Is there any equipment to test the potency of a new batch of homemade edibles?

[beachbumcindy]

Just made small batch coconut infused oil last week and I am hating yet another day of guinea pig dosing. I got couch-lock a few weeks ago from a store bought edible and I do not want to go there again so I'm small dosing but I do not want to do this every time I make a batch. I have to make small batches because of location. Is there any equipment that can determine the potency of each new batch of homemade edibles?

 

[Scientific]

Just doing the math is surprisingly easy and helpful.

If your buds are 20% THC, then 10 grams of buds has 2 grams of THC. If you infuse 200 ml of coconut oil with that 2000 milligrams of THC, you get 10 milligrams of THC per ml, 10 mg being the basic dose in states where it's legal like CO and WA.

That gets you in the ballpark. Then you start out with half an ml and if that doesn't work take 1, 2 , 4, etc. Until you hit the sweet spot.

It's not hard. As for "equipment," it does help to have a good scale, but great digital scales can be had on Amazon for $20 these days.

Here's how I did it at the end of my last grow: Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 2017

 

[SweetSue]

Just made small batch coconut infused oil last week and I am hating yet another day of guinea pig dosing. I got couch-lock a few weeks ago from a store bought edible and I do not want to go there again so I'm small dosing but I do not want to do this every time I make a batch. I have to make small batches because of location. Is there any equipment that can determine the potency of each new batch of homemade edibles?

You can test the oil you're making before adding it to your recipes. There's a wonderful device called tCheck that will give you a close reading on the THC volume in infused oils and butters. Google it.

 

[Scientific]

There's a wonderful device called tCheck that will give you a close reading on the THC volume in infused oils and butters.

I love a gadget as much as the next guy, believe me, and that one looks pretty slick (as it should be for $300), but just doing to arithmetic I mentioned about gets me really close every time for free.

 

[SweetSue]

I love a gadget as much as the next guy, believe me, and that one looks pretty slick (as it should be for $300), but just doing to arithmetic I mentioned about gets me really close every time for free.

Agreed. With home kitchen processing the formulas work quite well. It's how I personally determine the strength of my own oils, and it hasn't failed me yet.

I went to check your math - not hat I questioned it, just that I find it fun to run the numbers, and discovered you're very close. I use a multiplier to account for the extraction efficiency and came up with 7.17 mg/ml. Good work. I can't get an effect from less than 10 mg. It takes at least 50 before I'll consider taking the dose, but the micro dose method is a solid approach for almost everything, and it's always the best place to begin.

 

[Scientific]

Agreed. With home kitchen processing the formulas work quite well. It's how I personally determine the strength of my own oils, and it hasn't failed me yet.

I went to check your math - not hat I questioned it, just that I find it fun to run the numbers, and discovered you're very close. I use a multiplier to account for the extraction efficiency and came up with 7.17 mg/ml. Good work. I can't get an effect from less than 10 mg. It takes at least 50 before I'll consider taking the dose, but the micro dose method is a solid approach for almost everything, and it's always the best place to begin.

Oh, my math definitely needs checking!

If I do the arithmetic figuring that extraction is 100% efficient, I have a built-in safety margin, and the numbers I get seem to be close enough. (And being kind of an obsessive computational type, I try to force myself to just leave well enough alone.)

People seem to vary a lot in how much edibles affect them. It seems like the folks who tell me that they need more to get an effect tend to be more frequent and/or higher dosage users, which isn't surprising. I always shoot for the lowest dose I make (e.g. one capsule of coconut oil) to be a good minimum dose for a low body weight, low dosage user.

People here in this legal state seem to be getting used to the state's standard 10 mg dose, so that seems about right. Before that standard came along, I used to get chocolate bars made at the local medical dispensary that were 40 mg/1" section, and people could get into trouble with that!

 

[SweetSue]

Oh, my math definitely needs checking!

If I do the arithmetic figuring that extraction is 100% efficient, I have a built-in safety margin, and the numbers I get seem to be close enough. (And being kind of an obsessive computational type, I try to force myself to just leave well enough alone.)

People seem to vary a lot in how much edibles affect them. It seems like the folks who tell me that they need more to get an effect tend to be more frequent and/or higher dosage users, which isn't surprising. I always shoot for the lowest dose I make (e.g. one capsule of coconut oil) to be a good minimum dose for a low body weight, low dosage user.

People here in this legal state seem to be getting used to the state's standard 10 mg dose, so that seems about right. Before that standard came along, I used to get chocolate bars made at the local medical dispensary that were 40 mg/1" section, and people could get into trouble with that!

It recently came to my attention that this wide variance in how people experience cannabis may well be due to absorbtion issues directly tied to gut health. I have a healthy gut, for the most part, though I also have scalp psoriasis, suggesting it could be healthier, but I get much more euphoric effect from the same capsules as my daughter who has IBS.

It's one of those things often overlooked. Someone who doesn't absorb well will tend to use more cannabis chasing the therapeutic effects that are evading them.

 

[Scientific]

I also have scalp psoriasis

Psoriasis seems like a complex and poorly understood disease. Happily, mine gets better (basically goes away) when I keep my weight low, so I have a big stick that forces me to stay fit.

I am really looking forward to the day that we move cannabis off Schedule 1 so the scientists can give it the study it deserves (if for no other reason than so many people use it!)

I'm curious about the differences in absorption in alcohol tincture versus coconut oil. Any thoughts? My limited-length, one-person survey seems to indicate that effects last longer in oil? Or maybe you just have to take more so it lasts longer? Like I said, I do wish we had better science on all this. It's certainly interesting...

 

[SweetSue]

Psoriasis seems like a complex and poorly understood disease. Happily, mine gets better (basically goes away) when I keep my weight low, so I have a big stick that forces me to stay fit.

I am really looking forward to the day that we move cannabis off Schedule 1 so the scientists can give it the study it deserves (if for no other reason than so many people use it!)

I'm curious about the differences in absorption in alcohol tincture versus coconut oil. Any thoughts? My limited-length, one-person survey seems to indicate that effects last longer in oil? Or maybe you just have to take more so it lasts longer? Like I said, I do wish we had better science on all this. It's certainly interesting...

I think it probably has more to do with cannabinoid concentrations. Tinctures only pull between 40-60% on a good day, oils will extract up to 85%. Plus, coconut oil rushes it to the liver, so you get the metabolism to 11-hydroxy THC, which is much more potent and lasts longer.

Tinctures are administered sublingually, and the usual instructions are to hold it there as long as possible to allow the cannabinoids to migrate into the brain. They hit the brain fast, but the effects are substantially shorter in duration than edibles precisely because of this.

For a deeper, more complete, and longer high oils through the gut will be a good choice. Use liquid sunflower lecithin in your process and you'll increase the bioavaibility from around 25% to more than 80%. Not a bad deal, eh? Use the oil as capsules inserted as suppositories and you stand a chance of getting up to 90%.

 

[Scientific]

I think it probably has more to do with cannabinoid concentrations. Tinctures only pull between 40-60% on a good day, oils will extract up to 85%. Plus, coconut oil rushes it to the liver, so you get the metabolism to 11-hydroxy THC, which is much more potent and lasts longer.

Tinctures are administered sublingually, and the usual instructions are to hold it there as long as possible to allow the cannabinoids to migrate into the brain. They hit the brain fast, but the effects are substantially shorter in duration than edibles precisely because of this.

For a deeper, more complete, and longer high oils through the gut will be a good choice. Use liquid sunflower lecithin in your process and you'll increase the bioavaibility from around 25% to more than 80%. Not a bad deal, eh? Use the oil as capsules inserted as suppositories and you stand a chance of getting up to 90%.

Adding this all to my pharmacy notes. Thanks SS!

 

[beachbumcindy]

Just doing the math is surprisingly easy and helpful.

If your buds are 20% THC, then 10 grams of buds has 2 grams of THC. If you infuse 200 ml of coconut oil with that 2000 milligrams of THC, you get 10 milligrams of THC per ml, 10 mg being the basic dose in states where it's legal like CO and WA.

That gets you in the ballpark. Then you start out with half an ml and if that doesn't work take 1, 2 , 4, etc. Until you hit the sweet spot.

It's not hard. As for "equipment," it does help to have a good scale, but great digital scales can be had on Amazon for $20 these days.

Here's how I did it at the end of my last grow: Scientific's Hydro Dwarf Low Flyer 24/7 Illumination Fireplace Grow Journal - 2017

I cannot find out what my percentage is so i just have to start ridiculously small with every batch I make.

 

[Scientific]

I cannot find out what my percentage is so i just have to start ridiculously small with every batch I make.

You can easily make a good guess. Killer bud is about 25% THC. Good quality bud is about 15 to 20% THC. So-so these days is 10% to 15%. That gets you in the ballpark.

Also, when your are titrating the dose, you double the dose each time until you get an effect. 1 ml, 2 ml, 4, 8... I mention that because I know some timid folks go 1, 2, 3... and it takes forever to figure it out.

Just my .02. Hope that helps...

 

[SweetSue]

Adding this all to my pharmacy notes. Thanks SS!

I blogged your simple calculations too. What you shared made my face light up. For all the science I immerse myself in, I'm always striving for simplicity.

 

[Scientific]

I'm always striving for simplicity.

Yeah, "Any two philosophers can tell each other all they know in two hours" always comes to mind. There are is so much fascinating and intricate detail in the natural world, but most folks just want the bottom line.

 

[Edzzed]

I know this is an old thread but for me, Take 35 grams cannabis. Decarb, put in crockpot with 1 pound of Costco salted butter. Let go for 12 hours or so. Stir occasionally. Strain. Make cookies. You will get less than a pound of butter back but hey that's how it is. Not possible to strain out all of the butter. That butter if done right in a recipe will yield 140 cookies. And 1/2 to a full cookie is nice depending on body weight. I am 175 and eat a full cookie. .