Bucket Tek (Cold Ethanol Extraction on a Budget)

Liters are a volume measurement, 1L of water should weigh 1kg or 1000g at STP. The density of flower is much less than that of water. Depending on the grind I would guess between 28 and 112g or so per liter

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Two SOP questions that I’m struggling with. Does this SOP only call for a single soak of each batch of flower? It doesn’t seem like the flower is soaked twice. If so, how can a double soak be incorporated? Also, when it gets to the end of the process and mentions to go back and repeat earlier steps, the flower from bucket 1 has yet to be removed but the next step during the first repetition is to fill the bucket with flower. Do you start the repetition with unwashed/virgin flower? And do you start the process again with Fresh ethanol or do you continue to use the ethanol/wash from previous steps?

I could’ve missed this clarifying question already. I may be blind from needing out reading Future4200 all night :wink:

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team ,

what’s your thoughts on grinding up trim prior to freezing etc in prep for the cold bucket Tec
I’m thinking of putting it through a food blender to increse surface area etc but also read that it damages cell walls of plants ,
anyone any views on this ? I’m starting my next batch tomorrow !

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There are pros and cons to grinding.

More material in your extraction => more extract, is clearly a win.

More cell contents in your extract is generally not.

I advise figuring out what works best for you. Not all grinders are created equal, and not everyone is aiming at the same endpoint.

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brilliant thanks for advice bro

…and building my own is still on the list.

Having the boss run 100lb through this was amusing…

Does a decent job, and convinced the boss to invest in something more automagic too…

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morning team ,
just finished my second SPD run
SOP was as follows
2kg of trim cryo washed in methanol and dry ice , still pulled chloropyhll though but im guessing i wasnt cold enough as the therm maxed out @ -50c
fltered and decarbed but had a major bottleneck in the process ( recovering the methanol )
used the SPD without vac and was probably recovering maybe a litre an hr but was hard work controlling the vapour and the odour ,
had a long hose running from the spd straight into the yard into a cold glass jar with normal ice trying to keep things cool.
once everything was reduced we got a yeild of 247g of THC which was an improvement on last batch .
however i psooible need a better and safer way of reducing and recovering the methnaol on next batch .
not really got the spare funds to invest in a rota vape at the moment so any ideas on what i could purchase that would be safer and effecient .
any advice appreciated ???

If you are operating out of a home lab, I would recommend not using methanol. Methanol has toxic vapors and can absorb through your skin, if you know what it smells like, you are not being safe enough.

Also, I don’t think that anyone extracts with methanol? If people use it, its added afterwards for winterization.

I don’t see why you need to be using methanol, I would recommend switching to 190 proof ethanol, you will get better results at everything except the winterization step, which if you extract cold enough, can be skipped.

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Ethanol not available in the UK bro , was advised to try methanol , was using IPA , the yield was greater but maybe that was just a coincidence and the trim I was giving was better quality etc
will need to have a rethink .
thanks bro

definately not safe enough like u say , which is why I was thinking of a better method but not expensive , anyone using a roto vap ? are they deemed better for recovery and contain the vapours etc ? bigger condenser maybe ? any advice much appreciated

Build yourself a small still
If you can get your hands on two beer kegs you are halfway

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How do you add it after to winterize?

Roto down your extract to remove all ethanol, then add the desired ratio of methanol, pass through a filter at room temp, then freeze, and filter frozen.

Why not just do it with etho in the first place?

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I don’t actually use methanol at all, 190 proof ethanol works just fine, also the toxicity of methanol is a bit of a turn off, though we do have a proper fume hood and ppe to work with it. Between the two though, methanol is better at crashing out fats and lipids than ethanol is. Thats the only reason people are trying to use it.

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I didn’t read the while thread and it looks like you are in your way but I had good results extracting hemp CBD shake into oil using the crick pot method.

Lots of hemp in lots if water. Add salt to make the chlorophyll more water soluble and a small amount of coconut oil or butter. Summer for 2-4 hrs. Strain and separate oil from water. If you can chill it coconut oil or butter will become solid and you lift it out.

In Morocco hash making is centuries old. You could get all the supplies you need there. Or learn what local items could be used for trichome collection. I believe they beat whole plants in a screen and collect piles of crystal.

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A question…I’m doing the extraction with cold ethanol (-60c), and the tinture is ambar. Do you run the carbon scrub even if you didnt get any green color?

You can but don t have to
I personaly run a bentonite activated alumina scrub to prevent the reds
But @Akoyeh has the T5 /activated carbon sop with beautiful results
As has @Renchi and the @TheLostBiologist

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Hmmm maybe that´s why my distillates tent to be redish-amber. I was wondering if the carbon scrub was something I was missing…
guys do you mind share with me that SOP so I can try?

In the above SOP are the basics for how a few of us like to CRC ethanol extractions. If you are extracting at -60C, you should not need to CRC your tincture. I am guessing there is something slightly off in your SPD protocols. Last place I was with, I extracted at -45 to -50C with no CRC before short path. Gave me beautiful results on a crappy Chinese 2L system every time.

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