This is the journal of my BHO runs as I attempt to produce a clear amber batch of BHO. Please post any of your BHO journals or tips and tricks here. I took my method from stupidstuff and I suggest anybody looking to make BHO read his tutorial @ http://forum.grasscity.com/harvesti...bho-pass-testing-really-nice-wax-shatter.html He has been a great source of knowledge for me. Long story short, I produced a semi-clear pale golden rod colored batch from my first two attempts, but the taste was all jacked up. It had no upfront taste and had a chemmi almost butane like taste at the end. 2ND ATTEMT AT CLEAR AMBER BHO W/ GROWER SHAKE ( Not bad but, far from StupidStuff) (1st wasn't a huge success and was quickly turned into canna butter, I'll link to that process later) I have made BHO before but I was definitely not making anything special... Very green almost black but still a quality smoke. After reading Stupidstuff's tutorial I decided to give his method a shot. Here is a list of the tools I used to get the job done (most of this you can get online but I tried to list local retailers for those of us who are impatient): -1 Oz. Grower Shake... Not tasty smokin' -Oil Dish - Etsy or your local shop -Nesco Dehydrator (This particular unit come with the fruit tray which is perfect for shake) - Nesco® American Harvest® Snackmaster® Encore™ Dehydrator and Jerky Maker - Bed Bath & Beyond -Extraction tube - Your local quality shop or search eBay or etsy for honey oil extractor -Unbleached coffee filters x 2 - anywhere -8x8 Pyrex Pan - Wally World -12x16 Electric skillet - DeLonghi Skillet - Bed Bath & Beyond -Vector 5X Butane - Local shop or Amazon.com: Vector Quintuple Refined Butane Gas Fuel Refill 12 Can: Patio, Lawn & Garden -Infrared Themometer - Non-Contact Infrared Thermometer-IR001 at The Home Depot -Oil Warmer & Tea Candles - Anywhere that sells candles or http://www.bathandbodyworks.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12475826&cp=12586994.12936200.11207212 -Paint Scraper - Home Depot -Vacuum Container (Extremely poor man's Edition) - http://www.basspro.com/FoodSaver-Designer-Canister-Set/product/45534/ -Foodsaver Container replacement hose (You will need this for the container and it is only available online or with a new FoodSaver) - Amazon.com: Tilia Foodsaver Accessory Hose: Home & Kitchen -Hand Vacuum Pump - Harbor Freight Brake Bleeder and Vacuum Pump Kit I started out with 1 Oz of grower shake which I placed on the fruit try of the dehydrator at 105 F for 4 hrs. After dehydration I ran the shake through my grinder to get as fine a product as possible. Also the .7 g of keif in the grinder is a nice bonus ... Inside Temp 72 F Outside Temp 55 F Then I put they ground shake into the tube. I sealed off the open end with two coffee filters and the pipe clamp that came with the tube. A towel is a good idea because the tube will get very cold, so I took a zip tie and attached one(the towel adds a little protection during use/storage so I just leave it attached)... A few steps are missing photos because well I just didn't take pictures... I set my fan up out back and blasted one 320ml can of Vector through my tube in the Pyrex dish. Then I moved the Pyrex dish to my water bath set up in the electric skillet I had a few feet away. The dish sat in the 120-130 F water bath for approximately 20 minutes until no more liquid butane was left in the dish. Once I observed no more reaction I moved the Pyrex dish and the skillet inside to be scraped. I have to do it in this order because I do not have a vacuum chamber larger enough to fit my Pyrex dish inside. And here is the dish.... Now here is where a few photo are staged or slightly out of order but you'll see the concept.. .. .. ..so now that I have the Pyrex dish inside, I placed it back into the 130 F water bath to keep the Pyrex warm while scraping. I also had my oil dish in the candle warmer which was keeping the dish around 130 F. This was an attempt to keep the oil warm until vacuum. I then scrapped the Pyrex dish and moved the oil to the oil dish it would be stored in. The entire time having either the Pyrex or oil dish on a heat source keeping it around 130 F, just depending on which one I was working with at the time. Once I had thoroughly scrapped the Pyrex into the oil dish I moved it into the vacuum chamber I made. ( the golf balls are just there to displace air so there is air less to vacuum out... its a cheap pump and takes forever to get to vacuum) I then used the hand vacuum to get the container to -22 inHg and waited for about 10 minutes. I released the vacuum and the put oil dish back on the candle warmer. Once it reached 150 F I took the oil dish back to -22 inHg in the vacuum chamber for about 10 minutes. I repeated this process 2 more times and the finally increased the vacuum to -26 inHg. I left it under vacuum at -26 inHg for 30 minutes. This is what the finished product looked like... After the final weigh in I yielded 1.4 g of oil for the 1 oz of grower shake. Not great numbers, considering I usually yield 1.8 g per 1/2 oz of good flower with my old method, but I didn't expect much. The shake is more for educational purposes than enjoyment so no big deal. Once I get the method perfected I'll be making a batch with fine flowers immediately. The finished product had both clear and cloudy oil from the same batch treated the same way. I think that may have something to do with whipping the oil when it was in the water bath outside to get the bubbles out. Other than that I did not mix or fold over any of the oil once it was in the oil dish. Either way the color is pretty close but definitely lacks that amber quality of stupidstuff's honey oil. Lastly but most concerning is the taste of the oil. In the past my greenish black oil has had a distinct full canna taste but this product does not really have much of an upfront taste at all. The aftertaste however is almost a chemically, possibly butane like taste, that I have never experienced before except the 1st time I tried Stupidstuff's method. The taste may have been in prior batches but just masked by the canna taste, either way definitely not as strong of a chem taste. From what you have seen what do you think I can do to both improve the taste and clarity of my oil? Any idea of where I am going wrong?
First off it looks just fine, the color is great. You have the process down you just need to tune things a bit. Dont grind the bud/shake. Pack it really tight in the tube and use two to three cans all at once, to get your yield up. Keep the temp down to 100 for shatters and if you can not reach a full vacuum I would just turn it into honey at a temp of 140-160 over night, then vac it. It would be really nice in the honey form and still quite tasty. I would suggest a vacuum pump as your next purchase. Hope this helps and sorry for the late response as I was out of town.
Nice thanks for the advice. I'm going to run a batch tonight and ill post the results tomorrow. Really appreciate the help.
3RD ATTEMT AT CLEAR AMBER BHO W/ GROWER SHAKE Stole the format from stupidstuff... Seems to be a much more efficient way to show the results -Outdoor Temp: 39 F -Indoor Temp: 68 F -Relative humidity: 73% -Dehydration temperature: 110 -Dehydration time: 2 Hours -Number of glass tubs per 8x8 dish: 1 -Number of cans of Butane: 1.5 cans Vector -Purge temps/times Outdoor Bath: 140 F until no reaction Indoor Bath: 140 - 160 F for 12 Hrs.. Temp reached 167 at one point Vaccum: 10 min -22inHg, release, 10 min -22inHg, release, 20 min -28inHg -Amount at starting point, dehydrated: 1 oz. Grower Shake -Yield: 1.1 grams :-( -Final consistency: Semi-Dry Clay -Notes: The finished product was very light only 1.1 grams of oil. I did not grind the product after it was decarbed it and tried to pack it was tight as possible. With my tube that wasn't very tight so I think that my have attributed to the weight loss. The oil never did show the same clear consistency as my previous batch. Also used a Foodsaver vacuum sealer to bring the container to full vacuum. The taste still remains the same and I think that has to do with the grade of product I'm starting with. Dehydrator setup.. Tools.. Outdoor Bath.. Close up of the Oil inside at the start of the bath.. After after 2 hrs in the bath I ran a fork across all of the little bubbles to pop them.. Dish after 12 hrs in the indoor bath.. Oil in the dish before Vacuum.. Oil in dish after Vacuum..
ime shake is hit or miss as far as yield is concerned. buds are more predictable. The only way to get clear amber is to filter out waxes, lipids, and other materials that are extracted along with the goodies. i believe the food vacs definitely do not pull 29 hg or even close. at 29 hg water will boil at room temp so you could see if water boils in your vac. I would recommend performing a secondary extraction with ethanol unless you can afford an electric vac that will pull a real vacuum. even with true vacuum i doubt you would get clear amber because of the lipids and stuff that were also extracted. there's a link in my sig to performing secondary extractions and cleaning up your bho. I guarantee you could have amber your first try.
Fuck... I'm gonna look like an asshole, but I'm seeing a lot of errors, and I really just wanna see you get the best oil you can. That oil looks awful, you whipped it, and it buddered up pretty much making it impossible to remove the remaining butane inside the oil. I've said this many times, but if you whip your oil, you're gonna have a bad time. Unless you want budder, there's no reason to be whipping your oil. DON'T WHIP YOUR OIL. I don't care if you think it pops the bubbles quicker, it's going to hurt the quality of your oil. Second, DO NOT BLAST NEAR ELECTRICITY. The tools we use aren't designed to be used in extremely flammable situations. They can cause sparks, and you will catch fire if it happens. I've seen someone light themselves on fire using an electric kettle. It's worth the extra time to be safe, and not go to jail. Third, find something to lightly cover your pyrex so nothing falls into it. Fourth, ditch the food processor. If you can't get a proper electric vacuum pump there's no point in trying to find a substitute, because they're never reach the vacuum needed to pull out the majority of the butane. You, best off just going non-vac tek, and just using heat. Don't use water bathes indoors. You'll raise the humidity in your room, and introduce a ton of steam to your oil which also contributes to autobuddering. Use a hot plate, and just let your oil sit around 130f for a few hours. Follow what I've said, and you'll eventually get this. http://i.imgur.com/RBSzz.jpg
That oil looks fine and not every batch will turn out like the pic in your link. Anyone who says so is full of it or just doing really small runs with bud only. If he wanted it clear he could easily fix it with heat or a ethanol wash. Most people want budder or hash when doing a small run as it wont have the time to degrade and taste better than wax/shatter. So arguing how fast it will degrade is pointless unless you are planing to store it. Also it may have butane in it but i can make the same stuff without any so not all BHO hash/budder is full of tane and only a test will be certain. He has the process down and since I am not there I will not assume it is a dangerous situation. I extract indoors near several electronics, have for a long time and still here with all my hair. Proper ventilation is all that is needed. His hand vacuum is fine to learn on and better than nothing as they go to -25inhg, it would be better at a higher vacuum but... I used a hand vac to great results in the beginning. Also whipping is how I make clear shatter.
I would never recommend whipping as it takes skill to do it properly and not make budder, a skill which I have not developed. I can't say I would recommend a hand vac at any point as I believe the money would be better saved to purchase a two stage electric vac or better spent on a bottle of everclear.
I just noticed that the OP is using a dehydrator to get his stuff decarboxylated. <-EDIT: This is a mistake I made. He is just dehydrating and NOT decarboxylating. My bad! The rest of what I say holds true if he was, however. Stupidstuff either misread my post or doesn't know what decarboxylation is. You will never obtain shatter with stuff that is decarboxylated and that is because the thc compound that is the byproduct of the decarb process will not solidify at room temp. This is not saying you won't end up with potent extracts using decarboxylated material, quite the opposite. You will just never get something that is hard and brittle at room temp.
This is true and you must do the whipping at a temp lower than 100 or budder it is. Everclear is as much as 10% water. Which is why i dont use it. The good 96% or higher ethanol requires a license.
The everclear I purchase is 95% ethanol. I highly doubt it is 90% straight out of the bottle. 190 Proof is not legal every where. Unless you have some evidence to back this claim up like the distillery is shoddy and lets the ethanol sit exposed to air for long periods of time I call BS. We shouldn't post things like that without evidence. All alcohols at high purity (over 90%) start to pull in water from the air the moment the two come into contact. your "better" ethanol will start out at 96% but become more and more watered down the longer it is in contact with air. It would be identical to 190 proof everclear. 96% and 95% are so damn close that I really HIGHLY doubt if you made two extracts side by side with the two ethanols you would be able to tell the difference. The trick is minimizing the alcohols contact with air using sealed jars. Also, in case you didn't know, the alcohol molecules bond with water. That means that when you purge, as long as you cannot detect a hint of alcohol you can be sure that your product is water free as the water will have evaporated as part of the alcohol molecule. All the oil I make with Everclear, 190 proof, 95% ethanol comes out beautiful.
Plant matter that is fully decarbed 100% will not give you hash that solidifies at room temp. Look at my thread where I ran a secondary extraction on reclaim. Reclaim is absolutely decarbed and no matter what you try you cannot turn that shit to something that hardens at room temp.
Dont be an ass. I have proven MANY times I know what I am talking about and I use a dehydrator on EVERY run I do. I get hard shatter when ever I try. I simply turn the heat down and extend the dehydration time. Funny how you spout information contrary to what I produce every time. My thread in my sig is proof enough. Your stuff looks great and I would not say otherwise nor would I accuse someone of freezing there material. Also I make as nice as stuff as you with less effort. I will get a shot of my shatter with a thermometer on it if that helps but I dont need to prove anything.
you failed to address the fact that you have no clue whether or not your material is totally decarbed.
I dont care either way. I only care about the final product. You seem to though. You claimed his was decarbed and would never get shatter with a dehydrator. I said he could and you argued your self into a wall. With equal post I will let my rep speak for itself since it was all gained with my product and advice.