Hey guys! I am setting up my first mini lab & was just trying to google some information. I couldn’t find any decent answers to my question but noticed this forum seemed very knowledgeable.
I am looking to purchase shatter and start turning it into liquid so I can fill cartridges with it. The Process I have in mind is as follows:
Step 1) Add Ethanol to the shatter 10:1 mix ratio
Step 2) Winterize (Freeze and run through a Buncher Funnel)
Step 3) Rotovap off the Ethanol
Step 4) Place oil in a Short Path to decarb, while catching the terpenes that evaporate during this process
Step 5) Add terpenes back into the oil.
The equipment I plan to purchase is:
2L Short Path (Across International)
2L Buchner Funnel
2L Rotovap (Across International)
What do you think of the set up (How can it be improved) and what do you think of my process?
The big question:
I believe ethanol and the more volatile terpenes both evaporate off around 70F (21C). Is there anyway for me to do this without losing a whole bunch of my terpenes in the process? I am open to different equipment and processes. Money isn’t really an issue.
You really need distillate or access to very cold extracted bho if you’d like to do this, but for the bho the decarb step will cost you most terpenes anyway, and the distillate will require terpenes in most cases.
Either way I’d suggest getting some cannabis derived terpenes to add back.
Edit: On that note, the ethanol recovery will work too considering you’ll have to add terps no matter what.
Do you not have acess to distillate? Because it sounds like you should get some to fill those carts.
That’s a ton of extra steps compared to squirting hot disty mix with terps into carts.
Just wondering why go through the extra steps.
I like having some carts around, but I don’t have access to distillate, so I want to make some diamonds and separate the terps from the thca, decarb the crystals, then try to put the thc into carts, but I’m fully aware I’m taking a “better” product and turning it into an inferior one.
I think that will work, I like the way you are thinking. Decarbing is key to thinning out the oil and you will recover terps but but not much imo. And if they are going right back in, then why not just leave them there? Just take the shatter, decarb in an oven, then cut with cannabis derived or synthetic terps (up to 10% to thin). Don’t bother winterizing unless the shatter is poor quality in which case you may want to CRC as well. Sounds like you might be basing this on a supply of cheap shatter which can go away or fluctuate, beware!
As stated above, the terps you collect in the short path will be gross. If I were you and you really cannot obtain distillate, or want to avoid making distillate, you could decarb your winterized shatter on a hot plate, this will also remove any residual ethanol. It will remove the terps as well, but you can purchase terps from whichever supplier you want and add them back to the oil.
For best quality, you want to use distillate though…
I’ll be honest, this won’t work as you imagine. Shatter will never have enough terp to add back, even if you dissolved and fractioned the thca out.
Either crude and distillate with purchased terps or you buy diamonds and sauce, isolate, decarb the thca and reintroduce the terp for the cart…that is, if you have no interest in extractions
I’m on a similar beaten path, and have similar questions, even looking into the same company in terms of equipment.
My main question revolves around what equipment is absolutely necessary to the process of yielding decent distillates?
We have a hydrocarbon extractor, and we are trying to get together on the tooling up for a C.R.C. to make proper crudes/hydrocarbon extracts.
I apologize for the request for a “spoon” fed answer, but my anxiety in purchasing the wrong materials for this process terrifies me, it would be upsetting to invest and realize we could have done better/managed our funds better.
I don’t recommend smoking any terps in high quantities no. I wouldn’t use more than five percent, but I don’t make carts, because you always have to use a diluent no matter what and none of them are actually proven safe. But of all the diluents on the market pure phytol is the only one thats a simple terpene thats flavorless and naturally found in cannabis, so it would seem to be safer than other mystery oil, but no one knows for sure. The terps most people are using now actualy have esthers and acetates in them and aren’t 100 percent terps even though they’re marketed as such.
