Decoding The Holy Grail: Terpene & Cannabinoid Retention: Decarb to Extraction

Kickin, et all,

My suspicion using the pressure cooker is that some of the terpenes would be lost thru the steam vent on the cooker. Even after it cools it is open to the atmosphere, even thru the little hole. I would be interested in a test someday, but I think you hit the nail on the head... that violent cooking is a lot to ask for terps to fall back in and integrate with solution... but it could. I would think there would be a small loss tho from the vent.

JMO

Dory is thinking again... Oh my!
Dory
 
My suspicion using the pressure cooker is that some of the terpenes would be lost thru the steam vent on the cooker. Even after it cools it is open to the atmosphere, even thru the little hole. I would be interested in a test someday, but I think you hit the nail on the head... that violent cooking is a lot to ask for terps to fall back in and integrate with solution... but it could. I would think there would be a small loss tho from the vent.
 
Lady Dory said:
Kickin, et all,

My suspicion using the pressure cooker is that some of the terpenes would be lost thru the steam vent on the cooker. Even after it cools it is open to the atmosphere, even thru the little hole. I would be interested in a test someday, but I think you hit the nail on the head... that violent cooking is a lot to ask for terps to fall back in and integrate with solution... but it could. I would think there would be a small loss tho from the vent.

JMO

Dory is thinking again... Oh my!
Dory
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SweetSue said:
Terpenes are so volitile that you'll lose some no matter what. We're not anticipating 100% retention, just trying our best to keep as many as possible during our extractions.
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What I think the pressure cooker will do is raise the boiling point of everything. The cannabinoids and terps will infuse into the carrier oil and be trapped there until there boiling point is reached at whatever pressure is in the cooker with little loss due to evaporation.

Or, I could be wrong.

The samples I am dropping off tomorrow will tell us what is left in the carrier oil after a no water added FHO open boil off and decarb. Narrowing it down like that, this may be some rather rare information.That information may/probably/will change how we run tests or what we would be looking for as results.

Has anyone looked into or have experience with steam or fractional distillation?
 
So this is an analysis that was done on a batch of coconut oil infusion a while back. Not sure what it all means really, but it's very strong. . Good for capsules and baking. Topical potions and lotions.
It doesn't have details on terpenes, I'd like to see that.

I like using coconut oil best. Also olive and avocado oil.
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TashaLit,
Is this from oil you made or from a dispencery?

My guess would be, it was made from dried buds. The only column I understand is the percentage. The FHO I made will be around 1 to 1.5% at full infusion, IF I have my numbers right. Dried bud would allow more dry weight of cannabis to carrier oil and make those numbers achievable.

Thanks for the post. I have not seen that type of report before.
 
Canyon said:
TashaLit,
Is this from oil you made or from a dispencery?

My guess would be, it was made from dried buds. The only column I understand is the percentage. The FHO I made will be around 1 to 1.5% at full infusion, IF I have my numbers right. Dried bud would allow more dry weight of cannabis to carrier oil and make those numbers achievable.

Thanks for the post. I have not seen that type of report before.
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Yes. That's my batch. In the end it works out to be about 50mg Thc/ml, i think it was...not great with the math of it all.
 
Yeah, that's short on explanation. lol. I guess the last column is the % concentration. So, I don't see any thca which means you did a good decarb and only a little of cbn which means you didn't heat it to death.
 
All the data I've read indicates that decarbing weed for converting THCa to THC is a fairly simple process. You can over or under cook it some and get close to maximum THC levels which is great but the terpenes is going to be the real interesting tests.
 
So I just wanted to share my decarb (toasting) process for anyone interested. It's totally unscientific, but it has worked out for me with good results.

I use foil baking pans. One tray(9x13, I think) will hold up to about 8 oz of dried plant material. I primarily use trim; leaves, popcorn buds. This makes great use of the stuff that may otherwise be discarded. If I'm working with a smaller amount, I'll just wrap it in some foil to make sort of an envelope for it.

Cover the tray tightly with foil. Oven set to 250F/120C. An hour is usually plenty. Give the tray a gentle shake about half way through, without removing the foil. Since I've done this many times, I can tell just from the change in smell when it's good to go. Very unscientific, so apologies for that.

I generally will allow it to cool completely before removing the foil. Sometimes I'll just turn the oven off a few minutes early and let it cool off in the oven without opening it. I feel like this helps to keep the smell somewhat contained (warning: this process WILL stink up your entire home) and maybe even preserves some of the terpenes...but again, no scientific basis here, just my experience.
 
Cover the tray tightly with foil. Oven set to 250F/120C. An hour is usually plenty. Give the tray a gentle shake about half way through, without removing the foil. Since I've done this many times, I can tell just from the change in smell when it's good to go. Very unscientific, so apologies for that.

You might want to back that temp down to 240 for 1 hr. Doesn't sound like much but it matters. Your stuff can be good and still have potential to be better. I would be shocked if you didn't have a fair dose of CBN in there. If you want to know for sure, stick around another week. lol
 
Kicknitup1 said:
Cover the tray tightly with foil. Oven set to 250F/120C. An hour is usually plenty. Give the tray a gentle shake about half way through, without removing the foil. Since I've done this many times, I can tell just from the change in smell when it's good to go. Very unscientific, so apologies for that.

You might want to back that temp down to 240 for 1 hr. Doesn't sound like much but it matters. Your stuff can be good and still have potential to be better. I would be shocked if you didn't have a fair dose of CBN in there. If you want to know for sure, stick around another week. lol
Click to expand...
I definitely will be sticking around. . You guys are awesome. I don't always understand lab readings quite yet. Hoping to learn more, so i love the work everyone is doing here. I did post an analysis a little further up in the thread, hard to decipher, but I think the CBN is okay...not too high. THC is very high.
 
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