i know im likely asking a costly question, but has anyone here used an 6.4 nano head from summit to distill worthy terps? i have a liter of terp sauce left from crashing out and a 5 liter boiling flask. runnin an e2m28 that i can pull below 50 microns with. mostly one question i have is how cold do i run the condenser on the head? any other help offered would be appreciated, dms welcome. Thanks for your time, ive lurked here a while but i am itchin to try this out.
1 Like
I’ve personally found distilling the terps doesn’t keep the smell intact. However it does keep a majority of the flavors (I know smell is 80% of flavor or whatever). If you’re using it in a cart it works fine. But if you’re trying to distill the terps and add them into a dab, they don’t smell right (but they still dab nice).
2 Likes
I’d recommend running the condenser as cold as you can, and pulling as deep of vacuum as you can while getting stuff warm.
Probably @spdking has the best tech for his head though.
1 Like
Use a diaphragm pump. Not e2m28 for taking terps.
1 Like
Is that because of thier volatility?
these molecules are WAY too heat sensitive to distill in a traditional short path unit. practically any heat you apply will begin to destroy the most sensitive of them all, which will break into some nasty smelling stuff.
5 Likes
I know ppl who are using an spd to clean up their HT layer from diamonds.
No heat, super deep vac and a ton of cold trapping power will get you water clear terpenes that are not degraded
7 Likes
I’ve done this using a modified short path and three cold traps, all with LN2 in them. Pulling a slight vac works really well to make water clear terps and I never had anything make it past the first trap
4 Likes
Spd7 for the win.
2 Likes
i can go to -20c…
how gnarly of a diaphragm pump we talking about? the one i have will pull to 250 microns or so…
The fact that you can smell terpenes from plant matter means that those compounds are actively “distilling” at room temperature. Those light terpenes that constitute the majority of the smelliness are also incredibly heat sensitive and will readily degrade and isomerize into heavier terpenes at relatively modest time under heat.
I think this why my cold trap fraction from my wiped film smells WAYYY better than any SPD cold trap I’ve ever smelled since the material is in contact with heat for a significantly shorter time.
1 Like
You actually use mild temps and mild vacuum with spd7. You don’t actually need a powerful pump for pull terpenes.
yeah, same problem, all i have is a 6.4 nano, and i dont have the purse to just upgrade on the spot. im merely looking for anyones experience doin it on a shortpath… im gonna be trying it either way, but right now cant just be buyin more equipment.
Its not even so much the terpenes that give it the classic cannabis taste/smell, its thiols and possibly others. We talk about terpenes like they are the only thing that constitute the aroma and taste of cannabis. This is why botanical terpenes simply never smell loud, they are only terpenes and seem to be missing the other compounds. I’m wondering if these other compounds are being destroyed during most extraction processes. Many “canna terps” smell very off, but much closer than botanically derived terps.
4 Likes
you shouldn’t need any heat with deep enough vacuum
I do recommend a ln2 steel cold trap to protect your pump since terpenes are technically a solvent
well said !
It will work. Don’t worry.
do i just run the condenser at -20c since thats as good as ive got? i can pull below 20 microns on my system…