Cannabis Capsules â?? A step-by-step guide.

[Rock.Steady]

Hi again Rock Steady

I think we may have misunderstood each other, when I spoke about evaporation I was referring to the water boiling off in the Pan and bowl 'double boiler' method.

Regarding the temps: the recipe specifically calls for temperatures below 140 C (285 F), therefore the 'smoke points' of the oils aren't really important as we shouldn't be getting anywhere near them.

Also, without confusing the issue too much, you could use some of the oils you suggest, however, there is a very important reason behind choosing clarified butter (Ghee) or Coconut oil over them. Namely, the fact that they are both higher in saturated fat, which is generally more effective in releasing the THC into the blood stream (due to the way the stomach acids digest, break down, and absorb that type of fat). Out of the ones you mention lard is probably the best, though not quite as tasty, or as efficient.

The capsules will still work if you use other oils, though you'll probably need to 'up' the amount of weed used in order to compensate for any loss of absorption.

Hope this makes sense, there's more info on the types of oils/fats that work best nearer the start of the thread.

Anyhow, cheers and good cooking! :jointsmile:
Flame

p.s. mobyone
Getting so wasted that I call for an ambulance has never been an issue. After taking three of these bad boys I'm not capable of using the phone! lol

Flameon,
sorry, but after re-reading your reply 3 times just to be sure I was clear on what you are stating, you have definately misunderstood my suggestion.

I am in no way suggesting to change the recipe, let me be very clear on that.

what I am proposing/suggesting, is if someone (like me) wants to employ the double boiler method, water would be an insufficient media to use in the outter pot, due mainly to the boiling point of water being 212F/100C, something i had overlooked before.
the required temps in your recipe would have the water constantly boiling off before the desired temps are reached for the project to be a success.
Instead, what I am suggesting, and i hope i am being more clear, is if using the double boiler, stovetop method, one 'could' successfully utilize a cooking oil in the outter boiler to achieve the temps required for the recipe, whilst the coconut oil and keef are safely housed in the inner pot with a lid. the reason for showing the smoke point was only to point out that the required temp for the recipe is well under the smoke points, therefore no need to worry about the oil getting too hot and filling the house with smoke.

hope this helps clarify.
i was only trying to suggest what i believe may be a method to achieve more consistant temp with control.

no matter what, i love the recipe and this thread.
when i am able to aquire the nesesary ingredients, i will use this method and report back.:thumbsup:

[mobyone]

Ok, I changed my mind. I went out looking for a coffee grinder and only found grinders that grind LARGE amounts of "coffee". So, I bought a pepper grinder instead. The ground weed is almost dust, so I think it'll work just fine. Anyway, while at the store I looked at crockpots and found a digital one with a "probe" that I can place in the oil. So, I can guarantee the temperature in the oil. Last night I put the crockpot on high with an oven thermometer inside and the temp was a hair above 250, so I probably don't even need the probe. I will be cooking tonight and testing tomorrow.

[Flameon]

what I am proposing/suggesting, is if someone (like me) wants to employ the double boiler method, water would be an insufficient media to use in the outter pot, due mainly to the boiling point of water being 212F/100C, something i had overlooked before.
the required temps in your recipe would have the water constantly boiling off before the desired temps are reached for the project to be a success.
Instead, what I am suggesting, and i hope i am being more clear, is if using the double boiler, stovetop method, one 'could' successfully utilize a cooking oil in the outter boiler to achieve the temps required for the recipe, whilst the coconut oil and keef are safely housed in the inner pot with a lid. the reason for showing the smoke point was only to point out that the required temp for the recipe is well under the smoke points, therefore no need to worry about the oil getting too hot and filling the house with smoke.

hope this helps clarify.

Ah, I see what you're saying now, sorry my misunderstanding.

It's a very interesting solution, and would certainly solve the problem of not getting the temperature 'high' enough to make sure that the THC melted into the oil.
I guess you'd need to monitor the temperature pretty closely during the cooking to make sure it doesn't get too hot , but it should be fairly easy to regulate it by tuning the gas (or electricity) up or down in order to keep the oil between the 'high' and 'low' parameters. You'd just need to keep watching the thermometer.

I'll be interested to hear if anyone gives this a go, and how they get on. Nice suggestion Rock Steady, cheers :jointsmile:

Ok, I changed my mind. I went out looking for a coffee grinder and only found grinders that grind LARGE amounts of "coffee". So, I bought a pepper grinder instead. The ground weed is almost dust, so I think it'll work just fine. Anyway, while at the store I looked at crockpots and found a digital one with a "probe" that I can place in the oil. So, I can guarantee the temperature in the oil. Last night I put the crockpot on high with an oven thermometer inside and the temp was a hair above 250, so I probably don't even need the probe. I will be cooking tonight and testing tomorrow.

Hey moby, looking forward to reading your field report.
Just out of curiosity, if you leave the probe in during the cooking, could you keep a note of the 'high' and 'low' temperatures that your crock pot hits and post it up?
Also, I'd be interested to get an idea of how many caps you're making and the ratio's of bud to oil etc.
It's all good info.

Hope it goes well, and keep us posted.
Cheers
Flame :thumbsup:

[mobyone]

Hey moby, looking forward to reading your field report.
Just out of curiosity, if you leave the probe in during the cooking, could you keep a note of the 'high' and 'low' temperatures that your crock pot hits and post it up?
Also, I'd be interested to get an idea of how many caps you're making and the ratio's of bud to oil etc.
It's all good info.

Hope it goes well, and keep us posted.
Cheers
Flame :thumbsup:

Welll, theoretically, the temperature shouldn't vary much because the crockpot will add heat or not depending on the temp of the probe. Also, it doesn't show the temp of the probe, only the temp that you want to keep the probe at.

I will put the oven thermometer in the crockpot to see how it varies with the temp of the oil (probe).

As far as ratios, I will be trying to keep it almost 1 to 1. My idea was to load my vaporizer with a normal load for one person and then multiply that by 3 (since I want to share this with 2 friends). I will then measure this out and measure out the same amount of oil. I'm guessing it will be close to 1 tbsp of weed. I'll add a little extra oil if it seems that the mix is too dry or pasty.

I'm thinking to make 12 caps. I will try one cap one night and then two caps the next night. If I'm not blown away I'll try three etc... It might take me a week or so to come back with all of the results because I can't get wasted on a regular basis. LOL

I'm hoping this works out because I'm planning a trip with friends and I want to knock their socks off.

[mobyone]

Ok, well, here's where I'm at so far. I decided not to use the crockpot because the temperature fluctuated too much. I even went out and bought a second oven thermometer to be sure that the first one wasn't malfunctioning. I decided to use the oven instead since the temperature is constant.

I did some experimenting before actually cooking. Here's what I found.

1) When SET at 270F, the actual oven temperature is 250F.

2) When the actual oven temp is 275F, a half cup of coconut oil is 190F.

3) When the actual oven temp is 275F, two teaspoons of coconut oil is 225F.

Based on these measurements, I decided to cook at 275F, meaning that the oil would be only 225F. Seemingly just barely in the correct range.

I started with 3/4 of a teaspoon of weed and the same amount of oil, which seemed like too much oil, but I went with a 1:1 ratio.

Soon after adding the weed to the pre-heated oil, there was a relatively strong smell of weed when I opened the oven door. This spooked me and from there my experiment kinda fell apart.

I decided to lower the actual oven temperature to 250F (meaning the oil is now probably like 200F) since this was the initial recommendation. I also added another 3/4 teaspoon of weed (thinking that I might have burnt off the initial weed) and another 1/2 teaspoon of oil which seemed like a better weed to oil ratio after doubling the weed.

So, at this point, I've got 1.5 teaspoons of weed and 1.25 teaspoons of oil, cooking at 250F oven temp and ~200F oil temp.

The first dose of weed cooked for 30 minutes at the higher temperature. After lowering the temp and adding more weed and oil, I cooked for another 2.5 hours.

The result seemed a bit heavy on the weed. There really wasn't much free standing oil as you'll see in a pic I'll post later. Most of the oil was sucked up by the weed.

I divided this into 12 equal portions and filled one gel cap full of oil/weed. I could only find size 1 gel caps, so that's what I'm using. I ate lunch at 3pm and took the gel cap at 5:30pm with basically no results whatsoever. If anything, I felt a little bit out of sorts and irritated, but not because it didn't work. I just sort of felt like I didn't want to talk to anyone.

The amount of weed I cooked is enough to get 5 people wasted using a vaporizer. So, it should take 2.4 gel caps to get to the same point. However, if I had vaped the same amount that was in one gel cap, it would have given me a very, very nice buzz for a least an hour or two.

So, today, I've eaten lunch at 11:30am and I'm taking two gel caps at 3:00pm. I'll report the results tomorrow.

If two don't work, something is definitely wrong and I'll go back to the drawing board. The only thing I can really think to change at this point is the following:

1) Increase the amount of oil to be 1:1 or 1:1.5 heavy on oil

2) Cook longer.

3) Put the measured oven temperature up around 300F, which would put the oil temp around 250F and just ignore the weed smell and see what happens.

The problem is that I don't have the time to try a lot of different iterations. I'd like to just get it right and stick with it. We'll see what happens...

Things to note:

1) My oil color is still yellow.
2) The oil temp is about 50 degrees lower than the oven temp, but it varies with the amount of oil. The more oil, the lower the temp compared to the oven.
3) Somewhat strong smell with the oven at 275F.

I'm also thinking to try just simmering a small amount of oil and weed on the stove top just to see what happens. Too many experiments, not enough time.

[bogoljub777]

how are you.

um... i read the post right above me, and i wanted to say that its ok if you smell weed while cooking. it would be impossible to burn the weed up, as long as you have a transfer medium in physical contact with the weed.

yes.... if you just heat weed, without inhaling the smoke/vapors...... it will dissipate. but if you have the transfer medium physically touching the weed...... the thc will dissipate inot the medium.

i therorize that high heat is the best, because high heat causes rapid thc release, and it releases into your medium. in this case, cooking oil.

dont be afraid to go too high on the heat. as far as i know, you cant go too high on heat as long as you have the transfer medium right there.

let me know out there if anyone has gone too high on heat and been disapointed. as far as i know, the dissapointment comes from too low heat, not too high.

[spector]

So my first attempt worked amazingly, but every try after that has failed. Here is what I did, I replaced butter with coconut oil and found larger capsules. I also got a new slow cooker. This means that there are a lot of new variables. My first set of pills achieved the desired results but all of the attempts with coconut produced nothing …..No buzz, no high, nothing. Coconut oil seems to simmer at a higher temp but I’m not sure what would happen if I just simmer it on the stove top in a small frying pan. Is it better to have more or less heat and if the bud is browned after cooking dose that mean its no good? Id appreciate any answers.

[Flameon]

Soon after adding the weed to the pre-heated oil, there was a relatively strong smell of weed when I opened the oven door. This spooked me and from there my experiment kinda fell apart.

Hi again mobyone

A couple of things occurred to me after reading your post, but the main concern I would think is the weed smell.

In the majority of cases, most people have only been measuring and reporting the 'ambient' temperature seen 'inside' the crock pot/oven, not the actual temperature of the oil/butter, therefore, it's difficult to be certain with any degree of absolute accuracy as to how much the variance between these two temperatures is the norm.

However, I'm tempted to suggest two courses of action that I think will address the issues:

Firstly, the weed to oil ratio you describe sounds a little light on oil.

The result seemed a bit heavy on the weed. There really wasn't much free standing oil

The amount of oil needed to successfully dissolve the THC will alter slightly depending on the weed used (how well dried and cured it is etc). Some will 'soak' up more oil than others, therefore you may need to 'top up' the oil in order to achieve at least a 50/50 split. Don't worry if you have slightly more oil than weed, that's fine. Too little oil, and you run the risk of not extracting enough THC.
In the same way that adding more than half a cup of sugar to less than half a cup of water would make it difficult to dissolve all the sugar.

For your next iteration, go with the lower heat, and make a single batch. Fill and set half the mixture in capsules (leave the other half in its container), if you're not satisfied with the potency you can re-heat the remaining mixture at a slightly higher temp and then compare results.

I'm more than confident you'll find a way to crack the technique, as clearly you've done your homework and really understand the principals involved.

Good work and thanks for keeping us updated.

i therorize that high heat is the best, because high heat causes rapid thc release, and it releases into your medium. in this case, cooking oil.

dont be afraid to go too high on the heat. as far as i know, you cant go too high on heat as long as you have the transfer medium right there.

Sighs. Talking about 'doing your homework and understanding the principals'.

Bogoljub, If you've returned from your recent month long ban with the intention of making a useful contribution to the site and it's forums, then welcome back.
However, if you're just posting on this thread as a provocation or to re-start your vendetta against me, I'd rather you didn't.

To give you the benefit of the doubt, in order to understand what mobyone is talking about (rather than reading and replying to just one post), you'd need to spend a little time trying to understand what it is that we're trying to achieve in this method and the techniques involved.

In order to do that you'll need to read through the thread and understand the differences between: the 'low' and 'high' settings on a crock pot (and how they vary depending on make and size), the differences between temperatures in Celsius and Fahrenheit, and what the difference actually is between a 'low' and 'high' temperature as far as cooking is concerned.

You''ll find it easier to offer advice to people once you've had first-hand experience in preparing and making your own capsules.
Good luck.

So my first attempt worked amazingly, but every try after that has failed. Here is what I did, I replaced butter with coconut oil and found larger capsules. I also got a new slow cooker. This means that there are a lot of new variables.

Hi again spector, how's it going?

The easy answer I guess would be to suggest going back to how you did it the first time. 'If it ain't broke. . .' etc
However, if you're after a slightly more scientific answer, I'm thinking (given what you've already said) that the crock pot is your biggest change (i.e. how much temperature is being applied).
Can you remember what setting it was on and for how long etc, also, the quantities used: oil and weed?

As a (wild) guess, I suspect it may have been running at too high a temperature (was it set on high?). Although it's not uncommon for the weed to turn brown during cooking, normally the oil itself is a pretty dark green-ish colour when done.

Once we sort out the differences between the two methods you've tried you'll be on to a sure-fire winner, especially given you've now got coconut oil and the bigger sized caps.

Good work :thumbsup:

[buttyrekka]

cheers flameon for a top post!.
i made these using hash of my last northern lights crop(which was made with the CWE technique),the resulting caps were very potent and well worth the effort.
does anyone know whether different strains result in different highs?.also i'm sure that using a better grade of hash results in a higher potency in the caps(i used A grade the finest i made),maybe explaining the lacklustre results others posters have reported.

[EmoRebellion]

Great thread, I just have a couple questions. I just ordered my capsules and coconut oil from amazon. Did I get the right stuff?

I can just stick a ceramic coffee mug inside of my crock pot, and use that? Will that still transfer all the heat correctly? Should I use the 'low' or 'warm' setting? I dont want to over/under cook my stuff..

Thanks again!