Decarb under pressure to retain terps?

If you don’t want the terpenes, and are distilling, you are correct, it makes no sense to do anything to try and retain them.

If you make a cryoethanol and you want to use that in a cart directly without distillation or adulteration (dilution), decarbing under pressure might be a viable solution.

It has worked for me. With BHO as well.
Your mileage may vary.

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Yes, that is my usual recommendation for decarbing for cannabinoid distillation.

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100% PG in bath at 121 c she’s a smokin! Lol definitely won’t be using this stuff again for anhot water bath! Shit vaporized and coated the whole basement lol

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Thats how the chineese developed e cigs bra!:grin:
Next person that asks for a vape formulation, show them that video!

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Haha the whole basement looked like one of those vape shops.

I’m guessing I won’t have this problem with silicone fluid?

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Silicone oil won’t do that untill its about to burst into flames lol!
I just dont like messy flasks with oil on the outside, too easy to drop/accidently contaminate product.

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Ya that’s a fear. I’ve already had that happen lol. It’s was real nice to be able to purge then decarb in the roto but you risk contamination beyond fixing if it bursts in the oil bath. PG could be saved but not silicone oil. I just had about 200 grams of crude do that in a water bath a few weeks backs. I managed to save it but if it had busted in a silicone bath I would have been screwed.

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If your small scale 2-5liters you can pull the flask direct off the roto and plop it into a heating mantle and toss a spd head on it. Use the mantle to decarb your crude.

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Good idea! I am soon upgrading to a 20l roto but I will probably make a special decarb station just for decarbing under vacuum to pull volitiles off before heading to spd

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Definitely good to know! You can still decarb pretty efficiently at lower temperatures, though. Does the PG vape a lot at 95 to 105°C? One can also add a bit of MgO to lower the decarb temperatures.

Magnesium oxide added to the crude oil? Does the MgO catalyze the chemical reaction at a lower temp?

I believe the PG began vaporizing around 100 degrees. The problem is this stuff is more viscous than water so it doesn’t mix up as well and I think the water bath being PID control it’s either full-bore heat on or off this helps d PG in contact with the bottom of the heater 2 heat up at a faster rate then the rest of the volume which is essentially vaporizing this stuff incontact with the bowl

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I will do another experiment and see exactly where the PG starts to vaporize if it’s below 100° it makes no sense to use it instead of water LOL

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That makes sense regarding the heating coils, since that is certainly how they work. One can also mix the PG with water to raise the boiling point above 100°C, consequently also lowering the vapor pressure at temperature.

Yes, MgO is a food safe decarboxylation catalyst, exactly. It increases the decarboxylation rate for a given temperature. Just going by visual activity, I have seen 180°F crude decarboxylating as fast as if it were 250°F, using a bit of MgO in the mixture. Obviously viscosity/muffining can be more of an issue at the lower temperatures, so just be cognizant of that when filling your vacuum decarb vessel.

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Do you leave the MGO in the crude when it goes to distillation?

Just fyi, it must be mixed into ethanol:water free crude. Any water turns it into Mg(OH)2, which is not a catalyst.

With normal SPD, yes. I should warn you to only add a maximum of maybe a teaspoon or less to a liter of crude. Otherwise you will create a sort of concrete that refuses to stir or distill properly.

I have not left it in for any WFE processes. It can be partitioned into water from non-polar solution of the crude, which also helps saponify and wash out vegetable oils… oops! I let another hint slip! :wink:

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Understand that saponification is the creation of soap, a strong emulsifying agent, from fatty acids. That means partitioning non-polar resin solution with water can cause issues with the partition. It helps to use fairly briny salt water for the first wash or two.

Ultimately, if you Winterized well, there won’t be very much soap formation at all. Just dump any emulsion that doesn’t break.

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good stuff! thanks for that heads up

ive been doing water washes lately anyways, more so on accident trying to remove water soluble shit haha

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Also know that the heat processing of the oleoresin causes oils to break down into smaller chains of more similar sizes. This actually could be beneficial,sincethe soaps would be more water soluble and less non-polar (cannabinoids, but not necessarily the solvent) emulsifying.

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Seems like oleum has it figured out quite nicely.

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Pressure/Vac has NO effect on decarb. Pure thermodynamics. Decarb, in my experience, fouls terps. Pull 'em before you decard.

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