What is the best and easiest way to extract THC oil from the plant?
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What is the best and easiest way to extract THC oil from the plant?
the butane method. more to follwo:
This method has its basis in a method known as Supercritical Fluid Extraction. It uses totally over-the-counter butane gas (8 oz can, camping supply store) as the extraction solvent, and requires nothing even remotely suspicious or difficult to purchase.
The only other thing needed is about $2.00 worth of PVC pipe: a section 1.5 (one and a half) feet long and 1 & 3/4" diameter (outer diameter I believe), and two end caps. Threaded PVC is not necessary. Some people prefer metal pipe because PVC might release chemicals when exposed to butane.
Butane and CO2 (and perhaps other gas/solvents with similar ultra-low-boiling properties) selectively solvate the desirable fraction(s) of cannabis oils, pulling out only a beautiful amber honey oil and leaving the undesirable vegetative oils, waxes, chlorophyll, etc. behind in the plant matter.
Even unsmokable shade leaves produce a wonderfully clean and potent gold oil with this method (So if you grow save those shade leaves). I have every reason to suspect that this would work splendidly to extract a super-strong and tasty oil from gross, unpalatable schwag commercial pot too.
Bear in mind, a better grade of marijuana will produce a bigger yield of higher quality finished product. See further down on this page for an idea of how much marijuana you will need before attempting this.
The most important thing to remember is to work outdoors away from people, animals and anything else that might catch fire or be injured if the butane comes into contact with any ignition source. Butane is highly flammable, work away from anything that might produce a spark. Make sure you are the only victim, if anything goes wrong.
Method:
1) In one of the PVC end caps, drill a single small hole in the center. This hole should be correctly sized to snugly receive the little outlet nozzle of your butane can.
2) In the other end cap, drill a group of 5 or 6 small holes clustered in the center (like a pepper shaker).
3) After putting a piece of paper towel or coffee filter inside it for filtration, put the end cap with several holes on one end of the pipe. Push it on there real tight. This is the bottom.
4) Fill the pipe up with plant matter that has been pulverized into a coarse powder. You want it filled, but not packed down. (Full pipe estimated at 2 oz capacity, but this is a guess. I did not weigh it.)
5) Place the top end cap on the pipe. Again, push it on as securely as you can by hand.
6) Find a location outdoors with a decent breeze. You want these butane fumes to be quickly carried away.
6a) Mount the pipe (single hole-side up) over a vessel that can hold 300mL+. Beakers are perfect. A lab stand and clamp are ideal for the mounting, but a regular shop clamp or anything that can hold it sturdily is fine. (metal increases the chance of sparks.) Position the bottom end of the pipe immediately over (1-2") the receiving vessel to eliminate splatter loss.
7) Turn the butane gas can upside down and dispense the gas into the pipe via the single top hole. A whole 8-oz can takes about 10-12 seconds to evacuate. Be brave, swift, and careful. A spark at this moment would spell disaster since you have basically created an incendiary explosive device that is leaking.
8) When you've exhausted the can into the pipe, back off to a nice distance and let it do its thing. The butane moves down the pipe, extracting the cannabis as it goes. When it gets to the bottom (~30 seconds after dispensing), it begins to drain into the receiving vessel. Notice the pale, glowing yellow-green-gold hue of the extract.
Over approximately five to eight minutes, the butane extract will finish draining from the pipe to the receiving vessel. Maintain caution with the pipe, however, since there is a lot of residual butane still evaporating from within the pipe (notice the stream of fumes coming from the top hole).
When it slows down to a drop every few seconds, you can tap on the top hole with your finger and it will help push the last of the liquid butane out (or one can gently blow into the top hole to do the same thing). Remember, NO SMOKING, unless you wish to immolate yourself in grand fashion.
Being very low-boiling and volatile, the collected butane will likely begin boiling at ambient temperature.
The receiving vessel will gradually frost up as the butane cools it down, slowing down its rate of evaporation, but you can speed this up again simply by holding it in your hands. A better way is to set it in a saucepan containing a little bit of warm water.
Watch the butane start bubbling madly with the increase in temperature and marvel at its low boiling point. Again, be doing this outdoors with a nice breeze! It takes about 20 minutes or so to allow the butane to evaporate, or quicker if you help it along. You are left with a deep amber, almost orange oil of amazing purity.
The best way to collect and store the oil is probably to let all of the butane evaporate off and then redissolve the oil in some anhydrous or high-% alcohol, and then pour this into a vial and let it sit out for a day or two to allow the alcohol to evaporate.
Trying to transfer the oil into a small container while it is still solvated by the butane is too risky. I learned the hard way about this, thanks to the volatile temperament of butane.
I had filled a vial almost all the way to the top and was preparing to drop those last couple drops in, so that cleverly, I could let the last of the butane evaporate from the vial and the oil would all be neatly contained.
But when the last drop hit the mother lode in the vial, it changed the temperature of the solution in the vial upward by a hair and it all super boiled out of the vial and onto my fingers, which of course startled me and caused me to drop the vial.
I suggest dissolving it in alcohol as I mentioned above. If you can get pure or 99% isopropanol (isopropyl), use it, because THC's photosensitivity reportedly does not occur in isopropanol.
The final product is a deep yellow-amber oil of the highest quality, incredibly pure and potent. I remember well some of the prime honey oil hash oils that hit the market in the late 1970s, and this stuff stands up to (if not exceeds) any of them.
It's amazing how this method extracts only the good fraction and leaves the junk in the weed. But that's exactly what it does.
Note also that this oil has a somewhat higher melt/vaporization point than traditional hash oils; the traditional dispensing method (dipping a needle or paper clip in, getting some goop on the end, and warming it with a flame to get it to drip off) still works with this stuff, but it seems you have to be more careful with it because it doesn't heat to liquid state as quickly or in the same manner, and it can more easily be allowed to burn up on your needle. So be careful.
Those who prefer a tincture-like preparation can of course thin the product a little with a bit of warm high-percentage alcohol like Everclear or 90-whatever-% isopropyl, then drop it onto buds or let a joint absorb some, then let the alcohol evaporate.
I also observed that unlike hash oil derived from traditional methods, this product is not immediately soluble in room-temp alcohol; it needed to be warmed before it dissolved fully.
So there it is. Spread the word far and wide: honey oil is BACK.
is this a much better way than using 190 proof alcohol to remove the thc?
the oils using the butane method is meant to FUCK YOU UP! (in the good way though):thumbsup:
sooo want to try some. i hear they call it the crack of the hippies!:dance: :thumbsup: :dance:
It doesn't matter really. Either the Isopropanol or Butane will work.Quote:
Originally Posted by centralmo
Using Iso will give you a nice dark/reddish colored oil, and Butane will give you the honey colored oil. Both are equally as punishing when smoked.
Please be careful evaporating either of these. Butane is more combustable than Iso. I had a friend who did a Butane run, inside of his house. Long story short, he got 3rd degree burns over 30% of his body. He was doing it in a small space, in his washroom, the invisable fumes filled up in his house, his furance came on, and he blew out the lower level of his home, and blew himself up. He almost died.
What I'm saying is, DO IT OUTSIDE. The fumes build up inside and any spark will blow you to pieces. Please be careful. :)
Good luck.
oil is so strong, some folks call it herijuana.
i think im gonna do that right now, on a tiny bit of weed to see if i can get a drop or two of honey oil, i'll make a ghetto extractor
after the oil is extracted is the rest of the bud trashed?
smoke it and find out (make sure all the butane has evaporated tho, dont want your pipe exploding lol)
i would be pretty scared to lol, i'll just tell my little brother i picked up some shwagg and i dontwant it and toss it over to him lol.Quote:
Originally Posted by God v2.0
how pure is the oil exactly? like i wonder if after the bud is drained of its oil does it still smell. screw it i'm picking up an eight on monday i'll just buy a quarter and drain half of it and smoke the otherhalf.
i will go with the alcohol extraction. do i need to remove the stems and seeds or can i grind them up with the leaf? also can i use a small blender to grind them up?
I usually grind everything up all at once. Everything but the seeds because I can use them, but yeah, grind it all up, and let it soak, then discard the remainder as it is useless now.Quote:
Originally Posted by centralmo
is the high on the oil much better than from smoking just the leaf?
How much oil do you get from 1/4 oz of schwagg? I'm gonna get a quad fronted to me and then tonight im gonna go make a full sized extractor and then i'll make a little bit of oil and sell it, how much does oil usually cost?