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What Types Of Solvent Can I Use To Make Hemp Oil/rick S.s Oil?

Discussion in 'Medical Marijuana Usage and Applications' started by Sacerdotal, May 31, 2013.

  1. I see many American like to use Everclear. I am in Bulgaria so I can't buy that. Some say isopropyl alcohol is good. Others say pure naphta is good but also more dangerous or difficult to evaporate. Are there other options? What about Vodka?
     
    And should the Isopropyl alcohol be 100% or 90% or whatever %? Should it be food grade or any other grade? I can buy from a chemical store that is AR grade (Analytical Reagents), which is like lab grade. Would that work? Any other suggestions?

     
  2. I'm not very knowledgable with oils, but if you end up using isopropyl try to get as high of a percent as possible. I think 99% is the purest concentration available, but 91% will work too.
     
  3. the rest of the % is water, right?
     
  4.  
    It depends on the type of alcohol but the general answer is yes and any thing over 151 Proof or 75% will work.  The exception is ethanol in the USA.  In order to insure that people are paying their sin tax they will add something to the 99% ethanol to make you puke if you buy the stuff that has not been taxed as booze and drink it.  Probably antabuse.  Vodka and Everclear are more or less the same thing once you are over 75% alcohol.
     
  5. #5 Sacerdotal, Jun 1, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 1, 2013
    there ain't no 75% Vodka here that I know of. What about Isopropyl Alcohol and naphta?
     
  6.  
    Both Isopropyl Alcohol and Naphtha work well.  I dislike Naphtha for the pollution it spreads and the pollution the cook is exposed to while making the medicine.  Hexane and Butane also work but are just as bad as Naphtha for environmental pollution.
     
      The issue with using alcohol is dealing with the water that is in it.  The higher the % alcohol the less water you will have to get rid of once the alcohol is gone.
     
    You can reduce the amount of what ever solvent you use and there fore the cooking time required to make the medicine by starting with Kief or Hash instead of leaf or bud.  Dry sifting the kief off the plant material is easy but time consuming.  The shortened cooking time reduces the chance if hurting the medicine by over cooking it.  You're not really saving any time as far as process goes but are reducing the cost of solvent and the risk of having the batch flop when you cook it.
     
  7. Thanks, man. Does the water in Isopropyl alcohol change the temperature at which the solvent is evaporated? Does the needed temp increase or decrease? I am fine with having some water in my final product. I will just have to take a bit more of it.
     
  8. #8 Asthmatic, Jun 3, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 3, 2013
    my best guess is when there is not enough alcohol left in the boiler to carry away the BTU applied by the heat source you are using the temperature will begin to climb to the boiling temperature of the remaining water.  Everything has it's own boiling temperature Isopropyl boils around 180.5F (82.5C)  As long as you stay at or below the boiling temperature of water your below the boiling temperature of the cannabinoids your after but there is something else going on that seems to involve cooking time.  Cannabinoids are turpens, like turpentine they will still cook away over time and depending on how much water you end with and how much cannabinoids your recovering the cannabinoids can be gone before the water and you get a nasty useless sludge.  Mind you a successful cook will end with nasty sludge too it just wont be useless.
     
    The other big issue is that hash oil is an oil and things can get a little energetic towards the end if you try to boil off all the water.  Think deep fried water and you will get the idea I hope.  Little unrecoverable blobs of hash oil all over your cloths that will not wash out no mater what you do.  Maybe a small hot oil burn here or there.
     
  9. I have come to the conclusion that Petroleum Ether AR grade (lab grade, 99.9% pure) is the best choice. It is similar to Naphtha but without that many impurities or additives.
     
  10. keep us posted
     
  11. isopropyl 91% works very nicely.  i use isopropyl in a topical lotion. i don't think you would want to use it in an oral or edible application.
     
  12. I have made my fair share of iso oil and i definitely advise using 99% iso because the 91% and the 71% as well both have water for the other 9 or 29% but there are also "other active ingredients" that are there to keep alcoholics from drinking it. But that stuff gets in your concentrates as well. I have seen a huge difference between color, sheen, quality, and texture between 4 seperate batches 2 using 99 and 2 using 91 ( ran out of 99 that day). Please for your lungs use the 99
     
  13. #13 bidzer, Jun 10, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 10, 2013
  14. I just called them.  It's a special order item $34/gallon
     
  15.  
    At that price ETOH becomes attractive again.
     
  16. practicality usually ends up meaning butane.. i.e obtainabilty, purity, ease to work with.
    many solvents are fine, hexanes, pentanes, just a case of removing them afterwards right? ;-)
     
  17. The absolute cleanest solvent you could use would be chloroform. That being said, an old fire extinguisher can make you some dry ice to go a much cleaner route.... 
     
    I will not hand out that particular set of instructions however for obvious legal reasons. I won't be responsible if you harm yourself.
     
  18. #19 seaf0ur, Jun 11, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 11, 2013
    Why wouldnt you use a ethanol? at least you can get that in a state fit for human consumption.
     
     
    you almost always have residual organic solvent in your sample unless you take pains to remove it thoroughly. Simple evaporation almost never removes all of the solvent unless the compound crystallizes.
     
    You would need to dry a compound for at least 24 hours in a vacuum oven if you want it clean without any traces of solvent.
     
    Bubble, Dry sift, even Dry Ice...... but you wouldn't catch me solvent again.
     
  19.  
    I still think it is also about the pollution we release into the environment and spread around the planet.  One thing if we recover the solvents and reuse them another to add them to global warming or create a brown field.
     

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