Gear The Source by Extract Craft - a closed loop system for alcohol extractions

[thotfulspot]

Are there other reports of temperature being high. My wife bought me one, but I was in the hospital. It hasn't been using disk yet and I'm wondering if I should test it dry before messing it up with a batch.

 

[IchiBanCrafter]

Are there other reports of temperature being high. My wife bought me one, but I was in the hospital. It hasn't been using disk yet and I'm wondering if I should test it dry before messing it up with a batch.

@thotfulspot I hope you are feeling better after the hospital. Running the machine dry wont tell you anything useful because its not designed to run in that manner. Extractcraft has been very good with customer service and addressing issues. I would suggest running the machine properly and see how it goes. Just out of curiosity, what elevation are you at?

 

[thotfulspot]

Unfortunately, while I was in Chicago having surgery, my mmj card expired. It will take a couple weeks to get a new one. Yes I live in Arizona and can buy pretty much everything. I just like to control what I put in my body.

What kind of yield do you get with a ounce?

 

[IchiBanCrafter]

Unfortunately, while I was in Chicago having surgery, my mmj card expired. It will take a couple weeks to get a new one. Yes I live in Arizona and can buy pretty much everything. I just like to control what I put in my body.

What kind of yield do you get with a ounce?

It partly depends on what I am making. Meaning that RSO has a much higher yield than if I'm making shatter. Within either RSO or Smokeables, large variance in yield occur due to quality of starting material and how the cannabis is washed. Yields have been from 3% to over 20%.

 

[Monsoon]

@thotfulspot If it heats hotter than it should it may reduce the terpene level a bit and could result in a sappier end product but it shouldn't affect the medicinal value of it. Depends what you want out of it. My yields for shatter average out at 15% usually.

My oil is in the chamber now, didn't muffin properly and has a sappy texture which has never happened before to me when using flowers. Only other time was with bubblehash I bought online. I can't definitively pin it on the Source but I think the temps may have caused it to decarb slightly. Still terpy and usable, just not the desired result. Worse case I'll use most of it for edibles and lotion.

 

[IchiBanCrafter]

@thotfulspot If it heats hotter than it should it may reduce the terpene level a bit and could result in a sappier end product but it shouldn't affect the medicinal value of it. Depends what you want out of it. My yields for shatter average out at 15% usually.

My oil is in the chamber now, didn't muffin properly and has a sappy texture which has never happened before to me when using flowers. Only other time was with bubblehash I bought online. I can't definitively pin it on the Source but I think the temps may have caused it to decarb slightly. Still terpy and usable, just not the desired result. Worse case I'll use most of it for edibles and lotion.

Ah, this may be a good opportunity to cross benchmarks. I don't have enough experience to compare what the muffin should look like. Do you have a photo of what you would consider a good muffin for the QWET? I have a couple examples here and this is consistent with what I am seeing during my current education http://imgur.com/a/SL7vq How does this compare with what you are getting?

 

[thotfulspot]

I'll be using high quality flower from a local dispensary. There is such a demand for concentrates here that it's tough to buy anything but flower for the Source. A 15% yield is pretty much online with the price of concentrates like shatter and oil cartridges. As soon as the state renews my card, I'll be trying out the Source.

 

[Monsoon]

Ah, this may be a good opportunity to cross benchmarks. I don't have enough experience to compare what the muffin should look like. Do you have a photo of what you would consider a good muffin for the QWET? I have a couple examples here and this is consistent with what I am seeing during my current education http://imgur.com/a/SL7vq How does this compare with what you are getting?

If you add me on Instagram I've got a bunch of pics of previous runs at various stages and even a video somewhere in there. Yours looks okay from what I can make out, ideally it should puff out a bit more at first and as it flattens out it will look like swiss cheese with a fairly mix of bigger solvent bubbles and smaller decarb bubbles which are still present at the end. The stuff in the chamber now just has large solvent bubbles along the edges and no bubbles at all in the middle which may mean it's already decarbed so it can't form a stable bond. It could have been herb related but I got this stuff freshly cured and then vac sealed it so it should have been okay.

I'll be using high quality flower from a local dispensary. There is such a demand for concentrates here that it's tough to buy anything but flower for the Source. A 15% yield is pretty much online with the price of concentrates like shatter and oil cartridges. As soon as the state renews my card, I'll be trying out the Source.

Check out my QWET guide here, it's got some good info and tips and if you follow even most of it you should get decent shatter or pull and snap. If you use flowers without dry sifting or using dry ice, make sure you wash it 2 or 3 times to get a good yield. With dry sift and a good shake I can usually get 15% on a single wash, with flowers the yields per wash tend to go 10% then 5% then lower if you keep going. Consider evaporation time in how far you keep going.

 

[herbivore21]

Man the discussion in this thread gives me such solvent shatter nostalgia!

Here's one of my favorite qwiso runs I ever did just for old time's sake lol

Would love to see some more pics of some final products made with The Source around these parts!

 

[IchiBanCrafter]

Man the discussion in this thread gives me such solvent shatter nostalgia!

Here's one of my favorite qwiso runs I ever did just for old time's sake lol

Would love to see some more pics of some final products made with The Source around these parts!

thats beautiful. Once I stop messing around with trying to figure out how to tune up junk trim Im going to get some good flower and try to do some of this. Again, that is beautiful!

 

[IchiBanCrafter]

If you add me on Instagram I've got a bunch of pics of previous runs at various stages and even a video somewhere in there. Yours looks okay from what I can make out, ideally it should puff out a bit more at first and as it flattens out it will look like swiss cheese with a fairly mix of bigger solvent bubbles and smaller decarb bubbles which are still present at the end. The stuff in the chamber now just has large solvent bubbles along the edges and no bubbles at all in the middle which may mean it's already decarbed so it can't form a stable bond. It could have been herb related but I got this stuff freshly cured and then vac sealed it so it should have been okay.



Check out my QWET guide here, it's got some good info and tips and if you follow even most of it you should get decent shatter or pull and snap. If you use flowers without dry sifting or using dry ice, make sure you wash it 2 or 3 times to get a good yield. With dry sift and a good shake I can usually get 15% on a single wash, with flowers the yields per wash tend to go 10% then 5% then lower if you keep going. Consider evaporation time in how far you keep going.

Cool, Im looking forward to figuring this out. I need to get some good flower to run, the horrible scrappy trim I've been experimenting with has about run its course, but I have about 5 more experiments I want to do using a control starting material so tek is solid before moving onto flower runs.

 

[herbivore21]

thats beautiful. Once I stop messing around with trying to figure out how to tune up junk trim Im going to get some good flower and try to do some of this. Again, that is beautiful!

Thanks bro I miss my shatter making days, it was so much easier than the full melt I medicate with now (see avatar)! Not near as nice to dab though

Cool, Im looking forward to figuring this out. I need to get some good flower to run, the horrible scrappy trim I've been experimenting with has about run its course, but I have about 5 more experiments I want to do using a control starting material so tek is solid before moving onto flower runs.

A very good idea to start with trim before using flower all the same my friend! I remember so many of my early solvent wash attempts ended in tragedy and ruined beautiful material! lol

Still, some losses are worth it to learn to make your own meds!

 

[Monsoon]

I heard back from customer support and I should have an update on the temperature altitude issue within a couple weeks. So the closer you are to 5000 feet above sea level, the more accurate your unit should be. Unfortunately for them, most people live well below that. Bit of a rocky start for them but they're working hard behind the scenes to get it functioning correctly so I give them credit for that.

My first run with the Source has turned into a gooey puddle in my chamber, I'll try to air dry it for a few days but it will likely be relegated for edibles. I tried a dab, it was tasty but a bit harsh. Seems like the higher temps didn't reduce the terps much but I did lose the carboxyl chains that held it all together in shatter form. I made the mistake of doing a normal sized run and putting it all through the unit, next time I will definitely split it so I have less wasted product and I can do a direct comparison of the results.

Still, some losses are worth it to learn to make your own meds!

To a point anyway, it can get expensive if you don't have your own garden. I had to give up on my pricey rosin setup after only 2 weeks due to single digit yields, I probably would have improved with time but I needed to draw a line in the sand. I also prefer QWET overall anyway. It did however contribute to my current QWET Tek with the dry sift tumbler so it wasn't a total loss.

 

[herbivore21]

I heard back from customer support and I should have an update on the temperature altitude issue within a couple weeks. So the closer you are to 5000 feet above sea level, the more accurate your unit should be. Unfortunately for them, most people live well below that. Bit of a rocky start for them but they're working hard behind the scenes to get it functioning correctly so I give them credit for that.

My first run with the Source has turned into a gooey puddle in my chamber, I'll try to air dry it for a few days but it will likely be relegated for edibles. I tried a dab, it was tasty but a bit harsh. Seems like the higher temps didn't reduce the terps much but I did lose the carboxyl chains that held it all together in shatter form. I made the mistake of doing a normal sized run and putting it all through the unit, next time I will definitely split it so I have less wasted product and I can do a direct comparison of the results.


To a point anyway, it can get expensive if you don't have your own garden. I had to give up on my pricey rosin setup after only 2 weeks due to single digit yields, I probably would have improved with time but I needed to draw a line in the sand. I also prefer QWET overall anyway. It did however contribute to my current QWET Tek with the dry sift tumbler so it wasn't a total loss.

Damn man! Those are some bad rosin yields! Which setup did you have? If I were getting yields like that for rosin I'd have gone back to solvents too though. Although I do happily accept single or very low double digit yields for full melt on the other hand (but that is another ball park in terms of bang for buck )!

Were you squishing kief/crude dry sift btw? All but the meltier dry sifts seem to be terrible yielders with rosin tek due to a major lack of moisture. Flowers can often squish better than kief IME.

Man couldn't agree with you more that learning to extract from retail flowers is a maddeningly expensive experience, learned that lesson the hard way myself!

The medical benefits were worth the wastage for me in the end thankfully

 

[Monsoon]

Damn man! Those are some bad rosin yields! Which setup did you have? If I were getting yields like that for rosin I'd have gone back to solvents too though. Although I do happily accept single or very low double digit yields for full melt on the other hand (but that is another ball park in terms of bang for buck )!

Were you squishing kief/crude dry sift btw? All but the meltier dry sifts seem to be terrible yielders with rosin tek due to a major lack of moisture. Flowers can often squish better than kief IME.

I tried both dry sift and flowers of various qualities. Thinking about it after I think the "cheap" shop press I bought was the problem, but troubleshooting to replace or fix it would have meant a shit load more money being sucked into it. I'm well aware of the sunk cost fallacy so didn't want to fall into that trap.

 

[thotfulspot]

I heard back from customer support and I should have an update on the temperature altitude issue within a couple weeks. So the closer you are to 5000 feet above sea level, the more accurate your unit should be. Unfortunately for them, most people live well below that. Bit of a rocky start for them but they're working hard behind the scenes to get it functioning correctly so I give them credit for that.

My first run with the Source has turned into a gooey puddle in my chamber, I'll try to air dry it for a few days but it will likely be relegated for edibles. I tried a dab, it was tasty but a bit harsh. Seems like the higher temps didn't reduce the terps much but I did lose the carboxyl chains that held it all together in shatter form. I made the mistake of doing a normal sized run and putting it all through the unit, next time I will definitely split it so I have less wasted product and I can do a direct comparison of the results.


To a point anyway, it can get expensive if you don't have your own garden. I had to give up on my pricey rosin setup after only 2 weeks due to single digit yields, I probably would have improved with time but I needed to draw a line in the sand. I also prefer QWET overall anyway. It did however contribute to my current QWET Tek with the dry sift tumbler so it wasn't a total loss.

5000ft? What about those of us that live at 7200ft?

Sounds like I should get some lower price material to start out with. I've got 3 dispensaries close by. I'll have to check what they have to see what they have.

Has anybody tried adding essential oils for flavor? One of the new cartridge producers here adds some flavor. Much easier to smoke than some of the harsher cartridges available.

 

[Monsoon]

5000ft? What about those of us that live at 7200ft?

Sounds like I should get some lower price material to start out with. I've got 3 dispensaries close by. I'll have to check what they have to see what they have.

I guess your unit will be under temp then, though it's better to be too low than too high. Once they fix it in a couple weeks you can ask for a replacement base.

 

[IchiBanCrafter]

5000ft? What about those of us that live at 7200ft?

Sounds like I should get some lower price material to start out with. I've got 3 dispensaries close by. I'll have to check what they have to see what they have.

Has anybody tried adding essential oils for flavor? One of the new cartridge producers here adds some flavor. Much easier to smoke than some of the harsher cartridges available.

Oh, I'll be very interested to hear how that goes at 7200'! where are you located?

I extracted along with some cloves that came out very good. Good for trim but I wouldn't add any flavor to flower. It will come out really terpy and beautiful on its own.

 

[thotfulspot]

Oh, I'll be very interested to hear how that goes at 7200'! where are you located?

I extracted along with some cloves that came out very good. Good for trim but I wouldn't add any flavor to flower. It will come out really terpy and beautiful on its own.

I'm in Flagstaff AZ. I've got a medical card so I can get pretty much anything I want. This is more for experimenting, and in case we move.

I've been using some oil cartridges from Clear. Almost 100% and some mild flavors like orange and raspberry. Very effective and no harshness.

 

[IchiBanCrafter]

I'm in Flagstaff AZ. I've got a medical card so I can get pretty much anything I want. This is more for experimenting, and in case we move.

I've been using some oil cartridges from Clear. Almost 100% and some mild flavors like orange and raspberry. Very effective and no harshness.

Ah, nice timing. I am just thinking to start experimenting with cartridges. Have you used MTC oil, and if so how does it compare to VG/PG?

 

[thotfulspot]

Ah, nice timing. I am just thinking to start experimenting with cartridges. Have you used MTC oil, and if so how does it compare to VG/PG?

I've used a number of different cartridges.

I've had some from a local dispensary that was trying to do pure THC, but ended up using some PG/VG to move thin it out for vape cartridges. I don't like the taste or mouth feel of it. Kind of slimy feeling.

Tried mixing some shatter with one of the PG/VG mixes on the market. Horrible taste and made the oil not very effective.

I used Dream Stream cartridges for a while. Nice that you can pick the strain. Worked pretty well. They use coconut oil.

Recently The Clear started selling in Arizona. Tastes great with the flavors they put in and really really potent, at least for me. Definitely the best I've tried. The only disadvantage is you can't pick a strain. It's all hybrids with different flavors. Worth it though. They use MTC.

http://clearconcentrate.com/index.html

I saw a new one at my dispensary last week. I'll give it a try when my new card gets here this week.

I might have passed on the Source if The Clear cartridges were out at the same time. At least it will give me something to play around with.

The trouble with vape cartridges, at least in Arizona, is that everything needs to be made in the state. Limits what I can get. It would be interesting to try some of the others available out of state.

 

[thotfulspot]

I was just looking at my Source. It came with a ice tray for the top. Has anybody tried that?

 

[Monsoon]

I was just looking at my Source. It came with a ice tray for the top. Has anybody tried that?

I think it's pretty much necessary for efficient condensation. I just put some ice chunks in with some cold water and swapped it everytime it melted.

 

[IchiBanCrafter]

I was just looking at my Source. It came with a ice tray for the top. Has anybody tried that?

Cooling the top is essential for condensation and reducing how much the pump runs. I use a ziplock full of ice instead of the ice try through.....

 

[IchiBanCrafter]

I've used a number of different cartridges.

I've had some from a local dispensary that was trying to do pure THC, but ended up using some PG/VG to move thin it out for vape cartridges. I don't like the taste or mouth feel of it. Kind of slimy feeling.

Tried mixing some shatter with one of the PG/VG mixes on the market. Horrible taste and made the oil not very effective.

I used Dream Stream cartridges for a while. Nice that you can pick the strain. Worked pretty well. They use coconut oil.

Recently The Clear started selling in Arizona. Tastes great with the flavors they put in and really really potent, at least for me. Definitely the best I've tried. The only disadvantage is you can't pick a strain. It's all hybrids with different flavors. Worth it though. They use MTC.

http://clearconcentrate.com/index.html

I saw a new one at my dispensary last week. I'll give it a try when my new card gets here this week.

I might have passed on the Source if The Clear cartridges were out at the same time. At least it will give me something to play around with.

The trouble with vape cartridges, at least in Arizona, is that everything needs to be made in the state. Limits what I can get. It would be interesting to try some of the others available out of state.

I spent some time messing with this yesterday and had some great results. Unfortunately, played the guessing game and eyeballed everything very roughly. Not to mention I used materials I already had processed laying around. Anyway, not a great post, but just wanted to share what I was getting up to

https://extractcrafter.com/2016/08/04/dyi-cjuice-ejuice-with-a-cannabis-twist/