I have about 4 gallons of vg I’ve homogenized with 112g of mid grade (decarbed) bho using a cat homogenizer.
Per the skunkpharm tek, I heated my solution to 80c and homogenized about 2 liters at a time using the cat homogenizer.
After that, I warm filtered the emulsion through a fine fritted Buchner funnel.
After resting the tincture for a day I noticed some slight separation. Like just a small line of oil on top of my vg.
So I homogenized it again and got it lab tested for potency and mold/bacteria.
https://shar.es/anluNr
Test came back at .16℅ thc and some thc-a (darn it!) Potency sounds weak but it puts each 2 oz serving at about 10 mg. Somebody wanna check my math ? 
Anyways… I just checked the vg and there’s a tiny bit more separation. Anyone have experience making emulsions that don’t separate? Do I need some sort of emulsifying agent?
2 Likes
Which CAT Homogenizer do you have, and which Generator Shaft; G20 Fine, Normal or Coarse?
Is your BHO Winterized?
- Heat VG to 80C on your hotplate stirrer
- Heat BHO in another vessel so it’s pourable.
- Move the beaker with the heated VG over to the homogenizer, adjust shaft so its about 1/2 " from the bottom of the vessel.
- Adjust the beaker so the shaft is off center so you don’t create a vortex when emulsifying
- Power on the device and pour in the warmed BHO. Emulisfy for about a minute and half.
- Place the beaker back on the hotplate stirrer and heat solution to 80C for 1/2 an hour. (1/2 hour from the time the solution reaches 80C) You’ll notice some BHO falls out of solution in the center of the vessel.
- Homogenize the solution for another minute and a half.
- Reheat the solution to 80C for 1/2 an hour, (1/2 hour from the time the solution reaches 80C) you may still see some BHO fall out of solution.
- Repeat steps 6 & 7- You may have to do this three of four times until you don’t see any BHO fall out of solution.
- There’s no need to filter the solution.
X1000D Homogenizer
CAT MCS78 Hotplate Stirrer: Heat VG to 80C
Step 4
Reheating solution to 80C for 1/2 hour - BHO falling out of solution
7 Likes
Sounds like I did the process right, except I only homogenized twice instead of 3-4 times.
I filtered the solution because the oil was not winterized and had small contaminants like leaf and such…
I have the x 120. W/ the T17 shaft
Can you please list the different models and their corresponding batch sizes?
The BHO is falling out of solution because it’s not winterized. YOU MUST WINTERIZE & DECARB THE BHO!!!
1 Like
With the X120 homogenizer, 1/2 a liter batch size, and emulsify for 3 minutes. The X120 is a 120 watts, hence the longer processing time.
Ok cool I’m thinking batch size was too large .
What is the biggest homogenizer available for my process? Im looking to process 5 gallon buckets if possible.
1 Like
I’ve been wondering about this. I was thinking to just do a hot glycerin extraction. At that point, I probably don’t have to worry about separation.
i just got the X1000 does up to 2L was around 1800$
there is the X1740 that is 3600 does up to 20L
http://www.catscientific.com/homogenizer-drives/x1740-high-power-homogenizer-drive/
3 Likes
The X1740 Homogenizer can process up to 20 liters of media depending on viscosity, and it’s 1700 watts 
1 Like
The articles on skunk pharms make it sound like it will eventually separate anyways over time. This is a deal breaker for me which makes me look toward sonicating batches of vegetables glycerin soaks. I would assume it would not sperate if you use it for the extraction.
Is my understanding correct here?
Ultrasonic and high shear homogenizers are not effective tools for a VG extraction. Hielscher, who offers ultrasonic homogenizers has several articles about how effective their devices are for extractions. While the articles sound good, they have zero supporting evidence to back their claims. Make them prove it to you, cannbinoid potency deviation analysis, cost, $800.00-$1,000.00
I doubt Hielscher has performed any extractions with their devices!
So again, high shear and ultrasonic homogenizers, including our devices, are not the tools to perform a hot glycerin extraction.
1 Like
good luck…
I’ve tested a number of glycerin extracts over the years, and not one of them came in above 1% cannabinoids. The measures needed to create a stable emulsion highlight the poor solubility of cannabinoids in glycerin. yes, you can absolutely make tinctures with it, but I’m not convinced you’ll get those tinctures much above 10mg/ml using glycerin as the primary extraction solvent.
interesting, what makes glycerin popular as a solvent? Taste for tinctures? Never used it.
It tastes sweet, and is easier than 195 on the throat.
2 Likes
and 10mg/ml works for some folks…it did for me once upon a time.
I wouldn’t take that number as verified, but having tested multiple glycerin tinctures made by different folks at different times, I was struck by how similar the potencies were, and am suspicious that it represents the upper solubility limit.
1 Like
We have a processor in Arizona that uses our method, described above, to process VG & BHO tinctures. The ratios by weight they’re able to achieve are 70% VG / 30% BHO. I’ve never asked them for a potency analysis.
One caveat, after 90 days the solution will start to separate!
1 Like
everybody at these medical “sesh” events has tinctures that they claim are 2000 mg per 2 oz vg solution. I gave my buddy who absolutely loves those “high potency” tinctures 2 oz of my tincture and he passed out hard 
m not listening to any claims without lab tests.
So I rechecked my math after I got some sleep… My tincture is at 1.61 mg thc/g vg. There are 59 ml per 2 oz bottle. Density of vg brings that to 74.52g of solution. 74.52x 1.61 comes to about 120 mg per 2 oz bottle. I think 2000 mg would be ungodly. Don’t get me wrong I used to make coconut oil pills that were black with str8 decarbed bho /coconut oil but when the wrong people got those in their hands then they went to the hospital out of paranoia.
1 Like
33mg per ml isn’t outrageous, and if achievable, is a useful potency, but based on my experience it is unlikely to have been achieved by direct extraction. 2mg/ml sounds like direct extraction.
obviously much higher dosage can be achieved by making an emulsion.
I infuse THC into MCT at 33mg/ml or 1g/fluid ounce for retail & medical usage. I’ve not explored doing this infusion directly, but suspect the solvent losses to the biomass when trying to hit 33mg/ml would be an issue. 10mg/ml seems more doable. I do plan on nailing this down at some point as enabling technology.
As an example: using 1 gal of ethanol to extract 1 lb of 20% flowers gives a maximum theoretical tincture concentration of 90.8g in 3785mls or 24mg/ml. With ethanol you can pass the same solvent over fresh biomass several times. So achieving 100mg/ml tincture without evaporation is doable. The same technique can be used with gylcerin, although I don’t know how much it helps. I would wager that the glycerin tinctures I’ve tested have all been single pass.
