How to make whole bud cannacaps

There are many great contributors to these forums that have covered in detail ways to use oil to extract some of the cannabinoids and terpenes from flower. The main advantage of oil extraction is better taste of edibles as compared to leaving the bud in.

Also there are some people with stomachs that can become irritated by the tiny hairs that cover stems and leaves. If you don't have those issues, there's a simple method of making canna-coconut oil caps I've used for a while.

The most important step for any edible is getting decarboxylation time and temp right. About 5.5 grams of 22.5% THCA can be converted to est. mg of THC. 5.5 x .225 x .8 = 1.0 gm or 1000 mg (rounded). This should yield about 40 25 mg capsules.

Being in aluminum foil inside a mason jar, the flower loses less of its terpenes through evaporation. There will barely be any smell inside the oven so this is a stealthy way to decarb. I use 245° F for 45 minutes to allow for the insulating effect of the foil and glass, also letting the jar cool inside the oven.

After things have cooled down I put the jar in the freezer for at least an hour.

 

After decarb the color change is clearly visible.

Grind up with coffee grinder. I added about 1 tbsp of flour to the flower to weigh everything down for a finer grind. This is the end result.

 

This is about three tsp coconut oil, 1.2 gm of sunflower lecithin (1 capsule), a few drops of mint oil. It's heated to about 120 - 150°F. Pour the dry contents into oil and stir. Take off heat after a just a couple minutes.

The slurry will look like a pile of dogshit, but it is potent. This made 56 caps of about 17.8 mg.

Start to finish it was 6 1/2 hrs, but it's really about 10-15 minutes plus maybe 45 minutes fill 56 capsules. I'm set for 45 to 60 days.

 

I don't want to spout too much bro science, but as an emulsifier, the sunflower lecithin increases bio-availability of THC when combined with coconut oil. The mint oil I added to see if it works for cannabis aftertaste.(seems to be) 56 17.8 mg caps came in at about $.85 each.

Since I have size 0 caps they hold about .75 grams each so that's why I got 56, not 40. Smaller caps are harder to fill so I prefer size 00 which hold about a gram each. It's better to take these caps with a small meal. Using size 00 gives your stomach almost a gram of sat-fat to digest even without eating.

 

I fill the caps by sort of scooping the mixture (which is the consistency of clay or dough) with the capsule until full.

Yes, I could use a more liquid state of the slurry and fill the caps with a dropper, but either method is pretty methodical and slow and there are advantages/disadvantages of each. So, I add an inert dry ingredient to thicken it, until it becomes a solid.

Bottom line - as long as the mix is consistent from capsule to cap and you are happy with the effects - either way works. Or you could use it in any edible recipe. Don't have to put it in caps.