SweetSue's info from Reddit

SweetSue;3156368 said:

I stumbled over this just now. Enticing, eh? I was looking for information on the effects of the freeze/thaw on cannabis oils. There's this perception that we can't freeze the oils, and I'm not certain that's correct. It may not be advisable to freeze long-term, and I'd appreciate hearing the views of the room on this point. My understanding is that the freeze would simply help break the components into smaller and smaller bits, that ultimately would make them more bioavailable.

I hope the link is acceptable, but if not, it should be a simple matter to get to the site (web archive.org) and find it yourself. The comments are always where the most learning goes on. In those comments EdiblesOnly mentions that he had a significant bump in potency when he worked out his freeze/thaw process.

I think this is what I'll use for the batch I'm making for my daughter this week.

My Cannabis Oil Process

My Cannabis Oil Process - by EdiblesOnly

"Let me start by giving some background information about myself:

I am a biochemistry student, and I love and respect cannabis greatly. For the longest time, my main method of enjoyment was through vaporizers. I would be able to enjoy the taste and potency more fully and efficiently.

Unfortunately, 8 months ago I had a spontaneous lung collapse. I was hospitalized for around 3 weeks and had to have lung surgery to prevent future collapses. I have found now that if I try vaporizing, I will experience a lot of discomfort in that lung, and being high and feeling chest pain of any sort is never fun.

Instead of giving up, I turned to a new form of using cannabis that I had only briefly explored: edibles. Fast foward 7 months and many many failed/test batches. I feel like I can safely say that I can make high quality cannabis oil by focusing on enhancing efficiency.

Even though only ~30% of the THC is processed by our bodies, it is broken down into several cannabinoid metabolites, the main one being 11-Hydroxy-THC which has been shown to be 4-5 times stronger than normal THC. This is why people regularly report experiencing "trip-like" effects/visuals from having larger edible doses.

So here are the essential tools and the ones I use:

Coconut Oil: Coconut oil is the best choice for our cannabis edibles for several reasons. The first is that it consists of 100% saturated fat, which is exactly what is needed for cannabinoid absorption. Coconut oil also consists of ~66%Medium-Chain Triglycerides which are the perfect size to be easily absorbed by our bodies without additional help from our bodies. For example, Long-Chain Triglycerides need to be broken down first, which takes energy.

I use the Nutiva brand mostly because it is by far the highest quality that I have been able to afford. I used to use a brand from wal-mart, and I have noticed a significant difference when I switched.

Crock Pot and Oven/Freezer Safe Tall Dish: This allows for consistent low heat, which is what we are looking for. Note: Do not put the oil directly into the crockpot unless you plan to make serious bulk. Often times using a smaller oven/freezer safe dish is much easier to handle and creates less waste. Souffle dishes and egg dishes for larger/smaller amounts respectively are perfect.

Soy Lecithin: Soy lecithin is an emulsifier that increases the bio-availability of the final oil, which essentially means that its easier for your body to absorb it in higher quantities. This is really optional, but there is definitely a noticeable difference in potency.

Here in the Study Hall we recommend liquid sunflower lecithin. There are good reasons for this that've been covered earlier.

Coffee Grinder and Small Brush: Our goal is to grind the cannabis as finely as possible such that it nearly becomes a kief-like powder so that most of it literally dissolves into our oil. You'll need a brush to minimize waste, and it's actually very fun to meticulously brush cannabis powder into your container.

Aluminum Foil, Sheet Pan

Of course, our lovely friend cannabis. I'm using a half oz of the finest cannabis that I could find for this.

Procedure:

1. Decarboxylation

First we must decarboxylate our cannabis. In raw cannabis, THCa is found in much larger quantities than our friend THC, and unfortunately it is much less psychoactive than THC. This is why eating raw cannabis does not produce much of an effect unless eaten in extremely large amounts. Our goal is to remove the Carboxyl group from THCa and convert it to THC by adding a certain amount of heat. The only other way to do this is through time itself, but it takes a tremendously long amount of time.

It is a misconception that decarboxylation is unnecessary due to the heat provided once the cannabis is actually in the oil. Unfortunately, the carboxyl-groups fall off at a much slower rate once the plant matter is heating in the oil, slowing the rate of decarboxylation dramatically. This is why we decarboxylate beforehand, ensuring that most of our THCa will be converted by the end of the process.

In order to do this, break your cannabis up into small popcorn-sized nugs and place them in your oven-safe dish. You'll be using this dish for the entire process so treat it well. Preheat the oven to ~225F. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and place on a sheet-tray for easy entry and removal.

Place it in the ~225F oven for 20-25 minutes, depending on how brittle the cannabis originally felt. Afterwards, allow the cannabis to naturally cool down for ~10 minutes. Then we get ready to grind.

2. Grinding Example Picture: Before and After Grinding

Your goal is to grind the cannabis as finely as possible. We grind after decarboxylating to ensure an even finer consistency. I strongly recommend taking your time with this step. It really pays off to focus on minimizing waste. There will be kief on the cover of the coffee grinder, and there will be powder in the nooks and crannies, but take the time to use your brush to get as much as you possibly can into your dish. Even if you only increase the overall potency by 2% for your work, remember that 2% is multiplied by 4-5x due to the nature of 11-Hydroxy-THC.

In the example picture, (sorry, no pictures were with this post, but we know what ground up cannabis looks like ) the ground up cannabis may appear to have clumps. This is from the cannabis being so finely ground that it is sticking to itself and forming temporary clumps which dissolve on contact with the oil.

3. Adding Lecithin and Oil

After grinding, the next step is to add your lecithin and oil. The soy lecithin depends on the ratio of the oil. I use a 3/4 tsp lecithin to 1 tbsp oil.

As for the oil, I figure out what I'm going to be using the oil for ahead of time and work from there. For example, for a batch of muffins, it takes 1/3 cup oil. Out of my half ounce of cannabis, I can make 2 7g batches of muffins, so I will add 2/3 cup oil, and use 1/3 in each batch.

4. Processing

Place your dish inside of the crockpot on low for 3 hours. Keep in mind that crock pots take a good ~20-25 minutes to actually get truly hot, so it is wise to turn it on before this step to allow it to pre-heat. Make sure you keep the lid on the crockpot for as long as possible to keep even heat. This will keep your oil at around ~195-210F which is what we want.

This could be done in the oven, in a closed jar, with an occasional shake. Just a thought.

After 3 hours, remove the dish and allow it to cool for ~20 minutes, and then place it inside of the freezer for a minimum of 2 hours.

To understand why freezing is important, we need to visualize the plant cells within the cannabis. They are essentially globules of liquid containing cannabinoids that we want to extract. Freezing them forces that liquid to take on a crystalline structure, piercing the plant cell walls and releasing the goodies. This even further increases the bioavailability of our final oil.

Yeah.... I caught this too. Cannabinoids are developed in the trichomes. The entire surface of the plant is covered with trichomes, most just one cell high, and therefore indistinguishable to the naked eye. The freezing breaks these open and then, apparently, continues a series of deconstructive processes that break the components down finer and finer. It surprised me that a student of the sciences missed this. There may well be components in the cell walls that come into play, but it's the oils we're interested in here, so we'll look past this slip.

After freezing, allow to reach room temp again for about ~15 minutes before placing back in the slow cooker. I suggest turning the slow cooker on after placing the dish back inside of it to let them slowly rise in temperature together. This lowers the risk of damaging the dish.

Heat inside the slow cooker for another 3 hours. I start the 3 hour countdown once the oil has liquidified again, as it will take about 30 minutes for it to no longer be solid.

Follow this by another 2 hour freeze. Afterwards, heat the oil again for another 3 hours and then you should have something resembling this: (Again, no picture. Sorry, but we know what good oil looks like too. )

Final Oil

It should be black enough to reflect the rim of the dish, like you see in the picture. It will be slightly thicker, and extremely potent.

While straining out the plant matter, you should notice it is significantly less than what we started with.
Be extremely careful with this oil as it is very potent.

Smaller doses are also possible. I can use an eighth of cannabis and make a personal batch of potent edibles that will last me for 24 days.

Wow! To have an eighth last 24 days! Not in my world.

I hope you enjoyed reading through this! If you have any questions or run into issues, please feel free to let me know!"

I've been thinking about the freeze/thaw cycle with oil since I first came across BadKitty and her tutorials over a year ago. Does anyone know why we were advised to not freeze the oil?

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