Hey everyone, contrary to popular belief this is way easier than folks believe. All you need is a good supply of dry feedstock and a high quality 99% food grade Ethanol, a pan, coffee filters, funnel, glass jar and that is literally about it!
I harvested some cannabis from my only two plants late Summer. I would have liked to leave them for a longer period of time sadly the weather was against me had I have done that would have probably lost everything. Saying that I did not have an endless supply of feedstock 400 grams wet and after 2 weeks dried down to 40 grams. Crazy how 90% of that was water.
I took the dry Cannabis feedstock and crushed it, as well as I could with my hands. I then put it into a 750ml glass bottle (stalks and all) and added around 500ml Ethanol. Be sure to always do this outside and do not use an open flame EVER, you will have a big explosion as Ethanol is highly flammable.
Before putting this mixture on to the hotplate I put it in the fridge over night to decarbonate as well as to leave it as long as possible to make sure all the THC and CBD leeches into the Ethanol!
I then strained this magic mixture through a coffee filter into a stainless steel pan. Took everything outside (hotplate, pan and Ethanol Cannabis mix) and turned on medium. Always do this in a well ventilated area and make sure there are no 'fire hazards' around. A fan blowing the fumes in the opposite direction is always recommended and a hose or fire extinguisher close at hand highly recommended in the unlikely event of a fire. NO OPEN FLAMES EVER!
How stunning is that bright healthy green right?
Basically the process from here is simple. As the mixture reduces much like that of a good gravy turn the temp down to a mild simmer. Spray the mixture every so often with a fine water mist spray. This will also evaporate and eliminate any residual alcohol. Ethanol is recommended over other commonly used products such as Isopropyl as it is way safer. In the event any residual Ethanol left over the toxicity will not be of concern in the case of Benzine/Iso etc not so much. Just the purest form or food grade ethanol and you will be gold.
Make sure the cannabis oil is reduced to a point where it no longer bubbles, turn on very low spray one last time with fine water mist, once bubbling has stopped and while the mixture is still warm put into syringes or whatever else you plan to dispense from.
My plan was not to consume at all. I wanted to make a nice skin ailment repair and moisturizer, I was however presented a challenge. Since the volume of oil I produced was very low around 4 grams only I had it all over the pan, I had to think quick as I did not want it to burn. I then poured around 100 grams of coconut oil in the pan mixed right up and 'HEY PRESTO' my moisturizer was made and ready once cooled, easier then I had anticipated. Nice thing too was the pan was relatively easy to clean as the coconut oil had removed all the cannabis oil much like a hot soapy water on an oily pan, Bliss!!
After the full process I was left with around 4 grams of oil. I can now say with confidence that you harvest 1 kg of wet cannabis you can expect around 10 grams of oil at the end of it all!
Have a super week further, lets hope we see a $14 000 Bitcoin by the end of the week? Really hoping Steem catches up now it really has been way down for way too long now don't you think?
Cheer$;)
