The Definitive Green Dragon (Revised, Updated, Combined)

[Coelho]

I wonder if that little bit of oily film you'll see on the surface really is pure cannabinols... (pure-ish at least).


YES, it is!
Its pure hash oil... its the thing with the highest concentration of cannabinoids you could ever get from your weed! So whenever it appears, it must be re-dissolved, to ensure that all the cannabinoids remain in the solution, instead stickied uselessly in the jars walls.

[1Shina1]

Hello everybody, im new in this forum.

Is it possible to make GD with Propylene Glycol???

thanks!!

[dragonrider]

Hello everybody, im new in this forum.

Is it possible to make GD with Propylene Glycol???

thanks!!

Hell no! That is poison and will kill you. Seriously, no joking. Do not ever ingest Propylene Glycol!

[1Shina1]

Hi Dragonrider thanks for your reply!!
(Sorry about my english)
Now i´m confused!
Aren´t propylene glycol used in food flavors??
Check this link!
Bickford Flavors (http://www.bickfordflavors.com/cpack_1.asp?id=144)

thanks!

[nicktheawesome]

Actually, propylene glycol is a food additive, commonly foun in many flavor extracts.

dragonrider, what you are thinking of is ethylene glycol, which is highly toxic.

To answer OP's question, I don't know if it would work at all. I think it would work at least a little bit, but I don't know how effective it would be.

[dragonrider]

Actually, propylene glycol is a food additive, commonly foun in many flavor extracts.

dragonrider, what you are thinking of is ethylene glycol, which is highly toxic.

To answer OP's question, I don't know if it would work at all. I think it would work at least a little bit, but I don't know how effective it would be.

Nick, I looked it up, and you are right. I was thinking of ethylene glycol, which is toxic. Propylene glycol is safe in most concentrations.

1Shina1, sorry about the strong reaction and the bad information --- I really thought you were going to try something dangerous.

[1Shina1]

Don´t be sorry.

Thaks for the informations

[Coelho]

But we dont know if the THC is soluble in propylene glycol... and im pretty sure this information isnt very easy to get, as propylene glycol isnt a very usual solvent.

Anyway, youre welcome to try. If you suceed, tell us! :thumbsup:

[1Shina1]

For sure!!!

Ae Coelho Brasil Domina!!!!!!

Paz!!!

[Coelho]

For sure!!!

Ae Coelho Brasil Domina!!!!!!

Paz!!!

Com certeza! Voce e daqui tambem?

[epilepticme]

Well folks I made my first batch of GD last night and just administered for the first time.

The color of my finished extract is much more brown than green. I used Devils Springs 160 proof Vodka (Clear) and 5 grams of cannabis. There is a slight green color but def. not emerald green. Has anyone else run into this coloring and had a successful batch?

I guess I will find out in about an hour! :cool:

[epilepticme]

I do not think I was as successful as I could have been.
It seems most of the alcohol is gone in my green dragon,
(it did taste like other tinctures I have had in the past, with a slight alcohol
taste however it did not burn like it should have).
I did feel some effect from a 3ml dose however it was
equivalent to a smoked bowl.
Did I evaporate to much alcohol? I was very careful not to bring the temp over 170 F.

[Coelho]

Well... usually green dragon is indeed browner than greener... and its very dark too... so it isnt the problem.
What is the total amount of green dragon you got and what is the amount you did drink?

[epilepticme]

I ended up with 35ml.
I took 3ml

[epilepticme]

I attempted a larger dose today to see if I could get a better effect.
9ml on an empty stomach.
I am a large guy 6'2" 200lbs + with a high tolerance.
I seemed only to get partial relief of my symptoms, about the same as a single
bowl of decent bud. edibles seem much much more effective.
I will attempt another batch when adequate supplies materialize

[Coelho]

I ended up with 35ml.
I took 3ml


I attempted a larger dose today to see if I could get a better effect.
9ml on an empty stomach.

Well... as you used 5g of weed in 35ml of green dragon, then 3ml has about 0.5g of weed, and 9ml has about 1.5g of weed.

How much weed do you usually smoke?

[epilepticme]

14 grams per week give or take. Whats that 2 grams per day or so.
So I have about 24 ml left of GD. Maybe a 12 ml dose on an empty stomach?

[Coelho]

14 grams per week give or take. Whats that 2 grams per day or so.
So I have about 24 ml left of GD. Maybe a 12 ml dose on an empty stomach?

Man... 2g/day is a lot... your tolerance must be pretty high indeed... when i make green dragon, i usually put 1.5-2x the amount i would smoke, as the green dragon effects lasts far longer (and thus need more weed).
Drink it on an empty stomach... If you prefer get less high than more high, then drink only 12ml.
If you prefer get more high than less high, i would suggest you to drink some 18ml... it should be enough.
(And if you want a real "trip", drink all the 24ml... and feel the bite of the Green Dragon... just be warned that it may be intense, and last for 8+ hours... :stoned:)

[epilepticme]

LOL, I drank the rest of that GD last night. Had to laugh when I saw your post this morning
Coelho. It indeed had a bit of a bite. I took the dog out for a walk after I drank and did not come home for 3 hours. It was a nice mellow feel. Time SHIFTING!
I really need to take a break I think. Sadly when I go without I can not stomach my other medications :jawdropper: I do not think I can go a day with out my other meds without some serious consequences. I need my weed.

[grumio]

How good was the weed? 5 g good bud into 35 ml should be wicked strong.

Picked up a 1.75 liter bottle of 190 Everclear in North Carolina. I'll be interested to see if it makes noticeably better tincture than the 151.

Hey Coelho - have you tried infusing your alcohol with spices/herbs before making tincture with it? It does wonders for the taste (it's still an alcohol tincture, of course).

I wonder if infusing the alc affects the extraction of thc (saturation).

I wish I actually had some real understanding of organic chemistry.

[Coelho]

Hey Coelho - have you tried infusing your alcohol with spices/herbs before making tincture with it? It does wonders for the taste (it's still an alcohol tincture, of course).

I wonder if infusing the alc affects the extraction of thc (saturation).

I never did it... but it seems a good idea indeed. Maybe some peppermint leaves... or something like this...
And i dont think it would hinder the extraction... unless the herbs you infused had some substance much alike the cannabinoids, what i think its not much usual... there is also the possibility that of some substance in the herbs could react with the THC, but i think its even less probable...
Anyway, doing two extractions, the first one with alcohol+herbs, then strain the weed and then a second extraction with pure alcohol can help to maximize the THC extraction.

[grumio]

Last time I did it I soaked 2 tablespoons of dried peppermint & 1teaspoon of freshly ground cardamom seeds in 6 oz of alcohol for 2 hours (room temperature), & then proceeded with the usual tincture process.

You can pick out all 3 ingredients, but the cardamom is dominant.

I think the some of the aromatic compounds in all 3 are related (phenols & terpenoids, I think). I have no idea if their presence affects either the thc or its extraction.

Potency of my last batch was slightly lower, but well within the normal variance I've noticed (each batch is slightly different).

Something is going on between the herbs, because as soon as you add the cannabis to the infused alc, the color changes - it turns a rather brilliant green, different from either regular green dragon or the p'mint/c'mom infused alc. The final product is the usual brown-green.

[mobyone]

I gave it a shot tonight. I used 4 grams in 3oz of 190 proof everclear for 30 minutes (It took that long to evaporate 2oz.). I took 1ml in a beer after not eating for 6 hours. The results were muddied a little bit by the effect of the beer because I'm a lightweight. Anyway, the result was acceptable. The fact that I can get that buzz 29 more times off of 4 grams of weed is awesome. I won't make gel caps, vape or smoke ever again.

The high was such that I could still function pretty normally and be around people without feeling too weird. Tomorrow me and a couple of friends are taking 2ml each so we'll see how it goes. I'm tempted to try three....ah well, baby steps.

My one BIG observation is that the boiling point seems to be about 170F because it didn't matter how much flame I used the temp would never go higher than that and after establishing a boil, I reduced the flame to almost nothing and it stayed at 170F. However, with increased flame the rate of boiling changed dramatically, but the temp didn't change. So, I decided that a lot of flame was better in order to evaporate the alcohol faster. With a low flame it would have taken an hour to get down to 1oz.

I'm happy with the results, but not shocked by 1ml. 2ml might be a different story.

[epilepticme]

Let is know the results :)

I am plan another batch this weekend.

[mobyone]

My one BIG observation is that the boiling point seems to be about 170F because it didn't matter how much flame I used the temp would never go higher than that and after establishing a boil

I just googled it and sure enough, the boiling point of ethanol is 172.94F.

Now the question is....does the rate of boiling matter other than affecting how fast the alcohol evaporates...hmmmmmmmmm

[cryptastix]

I tried something similar to this recipe and something went wrong because it didn't work. Ok now this is what did work for me. I took stems from 2oz that were picked pretty clean and an 8th of regs ground up with a manual grinder.(no seeds) I put them in Bacardi rum 40% clear 200ml. I was going to get 151 but I wanted to see what color it would change to. :icon506: I put it in two black socks and set it on my car dash for the day. I took a shot this night and its working on a full stomach. I feel about like I smoked two bowls. Also I just took two more shots.:thumbsup:

I live in florida... it was low 90's today. The temp gauge i put in the car capped out at around 130. When i took the bottle out of the car, i could hardly hold it for more than a few seconds. I wrapped it in a towel and shook it for about 20 min, then let it chill a couple more hours.

I'm sure this isn't a good way of getting all the THC out but it does work.

[cryptastix]

Ok so tomorrow is today. I think It could have been stronger but i'm a very heavy smoker. I got pretty high. But as any stoner knows... more is always better ;) So basically I decided I wasn't getting high enough after an hour of the last two shots. I pulled out my dugout and the rest is history. all it took was a hit every now and then and i was baked all night. (I used ALOT LESS weed) then I took some xanax and passed out at 3am but.

all in all i'm quite happy how it turned out. It could have been much stronger I'm sure. I'm going to add more rum and let it age a week in the trunk of my car and see what happens :cool:

For my 2cents on who ever wants to try this; read that post a guy has a few pages back on putting it in that citrus extract in some tiny bottles on your car dash. and like most everyone else is doing use small batches so if you fuck up its not that big of a deal.. if your worried you'll fuck it up, just smoke it :smokin:

Next week when I get an Oz. I'm planning on giving masterwu a shot again. I'll keep an exact log so you guys can see what I'm doing wrong.

[jondoe67]

Thank You for the medicine!!!. I cooked at an average temp of 166, I was getting a very hard rolling boil so I turned it down, I used 190 proof clear springs so maybe it has a lower boiling point, or my candy thermometer may have been off, it turned out OK anyway. I have another question you might be able to help with if you wouldn't mind?. I have been making oil using PVC pipe, coffee filter, and super refined butane, do you think it would help to bake the bud after grinding?. Would the butane extract more efficiently with the baking process?.

[Coelho]

I have been making oil using PVC pipe, coffee filter, and super refined butane, do you think it would help to bake the bud after grinding?. Would the butane extract more efficiently with the baking process?.

Surely! The baking process increases the amount of THC in the weed, so the butane extraction would wield a stronger oil.

[ky1956]

Before I stumbled upon Master Wu's recipe I had placed about 2 grams in a 50ml bottle of citrus flavored vodka with the intention of cycling this (strained)
into another bottle containing another 2 grams after a month.
Today was the day of my transfer, 1st I used the Master Wu 325degrees for 5 minutes technique, placed herb in bottle then poured my 50ml bottle through a strainer that was inside a funnel into my new bottle. Silly me, the new bottle was smaller and I had some overflow. Although I was 4 weeks into studying for a drug test, in the name of science I sponged up the spillage with a small piece of bread. Effects were quick, not super intense but very enjoyable :thumbsup:and I doubt it was a third of an eye dropper full.

My plans are as follows-with the residual herb in the a original bottle I plan to add a little more herb and a little more booze, let it soak a month then make a very special daiquiri.
I have started a second bottle using Amaretto and plan to try the green dragon soda solar method with this batch, using my sealed up car as a heat source.
For my original batch I hope to keep cycling the vodka onto fresh herb every 4 weeks or so just to see what I can come up with, but that will depend on how many times I recycle the vodka and how long I can resist temptation.
My attraction to this experiment is the low cost- vodka$1.80, +2grams herb, $1.29 for second bottle(brown w/eye dropper).
Each additional herb infusion will most likely come from a new acquisition thus I don't have to budget extra for my science project.

[25psi tsi]

I tried my first GD last night. I baked/cooked the batch on Thursday. I haven't been that stoned in a very very long time. In fact, I still feel extremely slow right now and it's been over 8 hours since I did it. This way to injest the THC can definitely come in handy one day where smoking just isn't an option.

[vej33]

I can't believe this hasn't been mentioned yet....

could it possibly be that, for the people who have tried making GD and failed, and continued tweaking their method of making it that, perhaps it's not the concoction that's not working, and instead, is your metabolism?

I know for a fact that eating any marijuana-infused baked good can only get ME to a certain level of stoned, no matter what the potency (i know it sucks). knowing that i only respond one way to eating it, is it possible that for the people who have had little or no luck after many many attempts that it just may not be in their genetics to respond to ingesting a marijuana food product?

next time you make a "bad batch" or if you have some saved up, try it on someone else, someone you know responds well to digesting it, or even someone who has tried GD before.

and it looked like there was still some confusion as to why adding the GD to any alcohol makes it go through your system faster, so let me just clear that up. anatomically, alcohol is #1 priority in your body when consumed. that means that you could have eaten a BigMac meal w/ a shake, some beef jerky, and a box of Reese's Puffs Cereal and (aside from having really bad diarhea) after drinking several beers, your body would stop digesting anything else in your stomach, and work on getting the alcohol OUT of there. it makes sense that if you add a little GD to a beer, it metabolizes quicker, thus giving you the effects sooner.

I can't wait to make this stuff, and hope to have positive results. I'm banking on this stuff breaking my "meh" streak w/ eating the edibles. Better luck to those of you having trouble, I'm sure my first several bad batches will be donated to the kitchen sink anyway :)

[jondoe67]

I appreciate the knowledge, and tutelage. I would like to give you my experience in half assing your wonderful, but somewhat offensive tasting recipe so others can learn from my experiments and failures, perhaps it was so foul because I first extracted 40% or 50% possibly more? of the potency via., a 1.50 inch thick wall PVC. pipe and highly refined butane....the extraction method is on this site under concentrates and the butane @lucienne.com (http://www.lucienne.com)., I just wanted to see how it turned out. My final dosage was about 45cc, I am fairly well medicated, but it is well within tolerance levels. That much at once is flat brutal and I couldn't find anything to kill the taste. I somewhat followed the recipe x 8. 1 oz. of good medicine and only 12 oz. of clear springs 190proof grain alcohol, I was a little nervous cooking more than that on the gas stove. Still got a hard rolling boil at 168, so I backed of to 166 at 35 min. and I only extracted once.....I broke the garlic press......I ended up with about 430 ml. of depleted and probably overcooked liquid. I also baked the medicine @ 325 for 5 min., before I did the butane extraction to see if it would increase potency. It was much darker than the un baked oil, it only yielded about 3/4 a gram., for 1oz. but it did seem to be stronger. The unbaked medicine is sometimes almost as clear as good honey and theres an average of 2 grams per oz. The concoction I made took effect in 5min., and was at full strength in 15min., and was fully active for......I'll let you know...lol. 22cc lasted for 5 to 6 hr., so I'm sure it will be at least that for 45cc.. Did you like her Tincture of Mars as far as potency goes, compared to the Green Dragon?.

[seelos]

just finished my first attempt. i followed directions on the first page other than the fact that i used a bit more 151 and i added about a half 1/8th of abv to the mix. i was surprised when i took the weed out of the oven because i thought it was too brown, and by the time i finished it was quite brown. i think this may have to do with the fact that not only did i use 151 and no everclear, but because of the extra abv. anyhow, it smelled super dank and so i took a spoon full with some koolaid. we'll see how it goes! i

[dragonrider]

anyhow, it smelled super dank and so i took a spoon full with some koolaid. we'll see how it goes! i

It looks like he started a second sentence, and just stopped dead in his tracks! "We'll see how it goes! I ...." Stuff kicks in suddenly and strong!

All joking aside, let us know how it goes!

[seelos]

well it wasn't as successful as i felt that it had been. i took a bit less than a teaspoon (i have about 1.5 oz) and the effects are quite mild, even negligible. i used a pyrex cup instead of a mason jar, i wonder if that was insulating the alcohol too much. I could only seem to get it up to 165 or so. Thinking back i wish i would have boiled it a bit harder, but as the original recipe called for lower temperatures i figured it should at least be close enough. When i baked it, the smell was never that strong, but it smelt more like when i use my vaporizer. when i opened the oven there was a decent puff of vapor and the weed had lost a lot of its color and was fairly brown but not as brown as my abv. Any ideas? im bummed, that's an 1/8th of grapefruit haze i can't blaze

[seelos]

sorry for the double post but my roommate tried a spoonfull today on an empty stomach and says it's definitely a nice body high. i'm thinking it was just baked too much, as it was quite dark when i brought it out of the oven..

[epilepticme]

Made a new batch of green dragon last night.
Used 2 oz Devils Springs Vodka (160 proof) and 6 grams of dank (grapefruity flavor).

It came out really nice.. it has a great color and is super strong.

Thanks again for the recipe Master Wu :)

[dragonrider]

sorry for the double post but my roommate tried a spoonfull today on an empty stomach and says it's definitely a nice body high. i'm thinking it was just baked too much, as it was quite dark when i brought it out of the oven..

You may have baked it too much and too long. What temp and how long?

[seelos]

I baked it for 5 minutes at 325 as directed, but i think it was too long or my oven was too hot. it's only 2-3 years old so i thought it would be accurate but hindsight i should have put a thermometer in there for good measure (pun unintended). As an update, i took two spoonfulls yesterday and it was quite nice unfortunately i only have another 5 doses that size. none the less, thanks master wu!

[grumio]

Yep, it's kind of a pain but you do need to test your oven. Fortunately, oven thermometers are pretty cheap. A pizza stone or something like that helps with temp spikes too.

Another couple of causes of vaping out weed during decarboxylation are grinding the herb too fine &/or spreading it out too thin on the foil.

Hmm just occurred to me - heavy cast iron skillets & such could serve the same purpose as a pizza stone/tiles...

[dragonrider]

I'd suggest getting the thermometer, and also maybe trying a lower temp as well. I usually stick with 200F and longer than 5 minutes (check earlier posts to see how long --- it's been awhile and I don't remember!). I've always had great results with this.

Also, be sure your oven is fully preheated. If the oven is not preheated, then you can have very very hot spots next to the heating elements as the oven comes up to temp.


Select your temp.
Put in an oven thermometer.
Get the oven preheated for a good long time
Make sure the thermometer matches what you selected.
Put the weed in the oven quickly, without leaving the door hanging open too long. (You don't have to rush, just don't let the oven cool so much that it has to kick on the elements again to get back up to temp.)
Keep an eye on the time, and pull it out when ready.


You should be OK.

The fact that your weed seemed a bit over-toasted leads me to think this is where they problem occured. My weed usually loses a tiny bit of green and takes on a very light brown hue, but the color change is not dramatic.

[Coelho]

Well... i dont remember if i already posted this in this same thread, anyway i will post again.

The "cooking weed" step can be replaced by microwaving the weed. Instead to put it in the oven at 325F for some (dont remember how long) time, put the weed (whole, and NOT ground) in a dish, add some water (do not soak it... add only enough for make it wet) and microwave it until the water evaporates completly and the weed turn completly dry, crunchy, and somewhat darker.
The time it takes depends on the amount of weed, water, and the microwaves potency, but it varies between 1-5 minutes.
Doing this in the microwave prevents any loss of THC by evaporation, as the microwave (supposedly) cant reach temperatures far higher than 212F (waters boiling point).
You can also smoke this "activated" (microwaved) weed... sometimes it becomes WAY stronger than it was... :stoned:

[Otusb12]

does anyone have any confirmation of the last post? if so, it would great advancement in perfecting this procedure.

[dragonrider]

does anyone have any confirmation of the last post? if so, it would great advancement in perfecting this procedure.

I have not tried it myself but I have heard of microwaving weed, and it the logic of the explanation makes sense to me. Also, Coelho is knowledgable about this stuff, so I think you can trust he is not steering you wrong.

Personally, I am definitely going to try this method the next time I make GD --- I'm pretty sure that the times I have been unhappy with a batch, it was either because I vaped out some good stuff, or didn't carboxylize enough. So if this method is more foolproof, and less risky, I think it is worth a try.

[ky1956]

I tried the microwave method with good success. To reduce the possibility of over cooking (and flames)I ran the microwave for one minute intervals and stirred the herb before restarting the microwave. Did this 3 times then reduced the time to 30 seconds. It took 4 or 4.5 minutes to dry out about 1.5 grams of herb but it was very wet. It smoked better and seemed to have some new dynamics, but it is a little hard to judge since I was stoned at the end of my experiment.

In an attempt to enhance my results I cleaned a joints worth of herb, placed it in a measuring cup (Pyrex to deal with heating), but instead of putting water on it I added half of an eyedropper of some very strong tincture. Just enough to make it quite moist, but not sitting in a puddle like I had done with water on my first batch.

Because of the small quantity involved I ran the microwave at 10 second intervals, stirring between each restart. After 30 seconds (3-10 second cooking periods) I switched to 5 seconds intervals for a total of 45 seconds total.

The effects were impressive, got nothing done for the next 3-4 hours,with residual effects for about 2 more hours after that. Certainly worth trying again when I have the time to be that immobilized.

The tincture I used has been made the old fashioned way of soaking in alcohol for a month, what made this tincture particularly potent is that I have used the same alcohol (1.5oz vodka) to soak about 2 grams at a time, 3 different times. That is that this 1.5oz of vodka has been used marinate 6 grams of reefer over the past 90 days.:thumbsup

[wolfgar]

Isomerization (http://nepenthes.lycaeum.org/Drugs/THC/isomerize.html)

so anyone have any opinions on this method?

[Coelho]

Isomerization (http://nepenthes.lycaeum.org/Drugs/THC/isomerize.html)

so anyone have any opinions on this method?

Well... i did read it long ago, but never tried it, because it needs some stong acid, and i have none.
Anyway there are easier ways to isomerize the cannabinoids... this methods may not be so efficient, but they work well enough... look at:

http://boards.cannabis.com/recipes/134243-isomerization-process-green-dragon.html

:thumbsup:

[cencalgirl20]

hey im trying to make my bf a bottle of green dragon. i want to use a fifth of belvedere or a nice bottle of whatever alcohol works best. my question is can i take the 2 oz. that this recipe will yield me and simply combine it with the fifth and if so what would be the dosage of that concoction? i was thinking like one shot? also will stems give me the same potency as just regular weed? im not a big smoker so kinda out of my element with this. thanks!

[ky1956]

MY question is what is the saturation point of how much thc can defuse into how much alcohol (Y). I realize with different potency in every ones pot this can't have a perfect answer but I wondered if someone who knows the chemistry involved could offer a dumbed down explanation of how much pot an ounce of everclear could absorb/bond with before it is supersaturated?

I have had success using the same alcohol to soak up to six grams of pot, 2grams at a time, by the end of the third soaking the liquid had lost most of it's alcohol flavor and I got really high smoking the residual pot( but that may have been tincture that dried on the weed.)
Is there a concentration point where diffusion no longer occurs?

[ky1956]

I have used the microwave with success on several occasions to dry my reefer. First getting it moist, then nuking it a 5 and 10 second intervals, stirring between cooking periods until it was fluffy and dry. Today I tried 20 second intervals and on the third go round the weed caught on fire in a few places. This was by far the most potent weed I have used and I wonder if the oils/resins could have caught fire? Or did the extra time produce that much heat? Or maybe a little bit of both?:smokin:

[PopaBean]

This post made me laugh out loud!

Thanks:rastasmoke:
Popa



I made a double batch a week ago and I've been in a haze ever since. Shit get's you wasted... I've been waking up high. Thanks, Master Wu.

[PopaBean]

Went with a little more than half a zip(ok schmoke)/to a total of 5 fl oz(151 bacardi) ratio and made my first batch. Yeeeeeeehaw

Damn....it tastes absolutely horrible....So I'm sure it worked.
So dark green it's almost brownish dark green.

Through the grinder
325 preheated for 5 min flattened out in foil and wrapped
comes out a little brown and just beginning to stink a little.

I wouldn't screw with the microwave...The oven preheated to 325 works well.

Note: In order for me to get the Bacardi mix to 170, I needed to go; full-bore high on the electric burner I used.

Now....... I was wondering how people could have bad results and the ONLY thing I could think of was:
Some people may have made the mistake of keeping the water bath @ 170....
If the water bath is kept @ 170, then there is no way in hell the transfer is going to take place....b/c the Bacardi mix will only get to about 140 degrees....(if that). I believe the alcohol mix needs to be pretty damned close to 170 degrees for the 20 min to get the magic to happen.:thumbsup:

Doesn't hurt to empty the mixture once finished and add one more fl oz of 151 to clean the sides and get anything that didn't transfer initially :rastasmoke:
Possibly let it go for 8-10 more min then strain using whatever creative method you choose.

I began with 4 fl oz. Reduced, I got 2.5 fl oz.
Then I added the extra fl oz to clean the sides and whatnot. That reduced to .75 fl oz
Probably a total of 3 or 3.5 oz in the jar!

Thanks for the recipe...Wish there was a way to make it a little more "drinkable" I read something about sweetener someplace.

In order for me to strain it, I used tea bags(carefully opened and removed of tea)...Hey it's all I had.

I don't think I could stomach much more than I drank in one setting...Think I had about a shot glass full.

Will report on my trip.

Peace Love and Happiness People!!!:hippy:
Popa

[Devecstator]

Ok I bet no ones tried this, would it be better to leave in a a jar for two weeks after heating it? And how bad does baking it stink up your house? If you do it in a microwave does it smell less

[dragonrider]

Went with a little more than half a zip(ok schmoke)

...

Probably a total of 3 or 3.5 oz in the jar!

...

I don't think I could stomach much more than I drank in one setting...Think I had about a shot glass full.

Will report on my trip.

Peace Love and Happiness People!!!:hippy:
Popa

Did you just say you used half an ounce of weed, made 3.5 ounces of green dragon, and drank a qaurter of it in one shot? Dude! You are going to go into a coma!

[PopaBean]

Dude...It was good fun!!!

Funny thing....My buddy had a little the other night.

We were playing PS3 for about 1/2 hour when he set his controller down in the middle of the game and said...Dude..there is NO WAY I can play this game anymore.

Called me today and told me he woke up the next morning howdy high!!!

He's been slain by the dragon

LMAO

All good...Love the buzz but the taste is DISGUSTING.

Popa

[dragonrider]

All good...Love the buzz but the taste is DISGUSTING.

Ha ha! Sounds like you had a good time! I was concerned maybe that would be TOO strong a dose.

For the taste, mix with a shot of Creme de Menthe, and the flavor mostly disappears. Or shoot it down straight, and quick chase it with a beer to kill the taste.

[ky1956]

To cover the smell of heating weed in the oven or microwave start some bacon in a skillet at a low temp at the same time you start heating your weed. Once the weed is dry crank up the heat on the bacon and finish cooking it. Bacon will be the last smell that you generate.

I added a shot of Amaretto to my 190 before making my last GD, it wiped out most if not all of the grain alcohol taste.

[epilepticme]

The bacon is a great idea that has a very powerful odor. Not so good for the heart though. Make sure to eat some hemp seeds with omega 3 to balance out that hog fat :P

If i were to add anykind of flavor I would think it best to do it after the extraction with the high proof alcohol.

[Coelho]

Ok so some time ago i got a decent amount of weed so i decided to try it making some green dragon.
I boiled some amount of it (already properly microwaved and ground) (dont know how much... but surely less than 1g) in alcohol, then mixed it with some coffee and milk, boiled it to evaporate some of the alcohol, added sugar and drank. The taste was almost the same as the usual cofee with milk, i couldnt notice the weeds (or alcohols) taste.
I drank it some 40-50 minutes before, with an empty stomach, and this shit kicked in suddenly, just as i logged in. I was already feeling a bit "grogey", as it happens whenever the high is starting, but some 5 minutes ago it increased a LOT and very suddenly... now im already having some troubles to type, as my body is lagging behind my mind... like... i know what i want to write but my arms and fingers are wayy to lazy to type... so i will stop rambling and finish this post while i can... cause i feel soon i will leave this physical reality for a while... :abduct:

My face is already starting to smile by itself... yes... i think it will be a nice trip indeed... :stoned:

[Coelho]

... or so i thought.
Here i am, some 5 hours after i drank it. The start was intense indeed, but it didnt increased any more... the high kept strong for some time, less than half hour, then decreased slowly and steadily... now im only a bit buzzed.
I dont know if i didnt use enough weed, if i didnt metabolized the THC properly, if all the THC was actually dissolved... anyway, better luck next time.
(VERY fortunately, now ive enough herb to try again and again until i get bored of it... ok maybe not so much... but surely its a lot :jointsmile:)

[Coelho]

OK now i know what happened. I slept, and some hours later i woke, very stoned. But as i still was very sleepy i just come back to sleep. When i awoke i was still pretty buzzed, and kept this way for several hours after waking up.
So it seems my body stored a large amount of the ingested THC, and slowly released it later, when i was sleeping. What a waste... anyway, at least i know that mixing the green dragon with coffee and milk works, and that it tastes good. After the alcohol is evaporated, of course.

[Joefooks77]

I'll be trying these as soon as I get an opportunity to use a oven. I'm going to use Master Wu's exact recipe. Thanks!

[maxsuperdanks]

I been using this recipe for a time now.


It's great. I use coffee filters, and quadruple filter using a ball mason jar cover (with the hole in the top) and screw it over 2 filters at once.


It's a pure, dark green, dank liquid.



I've had variances in color from orange to deep blue green. All had me floored.



I make this shit for Lupus patients that can't smoke.

[ytrewq]

There seems to be a lot of mystery surrounding the decarboxylation, which is the crucial step, so I've been researching. I found this patent application for thca > thc conversion and extraction: Extraction of pharmaceutically active components from plant materials - Patent 7344736 (http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7344736.html)

The applicant tested samples at different temperatures for different amounts of time then perfomed chemical analysis. There are 2 main factors they consider: the conversion of thca to thc, which is what you want, and breakdown of thc to cbn which you don't want.

They got good results with 221 F for 4 hours, 248 F for 1 hour, or 284 F for a half hour. Those all gave 99% conversion of thca to thc. 248 F for 1 hour had somewhat less breakdown of thc to cbn than the other two temps so it seems like the best.

If you extrapolate from the data 200 F for 20min is inadequate; you'd maybe convert half of what's available.

[ky1956]

Does anyone have an idea about the shelf life of green dragon? I keep it cool and out of the sunlight but will I lose strength over time? If so, what type of time frame would it be? Months or years?

To avoid the wonderful flavor of Everclear does a weaker % of ethanol effect the results. 151 rum would at least have a little flavor and sweetness to it. I know that a steeper gradient of alcohol will make the process more efficient, but could this not be compensated for by starting with a little more 151 (3oz vs 2oz of Everclear) and perhaps heating it for a little longer? I have had very good results with the soak and wait method using just 35% vodka, I just let it wait for a longer period of time.

[Coelho]

Does anyone have an idea about the shelf life of green dragon? I keep it cool and out of the sunlight but will I lose strength over time? If so, what type of time frame would it be? Months or years?

Well... it seems green dragon loses its potency reasonably fast, in a matter of weeks... But it seems possible to restore its lost potency... look at:

http://boards.cannabis.com/recipes/134243-isomerization-process-green-dragon-2.html#post1764722


To avoid the wonderful flavor of Everclear does a weaker % of ethanol effect the results. 151 rum would at least have a little flavor and sweetness to it. I know that a steeper gradient of alcohol will make the process more efficient, but could this not be compensated for by starting with a little more 151 (3oz vs 2oz of Everclear) and perhaps heating it for a little longer? I have had very good results with the soak and wait method using just 35% vodka, I just let it wait for a longer period of time.

Well... the weaker the alcohol you use, more water it contains, and as the water hinders the THCs absorption by the alcohol, it makes the process less efficient, and also slower.
And heating it doesnt help much, because the alcohol evaporates before the water, so as more you heat it, weaker the alcohol becomes.
Anyway, it still works.

I also think green dragon has a bad taste indeed... so i tried some ways to make it more palatable... look at:
http://boards.cannabis.com/concentrates/147589-ways-make-green-dragon-more-drinkable.html

And good luck! :thumbsup:

[maxsuperdanks]

151 works well and gives it a funky tang that makes juice taste exquisite.

[Purple Banana]

I followed this guide with AMAZING results! Instead of 1/8 oz, I used 1/3 oz of mids, and a mix of Everclear and pineapple rum... One mL did the trick for me, I was stoned as a rock! GREAT stuff!

Much better than the cold extraction method- like 200x better! :thumbsup:

[stonedinhd]

so I spent like 20 minutes writing my experience up and decided to just make it into a semi-extended TLDR version lol. I don't really remember alot of it but this will give you an idea

I fucked up my first 2 trys making GD(bad oven thermometer, use a standalone now), 4 grams(2 each try) down the drain at that point. I made 2 more batches after I read up some more and figured it out, used 2g in one and 3g in the other. Drama happens, I get pissed, decide to try taking both batches(thinking "probably fucked it up anyways"), feels like shrooms coming on, that'd be the alcohol(4 shots of GD at ~90 proof,50% fanta 50% gd... ya), I'd eaten breakfast about 4 hours earlier, seemed to come up slow but consistent, wave comes in about 2 miles to the peak, still peaked 1hr, still peaked 2hrs, still peaked 3 hrs, why won't it slow down!?, shit I'm stuck in my computer chair, way too fucking high cant handle it anymore, try to stand up, fuck I cant even lift my own weight let alone balance, get on floor, crawl to bed, pass out, wake up 18 hours later.

Highest I've ever been, highest I will ever be. It was pretty hard to enjoy cause I couldn't really move much(thank god for computers! fingers are still pretty easy to move!) I felt really good the next day, that's for sure.


Pretty long for a TLDR eh?

BTW, huge props to everyone who contributed to this thread over the years. Made another batch later that week that came out just right, 2 ml doses of it was perfect.

[khysanth]

Is it possible to grind up the 1/8th and let it soak in the 2oz. of 151 for a few days first, and THEN follow the steps in this guide (simmers, etc.) afterward for an even stronger extraction?

Or would soaking it first, and then doing the other steps, ruin the cannabinoids that had already extracted into the 151 during soaking?

Thanks! Preparing for 4/20 - this will be my first experience with the green dragon. :)

[misslilly]

I don't think it would hurt but I also don't think it would do any good really either.

[Coelho]

^^^^ Exactly... cause the greatest part of the cannabinoids are extracted during the heating process. The amount that is extracted by just soaking for a few days would be too small to make a noticeable difference.

[khysanth]

Thanks for the replies.

[ky1956]

I have tried the method described, but I get so high off of green dragon any way that it's made, that I really can't rate one method against the other.
However many people have stated that heated GD looses it's potency quickly but my wait and soak tinctures seems to hold their strength for a while longer.

[khysanth]

About to make this now in preparation for tomorrow.

Sometime tomorrow night or the next day I'll let you know how it goes. :)

[khysanth]

Not sure what just happened... Need some help. I think I just wasted an entire 1/8th.

I ground up the mixture in my grinder first, then in the coffee grinder. The coffee grinder turned it into basically a really fine powder. It was some dank, so it was kinda sticky, on the way to becoming hash.

Then I baked it for under 5 mins at 325. When I opened the oven a little bit of vapor came out and the weed powder had turned mostly light brown.

Then I had 2oz. (60 ml) of Bacardi 151 heating up in a steel bowl floating in a pot of water. I added the baked weed.

The temperature only spiked above 170 a few times - it was pretty difficult to maintain and stand over and watch for 20 minutes.

This is where the problems started:

I noticed that it was evaporating REALLY quickly. I had to keep adding more and more rum. If I didn't, it would have just been weed frying on the bottom of the bowl.

After the 20 minutes, I strained it and only have like 10-15ml of this brownish green liquid.

Is this batch ruined? Or it is going to be really strong? What effects will be had from me adding more and more rum to prevent it from burning off?

Thanks.

[jeepboi]

try it and see worst that can happen is your out an 1/8

good luck

[ky1956]

yes everything will be concentrated in the remaining liquid. If you have not cleaned the metal bowel swish a small amount of alcohol around the bottom to clean off any tincture that may have stuck to the sides. Please let us know how it turns out.

[misslilly]

I do mine in a small beaker with some tin foil for a cover, indented down in the middle. With a small digital cooking thermometer down through the middle. It can be taken off to stir when you want to. I don't lose hardly any alcohol (I use grain) in the 20 min. I also do it in a small cheap crock pot I got at a dollar store. It does really good at keeping the temp steady @165-170. One trick I have found is to heat the water on the stove first and then put it in the crock pot. You won't have to wait hours for the crock pot to heat up. I also cook it down into something I can smoke instead of drinking it. It works well.

[khysanth]

Ok, here are a few updates.

I measured what I had again this morning, and it couldn't have been more than like 5ml. So I found some of the weed still in the coffee filter in the trash, and put it in with more 151 in a water bath.

I didn't use a thermometer this time, but just eyeballed it and kept it lightly simmering. It evaporated at a much better rate, and then I strained and added this to my previous 5ml.

I ended up with probably 10-15ml.

I added enough 151 to this mixture afterwards to dilute it and bring it to about 30ml.

The significant other and I just took 1ml of it on an empty stomach. We put it in 1/2 a beer. Will let you know if I was able to salvage this batch. I think I'm already feeling something, and it has been like 15 minutes.

Happy 4/20 everyone. If this doesn't work I'll just toke on the other 2.5g of Snowcaps I have saved away. :)

[khysanth]

Ok.

Tried 1ml. Nothing.
Tried 2ml. Felt a little something for about an hour or two.
Just gave my roommate 4ml to try, I don't want to use them until later. I'm guessing it will be the sweet spot.

So it wasn't a total waste. I know to get one of those measuring cups instead of the steel bowl to simmer in the future. Anything else I can do to improve this?

[Coelho]

Well... 1/8 (=3.5g) of weed dissolved in 30ml of alcohol is a bit more than 0.1g of weed per each ml of alcohol.

I dont know the amount you usually smoke, but i need at least 0.5g to get high (damn mids :(), so if i were drinking your green dragon i would need 5ml of it.

Also, drinking it requires more weed than smoking it, as the absorption is way slower and so the effects are "diluted" in a large amount of time... so i would suggest you to drink anything between 1.5-2 times the amount you usually smoke to ensure a enjoyable experience.

[ky1956]

I also cook it down into something I can smoke instead of drinking it. It works well.

misslilly, this sounds intriguing, could you please elaborate.

[misslilly]

misslilly, this sounds intriguing, could you please elaborate.
Just wanted to let you know I have not forgot. Just been real busy and I'm not very good typing. But I'll be back very soon.

[Gnostik]

I made a batch of this last night, and I have to say... uh... wow. :thumbsup:

After baking at 325 degrees for 5 minutes, I made it with 190 proof ethyl alcohol (industrial grade Everclear). I did 2 extractions: the first with 3 oz of alcohol, and the second with 1 oz.

I ended up with about 1.2 oz of GD, and it's pretty nice stuff. I took 1/2 ml last night, and it was real smooth and mellow. I took about 3/4 ml a couple hours ago, and I'm finding it real hard to type this post... :hippy:

I love this stuff. Thanks, and hats off to Master Wu, and everyone else who contributed here. :cool:

(Oh, and this is my first post here, so, "Hi, everyone!" :)

[misslilly]

misslilly, this sounds intriguing, could you please elaborate.
Hey ky1956, sorry to take so long to get back. Just getting started with hydro and have been very busy. But anyway. Basically I do the Green dragon and just let it cook down until the alcohol and what's in it evaporates off. I use a small crock pot to do the cooking and it works well. Add hot water to the pot and I don't have to wait so long for the pot to heat up. I did it quite a few different times trying different things. The first time I tried it, it came out great but had a bit of a time trying to get it that way again. I had a couple pounds from an outside grow and the weed was not that great. So I had plenty to play with. It would not come out good so I could just grab another 1/2 ounce and try again. The first time I used about 1/8 that I had decarbed and some scrap from some hash making. That was what was left on my 105 micron screen. Not great hash but still had a lot higher percentage of thc than the weed. Again that batch came out great. A very smooth smoke that would melt but if you were careful you could smoke by itself in a pipe with a screen or mix some weed with it. It was not so sticky that you could not handle it. You could pull off a piece and put it in with not much problem. After that one I wanted to try again. So I tried several times with just some weed (not decarbed) and did not come out very well. The extraction process would take everything out of the weed, and I do mean everything!! Under a low power microscope what what was left looked like clear fibers. Probably the thing I noticed the most was the chlorophyll. If left it on the heat to long it would smell and taste burnt. And was just a sticky mess to work with. But at the time I was not in a place where I could do a decarb and try it. But when I finally did it came out much, much better. The decarb process of vaporizing what ever it is that comes out did the trick. After that the last time I made hash I took just the scrap from the 105 screen (no decarb) and tried that and again it came out great. So through many experiments my findings are that the quality of the finished product has to do with the percent of thc in relation to the amount of vegetative matter. You can do it without the decarb process but the thc has to be high. Or the other crap has to be cooked off first with a decarb.. But it seems to be a very efficient way to extract thc. Unlike say ice water that only get the balls and leaves the stalks (I read that the stalks have the 2nd highest percent of thc on the plant). This method gets it all out. And also the last time I did it, when it seemed like all the alcohol was gone I put it in the oven at 170 for a little while and then in the freezer. I do it in a small pyrex dish that I can scrap out with a razor blade. When cooking it down it will still seem kinda wet and sticky but will harden when it is cooled. And if anything it seems like a good way to take a low grade hash and make something good out of it. Any questions just let me know.

[Coelho]

Well... decarboxiling the weed usually increases its amount of THC (unless the weed be already completly cured), so it makes the final product stronger. I dont know why people skips this step, as it is a way to get some more THC for FREE!

And misslilly, adding some water to the dish with hash oil when scraping it makes the scraping way easier... the water makes the hash oil stick much less to the dish. If you use water at the right temperature, its possible to scrape completly the hash oil, and leave absolutely nothing in the dish. Too warm water makes the hash oil soft and sticky, and too cold water makes it hard and sometimes even brittle. But adding small amounts of warm and cold water until reaching the ideal temeprature, the hash oil can be made soft enough to be scraped without any effort and yet hard enough to stick to itself better than it sticks to the dish, allowing you to make a ball with it while you scrape it.

PS. The hash oil is insoluble in water so this process wont cause any losses of it.

[misslilly]

Hey Coelho, well when I'm done cooking it down it's not really in an oil state. I can scrape it off the dish pretty easy. Sometimes it is even kinda dry in spots when done and can be rolled into a ball without sticking to your fingers at room temp. As long as you don't play with it to long of course. But the water does sound like a good idea to try. The last few times the weed was well cured when I did it, 6 months or more. I'm not sure but wouldn't the decarb have to due with eating it and not if it is going to be smoked. With the heat causing the THCA to be converted to THC? Which is what will happen when I smoke it? It's just that when I decarb it, it seems to vaporize a lot of the unwanted stuff or convert then in some way as to not end up with a sticky mess when I am done. I can tell for sure that it gets rid of a lot of the chlorophyll that is in it.

[Gatekeeper777]

Can this be done by just grinding up stems and leaves up in a food processor and putting them into a ball mason jar and dumping 151 on them, seling the jar for 1 or 2 months? The alcohol should break down the cellular of the THC.
and make it easier for absorbion right to the blood stream.

[Coelho]

Can this be done by just grinding up stems and leaves up in a food processor and putting them into a ball mason jar and dumping 151 on them, seling the jar for 1 or 2 months? The alcohol should break down the cellular of the THC.
and make it easier for absorbion right to the blood stream.

Yes, it also works, if you have the patience to wait that long... just keep it in a dark and cold place (as light destroys the THC).

[VanKee]

I recently (last week) suffered a collapsed lung and don't want to chance smoking again. I recently failed at making sufficiently concentrated butter, so I thought I'd try this.

I drank about a teaspoon-full about 40 minutes ago dissolved in a glass of coke (after drinking a rum and coke :) ). I definitely feel high, but don't feel it getting any stronger, but I used to smoke kush or purple all day every day so my tolerance is probably pretty high. Tomorrow I will try 2 teaspoons-full.

Some thoughts:
- I used Bacardi 151 since I can't get everclear out here in California.
- I decarboxylized an 1/8th on a sheet of aluminum foil. The temperature got a little above 325 degrees and I noticed a lot of vapor when I pulled it out. Next time I will err on the lower side of 325.
- Some crystals and stickiness stayed on the aluminum foil - i used some pretty good kush. Next time I will run some rum over the foil to try to rinse that off into the cup.
- I used a pretty thick pyrex measuring cup. I put it in a large put of water and then turned on the burner. I found it difficult to get up to 170 degrees even with the burner on high and ended up doing something like 25 minutes at 160-165 degrees. Next time I will try a mason jar which may be a little thinner.

[misslilly]

If while doing other things start boiling just water or just hot out of the tap and heat up the bowl and start with hot water in the pot helps me speed things up. But I also use a small crock pot to keep it hot instead of on the stove.

[VanKee]

6mL worked out great. i talked to a friend who vaporizes all the time and he also said 325 is too hot and suggested 200 for 20 minutes. i'll try that next time and report back.

[dejayou30]

6mL worked out great. i talked to a friend who vaporizes all the time and he also said 325 is too hot and suggested 200 for 20 minutes. i'll try that next time and report back.

I just tried the method from post 1 of page 1. I did 5.7g of homegrown bud and good trim and 3 oz of Everclear (190 proof) two times, and ended up with about 3 oz of liquid total. I put 2 ml of the GD in a beer under the assumption it would be bunk, and I'm about 50 min in and I feel a mild body buzz, but I'm 5 beers in as well so I'm not sure if I'm ust getting drunk or I'm going to be ripped here shortly. Time will tell. :thumbsup:

[dejayou30]

Well 2 ml did nothing to me. I waited 90 minutes and then took some BT's and got really ripped, but 2 hours later I was back to normal. I think I'm gonna try like a tablespoon and see what happens. :jointsmile:

[Coelho]

I did 5.7g of homegrown bud and good trim and 3 oz of Everclear (190 proof) two times, and ended up with about 3 oz of liquid total. I put 2 ml of the GD in a beer (...)

Well... if there are 5.7g of weed dissolved in 3oz (88.7ml) of everclear, each ml of it is equivalent to 5.7/88.7 = 0.064g of weed. So, 2ml of it is equivalent to 0.13g of weed, which i think its a very small amount.

[dejayou30]

Well... if there are 5.7g of weed dissolved in 3oz (88.7ml) of everclear, each ml of it is equivalent to 5.7/88.7 = 0.064g of weed. So, 2ml of it is equivalent to 0.13g of weed, which i think its a very small amount.

True, however the extraction of the THC into the alcohol should be more efficient, making the THC from .13 g worth of herb plenty to get me stoned. The bowls I smoke are usually .2-.4 g, so obtaining 80% or so of THC in the .13 g in the 2 ml of GD compared to obtaining 20% from burning a .2-.4 g bowl, I should get plenty stoned off the .13 in the GD.

Plus, it was 5.7 g per batch, so really there was 11.4 g in 3 oz of GD.

[Coelho]

I didnt see it was 2 batches... so your numbers are the right ones.

Anyway, eating/drinking weed needs a much larger amount of THC for reaching the same level of "highness"... the high from eaten/drank weed is spread on a way longer amount of time, so the high gets very "diluted"...

I measured it by smoking an amount of hash oil (very high % of THC), and then drinking some green dragon made dissolving the same hash oil in alcohol. (The green dragon was drank the next day, so there was no difference in the effects due the tolerance.)

The amount of hash oil i had to dissolve in alcohol to get the same level of highness i got from smoking the hash oil was like 5-6x greater. (Of course, the high i got from drinking the green dragon lasted WAY longer than the high from the smoked oil).

So i concluded that smoking requires roughly 5-6 times less THC to get the same level of highness of drinking it. (What is caused in part by the much shorter high one gets when smokes).

This values may depend on each persons metabolism, but i think they are enough for a rough aproximation.

EDIT: Well... i just see you already calculated different % for eating and smoking... 80% is 4 times 20%, so it seems your numbers already compensated for the difference between smoking and drinking... im sorry... im on the comeup of a psychedelic and my mind isnt working properly... so we should seek other causes for you didnt get high...
Did you drink it with an empty stomach? It makes a large difference... drinking it with a full stomach usually doesnt work at all.

[ky1956]

but I'm 5 beers in as well so I'm not sure if I'm ust getting drunk or I'm going to be ripped here shortly. Time will tell. :thumbsup:

The amount of beer in your system may have overridden the effects of the GD. I have used alcohol to lessen the effects of psychedelics when I overindulged. Next time try it sober on an empty stomach to give the GD every opportunity to do it's stuff. Enjoy:cool:

[jebus2029]

So I tried this for the first time about 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately, it did not turn out as well as I was hoping. I used 3.5g of bud, 2.7g of stem, and 2.4g of duff.

The first problem I had was when I did the pre-bake I did it for 5 minutes at 300, but I put it on the top rack in the oven. So it was too close to the electric heating element and it came out darker than the duff I used. Also a cloud of vapor about the size of a loaf of bread came out when I opened it up. I decided to keep going with it anyways and did the same with the stems after I ground them up. I put it on a lower rack and it came out just right (at least I think so).

So I added it to a bell jar with about 4 oz of 151. I didn't use a double boiler though. I used a steamer insert in the pot I cooked it in to keep it off the bottom. Although it was still really hot because the steamer insert was sitting on the bottom. So I think I had it way too high a temp because of this.

I let it cook for about 10 minutes before I looked at it, and boy was it boiling. Probably only an oz of 151 left in it. So I took it out, let it cool a bit, and added more 151. Lowered the temp and went back to it. At one point I put the lid on tight and shook it. Turned out it wasn't on tight and It sprayed all over me the the kitchen counter. Let it go for about 1.5 hrs I think and then strained it using cheese cloth and a garlic press. I didn't think it would work so I didn't use gloves and absorbed a lot through my skin. I ended up with about 1.5 oz.

I then started a second extraction with another 4 oz of 151 and went to my room to watch tv for about 45 minutes. Fast forward 4 hours... I wake up with a horrible weed hangover and stumble to the kitchen. As far as I could tell the material was damp but there was no 151 visible. So I decided I was done and threw out what was left.

From what I could tell it does work although it only lasts about 1.5 hrs for me. With a dose of about 20 drops. I gave my friends about 5 drops under their tongues and it got them high, but I don't think there was any THC in it really. I didn't take any for about 1 1/2 weeks and it just isn't all that strong.

So things I learned:
1) I need to do a double boiler next time. Maybe just a metal pan sitting ontop of the pot. The chef at the restaurant I work at does this when he needs a double boiler.
2) Use the rack in the middle of the oven. Not the one closest to the heating element.
3) Don't start this at 1am. You need to be awake and alert cause you can easily screw this up.

I have very good luck making my own capsules with coconut oil so I may just stick to that. I also want to try using veg glycerine. Seems like it would be a lot more user friendly than alcohol(and I don't really like alcohol anyways). I'm sure I'll give this another shot eventually, but I may try the 2 month sit and shake method. I have heard you can speed up the process of the shake method by baking the herb before doing this. Has anyone tried it like that? Either with or without baking it before starting the long extraction process.

[ky1956]

I have been very successful when I follow the Master Wu recipe, but have also had dissapointing results when I tried to take shortcuts.
1)Dry the weed first, you seem to be on top of that now
2) Use a thermometer to keep track of the temp in your solution, set a timer to go off in 20 minutes and stay in the kitchen with your cooking.

As for the sit and wait method that has never failed me, it just is not as convenient as the Master Wu technique. My preferred method is to put the dried weed into a tincture bottle that I get at the local health food store for $2. Fill to the top with alcohol and store in a dark place for 4-8 weeks. I shake it on occasion but have found that with enough time everything takes care of itself. Once I think the tincture is ready I leave the weed in the bottle. You will gets a few small flecks of herb in the eyedropper but not enough to cause any problems (like salad in your teeth) and who knows the longer it soaks the more potential you have to extract more thc.

[jebus2029]

Yeah, I always dry the weed first. Otherwise it sticks to the coffee grinder. I definitely need to stay in the kitchen though. I'm used to making capsules with oil and letting it sit in the crock pot for 12 hours. I may actually try it in the crock pot next time. Although it's hard to tell exactly what the temp in it is. I have a candy thermometer but it doesn't fit in the crock pot. I did check the temp of the green dragon but it doesn't appear to be accurate. It never got above 150. I even stuck it in the boiling water and it still didn't clear 150 after about 1 minute. So I think it is busted. I did place an oven thermometer in the c.p. before. I think the 3 settings were at 155, 220, and 255. Oh, and when I set the oven to 300 the thermometer never went above 270. It was hung off the bottom of the top rack though. So it was a bit further away from the heating element.

On the up side though. Back when I made it and I spilled it all over my arm, and then didn't use gloves I absorbed a lot and got pretty stoned from it :) Woke up with a killer stoner hangover that mellowed out to a nice buzz for about 3 hours.:D

[jebus2029]

I like the idea of leaving the herb in the bottle too. It could get stronger as you take it.

What kind of tolerance does everyone develop to tinctures? By the end of a 2oz bottle are you taking 5 doses and just getting a light buzz? I always seem to build up a tolerance to whatever strain I'm consuming within a weeks time. Doesn't matter whether I'm smoking it or eating it.

[ky1956]

I get a very quick tolerance buildup to GD. Went camping last week with a fresh bottle got wasted first night, took 3x next night got very stoned but lacked the spiritual experience outlined by Master Wu, 3rd night inhaled rest of bottle got a strong body stone but was very disappointed.
Moral of story-use sparingly.
While I enjoy the occasional spiritual dose I usually just take about 1/3-1/2 an eyedropper full then supplement it with smoking about 1-1.5hrs later.

[volume]

Hello!

I am happy to find fans of this wonderful drink. I understand that the process of decarboxylation is important, but I am wondering how will the GD will work without it?
My method is as follows:

- Grind up ¼ oz of high quality bud and pour it into a 1/5 of everclear.
- Store it in a black bag where it is exposed to warm temperature (since its summer and I donâ??t have AC)
- Shake it once or twice a day while removing the cap so it can breathe.
- Use after 1 month.

I am not sure if I am doing this right. I wish I would have done the decarboxylation but it is too late for that now. Did I waste a whole ¼ or will it still work? If it wonâ??t â?? is there any way to salvage what I have? I remember a year or so ago my friends had a bottle where they used this same process without decarboxylation â?? seemed to work for me. I would like to get the most powerful potency possible. Any advice is much appreciated.

J

[Coelho]

Making green dragon this way works too... of course, decarboxilating the weed before soaking it in alcohol makes it stronger indeed, but if the weed was already of good quality, the difference isnt so great. Decarboxilating works better with low/mid-quality weed, as most high-quality weed is already properly cured (and thus decarboxilated).

One important thing is the bottle with the weed must be kept in a dark place, as light destroys the THC.

[jebus2029]

You may have to drink shots to have it work though. There are 25.6 oz in a fifth. When done in smaller amounts an eighth in 2oz will give a little less than 30 doses(one dose being a ml or 1 dropper full). So with a quarter in 25.6 oz you would have to drink a little less than half of a shot to get the same effect. If that is what you are going for then have fun :) Since you said you were going for potency you could put a shot in a drink and be flying. Also many people say you should let it go more than a month, although it will work after this amount of time still.

[thorny]

Please critique what I did. It did not come out very potent.

Used 4 grams of finely chopped chronic
Around 3 grams of stems from assorted strains
2.5 oz 151 Everclear

Placed pot on foil in preheated 325 oven for 5 minutes. came out a light brownish color noticed a small cloud of vapor escape when i opened the oven. I placed that immediately into a jar containing 151. I had previously heated the jar in water a bath with some water in it to 170. When the oven had 2 minutes to go i switched the water for 151. It got up to temp pretty quickly even after adding the pot since it was straight out of the oven. Had that going for 20 minutes. It stayed at a slight bubble. Temp was monitored by a digital meat thermometer, stayed 170-174. It was strained through very fine mesh and pressed well. I placed it in a small plastic bottle that had an dropper top. I figured this plastic should be ok since it had another sort of herbal extract in it previously. I let it cool and placed one full dropper into a half cup of poweraide and drank it. This was at 3:30pm, only thing I had to eat that day was a lunchable (meat, cheese, crackers) at around 11am. I started feeling some effects at 4:20 (haha), and it kept going up till 5pm when it peaked at only a half decent body buzz. It tapered off till 6pm when I decided it was time to go ahead and smoke.

Thing I think I could have done wrong:
Something in the poweraide inhibited it?
Since the 3 inch meat thermometer probe wasn't all the way submerged in something, the reading was off?
Maybe my oven got too hot? I had tested it earlier with the meat thermometer and preheated at 325 it would get upto 345 after the door was open for a several second period.

Let me know what you gurus think. I really need to find a smoking alternative. Now after years of smoking daily my inner ear starts hurting really bad after I smoke, like an ear infection.

[ky1956]

Hello!

I am happy to find fans of this wonderful drink. I understand that the process of decarboxylation is important, but I am wondering how will the GD will work without it?
My method is as follows:

- Grind up ¼ oz of high quality bud and pour it into a 1/5 of everclear.
- Store it in a black bag where it is exposed to warm temperature (since its summer and I donâ??t have AC)
- Shake it once or twice a day while removing the cap so it can breathe.
- Use after 1 month.

I am not sure if I am doing this right. I wish I would have done the decarboxylation but it is too late for that now. Did I waste a whole ¼ or will it still work? If it wonâ??t â?? is there any way to salvage what I have? I remember a year or so ago my friends had a bottle where they used this same process without decarboxylation â?? seemed to work for me. I would like to get the most powerful potency possible. Any advice is much appreciated.

J

It doesn't sound like the best ratio of pot to alcohol. After a month pour the liquid into a wide mouth jar or jars, straining out the weed in a coffee filter stretched over the top. Let the jars stand in a dark place without lids and let most of the alcohol evaporate. This will concentrate the magic into a smaller volume of liquid.

[sanifsan]

some of the cannaboids evaporate before reaching the 325 degrees.... so should i heat with less but for longer untill the decarboxydation occurs?

here is the list i got from a website:

This details the boiling points for the many cannabinoids in the marijuana, which all contribute to the "high".

Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)
Boiling point: 157*C / 314.6 degree Fahrenheit
Properties: Euphoriant, Analgesic, Antiinflammatory, Antioxidant, Antiemetic

cannabidiol (CBD)
Boiling point: 160-180*C / 320-356 degree Fahrenheit
Properties: Anxiolytic, Analgesic, Antipsychotic, Antiinflammatory, Antioxidant, Antispasmodic

Cannabinol (CBN)
Boiling point: 185*C / 365 degree Fahrenheit
Properties: Oxidation, breakdown, product, Sedative, Antibiotic

cannabichromene (CBC)
Boiling point: 220*C / 428 degree Fahrenheit
Properties: Antiinflammatory, Antibiotic, Antifungal

Δ-8-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ-8-THC)
Boiling point: 175-178*C / 347-352.4 degree Fahrenheit
Properties: Resembles Δ-9-THC, Less psychoactive, More stable Antiemetic

tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV)
Boiling point: < 220*C / <428 degree Fahrenheit
Properties: Analgesic, Euphoriant


Terpenoid essential oils, their boiling points, and properties

β-myrcene
Boiling point: 166-168*C / 330.8-334.4 degree Fahrenheit
Properties: Analgesic. Antiinflammatory, Antibiotic, Antimutagenic

β-caryophyllene
Boiling point: 119*C / 246.2 degree Fahrenheit
Properties: Antiinflammatory, Cytoprotective (gastric mucosa), Antimalarial

d-limonene
Boiling point: 177*C / 350.6 degree Fahrenheit
Properties: Cannabinoid agonist?, Immune potentiator, Antidepressant, Antimutagenic

linalool
Boiling point: 198*C / 388.4 degree Fahrenheit
Properties: Sedative, Antidepressant, Anxiolytic, Immune potentiator

pulegone
Boiling point: 224*C / 435.2 degree Fahrenheit
Properties: Memory booster?, AChE inhibitor, Sedative, Antipyretic

1,8-cineole (eucalyptol)
Boiling point: 176*C / 348.8 degree Fahrenheit
Properties: AChE inhibitor, Increases cerebral, blood flow, Stimulant, Antibiotic, Antiviral, Antiinflammatory, Antinociceptive

α-pinene
Boiling point: 156*C / 312.8 degree Fahrenheit
Properties: Antiinflammatory, Bronchodilator, Stimulant, Antibiotic, Antineoplastic, AChE inhibitorα-terpineol
Boiling point: 217-218*C / 422.6-424.4 degree Fahrenheit
Properties: Sedative, Antibiotic, AChE inhibitor, Antioxidant, Antimalarial

terpineol-4-ol
Boiling point: 209*C / 408.2 degree Fahrenheit
Properties: AChE inhibitor. Antibiotic

p-cymene
Boiling point: 177*C / 350.6 degree Fahrenheit
Properties: Antibiotic, Anticandidal, AChE inhibitor

borneol
Boiling point: 210*C / 410 degree Fahrenheit
Properties: Antibiotic, Δ-3-carene 0.004% 168 Antiinflammatory

Δ-3-carene
Boiling point: 168*C / 334.4 degree Fahrenheit
Properties: Anti-inflammatory


Flavonoid and phytosterol components, their boiling points, and properties

apigenin
Boiling point: 178*C / 352.4 degree Fahrenheit
Properties: Anxiolytic, Antiinflammatory, Estrogenic

quercetin
Boiling point: 250*C / 482 degree Fahrenheit
Properties: Antioxidant, Antimutagenic, Antiviral, Antineoplastic

cannflavin A
Boiling point: 182*C / 359.6 degree Fahrenheit
Properties: COX inhibitor, LO inhibitor

β-sitosterol
Boiling point: 134*C / 273.2 degree Fahrenheit
Properties: Antiinflammatory, 5-α-reductase, inhibitor

[sanifsan]

i did some more reading and I figuered out that if you "cure" your plants long enough you don't need to heat up your plants. it takes several weeks but i think it's worth it and maybe heating the plants is one of the reasons why some haven't had success with this recipe. poor quality marijuana and alcohol concentrations may affect potency as well

[misslilly]

I have heard the same thing before about letting it cure long enough to be able to skip the decarb process. Has anyone here tried this and if so how were your results.

[ForgetClassC]

I have one question, the first step is to cut the herb up very fine. Second is to bake at 325? So why did you vaporize all the cannibinoids that vaporize before 325? Seems like a waste of some nice nugs........

[HighHopes48]

Someone I know has experimented several times with Master Wu's most recent recommendations, and has never been disappointed. :hippy: In an attempt to arrive at an even more concentrated tincture requiring far fewer drops than the original formula, this aquaintance has had outstanding success with the following procedure:

Ingredients:

1 oz. High Quality Herb Tops. No stems, shake, or other extraneous crap.
8 oz. Everclear (190 Proof)



Process Summary:

1. Using a small electric coffee grinder, chop herb tops to a fine, uniform mix.
2. Pre-heat oven to exactly 325 degrees.
3. Uniformly spread chopped herb in flat/shallow, oven-proof utensil, and bake at 325 degrees for exactly 5 minutes. Remove from oven IMMEDIATELY! Odor will be strong, and some steaming will be noticeable.
4. Combine baked herb with 8 oz. Everclear in tight fitting jar. Store unrefrigerated in the dark for several weeks. Even though you can proceed immediately to Step 5., a long soaking period appears to be very desirable.
5. Prepare a shallow water bath (+/- 2 in. deep) by heating a medium size pot of water.
6. Pour herb/Everclear mixture into a Pyrex measuring cup (2 cup min. size). Stay away from stove while doing this!
7. Place a thermometer into the Pyrex cup, and then place the cup into the water bath. Simmer and attempt to maintain the temperature of the Everclear mixture at +/- 170 degrees, which is just below the boiling point of alcohol. The objective is to slowly reduce the volume at a high enough temperature without rapidly boiling away the alcohol.
8. Stir the mixture frequently throughout the process while reducing the liquid volume to approximately 2 oz. This may take an hour or more, so be patient and enjoy. At some point, you should interrupt the process and temporarly decant the liquid portion into another measuring cup in order to do a rough volume check before resuming to the 2 oz. endpoint back in the original container.
9. After reducing the liquid volume to approximately 2 oz., pour all contents of the beaker into a metal coffee filter, and press the liquid out of the solid mass. Discard solid mass.
10. Perform a final filtration by pouring the previously filtered liquid thru a paper coffee filter.
11. Store tincture out of light in a colored glass dropper bottle or small plastic, opaque eyedrop bottle (an excellent portable delivery device). Your freezer is an excellent long-term storage location.

Dosage:

Each batch is slightly different, so it is best to self-titrate. A moderately strong dose would be 15 drops in a half can of beer or other drink, so I'm told. The effects are first noticeable in approximately 30 minutes, and may last 5-7 hours. The effects are very favorably enhanced throughout the experience by the moderate consumption of alcohol.

[seeit5]

I've been thinking about attempting this by setting up the water bath in a slow cooker for an extended period of time. Anyone tried this? Would the alcohol vaporate too quickly?

[misslilly]

I've been thinking about attempting this by setting up the water bath in a slow cooker for an extended period of time. Anyone tried this? Would the alcohol vaporate too quickly?
I've done it in a crock pot but not for an extended time. What I do is I have it in a small beaker with tin foil on the top. I push the foil down in the middle and have a digital meat thermometer in there. The evaporating alcohol seems to collect on the foil and drip back into the beaker and I lose very little alcohol in the process. There seems to be as much there as when I started. I then evaporate it all off in another larger container and smoke it instead of drinking it.

[grumio]

I then evaporate it all off in another larger container and smoke it instead of drinking it.

You're making hash oil, Misslilly, not tincture (which itself is nothing more than drinkable hash oil). Why not just make QWISO? Isopropyl alcohol is a hell of a lot cheaper than ethanol & (as far as I know) just as effective as a solvent. If you're going to evaporate all the solvent away, why use everclear?

There is TONS of info on making QWISO (quick wash isopropyl) hash oil on this & other forums.

[sloppyj03]

It all started a few weeks ago when I first read about the GD, but first some background. I am in my twenties, weigh about 170, 5'10", exercise at least 4 days a week. I've been participating for the past six years and have been going through about 1/2oz a week ever since. I am not a chemistry student, took a bio/chem course once and sucked at every lab. I am a mediocre cook, not really my life's ambition. My friend is my assistant and has experience with keeping stable temperatures.

Back to the important story. Last week tried the GD with 3g of some decent 30's and about 1oz of Everclear. Decarboxlated at 200F for 22min. Once we started the water bath the alcohol began to burn off quickly, so we added about another 1oz of Everclear. After about 25 min (from when the alcohol/solid mixture first reached 170 degrees) we strained and garlic pressed the solids that were in a hosiery. We only had about 1/2 oz left, and we down it all. We felt it but was quick and sleepy. Our problems: (1) quality; (2) decarboxlyization time and temp; (3) temperature of alcohol mixture.

I believe it is important to note a variable that has been largely left out. The quality of the oven (most important) and range that are used in this process. An oven is a product that has low-grade, mid-grade, and high-grade levels. Amongst other factors that determine grade, the most important in this case is keeping a consistent temperature. We are trying to decarboxlyate various chemicals that have precise melting points with tools that could be very crude. In our trials we used an oven thermometer that was placed directly next to the aluminum foil tray with the substance thinly spread out. Our oven and range were very crude and found it difficult keeping a consistent temperature. Also, the temperature gauge on the oven did not match our thermometer, probably due to the sensor being located close to a wall or coil.

Our second trial: We came back the next day with a finer product and solutions to our previous problems. (1) We now had an 1/8 of some perfectly cured and dried product, around the triples level (2) decarboxlyate at 325 degrees for 5 minutes, wait for vapor and resist for a few seconds then take it out when we feel it is right (this is the general consensus I get for removing the tray). Take and place in 2oz. of alcohol in a 1 cup pyrex inside the water bath. The mixture cooked at 170 degrees for 24 minutes total. Now we used a cap to prevent the bottom of the pyrex from touching the bottom of the water pan, but we removed it halfway through for fear of the alcohol/solid mixture would tip over. Once we did that the alcohol boiled off very fast and we added another 1oz of alcohol. We removed and strained like before. This time we had 1 1/2 oz of GD, and after we placed it in a 1oz glass container it was the color of swamp water, brownish. Also, after a few minutes we were able to see settling of white particles.

Our experience: We each took 3mls in our beers on empty stomachs. We felt minor head effects and major body effects, after 30 min for about 2 hours. I took another 3ml about 3 hours after the first dose and had similar effects. One hour later I take another 3 mls and this time I barely feel anything after an hour or so. Upset I went back to the "old fashioned" way of ingesting.

Our problem: (1) When we decarboxlyated the product we didn't see a vapor until 5:02, we then took it out at about 5:07. This could be a potential problem since we were afraid to leave it in too long. Our thermometer read 310-320 for about the first 2 minutes then it rose to about 328 until we removed it. (2) Possibly the burning of alcohol and the bottom of the pyrex touching the bottom of the water bath pan could possibly be burning chemicals that we are trying to contain. (3) We removed the tray then dumped that in cold Everclear in the pyrex, we then put that in the water bath and it took a few minutes to rise to 170 and then we started the 20 minute timer.

I have read every post in this thread and have found these forums to be helpful in many other contexts. Please critique my process and offer me as many suggestions as you can. Also, I am specifically looking for a time that the tray is left in the oven after vapor begins.

Thank you for everything.

[misslilly]

You're making hash oil, Misslilly, not tincture (which itself is nothing more than drinkable hash oil). Why not just make QWISO? Isopropyl alcohol is a hell of a lot cheaper than ethanol & (as far as I know) just as effective as a solvent. If you're going to evaporate all the solvent away, why use everclear?

There is TONS of info on making QWISO (quick wash isopropyl) hash oil on this & other forums.

I like the consistency of the "oil" that I get. I can roll it up in a ball and pull of a piece off to smoke. Something I can't do with oil. I don't use much alcohol so it does not cost much. With a $16 dollar bottle I can make at least 4 batches. And I can do it indoors safely. I do want to try ISO or butane in the future though and have looked into it.

[misslilly]

Hey sloppyj03, the one thing I can say is to put some foil loosely over your cup in the water bath and push the center down. That way when the alchol evaporates it will drip back into the cup and you should not have to add more. I don't really seem to lose any for the 20 min or so it is in there. And I use a digital meat thermomitor stuck through the foil to monitor the temp. I also like using a small crock pot for the water bath instead of doing it on the stove. It seems to keep it at a very consistent temp.

[grumio]

sloppy -

Putting something heavy - a pizza stone, a good-sized cast-iron skillet, etc - in your oven & pre-heating it adequately (20 min - half an hour) will help with temperature fluctuations in your oven.

As for time/temp in the oven, I've always done 325/5 minutes. My oven doesn't have glass on the door; I can't see inside, so I don't know anything about vapor rising.

As far as monitoring the temperature of the alcohol - don't bother. 151 is ~25% water, remember, but still, it cannot get hotter than ~170f - it evaporates at higher temperatures, just like water can't get hotter than 212f (yeah, at sea level, if it isn't under pressure, blah blah blah).

It's important to keep the residue that accumulates on the inside of the cooking vessel washed back into the alcohol. I use one of those little silicon "spoonulas."

The properties of your cooking vessel affect things, too. I usually use a 2-cup pyrex measuring cup, & the alc/bud mixture simmers. When I've done it in a 1-cup mason jar (thinner glass, taller, narrower, less surface area), the mixture boils much more vigorously.

[GDnoob]

is there any way i could get a pic of how the weed is arranged in the alluminum foil that gets put in the oven?

[GDnoob]

There seems to be a lot of mystery surrounding the decarboxylation, which is the crucial step, so I've been researching. I found this patent application for thca > thc conversion and extraction: Extraction of pharmaceutically active components from plant materials - Patent 7344736 (http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7344736.html)

The applicant tested samples at different temperatures for different amounts of time then perfomed chemical analysis. There are 2 main factors they consider: the conversion of thca to thc, which is what you want, and breakdown of thc to cbn which you don't want.

They got good results with 221 F for 4 hours, 248 F for 1 hour, or 284 F for a half hour. Those all gave 99% conversion of thca to thc. 248 F for 1 hour had somewhat less breakdown of thc to cbn than the other two temps so it seems like the best.

If you extrapolate from the data 200 F for 20min is inadequate; you'd maybe convert half of what's available.

is this true?
should i heat the weed at 248 for an hour instead of the 325 at 5 mins?

would the decarb process work just as well if i was using a quad instead of an eighter?

http://boards.cannabis.com/recipes/134243-isomerization-process-green-dragon.html

In this link, dragonrider talks about isomerizing a single dose of DG, my question is would you be able to isomerize the entire GD tincture before making it into a liquer, instead of doing it per serving?

[sloppyj03]

is there any way i could get a pic of how the weed is arranged in the alluminum foil that gets put in the oven?

Next time I give the GD a try, I'll post pictures but it will be a week or so. I can tell you that I just grind it in a shitty tobacco store grinder. Take out big stems and seeds, and spread it evenly over the aluminum foil. Early posts said about 3mm, I just use a spoon and spend about 1 min making sure it is even.

As for the temperature to decarboxlyate at I haven't found the perfect setting yet, it takes a few tries unless you get lucky and find the sweet spot. I only see 200 and 325 on this post, but I am going to be experimenting with different temperatures and methods, so let me know how it goes.

Good Luck.

[GDnoob]

So im makin my first batch in about an hour and im still not positive about the whole alluminum foil thing. I'm planning on just using a pyrex dish and spreading it out evenly, is that gonna work?

[misslilly]

Depends on what temp you use. 325 for 5 min it will make a big difference. All that extra mass that has to heat up with the weed will mean a longer time it needs to be in there.

[GDnoob]

Depends on what temp you use. 325 for 5 min it will make a big difference. All that extra mass that has to heat up with the weed will mean a longer time it needs to be in there.

Thank you very much for the info!

Wish me luck

Il post tmorow and let u guys know how it goes

[floobler]

Hey guys,

I'm getting an ounce some time next week, and I was thinking about trying my first foray in GD. I have a quick question about potency: Master Wu says that this recipe should convert one 1/8th of good bud into roughly 1 fluid ounce (30 ml, or "doses). He then says that 2 droppers was a spiritual dose, "as strong as any brownie".

How can this be? If there are 30 doses, and an 1/8th was the starting amount, that means there is roughly ~0.116 grams in each dose. Two droppers at that amount would be 1/4 of a gram. I've had firecrackers with nearly 4 times that amount, and I still wouldn't describe it as "spiritual". Where does this discrepancy come from? Is it just a more efficient extraction? I would assume that eating the plants (such as in firecrackers) would result in zero waste.

I'm confused :wtf: Any ideas?

[ky1956]

How can this be? If there are 30 doses, and an 1/8th was the starting amount, that means there is roughly ~0.116 grams in each dose. Two droppers at that amount would be 1/4 of a gram. I've had firecrackers with nearly 4 times that amount, and I still wouldn't describe it as "spiritual". Where does this discrepancy come from? Is it just a more efficient extraction? I would assume that eating the plants (such as in firecrackers) would result in zero waste.

Eating the plant also requires your body to digest the plant material, the cracker, and the peanut butter. This takes a certain amount of time for stomach acids to break down the assorted food products, reduce it to chime and then be absorbed in your lower intestine.
There are a few things that can begin being absorbed in your stomach, among them; some drugs-particularly aspirin(don't have a clue about thc), fats, and alcohol. While some of the magic you want might be in the oil in the pb in your firecracker and might begin to be absorbed in your stomach it is also competing for digestive juices with all the other products that are part of the FC.
Thc in a high concentration bonded in an alcohol base solution and taken on an empty stomach will move into your system quicker, thus raising the amount in your system quicker. Compare it to sipping two beers over an hour will only slightly raise your blood alcohol level, but chug them in ten minutes and you would register legally drunk. Just my opinion, but I think I know that much physiology, although my A&P professor would probably say that I don't.

[GDnoob]

so i tried to make dragon masters liquer and i messed it up somehow

im gonna reattempt next week and just make a tincture

[indoortahoe]

This might have been addressed but I couldn't find it. Anyway, Can you use only kief when making GD? I want to use 7 gms of high grade grand-daddy kief. How much 151 should I start with as I know you want the mixture to reduce by half roughly and have the potency for 1 dropper to be the dose.

I am thinking of starting with 8 oz 151 and reduce to 4 oz, while using 7 gms of the high grade kief. Comments???

[ky1956]

Master Wu suggest smaller batches in the event of some type of unforseen problem arising. Your ratio is right on, but be on the conservative side and use 1/2 the amounts you are suggesting, you can always make more.
I've used this recipe about 10 times and the only time it failed was when I didn't dry the weed properly and didn't have a thermometer for the alcohol. Still got very high, but it was very expensive weed and a great disappointment when things didn't work out the way I expected.

[GDnoob]

:thumbsup::D:):o:upsidedow:dance::clap::giggity::
so i made some changes to the recipe and it turned out extremely well
i bought 2 oz of mids for $50 instead of using an 8er of dank
Heres what i did

picked out all the stems and seeds then put buds through a regular grinder
took ground up bud and spread it out in a think circular brownie pan
put pan in oven at 225 degrees for 15 mins
took pan out
put pan back in the oven for an hour at 250 degrees
took pan out and put weed in a coffee grinder
ground up weed in coffee grinder until its a very fine powder

heres where i really started mixing things up

I took an espresso machine that i bought on craigslist for $15
filled the water tank up with everclear
took the sieve where the coffee grounds go, and put the weed powder in there instead
turned the machine on, and let it filter all the way through
then I took the weed espresso and put it back in the water tank so that it would filter through again (I did this step several times)

Then take your weed espresso, and you are now holding the best batch of green dragon ever created

Someone else should try this and let me know if they get results as good as me.

[GDnoob]

has anyone tried baking food using green dragon instead of butter?

[ky1956]

I think anything that needed butter or oil as part of the recipe would need butter or oil with or without the added special ingredient. There was a former poster on the thread, Dragonrider, who would make edibles with special butter then put an eyedropper worth of GD on them after they were done for a double whammy. Just a thought.

[GDnoob]

I think anything that needed butter or oil as part of the recipe would need butter or oil with or without the added special ingredient. There was a former poster on the thread, Dragonrider, who would make edibles with special butter then put an eyedropper worth of GD on them after they were done for a double whammy. Just a thought.

Thanks KY1956,

I'm still just wondering, since alcohol evaporates when being cooked in the oven wouldnt the alcohol evaporate and any baked good would be left with the thc that was in the dragon? (i would still use all the other required ingrediants in the recipe such as butter etc.)

[tightums]

So Im planning on making a batch of this GD, and want to make sure I get it right.
I want to know if there would be a problem if i used a much lower proof alcohol for it, like 80 proof?
Will it still work and not be as effective, or would it be pretty much a waste of bud? (wouldnt want that!)

[tightums]

So I'm planning on making a batch of this and want to make sure i get it right- is it a problem if i use a much lower proof alcohol? like 80 proof? WOuld it still work but you would have to use/ ingest more, or would it be a waste of bud? (wouldn't want that!!)

[jebus2029]

From what everyone says it will still work, just not as well as a higher proof alcohol.

[indoortahoe]

A buddy's came out very amber with a tinge of green. Is this a problem? Seems to carry a good punch. Its very "hashy" tasting. It never got above 170 for sure as he baby sat it the entire time. If it sits for a bit, a layer of very dark "oil" looking stuff forms on the bottom and it needs shaking. Wondering if the tincture reached saturation and thc was "falling" out. He used 11 grams of ak and ended up with 3 ounces of "amber" dragon. appreciate everyone's help.

[thepessimist]

just wondering....what do you think would happen if you allowed all of the alcohol to evaporate from the finished gd solution? would the resulting dried powder or residue be potent enough to put in a pill and consume? what do you guys think? I'm thinking about doing it myself to see what happens.

[misslilly]

just wondering....what do you think would happen if you allowed all of the alcohol to evaporate from the finished gd solution? would the resulting dried powder or residue be potent enough to put in a pill and consume? what do you guys think? I'm thinking about doing it myself to see what happens.
I do just that and smoke it, it can be quite good. Other than that it would take longer to get into your system and just guessing you would not get as high for that same reason. The alcohol helps to get it into your system a lot faster than ingesting it without it.

[misslilly]

A buddy's came out very amber with a tinge of green. Is this a problem? Seems to carry a good punch. Its very "hashy" tasting. It never got above 170 for sure as he baby sat it the entire time. If it sits for a bit, a layer of very dark "oil" looking stuff forms on the bottom and it needs shaking. Wondering if the tincture reached saturation and thc was "falling" out. He used 11 grams of ak and ended up with 3 ounces of "amber" dragon. appreciate everyone's help.
My guess would be that it is veg matter that got through your filter and settles on the bottom. Just because I've seen that happen.

[ky1956]

just wondering....what do you think would happen if you allowed all of the alcohol to evaporate from the finished gd solution? would the resulting dried powder or residue be potent enough to put in a pill and consume? what do you guys think? I'm thinking about doing it myself to see what happens.

I soaked a 1/2 of weed in 5oz. of 190 for 5 months. The weed was brown dirt bricked Mexican. Harsh on the throat, unimpressive high and too much gave you a headache along with extreme boredom.

I strained the weed out of the liquid and left in it a measuring cup for a few weeks in my garage with a paper towel held over the top to keep out bugs and dirt. I didn't weigh what was left but would guess 1.5 grams of a blackish/greenish goo. I broke it into pieces (12) about the size of a baby aspirin and smoked some as hash in a pipe, as hash blended with weed in a joint, and just eating one of the little balls like an aspirin on a empty stomach.

The quality of the buzz was quite nice and a lot stronger than I had anticipated. If I had the resources I would like to try this again with a 1/2 of the best weed I could get. If it could turn crap into gold, I imagine something high end would be incredible in a concentrated form.

[Halfway]

i'll be trying this tonight and i'm pretty pumped. Made brownies for my first time the other night and they turned out great, so I'm pretty confident in my concocting abilities.

i'll be using an 1/8th of some good (hopefully White Rhino :jointsmile:) and pure ethanol from a chemistry lab. has anyone ever used pure ethanol?

once a verdict's reached, i'll hop back on tonight and share the results!

[mjheavy]

so if i just use some mids, it will be weaker, but does it still work. more droppers? how much should i use of the mids? just cant afford the dank!

[wolfgar]

i have used a water bath for some unrelated tasks for the reason that you can get consistent temp control. a huge part of that is the object in the bath shouldn't be touching the bottom of the pan. that leads to a direct heat transfer to the bottom of the beaker/jar.if you are using a super thick pan that might not be so drastic . With a thin one it could be very high. if on top of that you have plant material sinking to the bottom of the bath insulating it further.... idk just seems like that might be contributing to some of the inconsistent results?

[phred12345]

Followed the recipe..but did compromise on the bake...could not stand 325...but seemed 200 too low. So I did 310 for 5 mins.

And used 4 oz of everclear and 1/4 oz super high end bud ($160 in the club)...and boiled down to 1 oz...one dropper full (I guess I got 30 or more droppers in the batch) gives a very nice high...comes on in about an hour. By 2 hours it is strong....and lasts 5-6 hours.

Did 3 hits the first time...man, that was a nice trip!

Anyways, I think I'm done with smoking...this is the way to go!

[ky1956]

Followed the recipe..but did compromise on the bake...could not stand 325...but seemed 200 too low. So I did 310 for 5 mins.

And used 4 oz of everclear and 1/4 oz super high end bud ($160 in the club)...and boiled down to 1 oz...one dropper full (I guess I got 30 or more droppers in the batch) gives a very nice high...comes on in about an hour. By 2 hours it is strong....and lasts 5-6 hours.

Did 3 hits the first time...man, that was a nice trip!

Anyways, I think I'm done with smoking...this is the way to go!

Congratulations and welcome to the Dragon way. Be warned, I can't do the big doses too often or my tolerance goes through the roof. But like a 1/3 of a dropper supplemented by a few smoked hits an hour later does wonders.

[timeandspace23]

I was wondering if anyone had ever experimented making your green dragon with hash as opposed to dank. In addition, do you think it would be possible to add flavor extracts (mint, cherry, lemon, cinnamon, etc) to the tincture? They consist of almost pure alcohol, so would be absorbed and used in the process (at least i think they would; my chemistry knowledge is limited, but I know the basics). Thanks for any help!

[ky1956]

Hash would work just fine and some people do use flavor extracts for their tinctures. I used the master Wu method and added some Amaretto to it and it tasted wonderful. I used some lemon extract once and it was son strong I had to dilute the tincture, but it was really no big deal.

Put 2 grams of hash in an oz of lemon extract, wait a month, then use the lemon extract to flavor a cup of tea.

[Devecstator]

A word of advice, try not to use pure extracts... they are.. impossible to drink, even if you have a little bit in a whole drink... its still so godamn strong and the smell never goes away from whatever your drinking it from. i used pure lemon extract my first time making GD, i had it in a little thermos with tea, and its like your trying to drink gasoline. And i had to throw that thermos out, because it smelled like lemon and weed no matter how much i washed it. So yeah, pure extracts... not a good idea.. mabye put like a drop or two in your GD if you want flavour, but the pure stuff kills.

I made it the second time yesterday with 80 proof rum, i kept it at about 160-175 for a pretty long time, and i heated it a couple seperate times, i had it in a little container and i was shaking it the entire day while keeping it in a cup of boiled water, constantly heating up the water and putting it back in. I took little sips throughout yesterday, and im pretty sure i felt baked. Finally, today i reduced it by half by boiling some alcohol off, then i cooled it down, put it in a glass of fresca with an ice cube, 20 mins later i was fuccked. I can still feel the effects a bit... definetly gona make this again..

[thatonekid393]

I attempted to make Green Dragon for the first time on Sunday morning, and had everything perfect except for the oven....I cooked at my friend's apartment, and I think his oven was a bit too strong (we could smell the weed at the 45-second mark rather than the 4th-5th minute mark like in the original post. I didn't remember that, though, so we let it sit in there for 4 full minutes. I think this may have vaporized some of the THC. Oh well, next time I'll have an oven thermometer. I had also not read any of the other replies in this thread, so we used Bacardi 151 instead of Everclear; Master Wu, I think I saw a post of yours in here saying that you used something like 3-4 ounces of Everclear and ended up with 1.5 oz of the same-potency GD? I'd like to try it once this bottle of 151 runs out.

Anyway, after slightly overcooking the weed, I put it in with the 151 and simmered it at 170F for 20 minutes, occasionally dropping ice cubes in the water bath to keep the stubborn stovetop from overheating my mixture. I took 1mL and definitely felt high, but I knew it wasn't the awesome strength it could have been. I still have three eighths of dank left, and I'm going to try again this weekend; in the meantime, our recipe yielded exactly 30mL of liquid, I took 2mL at 8AM today and definitely felt stronger effects. Tomorrow I'm going to wake-and-drink 3 or 4mL and really go to town.

In summary, my GD works, but it could be better. Practice makes perfect. And I'm buying an oven thermometer.

[czernia]

I bought an eight of an ounce recently, and have 190 proof Everclear, and want to use it to make some green dragon but am still not clear on how much weed and alcohol I need to use. For the full eighth of bud, how much booze should I be using? Can I (should I?) use a full 750ml bottle? 375ml? Or just a few ounces?

Also, at the end of the month (I don't plan on cooking it. I have the time to just let it steep), just how should I take it? With a dropper, or one to two ounces mixed in a cocktail?

[ky1956]

The Definitive Green Dragon (Revised)

Here is the very successful result of a considerable amount of research into the elusive and magical Green Dragon.

This is a simple and efficient 4 Step process.

Ingredients:
1/8oz high quality cannabis
2 oz Bacardi Rum â?? 151 proof or Everclear 190

If you are using high end weed, start with 1/2 teaspoon (on an empty stomach)for a strong, but in control experience. Double or triple that for spiritual dose.
I mix mine with coffee for a wake and bake, or just a little with some juice in a shot glass and just throw it down. 190 is not very flavorful. At least not in a good way.

I strain out the weed, then throw it in a small cup of yogurt ( the weed) and choke it down. It taste awful, but is soaked in green dragon and is worth the effort in my opinion.

[Goober328]

Great thread. I have about went blind from trying to read all of it. I am trying to make food grade glycerine tincture using some already vaped super high quality duff. I think it still has plenty of trichs left. At any rate I have a pint jar half full of the stuff coverd with glycerine. Got it resting in a real warm spot and plan to shake it every day and wait two months. Now with the carboxylation step missing in this procedure (thanks for that lesson) I was thinking of giving the jar a 10 min water bath canning prodecedure with a closed lid as in making jelly. Anybody know if that would be a good plan? Maybe shorten up the wait a bit? If if managed to vaporize off something it couldnt go to far since the jar would have a lid on it. Let me know quick cause I'm fixing to try it.

Goober

[Goober328]

Well hate to answer my own posts but with nobody jumping up to halt my experiment I went ahead with the canning procedure for my Glycerine Tincture. Gave it a 10 min boiling water bath and let it cool all night. Musta knocked something beneficial loose in it cause I put about 1/4 teaspoon under my tongue about an hour ago and I am completely hammered. :D Thanks for all the good tips. I think I love the stuff. Next step be to try some as the vaping liquid in my e cig cartomizer. Have high hopes on that one too. Havent have a real cig in over month and been doing it regular for many moons. Anybody out there want to give up or cut back on smoking tobacco couldnt recommend the e cig much higher.

Goober

[twexile]

Master Wu, I guess I can use Everclear 190 proof instead of the rum when I try your recipe? I hope all goes well. Thank you for the post as it has been very informative!

[GLOCKshooter]

I've always heard that alcohol companies(along with tobacco,pharmaceutical and many other companies) fund cannabis prohibition efforts? Does anyone know what specific alcohol companies do this so I can avoid them when I make my high proof liquor purchase? :thumbsup:

[RedApple]

Firstly thankyou for all the help everyone. I have made 2 batches and both worked well. Unfortunetly I couldnt get hold of really high % alcohol so had to settle for the high 40s but It worked nonetheless.

My main idea I would like to put forward is the possibility of fermenting with cannabis. This would be a slow process but I think could yeild amazing results. Here is my proposed method:


Finely grind Cannabis
Bake as per usual
Put into solution of sugar (or any starch/glucose substance in proper ratios for fermenting)
Invert sugar (heat up the sugar solution or whatever you are using in solution)
Put into your fermenting chamber (bottles or carboys or whatever you want to use as long as its air tight)
Add nutrients and yeast
Seal and leave untill fermented (generally when the bubbling stops)
From this step I would advise straining
From here you could either drink as it is or distill it to produce a high conc. solution however this would leave behind the THC in the water sol'n


Im not sure what would happen with distilling. Possibly a tasty nonalcoholic THC rich drink could be made. With drinking it straight I think this would be more successful as one could have an alcoholic drink with THC entirely made by yourself. In the fermenting process because of the heat and chemical movements I think the complex THC may find it easier to bond hence making it a simpler process. I am looking forward to trying this but first wondered if anyone had any ideas relating.

Happy Green Dragon to all.

[KareKare]

Howdy, I've tried to make a tincture with Bacardi 151 and decent plant.

However, I made a mistake of mixing the contents of the dropper bottle (black walnut with 45% alcohol) I had into my Bacardi 151 bottle...Turning the golden drink BLACK.

Would this liquid still work for extraction or did I just pretty much ruin the whole thing?

[ky1956]

alcohol is alcohol, you'll just have an interesting walnut taste mixed in with your tincture. Don't throw it away until you have tried it.

[ParanoidHippie]

Thanks for the work!!Love it.:hippy:

[Cheesecloth]

I'd really like to try this, but I really want to make sure I can do this right as to not waste an 1/8 of dank.

1. I have a Mendo Mulcher grinder. This grinds bud finer than your average grinder. Can I use this instead of a coffee ground grinder or will the Mendo still not grind it fine enough?

2. I have 190 proof Everclear. Should I use more than 2oz to begin with since it will evaporate faster than the 151 proof rum? Or should I just stick to the 2oz? Thanks all.

[Cheesecloth]

Well I went ahead and tried it. I'd like to find out where I went wrong. I used a little over an 1/8 (3.6ish grams) with 2.5 oz everclear. It boiled down to 1.5 oz everclear.

When I was pre-baking, I baked it at 5 minutes at 325. I saw massive amounts of vapors and the smell penetrated the house at around the 30 second mark, but I continued with the 5 minutes as directed. I moved to the 2.5 oz of 190 proof everclear which was already at 170 degrees on the stove. Left it in there for a little over 20 minutes at 170. Strained, garlic pressed, dosed 3 droppers full. Waited about 2 and a half hours and feel only slightly buzzed.

By this time the alcohol had completely evaporated from the saved bud, so I smoked some to see if I could get high. Tasted like shit, but I got pretty damn high. So I know somewhere I went wrong. At least I saved the bud.

[gamemaker]

Ok, so I thought I would give this a shot.

So last night I separated around an 1/8th, ground it up, preheated the oven and then set the timer. For 60 minutes!! Oops, no idea where I got that from! My weed turned really brown but I still went through with the rest of it. Result: Really dark liquid that doesn't do a whole lot (got a minor buzz off of 1ml). Pretty much wasted an eight.

Anyway I wanted to give it another shot so I grabbed another 1/8th, baked it for 5, boiled it in alcohol, strained it and then I took 1ml about 15mins ago. This stuff is very dark but actually has some green to it so I'm hoping it works better.

I'm heading over to a friends pretty soon but I'll post results later.

Oh, and the leftover stuff after I had strained and pressed tonight I decided to throw into a small jar with some fresh alcohol. I'm going to let it sit for a few weeks and see if I can get anything more out of the used stuff.

[gamemaker]

Ok, so I thought I would give this a shot.

So last night I separated around an 1/8th, ground it up, preheated the oven and then set the timer. For 60 minutes!! Oops, no idea where I got that from! My weed turned really brown but I still went through with the rest of it. Result: Really dark liquid that doesn't do a whole lot (got a minor buzz off of 1ml). Pretty much wasted an eight.

Anyway I wanted to give it another shot so I grabbed another 1/8th, baked it for 5, boiled it in alcohol, strained it and then I took 1ml about 15mins ago. This stuff is very dark but actually has some green to it so I'm hoping it works better.

I'm heading over to a friends pretty soon but I'll post results later.

Oh, and the leftover stuff after I had strained and pressed tonight I decided to throw into a small jar with some fresh alcohol. I'm going to let it sit for a few weeks and see if I can get anything more out of the used stuff.

So I would say the results are mixed. I got a buzz but I was also smoking and drinking wine so it was hard to separate. I just took a bit over 2ml to see if tonight is any different.

[Lobo00]

I have to report that I tried this method exactly to the letter and it worked.
1 dropper in water gave me a nice body buzz, wich is what I was looking for.
I need it to make some safe meds for my Mother (she had car accident and need some meds to relax a bit) .
The prescription that the Dr gave her is giving her some bad side reactions.
So I want her to try the green dragon.
I have not tried 2 droppers but I already know will get me very spacey.
This is very good method I have tried other ones with out success.

Ps:every thing that I just wrote is purely fictional :smokin:

[RUMPLEFORSKIN]

Master Wu (And Co as in Contributors),

Thank you for this recipe. Regardless of whether or not it works on me, you took the time to collect your trial and errors, and more importantly for us, your successes, and provide them to us here.

I went out rather late this evening and acquired the following items:

A set of pint-sized mason jars.
A garlic press
A metal coffee filter (sucks, bad choice)
A candy thermometer
A set of eye droppers
A cheesy tiny travel bottle for misc liquids, 3 oz in size.
A pint of Bacardi 151

Unlike a few others, I am not going to claim I followed your recipe perfectly, because I didn't.

I used 4 grams of some sleeper GDP, and 4 oz of Bacardi 151, per your responses later in the thread. I could not get Everclear in a pint during my jaunt, and really didn't want to drive all over the place looking for it.

Also, your original recipe called for 151, and you've had good success, so why argue?

Where'd I change things?

I did NOT add time with the 325F @ 5 Minutes even though I used a cookie sheet.

Why? Because I ground my weed to talcum powder consistancy on accident, and I would've flash-fried it had I put it in for longer than 5 minutes.

I think I'm good, the house was very aromatic, the color of the MJ post-bake was like a muddy grass color, a tweener between green and brown (or brown and green).

What I DID notice, was a very chocolatey smell.

I was afraid I might have burned my smoke during the decarbolyuxiushefosuhdf process.

However, everything else lined up nicely.

At a direct 1:1 (grams/oz), I ended up with 1.5 oz of finished product. I slapped 4 droppers into a half-shot mixed drink of Pepsi and 151 straight, a very small glass, and threw it all back.

I'm a recovering alcoholic (handle in-tact, no worries) and I haven't had any hard alcohol in quite a while.

I was never a lightweight.

While I am sitting here typing this review, things are brightening up, while blurring up. Currently I have my PC hooked up to my HDTV, so blurring shouldn't be occurring. <--- Dr. Seuss who?

I'm also getting more sluggish, my hands are warm and feel like Silly Putty.

I started this post thanking Master Wu and everyone that contributed to it, but I think I'm going to finish this post somewhat incoherently and wishing I had listened to the SO MANY pages of advice stating to test it on yourself and not assume you're immune.

(IVE NOT HAD EDIBLES WORK ON ME)

Its safe to say one shot didn't obliterate me. I'd say this stuff is kicking in rather quickly, and I may have ingested too much at once!

I LOVE IT WHEN THINGS WORK OUT!

My advice to anyone not having success with this... Don't cut any corners. I did this on a whim after discovering this topic this morning, and aside from MJ costs, buying all the supplies new at Wal-Fart cost under $45.00.

I would've saved $2 by picking up a mesh strainer instead of that stupid coffee filter.

Thank you again Master Wu (And Co),

I'll update you all again tomorrow when I've had time to sort out what the Hell is going on.

Thanks,
-R4SKN :thumbsup:

[RUMPLEFORSKIN]

I'll use more potent product next time but it worked.

I can feel the lingering effects still, approximately 7 hours later.

Thanks again!

[ken1stoner]

I'm just getting ready to cook my dragon, and am wondering how much if any odor will arise from the process. Any info would be greatly appreciated

[Colodonmed]

I'm just getting ready to cook my dragon, and am wondering how much if any odor will arise from the process. Any info would be greatly appreciated
an awful lot for sure, and it will stay around for a little while too!, good luck and enjoy it

[ken1stoner]

wow, made my dragon. De-carbed as suggested, then cooked, kept the temp right on where alcohol was barely bubbling continuously for thirty minutes, didn't have a candy thermometer.
Now here's the cool part. I also had some budder that I was waiting to use, so I made a batch of brownies with a little over a cup included. To bump the potency I added 2 1/2 tablespoons of dragon to the recipe. Mind you this is all from leaf and some premie bud trimmings. I actully had a 5-6 hr high which was very intense including some mild visuals! The only thing was that the brownies actually came out more like cookies, hey I just happen to like cookies too!
The recipe I used is supposed to yield about 12 brownies, wow I can't believe you can get this high from leaf material. Thanks Master wu.

[Tillianne]

I have been making tincture for a few years, and I have never heated the cannabis in the oven. I have also never put the mixture in a warm bath. I just use stems from high grade cannabis, finely ground high grade cannabis, and kief. I add that to 151 proof grain alcohol.

I keep it in a warm cabinet for about 30 days. I shake the jar vigorously for 5 minutes once daily. Then I will allow the mixture to breathe with the lid off for a couple minutes before re-storing.

Has anyone else used this method?

[nmesub]

I put 18 grams scrap buds and half a gram of keif in about 6 ounces of 151.Can anyone see any issues with this? Also i am a patient man,im going to let sit for a month or so. Is my alcohol to cannabis ratio about right?

[saintfro20]

Can one do this with bubble hash? Changing THCA to THC via a decarboxylation reaction, should or can this be done with Bubble hash?

[ky1956]

I put 18 grams scrap buds and half a gram of keif in about 6 ounces of 151.Can anyone see any issues with this? Also i am a patient man,im going to let sit for a month or so. Is my alcohol to cannabis ratio about right?

You should be just fine, or if you want to raise your octane level a bit, let the alcohol sit uncovered for a few days and evaporate a tad to further concentrate the goodness after screening out the plant matter.

[melodious fellow]

This thread here (http://boards.cannabis.com/concentrates/160797-green-dragon-decarboxylation-vape.html), which appears quite legit and list the properties of every compound, cites the boiling point of delta 9 at 157 C / 314.6 F:

While I want to ensure the decarboxylation is complete, I don't like how the herb is brown after five minutes at 325 F. I don't like the idea of losing aromatic terps during decarboxylation, and I especially don't want to be losing any cannabinoids.

I have heard other decarb techniques (such as ~200 F for 20 minutes, which I believe Master Wu and Dragonrider said was less effective as well as Coelho's 2-3 minutes in the microwave, which I am especially adverse to trying).

I would like to start a comprehensive discussion on decarboxylation methods with the goal of finding a baking time/temperature that is sufficient to remove the carboxyl group without vaporizing any goodies or tasty terps. I really don't understand why the 20 minutes as ~200 F was ineffective as I was under the impression that the carboxyl group can be removed merely by evaporating all of the water content out of the herb. Please discuss.

[melodious fellow]

I didn't realize the thread I linked to had so many posts. The specific post with the boiling points and properties is here (http://boards.cannabis.com/concentrates/160797-green-dragon-decarboxylation-vape.html#post1900598)

I have seen many figures for the boiling point of delta 9, ranging from ~300 F to Master Wu's claim of 380 F.

The original recipe on this thread calls for 5 minutes at 325 F, which I think is a bit too high because it leaves the herb very browned and vaporizes off quite a few terps and possibly some cannabinoids as well.

The ~200 F for 20 minutes didn't seem to work well for me either but I can't figure out why.

[Graywolf]

200F for 20 minutes doesn't do much. See attached graph, courtesy of Jump117.

[melodious fellow]

Awesome graph, quite the gem there!

So the 325 F for 5 minutes in the original recipe is clearly too high.

Based on the graph, I am thinking that 27 minutes at 252 F is the best option, although I'm not sure that heating for 27 minutes at 252 F in a home kitchen oven would be as effective as whatever super nice equipment the graph was based on. I am surprised that there is such a difference between 50 degrees. I am also surprised that there is a point of [significantly] diminishing returns with decarboxylation..... does it have something to do with heat degrading THC?

Anyway, I think for the purposes of this thread, the recommended time/temp should be 30 minutes at 123 C / 255 F. Hopefully they will update the recipe at the beginning of this sticky before too many other people end up burning off all their terps using the 325 F. Props to you Graywolf!!!!

[Stoner38024]

What a great thread with tons of knowledge!!:thumbsup::thumbsup:

AWESOME!!

[keef0420]

based on the decarb graph why not go 293 degrees for 7 minutes? Slightly higher THC and less time according to graph?

Lose taste or something? more browning perhaps?

[keef0420]

just finished my first batch. Used 59ml(2 oz) bacardi and came out with maybe 20 or so ml at end. Is this low!?!? It def isnt 34 ml. I also used a garlic press and squeezed the hell out of the cheese cloth I used

I simmered for 23.5 minutes and temp was 170 that dipped a few times to 166 or so. Took 4 minutes to get up to temp that is why I did extra 3.5

[melodious fellow]

Keef0, how did it go for ya? How much did you take and how strong was it?

I usually decarboxylate at 255F for 30 minutes (as opposed to 293F for 7 minutes) because I like to preserve as many tasty terps and flavors as possible. I also prefer my dragon to be green rather than brown. Also, the loss of potency after 7 minutes is quite abrupt!

Anyway what temp and time did you use for decarboxylation?

I'm not sure why you only finished with 20mL. I always use waaay more alcohol than the recipe calls for anyway though (as alcohol is cheaper than erb and I want to make sure I get the most out of the erb and avoid saturating the solvent (alcohol) before all the resins have been dissolved in it. Anyway, ya can always let some alcohol evaporate later if you find that it is too weak. Or just drink more! :thumbsup:

[MagicEd]

Hi, people, I'm new to this forum but not to GD,

Having read this ENTIRE discussion of GD and having one or two failed attempt and three or four VERY successful attempts, I thought I'd share my experiences.

Like Melodious Fellow above, I really thought long and hard about decarboxylation. 325 just seems WAY too high--you can see stuff boiling off, and, I'm sure, you end up losing a lot of good volatiles. On the other hand, 200 is just too low--somewhere I read (FWIW) that decarboxylation starts at 214 F. So, the issue is, make the temp high enough and the time long enough to ensure full decarboxylation. I've found the 250 F for 20 to 30 minutes seems to do just fine.

Then, I tend to use about twice as much alcohol as most people use. I reason (rightly or wrongly) that I want to use enough alcohol to guarantee that the solution doesn't saturate before it has disolved all of the THC and other goodies. Sure, the final product may be weaker than optimal, but I just use a little more of it. I really want to ensure that I've disolved ALL of the goodies, and haven't left any in the dregs.

Then, after "cooking" the alcohol/marijuana mixture in a water bath for about 30 minutes, I leave the marijuana dregs in the alcohol at room temp for a week or two. What can it hurt, and it helps guarantee I've disolved as much THC as possible. Then, when I do strain off the dregs, I cook them a touch longer in some fresh alcohol to extract the last bit.

All I can say is that the product of this process is quite stong. It's not quite the same as a smoking high (not quite as buzzy), but it lasts for 6 to 8 hours, and is really mellow. I have to test each batch, as the potency is a bit different from batch to batch, so I start low and work up over a few days. I once made the mistake of not doing this, and knocked myself crazy. I woke up the next day with a THC hangover (not nice) with headache, nausia, and general weekness. Don't go there if you can avoid it.

Anyway, that's what I've learned, and I'd like to hear other opionions on this approach.

Cheers,
ED

[melodious fellow]

Welcome to the forums, MagicEd!!!!

I agree completely. I have had great results with the method you described (although I have noticed that tolerance increases rapidly with GD). I use plenty of Everclear, and then after boiling, I leave the erb in the alcohol and store at room temperature in a mason jar, just taking a bit out with a spoon or dropper whenever I need some. The first time I tried it, 1/3g erb dissolved in half a shot of Everclear nearly gave me a panic attack. The third time I tried it, the same dose from the same batch merely gave me some mild relaxation and appetite stimulation.




I've found the 250 F for 20 to 30 minutes seems to do just fine.

Then, I tend to use about twice as much alcohol as most people use. I reason (rightly or wrongly) that I want to use enough alcohol to guarantee that the solution doesn't saturate before it has disolved all of the THC and other goodies. Sure, the final product may be weaker than optimal, but I just use a little more of it.

Then, after "cooking" the alcohol/marijuana mixture in a water bath for about 30 minutes, I leave the marijuana dregs in the alcohol at room temp for a week or two. What can it hurt, and it helps guarantee I've disolved as much THC as possible.
ED

[oldmac]

Hello melodious felow,

My comliments to you for posting about decarboxylation temperatures.

Years ago I attempted making GD using Master Wu's reciepe and was frankly dissapointed with the green becomming brown and knew other things where burning off. I had come accross some papers dealing with the various boiling points of THC, and various cannabinoids and realized 325 degrees F was just too high. It wasn't untill this last Nov. when I saw your postings that it got me interested again in GD.

Just before Christmas, I fired up my still to produce a few jugs of 'shine for someone having a "red neck new years" that led me to make homemade eggnog during that week, then decided to give Green Dragon another go for New Years.

I used 250F for 30 minutes, the results where outstanding! :thumbsup:

Thanks again for your posts. Also thanks to Graywolf for re-posting that chart, it clearly shows you were right on.
OM

PS, I started playing with GD on New Year's day, and I haven't been able to post anything untill today. ;)

[melodious fellow]

Is it okay to finel chop/grind nugs after decarboxylation?

I decarb at 255F for 30 minutes and then grind. Is that okay or is it essential to grind before pre-baking?

[disoriented]

I'm currently brewing a fairly high alcohol content, american style, IPA. I've become obsessed with trying to somehow incorporate THC into the brew. From the research I've been doing it seems like the most efficient method would be to introduce a high quality cannabis, Everclear, green dragon mixture prior to the bottling stage(I don't want to ruin the beers flavor). If done at 1 ml per bottle do you think this should work and produce pronounced effects? Will it ruin the flavor of the beer?

[cuttle]

Hi everybody. I've read everything in this thread & done some experimenting. I think the most important thing is getting the oven temp constant and getting the time for baking just right.
The suggestion of a pizza stone or brick(s) is good. Put the oven thermometer on the stone & when the temp settles (between 250F and 290F), put the tray on the stone as well and bake for the time specified on the excellent graph (pdf earlier in the thread). Watch the temperature carefully and adjust the time if the temp shifts.
Master Wu's suggestion of a second extraction is an excellent addition. The higher percentage alcohol the easier it is to keep the bath temp right.
A most rewarding experience and don't my lungs appreciate it...

[JadeBud]

I tried this with bout 3.5 grams of mixed meds i had, oven was at 250 and backed chopped up meds for 20 mins. i couldn't get it fine but it was really broken up. then i did the water bath with Vodka for about 30 mins. it took a bit for it to reach temps in the 160s so i didn't want to over cook it i tried to keep the temp between 160f to to 169f for bout 30 mins.

this yielded bout 1 oz. oh yea i used 2 oz of the vodka 40 %.

to my surprise the liquid came out to be like a brown color. odd i think. well eather way i put bout half a dropper in my Mt Dew. so far just took one drink and am starting to feel some slight relaxation.

Im thinking this is from a little of it been absorbed in the mouth. ill check back in when i get more results as i drink the rest of it. the time here is 11:27 am

[JadeBud]

its now 2:41pm and it did do the job of helping ease my pain, without getting the head high. So im guessing that's a success.

[Oscar_Madison]

Just wanted to thank Master Wu and everyone else that contributed to this excellent thread. I've been looking for a way to use cannabis without smoking and this seems to be the easiest way to make a potent concoction that medicates quickly. After finding this thread and reading it all the way through I was able to create a potent Green Dragon on my first try.

I used very dry, very good, cannabis. I put 3.5 grams through the Notch grinder. I decarboxylated at 255 for thirty minutes in my toaster oven. I heated 4oz. of Everclear in a one cup Pyrex measuring cup in a water bath to 170º F then added the cannabis. I simmered that for 20 minutes. I strained the liquid into a different measuring cup. I then added about 2oz. of Everclear to the mash. I brought that up to 170º F and simmered for about five minutes. At that point the Everclear had evaporated below the top of the mash so I moved the water bath off the stove and added just enough Everclear to cover the mash. Probably about 1/2 oz. or so, just to keep all the mash in liquid. After another five minutes I strained this into the initial batch. It came out a beautiful emerald green and it smells like cannabis with a hint of alcohol. lol

I add two droppers to a glass of orange juice about a half hour before dinner. I find the effects really set in about forty-five minutes later and I'm fully medicated at about seventy-five minutes. The effects last me a good three and a half to four hours.

I'm going to pick up a Pyrex lab beaker and a hot plate so I don't have to do this over the stove.

This thread has really helped me a lot. Thank you all.

[rudy2010]

I finally read some of this thread. I will have to give this a try to see how it compares to my regular just soaked tincture.

Thanks to Master Wu and all for the helpful updates. It looks like the lower decarb temp 250 - 255 is the way to go.

[StoneMeadow]

Now, the reason I'm writing is b/c of what happened while making my second batch using 32 g. manicured bud, 12 oz . 184 pr. shine. Everything was perfect until I lifted the Mason jar from the hot water (about 10 oz. gd).

Just as the bottom of the jar cleared the water, the bottom of the Mason jar fell out, dumping my gd into the 6 cups of water in my kettle. I had a very accurate test thermometer in the Mason jar at all times and used it to stir during the 20 min. extraction period.

Does any one know why this happened? I have idea, but I'm not sure. Any ideas or reasons would help b/c this could have been a nasty burn if it happened 1 second later.

Best Regards

Since this thread seems to still be somewhat active I thought I'd add a few comments. First, if what happened to gerodent hasn't yet happened to you, it sort'a did to me this morning while making my very first batch of GD, only I got a little luckier than he did. All the jar did was crack, with a loud popping noise, about three-quarters of the way around the base of the jar just above the thick bottom.

In my case it was a wide mouth pint Kerr jar (same as a Mason, just different brand). I followed the instructions to the letter...inserting the cold jar into the simmering water. Within maybe 10 seconds I heard a loud pop, so I turned off the flame and grabbed a handy drinking glass. Lifting the jar I poured the mix into the glass without losing a drop. Whew! Lucky me, eh!? ;)

Here's the science: putting a cold (room temperature!) jar into near boiling water sets up very high thermal expansion stresses in the glass, and I am confident this was the cause of gerodent's broken jar. I was concerned about this issue while reading the recipe, but since there was no mention of it on the first page, I figured my concerns were overblown. Not so! Like I said above, though, I got luck and didn't lose any of the magic elixir. The correct procedure, and any home canning enthusiast will tell you, is to put the jar in the water while the water is still cold, and to let them come up to temperature together. In my case, I didn't have a spare jar, so used a Pyrex (thick, heat-treated glass) measuring cup, which worked fine.

Okay, now here's the kicker. I didn't have any high-proof alcohol, so used 6 oz of Smirnoff Raspberry flavored 70-proof vodka. I haven't tried it yet, but it smells great! :D After about 40 minutes at 160-170 degrees F the solution had reduced by half to a medium brown color. No hint of green. After supper tonight I'll try in and post tomorrow about how well it did or did not work. I saved the residue for smoking if this doesn't work...

Cheers!

[StoneMeadow]

I drank a teaspoon of the tincture last night after supper...about 7:30. Nothing. Nada. El zippo.

Good thing I saved the residue! :D

[misslilly]

I drank a teaspoon of the tincture last night after supper...about 7:30. Nothing. Nada. El zippo.

Good thing I saved the residue! :D

I would not want to smoke it because of the stuff left in it from the flavored vodka. Not sure but it doesn't sound good.

[StoneMeadow]

Thanks for the suggestion, misslilly. I'll give that some thought, but since I drink the vodak, I must admit I'm already ingesting the witches' brew of whatever's in it. ;)

Tonight I took a tablespoon of the tincture after work. We'll see if more is better... :)

[farmermo]

Well, there was a great deal of attention paid to converting THCA to plain old THC, with heat. This process occurs over time all by itself BTW. Not completely, but continuously through the life of the harvested weed.

I've made tinctures where I did heat the weed up before putting it in the Everclear for a soak. I have also tried it without heating it at all, and I have to tell you, that it works way better, at least for me and my MS, when I ingest as much THCA as I can - meaning don't heat the bud.

I do all the "usual " things, grind whole bud (no leaf, no keif) in a blender, mix with Everclear, put in freezer for a week and shake a few times a day.

Then I strain it using a regular kitchen strainer, and press the hell out of the wet wad of weed, to squeeze out the last drop. After that, I strain it through a coffee filter, held by a kitchen strainer, and again squeeze it to death. I usually lose a couple of cc's to evaporation and the wad of weed. Some people save the wad, wrap it in a cloth, put in a sealed jar, and rub it on sore muscles. Haven't tried that, but I know if you get too much of the solution on your hands, you will get a buzz, so it probably works.

I pour the mixture into a glass measuring cup, and note how many cc's I have. Put the open container in a safe, dark, airy place until it is reduced by at least half - more if you have the time and patience. Now during this time period, some of the THCA is being converted to THC, but a good deal of it, is staying THCA, which is thought to have pain-relieving, neuro-protective and anti-inflammatory effects. I then pour it into a dark colored glass bottle with a dropper (available online) and store it in the fridge.

I usually don't get more than a bit buzzed, but move incredibly better and hurt a whole lot less. Which is exactly what I'm after. I have learned that buzzed doesn't always equal feeling better. I can vape the exact same weed as I've made tincture with, and some things actually hurt MORE, than when I use the tincture. I'm buzzed, but having weird aches where I don't even hurt on a regular day! Weird.

I've never been able to reduce the volume of tincture enough to have a concentration that I could put drops under my tongue. It's too gross, by the time you get it strong enough. That's why I put it in coffee. Still tastes yucky, but not impossible to ingest.

This method uses a whole lot more bud than vaping, but works better for me from a medical standpoint, without the bother of being impaired. It is easier to dose consistently, and more discrete. I just put 1.5cc's ( which I have calculated to have about 0.5 gram of bud in it) into my coffee and either have toast with butter (for the fat) or 2 cookies to carry it around my body.

It last 3-4 hours and then it's time for more coffee!

If anyone wants the "recipe" from start to finish, let me know.

Carry on buds!

[rudy2010]

Good info mo. My friend makes excellent tincture by soaking, straining, add new buds and resoak. He does not allow the product to evaporate at all. Still 1 or 2 ml will definitely work. He does a months long soak too (though I have heard good and bad about doing that).

[StoneMeadow]

Tonight I took a tablespoon of the tincture after work. We'll see if more is better... :)

Still nothing. No feeling of intoxication or being "high", no sense of well being or easier movement...nothing.

Of course, I haven't smoked since the 70's, so I'm not sure exactly what to expect. :D

There are a couple of tablespoons left, so I'll finish that off later.

[dizzle dawg]

I tried this recipe, as it is one i already use on my site and really like it. Not to rain on anyones parade, just my opinion, I think decarbing is a waste of time. ive tried making tinctures with and without decarbing and have never noticed a difference in potency. just sayin'.. but i love how well you have detailed this information.
well done!

[akunamatada]

hello friends. yesterday I attempted to make green dragon. this is what i did. i broke up a quarter ounce high grade marijuana and put it into a 750ml bottle of spirytus 192 proof 96% alcohol. then i did some reading and from what ive read it seems i was supposed to microwave or bake the green before placing it in a bottle. im no scientist and i must admit i dont understand the proccess but it seems the heat will release the thc or something of that sort so what i did next was i gave my bottle a hot bath. i imemrsed the bottle in a pot of boiling water and changed the water every twenty minutes for about an hour. the bottle was very hot to the touch but i dont think the bottle ever came close to a boil. a few ounces evaporated even though i never even opened the bottle. how is that even possible? so anyway fellow friends, what do you think i should do? is my bottle ok to go to the cupboard for a few weeks? should i keep it in the freezer? does it matter? anybody have any idea as to the potency of this drink? should i evaporate the mixture to increase potency?

[misslilly]

First off don't leave a cover on a bottle and then try to heat it up. It could explode if it got hot enough. Why did you change the water every 20 min ? The process of baking it it to dry it out. From what I understand in the process of drying it out the h2o leaves taking with it a molecule from another chain of molecules, turning it from THCA into THC. Not sure what you should do with the bottle you have now. I would strain it and try some the way it is. But keep the weed for now just in case you want to put it back in. From what i've done i would break down what you have into 24 doses to start. Take one of those doses and put it into something to drink it. I like to use something with a little alcohol to help it out. A mixed drink or a shot works good. I like to use Creme de Cacao made by Hiram Walker. It has some alcohol in it but only 15%. So when i'm done I have a shot that is about 75-100 proof or so. With the chocolate flavor i like to call it "Liquid Brownie", their great for breakfast. I've also had good luck using my trim. But only the best trim no stalk and no big fan leaves.

[akunamatada]

i didnt have a pot large enough to boil the water in and i wasnt sure putting it directly over a flame even in a pot of water was the safest thing to do so instead i brought a pot of water to a boil and poured it over my bottle in a wash basin. i wrapped the basin with a towel and changed the water. when i was done the bottle and its contents were very hot. according to what youre telling me my water bath did nothing to convert the thca into thc? is this an essential step in making green dragon? wont it happen over time if i just let the bottle sit over a few weeks? can i strain the bud out and microwave it now?
btw after the bath the liquid in the bottle which was clear as vodka turned a dark beautiful green!!!

[misslilly]

You might as well strain it and try it. As far as I understand it is not the heat that changes the thca into thc but the fact that is drying out like I said in the last post. What the heating of the alcohol does is get things moving to break the thc and other things down faster than if you didn't heat it. I don't know how well that would work if it is soaked the alcohol to convert it. Just leaving the weed to dry out over time will do the same thing. But I'm sure that would depend on the humidity at the time. How dry was the weed ? To me it's better to be safe and do it in the oven. I've been doing it at about 252 degrees, or at least thats what I shoot for. I would still be very carful with a bottle in hot water like that, water boils at about 212 but alcohol boils (and expands) at about 170 degrees. You probably lost those 2 oz of liquid when it soaked into the weed, displacing the air and making it seen like you lost some. That dark green is the chlorophyll and all the other stuff that is dissolved in the alcohol. As well as the thc that you are trying to get out. Sorry if I ramble a bit but I'm in the middle of sampling my latest batch. haha. Just trying to get all your questions. I have back problems an this stuff does help out.

[akunamatada]

thanks for the help. so youre saying its not important that i heat the weed but i have to dry it first in an oven or microwave? i thought i read that heating the weed was the idea. i also read some posters saying that all this conversion thca to thc will happen by itself over time. the weed was fairly dry to begin with. it was good weed but i had it for about two weeks. i know it was basically what you would expect to get an eighth of for 60 two weeks later in ny. im afraid of straining/handling the liquid unless i need to. everytime you strain you loose good stuff! so anybody else care to weigh in? should i strain the bud out now and then dry it and if you think i should what is the best way?

[cuttle]

Master Wu, I would add "to shake the bottle before dosing". If you don't, the last couple of doses are out of this world. It seems all the good stuff sinks!

[horseman]

Hey guys. Awesome thread, and great job Master Wu. Creds! I have a question, however. Does anyone in here have any experiences with making GD using lower proof than 151? Where I'm from, 60% alcohol is the highest you can legally obtain, whereas 151 is 75%. I can certainly see how it's less than optimal, but does it really render the whole process impossible? :what:

So has anyone tried, successfully or not, making GD with ~60% alcohol content?

[Kimmypooh]

Well, there was a great deal of attention paid to converting THCA to plain old THC, with heat. This process occurs over time all by itself BTW. Not completely, but continuously through the life of the harvested weed.

I've made tinctures where I did heat the weed up before putting it in the Everclear for a soak. I have also tried it without heating it at all, and I have to tell you, that it works way better, at least for me and my MS, when I ingest as much THCA as I can - meaning don't heat the bud.

I do all the "usual " things, grind whole bud (no leaf, no keif) in a blender, mix with Everclear, put in freezer for a week and shake a few times a day.

Then I strain it using a regular kitchen strainer, and press the hell out of the wet wad of weed, to squeeze out the last drop. After that, I strain it through a coffee filter, held by a kitchen strainer, and again squeeze it to death. I usually lose a couple of cc's to evaporation and the wad of weed. Some people save the wad, wrap it in a cloth, put in a sealed jar, and rub it on sore muscles. Haven't tried that, but I know if you get too much of the solution on your hands, you will get a buzz, so it probably works.

I pour the mixture into a glass measuring cup, and note how many cc's I have. Put the open container in a safe, dark, airy place until it is reduced by at least half - more if you have the time and patience. Now during this time period, some of the THCA is being converted to THC, but a good deal of it, is staying THCA, which is thought to have pain-relieving, neuro-protective and anti-inflammatory effects. I then pour it into a dark colored glass bottle with a dropper (available online) and store it in the fridge.

I usually don't get more than a bit buzzed, but move incredibly better and hurt a whole lot less. Which is exactly what I'm after. I have learned that buzzed doesn't always equal feeling better. I can vape the exact same weed as I've made tincture with, and some things actually hurt MORE, than when I use the tincture. I'm buzzed, but having weird aches where I don't even hurt on a regular day! Weird.

I've never been able to reduce the volume of tincture enough to have a concentration that I could put drops under my tongue. It's too gross, by the time you get it strong enough. That's why I put it in coffee. Still tastes yucky, but not impossible to ingest.

This method uses a whole lot more bud than vaping, but works better for me from a medical standpoint, without the bother of being impaired. It is easier to dose consistently, and more discrete. I just put 1.5cc's ( which I have calculated to have about 0.5 gram of bud in it) into my coffee and either have toast with butter (for the fat) or 2 cookies to carry it around my body.

It last 3-4 hours and then it's time for more coffee!

If anyone wants the "recipe" from start to finish, let me know.

Carry on buds!

I would like your recipe in whole. I just tried to make some in the way described by the OP, but could not get the mix to get up to 170 had the stove on as high as it would go and could only get to 150, not sure if it will have worked. I live in Colorado so maybe the altitude had something to do with it. Anyway I am a new medical user and am in extreme pain so would like to try your way as well to see if there is a difference.

[LSDhighway88]

Woooo first post! I'm totally overwhelmed by the amount of knowledge being shared on these forums. The GD caught my eye as soon as I laid eyes on the website.

I'm very interested in trying this, and I have some questions. (I have read 12 of 19 pages [my eyes grow weary!] and I haven't seen answers for me, but if I am repeating anything I humbly apologize)

1. Master Wu has suggested that the best extraction temperature for the alcohol whilst in the hot water bath is 170F for 20 minutes. Does this mean the 20 minutes commences once 170F is attained? Or does it include the time required to reach 170F?

2. Just to add some flavour I'm considering adding spearmint/peppermint extract. Will this cause me any negative side effects?

3. Assuming one wanted to double the initial recipe, does the cooking time need to be increased?

4. I live in Calgary, Alberta Canada, which is an hours drive worth away from the Rocky Mountains. Will the altitude I live at have any significant impacts I should be made aware of???

Again, I'm sorry if I'm just echoing previously asked questions, but I'm very OCD with things that require a specific procedure for success and I like to collect as much intangible data as I can before beginning.

cheers

[Slow Vibration]

Started my first batch before finding this thread, I didn't do the decarb but I did start with 2.5 oz of primo bone dry shake.

Put it all in a 26er of 151 a couple days ago and left it alone aside from some occasional shaking.


Now reading this today, I put it in a pot of boiling water and brought the temp up to the 170 area, shaking the contents every minute or so. It changed color from a deep forest green to a slightly muddier brownish green so I hoping thats a good sign. IT didn't change much, I didn't push the heat issue too much just wanted to help a bit without possibly hurting.

Heres a couple pics of how it looked after heating, took a 15ml shot in a glass of coke half hour ago and have a decent body stone currently.

http://i860.photobucket.com/albums/ab162/TheGamefather/Untitled.png

http://i860.photobucket.com/albums/ab162/TheGamefather/DSC00193.jpg


I'm a bit of a super chronic these days, nothing gets me super baked, I'm hoping this peaks a bit more but as it is its done the trick.

Thanks Wu, and everyone else contributing to this awesome thread :thumbsup:

[Slow Vibration]

almost 2 hours in and going strong, it did pick up a bit, comes in waves a bit it seems.

thanks again! :smokin:



P.S. I put it in the freezer now... haha figured why not, but do you think there is any problem in useing more than one extraction method on a batch?

[MonkeyTale420]

Hello all,
I'm brand new to these forums and I just started learning more about making the Green Dragon. Unfortunately I started my tinc before reading Master Wu's guide. The recipe that I followed was 1 gram per every 35ml of alcohol. I modified it some to try to make it more potent. I used 2 grams to 50ml of 192 proof spirytus. I started this on the 18th and I have been keeping in in the dark and swirling it around everyday. I didn't warm the green in the oven before adding it to the alcohol or heated them up together. I'm feeling like I screwed it up. If I have, is there a way to redeem it or should I chalk it up as a loss and follow the guide next time?

[Taurich]

heh, went to sign up for an account to post in this thread, turns out I made one 4 years ago and only activated it just now. Mayhaps I've been partaking a little too much :stoned:

So I've got a couple of tips for people trying this one out.

I've noticed a few people are having problems maintaining the temperature of the cook or getting a weak batch. I think I might have a solution to this.
First things first, always do your cook in one of these puppies (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hS9jA0c-St8/S8YWRJZwcTI/AAAAAAAAALA/HsVOxZjRJsg/s320/mixing+bowls.jpg). These common stainless steel kitchen mixing bowls not only conduct heat GREAT, they won't crack with temperature changes, they are wide with a deep base and of different sizes, don't tip over in a rolling boil, and best of all they float in water. This is great because it's very important to keep that container away from the base of the pan, having the container resting on the base totally defeats the purpose of the water bath and will cause your THC to vape during cooking.

Next up, don't be worried about the max temperature of your alcohol, worry about your minimum temperature. The only thing having the alcohol as hot as it will go (173-180F depending on your purity of alcohol) is cause you to use a lot more alcohol in the cooking process to bring it to 20min. However if you do the process at a too low temperature you will not extract very much THC at all. 10deg too hot is more desirable than 10deg too cold (unless you're desperately short on extra alcohol ofc)

Lastly, if you want to get maximum potency you'll need to do multiple washes on your mash. Now for me it's very important to get as much potency as possible, volume is not so important. My usual way of consuming this stuff is to drop 3 or 4 drips out of an eye dropper onto the top of a nice cone every once in a while. Really gives it a hell of a kick :hippy:
Anyway, to do this with good effect I need to really get every bit of THC into a small amount of alcohol, the usual way of washing tends do actually dilute the final brew so I tried a different way.
Start your second wash as normal, give it then 10 minutes you would normally allow, and then strain it off into a seperate container, if this looks quite clear skip to step 3
Give it a third the same as the second and strain it into the container containing the second wash, this should come out fairly clear, but on the odd chance it hasn't repeat the wash process until your solution is near clear. The remains of all washes should go into the 'wash bucket' we're using.
Pour the contents of the wash bucket into one of the larger steel bowls and place in the water bath, turn that baby up to maximum and vape all the alcohol away, you'll be left with some hash oil, now drop the temperature down to barely simmering
Add the contents of the GD from your main wash, stir until all that hash oil is dissolved*, rebottle your GD and enjoy.
* If you are having difficulty dissolving the hash oil, you should crank up the temps, reduce your main wash to hash oil, then add fresh alcohol to bring it up to it's original volume. The higher alcohol content in the fresh stuff should dissolve that sticky goodness


I've got a couple questions for the more experienced guys too. I'm curious about isomerization, I understand the process of the heat method but not sure at what stage of the GD I should do it. Should I do it before the decarb, before the first wash, or reduce my final GD to hash oil and isomerise that? I would have thought it would be best in the green stage, but I'm not sure if water absorption would have a detrimental effect on the final product
I'm also curious about the acid + heat method, I've heard lemon juice gives little to no effect. I was wondering if I could use citric acid powder supersaturated in hot water to maybe get a more effective acid? If citric acid proves to have no effect whatsoever I was thinking of making another supersaturated solution but with muriatic acid powder. That stuff is also known as hydrocloric acid and should certainly pack a punch.
The big thing that worries me about the acid method is that it wouldn't vape with the alcohol during the cook process, meaning it'll be left in the GD and I'll get a nice mouthful of acid. Perhaps HCl is the breakfast of champions but I'm not game to try. I suppose I could use bicarb soda to neutralise the acidity, but I imagine it'll end up tasting absolutely foul. Anyone got some advice?

[Melatonin6]

What kind of pan and how much water do you use for the bath with those stainless bowls? And can you describe the wash bucket part a bit? You put the alcohol in the wash bucket the first 3 times after straining? Then use it all again at once without any "mash"?

[rcpilot04401]

alright, read thru all the comments, my major question is the cooking of the of the leaf in the oven...5 minutes? The weed was warm, is that all that needs to be done? I didn't notice any color difference to it, no smoking or anything...I kept it in the for about 5 to 7 minutes. I'm assuming that this is some major step in the process and therefore I don't want to screw it up, so is it an exact sceince? Should I of seen a difference in the weed? Or am I just worrying to much? Any help will be greatly appreciated as I use this for medical purposes and I'm tired of smoking because my tolerance is so high now.

[rcpilot04401]

and I'm using half ounce of Diesel and a half ounce of Jack the Ripper...both strains I grow for myself...God...I hope this really fucks me up.

[Tenacious D-rekk]

Very nice recipe, I used everclear in mine...but I don't think I baked it long enough because I used a glass pan and not aluminum, but I left it in a bit longer and I think it kinda works.it had more of an alcohol smell than cannabis, but I took two droppers around the end of a long night of drinking, and woke up with no hangover. I figured i'd post this before I took my next dose. Thanx again, dragon master Wu

[Disabled]

I've been keeping this information to myself, until I had some results. The main things you need to do, to ensure that you have a successful tincture is. 1. Don't just use one strain (chances are it won't address very many issues) Use multiple strains . 2 Double, and triple soak your buds. 3. Press your weed squeeze every last drop out.

[eltopo71]

One thing to mention for those who have an electric stove at home -- you really need to measure the temperature your herb gets up to throughout the decarboxylation process, and vent when the oven gets hotter than what you ordered. That's because electric stoves are calibrated to work by keeping whatever is in the stove at a minimum of the temperature you specify. So if you set it to 250F once it's up to that temperature it will not drop below 250F but may go up by 100F. You really have to monitor this.

To minimize this effect, run the stove at the desired temperature for a couple of hours, open the stove door as little as possible, and use metal covers over the stovetop. I've gotten the "temperature shift" down to about 35F that way. Also someone posted a pdf file with decarboxylation temperatures and how to reach the maximum THC levels -- forget those numbers, they're achieved using a constant-temperature oven, and no one has one of these in their houses.

[phil948]

Just tried making my first batch, and it was kind of a failure.when i put the bud in
The mason jar and started to simmer it, i put the thermometer in the jar and brought it to about 165. To do this, the water was boiling fairly heavily. After about 6 minutes, all
The alcohol had evaporated. I added some more and turned down the temp, but my yield ended up being alot less than it should have been. What did i do wrong? Was it thewater bath that was supposed to be 170 and not the mixture? It seemed like i was just too hot even though the thermometer said it was perfect

[CabanaBoy]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum. I have two thoughts on this before I try making a batch.

#1 - is anyone actually using this for pain management...and able to function after dosing?

#2 - would putting some mint tea leaves in during the boil improve the taste? I figure its safe to consume...

[Jack Charles]

The way I see it there is no way in hell you are going to get 30 doses out of only an 1/8 ounce of good herb. For edibles the dose is at least a grams worth of extraction or cannabutter for me and pretty much everyone else I've ever heard of in my entire life, At least... You can go 2 if your looking to get really stoned or smoke a lot. So you'll get like 2 or 3 or maybe 4 doses out of an eigth of herb. Not a cold shot in hell that your getting even 15 let alone twice that much. Unless master wu has special powers. Lol.

You could probably get 30 good doses out of a full ounce.

[Esteban1]

Back in the day I isomerized nasty azz cannabis. When I say "back in the day" I mean 1976 when most of y'all where hang'n 'round lol. Had a device that looked like the "Volcano". Used really harsh chemicals but all burned off. Made the most amazing liquid gold. The chem reaction also increases the strength of the cannabis!!

Sic Semper Tyrannus

:smokin:

[Weezard]

I heard dat!

When I say "back in the day, I'm talkin '68. :)

Made some hash oil then using boiling lighter fluid. (basically,dirty naphtha)
Want to guess how green it was?

Sucked it into cigarettes, let it dry, and went to the midnight-movies.
That's right they allowed smoking in theaters in Ohio.
Don't remember the next 2 days, but I landed grinning. :D

Aloha, y'all

Weeze

[Esteban1]

Lol, guess we're revealing experience! Oil is really nice bro. Gonna experiment with some of me bounty. & of course this thred is extensive so will be easy to compare notes. Cheers big ears!

Sic Semper Tyrannus

:s4:

[MVP]

The way I see it there is no way in hell you are going to get 30 doses out of only an 1/8 ounce of good herb. For edibles the dose is at least a grams worth of extraction or cannabutter for me and pretty much everyone else I've ever heard of in my entire life, At least... You can go 2 if your looking to get really stoned or smoke a lot. So you'll get like 2 or 3 or maybe 4 doses out of an eigth of herb. Not a cold shot in hell that your getting even 15 let alone twice that much. Unless master wu has special powers. Lol.

You could probably get 30 good doses out of a full ounce.

Respectfully disagree. I have found that when the right quality herb, and right extraction process (for cannabutter, oil, etc) is followed, a dose of between .20 - .25 gram (one fifth or one quarter gram) is sufficient to provide significant potency for the couple of dozen people that I have had try edibles.

[lyshygurl]

based on the decarb graph why not go 293 degrees for 7 minutes? Slightly higher THC and less time according to graph?

Lose taste or something? more browning perhaps?

i think i'm going to give it a shot at 293 for 7 minutes. my buds are pretty airy and fairly dry but not crumbling at all. let ya know how it goes. i made a batch of GD but it's not quite strong as I had hoped probably because I did 15-20 mins at 250... also saw someone writing about washing the weed to possibly make sure i didn't lose anything the first go. I also simmered a bit longer because i used more bud(1/2oz of airy purple someone gave me) and more alcohol ( 6oz Diesel 153 proof vodka) and simmered it down to 4 oz. THEN I was feeling CURIOUS and cut it in half put 2 oz back in the jar and the water bath and simmered that down to 1 oz. Geez. So what happened was I tested the first batch right away did 1 dropper to see what would happen. Not too bad but not very strong. I tried the 2nd batch that i thought would be more concentrated since i evaporated another 1 oz of the alcohol off but the one dropper of that didn't do shit. I don't know why maybe i f*ed it up. But I have more buds to play with so I'm gonna try decarbin' that way... 293 @ 7 minutes....

Also Missilly-
I was thinking about turning the GD thats not all that strong into some hash oil like you did. Did you just boil ALL the alcohol off that AND then how did you get it to a good conistancy to ball it up and smoke that shit? :)


LEt ya'll know how this next one goes.

[patmonk]

TINCTURES.
What am I doing wrong. I assume 175F is the correct temp for double boiler water bath set up. Nothing happened. Tried second small batch at 175C, still no action. Using Everclear.

[theflowersays]

Master Wu-
I have read a few other recipes for making potent cannabis tincture and was wondering what your thoughts were about soaking the cannabis powder in water, post decarboxylation, to remove any water-soluble impurities.
Hope to hear from you soon. Thank you so much for the updated methodology!
Sincerely,
theflowersays