Vac Purge of BHO

[DrRishi]

Hi All

I have been using a Vac chamber from Best Value Vacs. Seems to work really well but I still have some questions.

When I am purging I place the Vac on an electric skillet. I warm it up first so that the bottom temperature of the chamber is about 110F. When I place my BHO in the chamber the patty blows up like builders foam and then collapses down again. I do spread the BHO out thin before it goes into the chamber.

After the initial activity I see the BHO slowly start to "set" into a yellow, crumbly mass. It looks a little like honeycomb but it does not stick together very much. After about 30 minutes in the chamber all the BHO has transformed into this yellow crumbly mass. I do not see any point keeping it under vacuum any longer as it has solidified and therefore the gas cannot escape.

Although this is already very nice to smoke it is not very handy to store and of course has a huge surface area. What I would like to produce is shatter.

I can take my crumbly mass, put it on some parchment paper and place it on the skillet. If I turn up the temp it melts (and bubbles!). As long as I spread it out thin and stir it a bit (to make sure the stuff on top also melts) I can achieve a very nice shatter.

I would like to produce the shatter straight out of the vac chamber. I have been able to do this but then I need to turn up the temperature of the skillet considerably to get it to melt. I do not want to burn my oil or evaporate out any of the good stuff. Any suggestions?

 

[DabComa]

My only suggestion would be to eliminate the vac from your process if your comfortable doing so... You can achieve shatter at lower temps. Take a look at some of my posts in "share that dab stash" thread. I never vac and never go over 110℉ and I always make crystal clear shatter. Finished product consistency is simply a chemical story of the chosen purging process (when making BHO with a solvent at least)

 

[DrRishi]

My only suggestion would be to eliminate the vac from your process if your comfortable doing so... You can achieve shatter at lower temps. Take a look at some of my posts in "share that dab stash" thread. I never vac and never go over 110℉ and I always make crystal clear shatter. Finished product consistency is simply a chemical story of the chosen purging process (when making BHO with a solvent at least)

Thanks. I am going to try very strict temperature control this time. I think the initial water bath I use when I am blasting maybe to hot. The water comes directly from the kettle. This time I will make sure the temp is 110 or less.

 

[Bouldorado]

Sounds like your BHO is autobuddering in the chamber. Some strains (such as blue dream) are more prone to do so, but typically that's attributed to high heat during the purge or lots of plant waxes remaining in the oil.

Are you dewaxing or winterizing? I suspect that's going to be your solution. I dewax every run (basically just put the blasting tube on some dry ice for a couple hrs) and I've always had glass-clear shatter come out of the chamber. And that's even using a hot plate to purge-- which I've seen fluctuate between ~90-130°, all while trying to keep it around my target temp of ~110°.

So to summarize, if you're keeping your purge temps low and consistently getting wax/budder, I would reexamine your extraction technique.

 

[tepictoton]

How does putting your blasting tube on some dry ice dewax your end product?

I always keep things frozen during the whole process of extracting, but I did not know this would dewax it? I really doubt that. Maybe freezing it to a lower temperature traps the waxes inside the material? Still would not really be dewaxing...more like preventing waxes from coming into the solution...

Still end result of course could be the same?

So should I upgrade my freezer with some dry ice?

 

[DrRishi]

Well I tried some very strict temp control but it still ends up auto buddering when I vac it.
Either its the strain or maybe the water that creeps in when I am blasting over the water bath?

I do not really want to dewax as I am lucky enough to only use for pleasure and I like the taste!

Re-heating until it melts on a piece of baking paper does give me a nice result but it feels like "cheating" and I don't like applying any more heat than necessary.

 

[Bouldorado]

How does putting your blasting tube on some dry ice dewax your end product?

I always keep things frozen during the whole process of extracting, but I did not know this would dewax it? I really doubt that. Maybe freezing it to a lower temperature traps the waxes inside the material? Still would not really be dewaxing...more like preventing waxes from coming into the solution...

Still end result of course could be the same?

So should I upgrade my freezer with some dry ice?

pretty much what you said- less waxy components make it into the end product since when cold they do not dissolve as readily as terpenes and THC. there's no secondary filter or cooling, so I guess it's not really a traditional dewax but I couldn't think of a better term.

if you're getting good results in the freezer there's not much of a reason to upgrade to dry ice. I use it mainly for the faster cooling.

@DrRishi

Freezing the tube (or dewaxing) will reduce the amount of lipids in the oil, ultimately improving taste and potency.

Is your water bath steaming/boiling? It's possible it could be condensing on the cold butane. You could try using cooler water to reduce the condensation factor. Personally, I blast into a cold pyrex and then slowly add the water bath (using hot tap water ~140°)

 

[DrRishi]

@Bouldorado

I do freeze everything before I start. The bud, the tube and the butane.

In the last run I made sure the water bath was not too hot and I kept checking the temperature.
I could try blasting into cold Pyrex, have not tried that before.

 

[tepictoton]

Just read about a great idea... Why not change the water for sand?

 

[Hashtag46&2]

Remove the water from the purge process....

Butane/Oil solution is Hygroscopic, therefore it has the propensity to pull moisture and surrounding atmosphere from the surrounding area.

Place all purpose sand is a Deep Dish Skillet, nestle your chamber into the sand and place more sand around the sidewalls of the vessel.

For your Pre-purge...
You can pre-heat sand in the oven.

Sand holds heat very well and doesn't need to be replenished.

 

[DrRishi]

Remove the water from the purge process....

Butane/Oil solution is Hygroscopic, therefore it has the propensity to pull moisture and surrounding atmosphere from the surrounding area.

Place all purpose sand is a Deep Dish Skillet, nestle your chamber into the sand and place more sand around the sidewalls of the vessel.

For your Pre-purge...
You can pre-heat sand in the oven.

Sand holds heat very well and doesn't need to be replenished.

That is a very cool idea! I will try it next time.

 

[eckstrakt]

so i have some really runny stuff.....can this be purged in a hot water (or sand) bath to make it a more stable manageable product?

 

[Oscar_Milde]

Evening Doctor,

Your temps are a little high for shatter, keeping them stable at a maximum of 90f will promote the results you desire.

 

[DrRishi]

Evening Doctor,

Your temps are a little high for shatter, keeping them stable at a maximum of 90f will promote the results you desire.

Thanks for that. I will do a new run today, in sand at 90F.

 

[DrRishi]

So I did a run. Using sand instead of a water bath has a couple of advantages. It works as a great temperature buffer since the skillet I use does not hold a very constant temperature and it ensures that no water vapour enters the equation.

I kept the temperature around 90F and the difference is huge. I no longer have the problem of everything turning into budder during the purge. Perfect result this time so thanks for the tips guys!

 

[Oscar_Milde]

Remember a lower temperature requires a longer purge to achieve the same results, happy vac-ing!

 

[Hashtag46&2]

so i have some really runny stuff.....can this be purged in a hot water (or sand) bath to make it a more stable manageable product?

This one is difficult to answer without a little history on how long, what temps were used whilst purging initially.

If it has been over-heated, the "matrix" is now broken, and Decarboxylation has already occurred, there is nothing that can re-solidify the oil.

However, if it is runny because there is still solvent present., proceed with the heating procedure.

90ishF w/ Vac.

100ishF no Vac.

Nothing really wrong with runny oil though(Assuming it's been properly purged).