stainless bowl. Once the liquid was all drained into the bowl, I restrained it through 2 coffee filters and into a pyrex dish. Had a small fan over the dish that was covered with a flat wire strainer to keep out crap. Next day it was dry and looked kinda white and yellow. I scraped it all into the center of the pyrex dish and put the dish on a heating pad for an hour or so. It all melted together in a nice translucent glob.

I don't dab much, but this process is so much better than BHO for me. Anyone have suggestions to improve this process?

 

[StickyShisha2]

Anyone have suggestions to improve this process?

if your starting alcohol is colder than the standard freezer, you can get slightly purer oil. (cooler with dry ice)
also i worry about dust and other contaminates settling in the dish while evaporating. perhaps a stocking stretched over the pyrex would help