Experiments with making cannabutter

I've mentioned elsewhere that I recently got 22 oz of leaves from a "friend of a friend." (I had expressed some worry concerning the amount, and whether it was "sanctioned" marijuana [under the CA MMJ laws] but have since seen the MM user/grower/caregiver certificates of the people in question, so everything is "cool").

I've been doing some experimentation with that 22 oz of now ground-up leaves. Here's the basic story, so far.

Experiment #1:
1) Using 4 oz of grind with one pound of butter.
2) Grind, butter and water (enough to cover everything) placed in 10 pint (20 cup) pot.
3) Simmer for 10 hours, occasionally stirring.
4) Pour mix through very fine mesh into cooling jar.
5) Place plant residue left on mesh into potato ricer and squeeze like the dickins.
6) Pour captured liquid (a disappointing amount, maybe 2 or 3 ounces) into same cooling jar.
7) Refrigerate; result: dark green cannabutter w/ dark brown water underneath.
8) Pour out water and re-melt the cannabutter with additional water.
9) Repeat steps 4 thru 8 four times (see pics at end of post).
10) Results: 217.4 grams (7.67 ounces) of pale green cannabutter.
11) Butter loss: about 52% of the original pound of butter.

Experiment #2:
1) Using 4 oz of grind with one pound of butter.
2) Grind and water ONLY (enough to cover everything) placed in 10 pint (20 cup) pot.
3) Simmer for 10 hours, occasionally stirring.
4) Pour water through very fine mesh back into pot.
5) Place plant residue left on mesh into potato ricer and squeeze like the dickins.
6) Pour captured liquid (again, disappointing amount, maybe 4 ounces) back into pot.
6A) NOW add butter to "cannabis water" and simmer for about an hour.
6B) Pour mix through very fine mesh into cooling jar.
7) Refrigerate.
8) Pour out water and re-melt the cannabutter with additional water.
9) Repeat steps 4 thru 8 four times (no pics here)
10) Results: 300.0 grams (10.58 ounces) of VERY pale green/yellowish "cannabutter."
11) Butter loss: about 34% of the original pound of butter.

I'm thinking that, in the 2nd experiment, the THC (since it is not water soluble) failed to go into suspension into the water and that I just wasted 4 ounces of mj.

The whole purpose of the 2nd try was to reduce the amount of butter loss. The improvement was disappointing. In both cases I squeezed the hell out of the captured plant material.

So: where does all the missing butter go? I know that there is residue left coating the pot and the cooling jar, each time the mix is "washed" but I don't think that accounts for all of the loss. Does some of the butter vaporize from from the from the pot into the air?Attachment 296515Attachment 296516Attachment 296518Attachment 296517Attachment 296514

I don't understand all the re-melting.
Cosmetics?

What does the 4 ounces of trim weigh after you dry it?

That is where most of the lost butter will be found.
And do not discard the dross.
Put it in a sieve and pour boiling water through it as a rinse.
That will recover some, but not all.
The only way to get the rest of it, and some more resin as well, is to wash it with a solvent like ethanol and then evaporate the solvent.

It is very difficult to quantify an extraction using butter.
If you want maximum efficiency and yield, it's best to extract the resin with a frozen ethanol wash first.
With good bud, that can yield 22% or very pure oil by weight.
Purge the solvent and then just add the proper amount of oil to your butter for the strength desired.

There is an added advantage.
You can do a proper decarboxylation, of the oil in a half hour at around ~250 F. with a coffee warmer.
Saves on energy.

Just my 2 cents.
TIOLI.

Aloha,
Weezard

>>>>>>>>>>>[quote=Weezard]I don't understand all the re-melting.
Cosmetics?

That, and purity. Look at the pics. Each time the water is clearer. As I understand it, that's dirt and plant material that is coming out of the butter.

I've tried samples of each "wash" result and the cb tastes better each time: milder, smoother, more subtle.

>>>>>>>>>>>>"What does the 4 ounces of trim weigh after you dry it?"

Have not done that yet.

>>>>>>>>>>>"That is where most of the lost butter will be found.
And do not discard the dross.
Put it in a sieve and pour boiling water through it as a rinse.
That will recover some, but not all.
The only way to get the rest of it, and some more resin as well, is to wash it with a solvent like ethanol and then evaporate the solvent."

Sounds like something I do NOT want to try in a small apartment kitchen.

>>>>>>>>>>>"It is very difficult to quantify an extraction using butter."

I've noticed.

I'm not a chemist, but my anal-retentive accounting soul wants to be able to quantify this, and I am frustrated.