Methanol THC Extraction

profganja

profganja

420 Member
Howdy All,

I have been a small-scale grower for 35 years. I prefer smoking bud, but I have recently begun to appreciate vaping, especially after I mixed some menthol flavor in my last batch.

I have decided to try my hand at concentrates, specifically Hash Oil.

I have tried the BHO method and produced some awesome oil, but butane is a tad pricey and seriously freaking dangerous... I knew a guy in Louisiana that was blasting outside and his cat walked up during the run. Yep, you guessed it. He touched the cat, shooing it off the table and set off an explosion.

Not, that I am worried... I just know how things happen.

I have done an Ethanol extraction and it was good, but the chlorophyll changes the taste and I love the amber liquid. Did the sunlight thing to get rid of the chlorophyll and did not care for the result.

Now I am considering a methanol run.

The Plan:
1. Grind bud.
2. Decarboxilate in the oven at 220 F.
3. Place in glass container covered in Methanol. Store in the dark , periodically agitating for 24 hours.
4. Strain through cheesecloth.
5. Boil off most of the Methanol using a stirring hotplate.
6. Add EtOH wash (190 Proof), agitate and boil off once again, this should also remove all of the remaining methanol.

This should produce a beautifully clear amber Hash Oil, without the danger of turning yourself into Richard Pryor.

Has anyone tried this process? Is it better to decarboxylate before the methanol?
 
Methanol is only a poison when it is present... I have used it quite a bit for other applications. I know the EtOH will blow the Methanol out, I am just wondering if is it a waste of my time. I want clear BHO hash without the butane.
 
Just use BHO and don't touch no pussy after.... geez.... don't make it any harder then it needs to be.

You can get a case of whipit drop shipped to your door for just over 50 bucks. Can make almost 100 grams from that....
 
MassMedMan said:
Just use BHO and don't touch no pussy after.... geez.... don't make it any harder then it needs to be.

You can get a case of whipit drop shipped to your door for just over 50 bucks. Can make almost 100 grams from that....
Click to expand...
If one is that worried about static electricity then a ground strap on the wrist (like the ones you use to work on laptops) can be used. By the way, doing the extraction in enclosed areas where the BHO accumulates to explosive levels is kind of silly to do; get some ventilation.
Or do it outside.
 
Guys... he was outside. The butane was in the middle of the run, the cat heard the hissing and was curious. My buddy was shooing the cat off the table and barely touched it. That little static charge was enough to singe the cat and my buddy, it also blew the extraction tube apart.

I have made mercury and silver fulminate, nitroglycerin, and Semtex. At my age you realize how stupid things like that are, and how lucky you were that fate intervened and allowed you though those natural selection events. Now I try to avoid the entire situation as opposed to having to pull a magnificent idea from my fourth point of contact.
 
Shit happens and Murphy chases me everywhere I go so I hear that. Thanks for the info. Another example of why you should always have a safety vest on. ;) cats too

That was pre coffee this morning.... man, I was cranky.
 
MassMedMan said:
Just use BHO and don't touch no pussy after.... geez.... don't make it any harder then it needs to be.

You can get a case of whipit drop shipped to your door for just over 50 bucks. Can make almost 100 grams from that....
Click to expand...
Agreed I buy cases of Whip-it for $48 delivered and I average 3gr of wax per can. I run 4 cans through my oversized tube and get 10-12g per tube. Outside, no flames or sparks with a breeze.
I find it very hard to believe that a cat and a person BOTH OUTSIDE ON THE GROUND (earth ground) would carry any static electricity. This would about be impossible. Maybe he was to embarrassed to admit that he wasn't thinking and lit a doobie.
 
fanleaf said:
Agreed I buy cases of Whip-it for $48 delivered and I average 3gr of wax per can. I run 4 cans through my oversized tube and get 10-12g per tube. Outside, no flames or sparks with a breeze.
I find it very hard to believe that a cat and a person BOTH OUTSIDE ON THE GROUND (earth ground) would carry any static electricity. This would about be impossible. Maybe he was too embarrassed to admit that he wasn't thinking and lit a doobie.
Click to expand...
I don't know about that . . . I've had a fire start through a spark from static electricity before, however, it wasn't butane. It was ether and while it did happen outside (it had gathered under a tarp being used for shade which is what caught on fire), it was over 100°, no breeze and the ether had previously been distilled to remove the "upper cylinder lubricant" (motor oil) so it was extremely volatile.
However; I'm pretty sure that cat has satisfied its curiosity and will likely avoid the operation in the future.
 
From what I read Everclear is the best because it is a food product. No idea about isopropyl alcohol but in theory if you got 99% and it all evaporated that could be inexpensive. Don't know the affects if any is left over but it seems like it might be better than butane. I'm not a doctor though so : )
 
LEDXpert said:
From what I read Everclear is the best because it is a food product. No idea about isopropyl alcohol but in theory if you got 99% and it all evaporated that could be inexpensive. Don't know the affects if any is left over but it seems like it might be better than butane. I'm not a doctor though so : )
Click to expand...

Everyone around here uses Iso alcohol. It can be tricky too. My bro in law burned both eye brows off couple years ago -- sumbitch looked funny for couple weeks
 
profganja said:
Howdy All,

I have been a small-scale grower for 35 years. I prefer smoking bud, but I have recently begun to appreciate vaping, especially after I mixed some menthol flavor in my last batch.

I have decided to try my hand at concentrates, specifically Hash Oil.

I have tried the BHO method and produced some awesome oil, but butane is a tad pricey and seriously freaking dangerous... I knew a guy in Louisiana that was blasting outside and his cat walked up during the run. Yep, you guessed it. He touched the cat, shooing it off the table and set off an explosion.

Not, that I am worried... I just know how things happen.

I have done an Ethanol extraction and it was good, but the chlorophyll changes the taste and I love the amber liquid. Did the sunlight thing to get rid of the chlorophyll and did not care for the result.

Now I am considering a methanol run.

The Plan:
1. Grind bud.
2. Decarboxilate in the oven at 220 F.
3. Place in glass container covered in Methanol. Store in the dark , periodically agitating for 24 hours.
4. Strain through cheesecloth.
5. Boil off most of the Methanol using a stirring hotplate.
6. Add EtOH wash (190 Proof), agitate and boil off once again, this should also remove all of the remaining methanol.

This should produce a beautifully clear amber Hash Oil, without the danger of turning yourself into Richard Pryor.

Has anyone tried this process? Is it better to decarboxylate before the methanol?
Click to expand...
Hey there...
How did it work out...?
I am trying Methanol as well and I think it will evaporate completley..
Did you do the ethanol wash and did it work out and is it clean...?
Thanks for any reply
 
fryortuck said:
Hey there...
How did it work out...?
I am trying Methanol as well and I think it will evaporate completley..
Did you do the ethanol wash and did it work out and is it clean...?
Thanks for any reply
Click to expand...

If you are going to dump that oil into ethanol, then why do you use methanol at first place? Both isopropyl, ethanol and methanol have polar behaviour so they would all dissolve the chlorophyll from the plant material. That leads to bad taste. You can seperate the chlorophyll later but it won't affect the color of the extract and it won't taste just as good.

Alcohol is also a flammable both in gas and liquid forms. Still, it is safer than extracting with hydrocarbons like butane, propane etc... I wouldn't suggest extracting with methanol and isopropyl alcohol. You don't want these in your final product. You can purge your extract later but I guess it is harder to evaporate alcohol than butane or propane so it won't get you a result that is just as good. Residual amounts of isopropyl and methanol may not seem harmful but why would any sane person prefer to smoke residual amounts of iso or methanol instead of safe to consume ethanol(grain alcohol) right?

The problem with the extraction is that you can't get over %90 THC easily. You need to filter out the waxes and lipids. We are dissolving everything in that trichomes. But we don't need everything in there. At least, for getting THC extracts. Ethanol is a must if you are after clean extracts. Methanol is not. Isopropyl is not. Butane? Not but it is the easiest way to get rid of the chlorophyll.

You can always do quick washes with ethanol. Here is how it goes;

- Grind your material and place it in a jar. Pour the ethanol inside the jar. Cover all the material.

- Gently stir the tincture. You need to stir it for 10-30 seconds. If you have a double boiler, close the lid of the tincture jar, but not tight, and heat the mixture for 10 seconds using the warm water inside your double boiler. That works great but you don't have to heat it up at all.

- Filter the mixture right away. Freeze your filtered mixture for 24-48 hours. That is called winterization.

- Filter for the second time to get rid of all the waxes and lipids.

- Evaporate the alcohol and transfer the dab to a parchment paper.

You can do this with other alcohols but you need to purge the residue. I don't know if vacuum ovens can do that for alcohol but they are doing a pretty good job for butane/propane.

But, I think the best method to extract is like this;

- Open blast with butane. Xikar brand butane is said to have the lowest impurity and there are some culinary grade butane/propane mixes at ratio 7/3. These will also work good. Butane will get you a good terp profile. It won't let the chlorophyll pass through the filter inside your solvent.

- After the vast majority of the butane evaporates, dump your oil into ethanol, which has to be ice cold. Agitate the mixture and dissolve the oil completely.

- Let this mixture stay in freezer for 24-48 hours.

- Then take that mixture out and filter it when it is still ice cold. You can use a coffee filter, funnel, vacuum flask, a stopper and a vacuum pump to properly filter the waxes and lipids. Pour that mixture into the funnel and turn the vacuum pump on. You will observe a creamy layer on top of the coffee filter. This is the stuff that we don't need to smoke.

- Take your filtered mixture and evaporate the ethanol completely. You can do this several ways. I don't like to apply too much heat. If you want to heat it, then between 80-85 degrees Fahrenheit should work.

You will have a liquid distillate in the end. You can dab it or fill that straight into your cartridges. It would have around %90 THC content and probably over %95 cannabinoids.

That is my recipe for getting a clean distillate. Some people prefer shatter, some prefer honeycombs and crumble. I like the distillate better. It is one of the most clean product that you can get.

Wish you a good dab folks:passitleft:
 
Hey there....
Great reply, but to the wrong guy....
The original reply was meant for the guy who posted about using methanol and then washing with ethenol...The question was directed at him and I was wondering how he made out....
I am NOT using methanol, as it is so poisonous, but I do like to do research and learn new technique....
After all the reading I have done about oil extraction, I have decided to go back to the tried and true totally safe method of making hash with bubble bags, as the only thing I have to worry about is how cold I can make my water...
With all the.people getting poisoned by shit concentrated oil extracts, you can have that shit and smoke or vape or it it all you want, but at least my product will be safe.....
 
Ill stick to pressing my flowers.Pressing this from just heat and presure. Golden goodness it is. :nerd-with-glasses:
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