So, im throwing this up more out of curiosity and lack of knowledge. i do etOh extraction as a part of our distillation process. I recently finished processing last harvest’s material and am now working with 2+ year old material, both trim and flower. normally, i go through 20 lbs per wash, which yields our “normal” solution. but now im only making it through 10 - 15 lbs per wash yielding a significantly darker solution. my question is this, is the age of the material im working with right now the reason im not making it through my full 20 lbs before achieving maximum solution density?
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Its most likely has decarbed over time. Also getting very dark in color…
Time to find out how to use crc
So you’re equating color with potency?
That’s not how it works…
None of our target molecules are “colored” (unless your UV perception is supranormal).
Older material will be darker. Because: oxidation.
It will likely also be less potent (more CBN), again because: oxidation.
The carrying capacity of your solvent (mg cannabinoids/ml) should be no different…but the color of your saturated solution will be.
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no not potency, just saturation of my etOh solution. i was thinking oxidization might have been a big part of why i was seeing such a drastic color shift in my solution. thank you for the input.
youre right, old trim = oxidation etc = darker color slurry and final product.
I’m also confused as to how you’re diagnosing your solution to have reached its saturation point earlier than normal? cuz i agree it does seem like you’re just using color and that would be misleading (that’s what @cyclopath is getting at)–color of solution would not tell you that your solution is more saturated. it’s likely your solution is just as saturated as normal, just LOOKS darker due to the oldness of your trim–same solution rate, just more compounds in the mix that cause darker color (these don’t change your rate of solution really at all)
also, if by your ‘maximum rate of solution’ you mean ‘saturation point’, those aren’t necessarily the same thing. solvency decreases the more it’s used for extraction, but if it’s still fluid like ethanol (regardless of color) it’s likely you’re miles away from you actual saturation point (ie, the point at which your solvent cannot possibly hold more solute/extract).
in my company ‘maximum rate of solution’ is different from ‘saturation point’ in that our ‘max rate’ is calculated by us for our own system, ie, ‘the point at which the solution can continue to extract in an efficient manner’; we could continue to reuse this to extract more biomass but we decide not to as we start to lose efficiency past that point. this point is still far, far away from ethanol’s true saturation point
youre pretty spot on there nate, im just starting to think i might work with a bunch of knobs. but thank you guys for helping me understand whats happening.
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absolutely! happy to help. i think you can ride with your same process, not necessarily change anything, with the refined understanding that though the slurry may look darker it’s due to material age and not solution rate (at least not any more than normal variance in biomass potency will produce). end yield comparisons will be a better marker of it you’re falling short or exceeding your normal numbers