Tincture question

Hey all,

I was pretty fired up to try and make a tincture and have been reading up on it for a while, I thought I had found what I needed in this cold method where you just add alcohol and herb and toss it in the freezer for a couple weeks. Seemed simple enough...

I red a bit more and realized, although debateable, most people agree you need to decarbolize your medecine before you make the tincture. I didn't realize this and skipped that part.

My question is, could I put what I have in the freezer into a crockpot on high for 10 min and get the same decarbolization results as I would from the oven?

Also, anyone have any comments on if this is a necessary steo or overkill? Also, would it be effective to just mix glycerin and herb in a crockpot? Again would you need to decarbolize first?

Thanks and Happy Holidays!

D

you are going to eat this tincture, right?

I don't think the freezer does ANY good? what recipe are you using?

I let it sit at room temp overnight, then warm the mixture on low, on an electric stove. Alcohol boils around 160 in CO, so get it to barely boiling and cook for 20. Strain out the junk (get one of those reusable coffee filters) cool, and you are good to go. Of course be careful, the vapor is flammable, but it will not blow up. don't do this on a gas stove!

I have a big glycerin batch going here http://boards.cannabis.com/concentra...cerin-run.html
which I am feeling my way through.

I've done a ton of green dragon and it always works. I always heat it up tho.

Hey All, just a quick note on the tinctures, I suffer from degenerative disc disease of 4 discs of my lumbar spine and the only relief I get is from the " green dragon " tincture, and also now I started a topical along with it from hemp root and am getting pretty darn good results. I follow the recipe on this site for green dragon and am happy with it, of course any recipe can be adjusted for personal results!

i have a mess of experience with tincture, both glycerin and alcohol, both ambient temperature and agitated with heat........

decarboxylation is very important if you're never going to expose the tincture to heat. i use a sheet of foil in the oven at 220 degrees for about 5 minutes. when i say tincture to heat, i mean like when i add tincture to a 310 degree sugar base. 310 degrees of sugar will decarboxylate the carboxyl group from the molecule and activate the thc.

freezing of the plant matter helps make the trichomes brittle and more easy to remove as well as drying out the plant through sublimation. i don't think it does much else.

tinctures made with alcohol, imo, have turned out more potent and easier to use than the glycerin, but the glycerin is far easier to consume, tastier.
i make glycerin tinctures in the crock pot switching between low and high, off and high for an entire day. after a day, it's ready to enjoy.

alcohol tincture, or green dragon, is a little more complicated. i use heat and am finished in about an hour from start. i'll put some ground plant matter in a mason jar and cover it with grain alcohol (the large proof stuff). with ventilation raging, i put the weed/alcohol jar into a half pot of soft boiling water. alcohol boils cooler than water; a soft water boil should make a raging alcohol boil. stirring nearly constantly, i mix until the alcohol volume has decreased by approximately 50%,at which point i run the mix through a set of screens and allow it to cool.

figuring out dosage is fun.......

in short, though, yes. i think you can heat your medium and decarboxylate the plant matter at any point. your biggest concern heating alcohol to x degrees should be blowing up your house........

also, if you heat your cold tincture to the point of decarboxylating the plant matter, you've pretty much already finished your tincture. no need to put it back in the fridge and wait two weeks, stir it for another twenty minutes and be done.

sweet dreams!

Great posts all!

Thank you,

Happy new year!

D

Here is the method I use to make it quickly...

"Try this method, it's known as a propylene glycol based tincture and only takes a few hours to make. Mixing vegetable glycerine and ethanol will give you propylene glycol, a known food additive. I also add distilled water and Loran propylene glycol based flavors (hard candy flavoring) to the hash. Good stuff for sure as this tincture is tasty and potent.

I like to use the bubble bags to make hash out of the MJ, making sure to press all the water out. I find it's easier to measure how much is going into the tincture. I have also found that one quarter of some good stuff is about 1 gram of hash when ran through the bags. I use 2parts glycerine to 1part distilled water to 1part everclear as the base.

If not able to use bags, then convert the bud to hash using the green dragon method, again using the 1 quarter ounce to 1gram of hash conversion, not as accurate as bubble bags but not too far off. One plus is you won't have to mix it as much to break down the trichs by using the green dragon method of extraction. Boil off as much of the everclear needed to get the right mixture.

For example, if I use one gram of hash, it gives me two one ounce bottles of tincture, just multiply using the formula, if you have more bud or hash to make tincture with. So for one gram of hash I break it down in 2 ounces of everclear then boil off 1-1/2 ounces in a hot water bath, then mix with 1/2 ounce of distilled water and 1 ounce of vegetable glycerine for a total of 2 fluid ounces.

I like that I can make it in small amounts if necessary. I have seen others use one gram of hash for a one ounce bottle of tincture but prefer two bottles tincture with half a gram each instead.

I start by putting the hash in the oven at 300*F for ten minutes to decarboxylate and then add it to two ounces of the ever clear to break it down. I shake it in a canning jar with a wire whisk ball inside to help break down the hash, which usually takes a few hours of good shaking.

I then reduce the everclear by boiling most of it off in a hot water bath (use much caution, research it if you're not familiar with this, it's easy just be safe and again, research) to one half ounce and add one half ounce of distilled water and one ounce of vegetable glycerine. I then shake it well and add it to my little dropper bottles. I also started adding the Loran flavorings, good stuff, I like the pomegranite and watermelon. I add about 4 drops of flavoring to 1 ounce bottle of tincture.

Excellent to use sublingually and the flavorings make a huge difference. My wife uses it for migrains, usually one half of a dropper is good for her, .5ml I believe."

Wow!

Great post roadie. Thanks.

D