4" Wiped Film Still by Pope - Need Advice

Hash and Stuff Extraction
, ,
1

So I am new to the wiped film still by Pope and have recently had their training (it was over zoom unfortunately). I have done everything by the book and I am still waiting on test results to come back, BUT i do have some questions for anyone who is willing to help. Some background on the current process: We are using the Ethos & Ares to make our crude, I also purge the ethanol out using a vacuum oven, from there it will go into the pope ready for distillation.

  1. I am unsatisfied with the color of my 1st and 2nd run. The 1st is pretty red with no streaks, and the 2nd more amber but still a small red hue, no streaks. How can i get the nice gold color that everyone loves?

  2. Are there any great parameters that someone can bestow upon me? Would like to see if what they taught is any better or worse than what everyone else is doing.

I am a novice at this and by means no expert, so take it easy on me!

2 Likes
2

Hopefully someone can help you out with your wipey but what’s up with this? How much etOH is left before it goes in the oven?

3

I wouldnt say theres a lot, but definitely some.

1 Like
4

Your going to need to wash your crude to get consistent color from your wiper

5

Wash the 1st pass and it will fix the problem if was extracted with ethanol.

6

Issues with crude aside (still could be issues), but what are you running the wiper at? Column temp, condenser temp, vac, wiper speed, material feed speed?

7

Not a fan of the Ares but it is useful for one thing. Complete solvent removal. Leave your crude in there longer under full vac for an extra 15 minutes or so. No more solvents

2 Likes
8

After all solution has entered the ares i usually let the vacuum and steam run 20 minutes longer or until ethanol drips have slowed to 1-2 drips per 30 seconds. I usually still end up with some ethanol still in the crude, so i purge out the rest in the vacuum oven. Could i be hurting my crude in doing so? I know the Still will remove some but was thinking it would be easier on the still if removed as much ethanol as possible before running it through.

9

you don’t want a single drop of ethanol in your crude before putting it into your pope.

are you running with a diffusion pump? it would help us help you if you listed every single heat/vac/feed rate parameter as our friend mentioned a few posts up

2 Likes
10

you got a roto?

1 Like
11

You absolutely can run a volatiles strip before your first cannabinoid pass- a wiped film is actually the best tool for this IMO-

7 Likes
12

Or you could run clean and avoid this shit. :octopus::stuck_out_tongue:

13

What does run clean mean to you?

14

I had red discolorations when running my 2". Usually more so with CBD than THC material. If you’re running your column hot (175+ Celcius), and there’s residual volatiles, I heard once those terpenes hit the column, they volatilize, or burn, either way, they cause a red discolorations.

My fix was running the column maybe around 60-70C, full vac. The result still looked like tar, but there a couple ml in my coldtrap. Next pass I go 170-180C, and the resulting color is your typical amber-gold disty

15

This thread feels really good. I like it.

If you use the search and look for “red distillate” there are some really good threads including the washing step @Rowan mentioned.

3 Likes
16

winterize and clear up the crude as much as humanly possible so that when it’s ran it’s not a dirty mess that gunks up the wiper.

1 Like
17

Seriously. What about all the folks running terp and solvent stripping in their rotos and wiped films?

1 Like
18

unfortunately not

19

1st pass:

Internal: 20C
Main Jacket: 130C
Vac: 500mTorr-700mTorr
Wiper Speed: 120
Feed Speed: Gravity Fed at 800ml-900ml per hour

2nd Pass:

Internal: 70C
Main Jacket: 155C
Vac: 150mTorr - 350mTorr
Wiper Speed: 220
Feed Speed: Gravity Fed at 800ml-900ml per hour

1 Like
20

These are just the parameters on what i was taught through pope