HappyFunBall's first alcohol tincture

I recently picked up a quarter of nice bud in order to make some alcohol tincture. I've never had one before, but I read that they are convenient to take on the go, don't create smell like smoking, and have a long shelf-life. Since my state (Oregon) is one of those where pure grain alcohol (190 proof) is legal, I decided to go with that. I picked up some glass containers, dropper bottles, and cheese cloth from the local heath food store (New Seasons is awesome!). For this first attempt I'm not putting much time or effort into it, so I skipped the decarb, fine grind (e.g. with electric grinder), and boiling steps that some recipes call for.

Instead I just used the same manual grinder I normally use for joints and threw then threw the 3 grams into a glass container. I poured in enough grain alcohol to cover it and then some. Then mixing. Now we wait.

190 proof?

I like your style!

... so I skipped the decarb, fine grind (e.g. with electric grinder), and boiling steps that some recipes call for.

Instead I just used the same manual grinder I normally use for joints and threw then threw the 3 grams into a glass container. I poured in enough grain alcohol to cover it and then some. Then mixing. Now we wait.

Hope you have enough herb to tide you over for the better portion of a year while you wait!...

Before we learned to decarb first, when we used herb of varying age with varying quantities of decarboxylated content, most alcohol tinctures were often aged for 6 - 12 months before achieving notable potency, even when jump-started with heat first.


It's why we have so many 'why isn't my Dragon working?' threads... hundreds of them. Give it a few months, and it starts working better and better.


They can certainly effect you sooner, but only if you consume (waste) several doses per each functional dose. This is to compensate for what material isn't active, then on top of that, what your body simply can not absorb yet.




Meaning, whatever it takes you to give you a buzz in the next month or so, imagine getting five or six doses from that same amount in six months or so from now.


And that is why we have so much dosage discrepancy! Premature 'tastings' and improper processing methods.



Hope this helps clear things up... good luck, and have fun!

Before we learned to decarb first, when we used herb of varying age with varying quantities of decarboxylated content, most alcohol tinctures were often aged for 6 - 12 months before achieving notable potency, even when jump-started with heat first.

Ah, thanks for the heads up!

They can certainly effect you sooner, but only if you consume (waste) several doses per each functional dose.

I'll probably end up doing just that. I'm also planning to do another 3g tincture (with the same bud), but with a decarb step, then compare the results.

OK, I'm now decarbing (220F for 25 minutes) three more grams of the same bud and then I'm going to do another room-temp extract with the pure grain alcohol.

I'm thinking about making a full quarter worth of this stuff. Definitely decarbing for like 45 minutes beforehand though hahah. Will still probably wait like 3 months to touch the stuff even after that cause I don't want to use heat. Let me know what the high is like with the decarbed version. How muh alcohol did you use per gram btw?

3 gs is not enough tree to make a decent tinc out of it.

3 gs is not enough tree to make a decent tinc out of it.

and why wouldn't it be? You can use as much as 0.3g if you only want one dose, 3g's is fine imo. But if someone decides to wait multiple months before consuming, its kind of a shame that you'll only get a handfull of doses.

Also BKS: are you saying that alcohol tinctures that are made using a double boiler on low heat for ,lets say an hour, (and a decarb beforehand) are not that effective? I tried it this way before and was almost as pleased with the results in comparison with the tincture i made playing the waiting game.

And in another thread you mentioned that potency is lost using the heat-method. Could you explain why? I always assumed nothing got lost/damaged since we use temps far below the boiling point, and a hot solvent is more efficient (in terms of speed)

Edited by Jezn, 26 June 2012 - 03:53 PM.

^^^^ yea it would be pointless to do it that small. I make 8-10 oz of moon shine and use about 4 oz of trim and popcorn buds. Shit is dank and last for days.

Let me know what the high is like with the decarbed version.

Sure thing.

How much alcohol did you use per gram btw?

I'm not sure. If I knew the weight of my dropper bottle, I could find the amount of alcohol in grams (which could be converted to milliliters I'm sure).

Sure thing.

I'm not sure. If I knew the weight of my dropper bottle, I could find the amount of alcohol in grams (which could be converted to milliliters I'm sure).

If you're using a dropper bottle that pretty much answers my question. Too lazy to reread the original post but I was looking for ounces of alcohol. I'm assuming your dropper is like 2oz's or so. You've gotta let me know how that goes. I'm not gonna bother with a dropper cause I want a fun liquor drink for special occasions but 3g's to 2floz's should be nice.

Edit: reread your post, you said that you covered it with just enough alcohol. That answers my question, my bad hahaha

This makes me want to do some research on this.

and why wouldn't it be? You can use as much as 0.3g if you only want one dose, 3g's is fine imo. But if someone decides to wait multiple months before consuming, its kind of a shame that you'll only get a handfull of doses.

Also BKS: are you saying that alcohol tinctures that are made using a double boiler on low heat for ,lets say an hour, (and a decarb beforehand) are not that effective? I tried it this way before and was almost as pleased with the results in comparison with the tincture i made playing the waiting game.

And in another thread you mentioned that potency is lost using the heat-method. Could you explain why? I always assumed nothing got lost/damaged since we use temps far below the boiling point, and a hot solvent is more efficient (in terms of speed)

After heating for an hour or two, your tincture can certainly provide effects.. if you over-consume.


After a few weeks, then months, you'll start to notice that half that amount, then a quarter or less the amount it took on the first day, can provide you with stronger, longer-lasting sensations.
Alcohol can strip glandular material VERY fast from the inert plant matter, but it takes a lot more time to form a solution than oil, and as such it is not nearly as protected or contained.. oxidization/degradation of a chemical occurs less readily in oil, than in water or watery-alcohol, think how we prevent and treat cars for rust; linseed and other oils!... the bioavailability of both glycerin AND alcohol tinctures improve with age in a cool location. Unlike oil, where a solution can easily be made and formed by the end of a relatively quick heating process, with alcohol and glycerin we use heat to, not really to begin the process or the formation of the solution, but more to soften, melt and distribute the glandular material, so that later a solution may occur.


If you try to rush with additional heat, beyond a few hours, you will begin to degrade potency, long before it produces a very bioavailable solution. If herb that was not pre-decarbed is used, you can even degrade THCA, into CBNA, and finally create the products of total degradation, before the carboxyl group can dissipate to form active THC.

If you're using a dropper bottle that pretty much answers my question. Too lazy to reread the original post but I was looking for ounces of alcohol. I'm assuming your dropper is like 2oz's or so. You've gotta let me know how that goes. I'm not gonna bother with a dropper cause I want a fun liquor drink for special occasions but 3g's to 2floz's should be nice.

Edit: reread your post, you said that you covered it with just enough alcohol. That answers my question, my bad hahaha

Fun drinks?

A bit of 'Deja vu', since I just shared these again in another thread... but you do have options, whether you use alcohol, glycerin, or even oil.


You can make it diluted if you want, or more concentrated.. it will be good for drinks either way. The more concentrated it is, the more room that leaves you for the correct ratio of alcohol or shots required, for specific mixed drinks.


Drinkables








http://forum.grassci...=1&d=1296496392



















(All natural coloring from a Green Dragon..)


(And edible-drinkables )

Edited by BadKittySmiles, 26 June 2012 - 07:15 PM.

Yesterday I took two dropper-fulls of the decarbed tincture, but it was only enough to give me a subtle buzz. I would guess that two droppers is maybe a tenth of the total amount, so it should correspond to approximately 0.3 grams. I have a very low tolerance, so just 0.1 grams (smoked) is enough to get me baked out of my mind.

something went wrong if that is the case..

but i don't know what, can you explain your process in detail?

and thx BKS for another informative post!

but i don't know what, can you explain your process in detail?

Sure.

• Weigh out 3.0g of good bud
• Grind manually with the same grinder I use to make joints (i.e. not as fine as many tincture recipes call for)
• Spread the bud out on some foil, fold so it has an air pocket.
• Seal up the foil air tight
• Preheat to 220F for 10 minutes
• Bake at 220F for 25 minutes
• Take out bud and let cool for 5 minutes
• Put bud in 1oz dropper bottle
• Pour enough grain alcohol into bottle to cover bud and then some. 1oz dropper bottle is approximately 2/3 full.
• Shake and leave at room temperature
• After approximately 24 hours, take two dropperfulls in a glass of water
• Nice buzz after about an hour.

Now that I think about it, perhaps two dropperfulls are probably not really 1/10th of the alcohol. Maybe more like 1/30th (equivalent of 0.1g)?

Yesterday, I counted 45 drops total (two dropperfulls), but today I did a little measurement and found that I could easily get 40 drops from one dropperful. Plus I did some weight measurements and found that I get about 0.017g per drop. So yesterday I took ~0.8g of the tincture. The total weight (including the glass bottle itself) is 70.7g. If we assume half of that is the glass (I don't have another to weigh right now), then that leaves 35g of alcohol. If that's correct, the dose I took yesterday was 1/40 of the bottle. Based on that, I tripled the dose today to 2.3g of alcohol tincture. Now to wait and see what happens...

Yesterday, I counted 45 drops total (two dropperfulls), but today I did a little measurement and found that I could easily get 40 drops from one dropperful. Plus I did some weight measurements and found that I get about 0.017g per drop. So yesterday I took ~0.8g of the tincture. The total weight (including the glass bottle itself) is 70.7g. If we assume half of that is the glass (I don't have another to weigh right now), then that leaves 35g of alcohol. If that's correct, the dose I took yesterday was 1/40 of the bottle. Based on that, I tripled the dose today to 2.3g of alcohol tincture. Now to wait and see what happens...

If you want to know the weight of any liquid, simply find the density, and multiply by the volume.

Take your 1oz alcohol for example. The density of ethanol, according to google, is 789kg/m3. To get this into a usable quantity, divide both sides by 1000, and change the sign to grams. This gives you .789g/ml.

A fluid oz contains 29.57 ml, multiplied by .789g, gives your 1 oz of everclear a weight of 23.4g.

Oh yeah, that did the trick. I am definitely baked.

This thread has me excited to make a tincture! I've never done it before, but alcohol seems like the method I want to use.
My friend has a recipe that calls for 1/2 ounce of bud and trimmings
decarbing at 225 for 5 minutes
Then 2 cups of high alcohol content liquor
Then like three months of waiting, while you give it a good shake once a day.