Is -10 going to give me a usable product? I would prefer to not have the added effort and expenditure of sourcing dry ice up here in Maine everyone I run a batch of Etoh. -40 would only be possible if I could afford an ultra low or lab freezer or I could modify my current chest freezer.
Has anyone modified a chest freezer to get below -10f? Maybe wire in an external tstat to the compressor… then it would just be refrigerant dependent on how low it will go. Ya you would decrease its life but if you could get it below -20 or 30 that would be a good trade off versus the 10k+ cost of an ultra low.
When I say full spectrum I guess I just mean it’s not distillate so it could really be anything that hasn’t been further processed simple winterizing. Again I’m a newb so this is all a different language to me. I’m certainly not a pro or in the business as I’m more a hobbiest.
Would a vac still glassware setup be worth it in my case? I will have a cheap vac pump and cold trap setup already.
Edit: I paid $150 for a used -40C chest freezer that holds three 15gal beer kegs with ease. Finding it took a little time, but it eventually showed up in my inbox one morning using an RSS feed like this one https://maine.craigslist.org/search/sss?format=rss&query=freezer&sort=rel I wasn’t specifically looking for a -40C.
Awesome info man I’m learning so much already. This is crazy so people are using a laundry spin dryer as a centrifuge to separate the etoh from the plant matter in bubble bags and this is actually safe? Is there no worry of combustion with etoh vapors? Also do these spin dryers allow the full reclamation of the oil laden solvents? Is there some loss expected given the volume of liquid leftover in the plumbing after spin drying or do people add clean etoh after spinning to purge the remnants leftover in the plumbing of the “salad spinners”?
safe? probably. mostly. especially with cold ethanol.
usable in a regulated environment? where you need 3rd party engineer sign-off?
Hell no!
3000rpm air powered motors are not particularly expensive…air powered motor - Google Search but there are other issues that would likely need addressed to convince the fire-marshal and the health department that it was kosher.
Any cheap alternative to a panda? Like an actual Salad spinner?
This is the only thing I can think of.
Here in WA, nobody has really asked or regulated my process other than solvent use. If you are using pressure during the extraction, they require a boilermaker permit, other than that, nobody has asked me about my setup.
It looks like the bucket tek with a panda is gonna be the way to go. I don’t think I’ll dry sift tumble all of the trim next round. I’ll just extract direct from the plant material. Then I’ll filter with my cheap buchner. I think I may look at getting a vacuum still glassware setup on ebay. Can’t afford a rotovap but the 200 dollar vacuum condenser is within my grasp.
Does anyone have any leads or links to a budget vac condenser setup for reclaiming my etoh?
Maybe something like this: and add a stand and double boil hotplate setup?
Thanks for the help buddy so the vig column takes more heat to get the etoh to evap out of the mixture? I already have a heat plate mag stirrer. Would this suffice and does the mag stir go into the evap flask or into the heating bath that the flask sits in?
If you have a hotplate / stirrer you will need to make either a sand or an oil bath. The vig column helps with fractional distillation, it is unnecessary for a simple distillation intended to strip solvents. Refinement of solvent is a different matter requieing a different approach, where the vig column would be more suited.
So for my own setup I would want a claisin for simple distillation for lower temps on the oil then a fractional tower to clean up the etoh for reuse later.
