Polishing extracts

Lab Rat;2329003 said:

Filtering
Why go through all the trouble of reducing chlorophyll uptake to then use a cheesecloth? Besides not filtering very well it gets wet and you end up losing product. Use coffee filters, solids will get stuck, that's the idea of filtering.

Winterizing
When extracting THC and CBD some lipids and plant waxes will get into your alcohol turning into a shade of green. An easy way to get rid of them is to stick your alcohol in the freezer for about 48 hours at -18C/0F, for the waxes to coagulate. The waxes will precipitate out of solution as the temperature drops and clump together so that they are easily filtered out with a standard coffee filter. THC and CBD will not be affected by temperature so only the unwanteds will be filtered out.

Removing minor green coloration:
After increasing the PH of your ethanol, winterizing and filtering you will still see a green hue to your solvent. These green hues are easily removed by putting your alcohol prior to evaporation but after winterizing and filtering in sunlight or a light from a high UV source, like a grow lamp.
The UV radiation in the sunlight will quickly break down the chlorophyll and cause your oil to look more amber like pancake syrup.

UV radiation also destroys cannabinoids, but fortunately at a much slower rate, so this last step requires careful monitoring and leaving it out the bare minimum of time.

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