conversion problems

It’s also true that ethanol extraction will lose Terpene and volatile modulating compounds during recovery as well. Due to the heat needed and azeotropes formed, those compounds are lost quickly. This is far from ideal for a dabbable extract but is fine when used for distillation

This is why Gasses are used industry wide for smoking extracts and ethanol is used for crude extracts. Yes you can make shatter with ethanol, even diamonds, but it’s far from ideal as stated. Work smarter, not harder as they say.

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I hear what you are saying, for sure. I’ve made a name for myself making quality products out of ethanol. It will always have a warm spot in my heart. But, in reality I’m solvent agnostic. I think each of the major solvent platforms have strengths and weaknesses. I agree 100% that ethanol is not a great vehicle for terps but I also know that there is a lot more to a good dab than a super high terpene count. Ethanol dabs are a different experience than BHO. Different isn’t necessarily good or bad, just another option for the consumer.

I’ve run ethanol and CO2 so far. I’m about to bring a brand new MEP online in MA, so my butane days are fast approaching. Looking forward to having all three major solvent platforms under my belt and beginning out there best of what they are have to offer.

I appreciate your insight, my man. You’re a smart dude and I enjoyed the exchange.

Stay medicated!

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Your work speaks for itself!

It’s all a balance and the end goal varies for everyone based on numerous personal factors. With attention to detail, good products can be made many ways. Recognizing weaknesses allows one to minimize their impact and reveal more of the strengths of any process.

As always, it all starts with the cultivar and the grower. Some cultivars do better with some methods while some rooms, greenhouses, or outdoor plots also see similar variation.

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I don’t disagree but we have other facilities in other states that are making fire concentrates from ethanol so it’s not impossible and there are a few people on here that use ethanol as well

I also let this batch sit out at room temperature and never saw a conversion until I moved it to the vac oven

I’ll have to post results tomorrow there was CBGa present as well as CBDa and some CBN but the THCa to THC was almost 50-50

I stated pretty much that.

I was giving my opinion on why you are seeing Decarb, stuff in the crude will catalyze the reaction while in solution, the longer in solution, the more you see Decarb.

Most compositions will see negligible Decarb rates in solution but some will go super quick

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I lost very few terpenes as well during the purge

Have you verified with another lab?

No. 1 because it’s cost a bit to get it third party testing so until my ppm is testing under 5000 they won’t send it out yet. But that should be this week it should be below. But I’ve Had our analytics do pretty constant tests threw out

There is much more to a profile then Terpenes, that are being lost. Yes with some cultivars you can end up with a decent dabble product with ethanol, just as stated it’s not ideal, it still can make a perfectly good product.

Partially Decarbed terp rich material is perfect for carts though which is what I would do with it.

We do, but we use our co2 machines for our vape carts and normally use the ethanol for distillate. Owners are trying to avoid bho so we’re trying to work with what we got. I’d like to play more with the co2 oil than ethanol but I gotta follow the rules lol

How much are you extracting a day?

I agree terps aren’t everything but since it’s new for us I’m trying to test from every angle to see what’s going on throughout the process

Through co2 about 16-20lbs a day for oil and when we run ethanol we normally run about the same but it takes a quarter of the time

What is your final total % terpenes of your EHO?

3.35%

I usually get something similar, between 1.5%-4%. I’d like it to be above 5% consistently though.