from the picture you posted its very difficult for me to tell if there are any crystals in there. just looks like it is bubbling which isn’t necessarily a good thing. I know that mantle doesn’t show temps on the knob, I think it may be a bit too hot there.
If there are crystals growing then yes capping it and leaving it in moderate heat should continue the growth. “diamonds” as in boulders may be a stretch. that is fairly difficult to achieve from ethanol.
I suggest giving it more time. I know it is difficult to be patient, but its worth it. slowly increasing the saturation while the thca is crashing out of solution is definitely helpful, so a moderate vac wouldn’t hurt. To much vac too quick would cause it to remain a viscous oil.
Thank you for the help
would love some links to videos you mentioned.
Thanks THChemist. I’m curious as to why you might think pulling too high a vac will cause the oil to remain an oil and not precipitate eventually
Thanks!
It’s bubbling cause I’m evaporating alcohol to get it to that state to pour it up to purge it. If I were to get it that saturated again with a digital mantle could I just cap it off and bring it down to a moderate temp.
Do you always pour off the sauce and then finish the “diamonds”, so thereby always having 2 consistencies from 1 extraction, or do you alway keep them together?
the vacuum increases the saturation of THCA. If it is done too fast the saturation will increase to the point where the extract is too viscous to allow movement (shatter). Of course with heat you can reduce viscosity and cause sugaring. but I believe there is a sweet spot in the temp and vac that creates the best product in the shortest amount of time.
just think about the metastable zone.
hmm I see. If you are retaining enough THCA and not decarbing during that heating then yes. When you get it to a viscous, molasses consistency while at room temp it should work.
@bg007 I usually split them up, purge separately, and recombine in a chosen ratio. There have been a few batches where I did not separate the terp fraction and was able to achieve a desirable consistency and % ethanol. But I usually end up with two end products.
p.s. terp sauce pens are absolutely fantastic. no cutting necessary, add as is.
Love this thread. I read it just about every day hoping I can parse out an SOP to try at some point here soon. The process seems pretty simple, just trying to understand some of the subtleties from all the conversation.
Been looking for consultation, but been unsuccessful so far.
Sparkly crumble.
ETOH -w- dash of heptane extracted -30C (early effort) rotoed at 30C until condenser stopped dripping then vac oven deep vac flat 1mm deep on silicone shelf liner at 100F for 7 days. Passive vacc only refreshed once per day. (pump shut off 23.5 hours/day)
I have found that when I pour out the roto that the first and runniest part makes better sparklies so I do that first then the rest goes to SPD.
Have eliminated the ETOH+heptane this season (using it for coolant) so no pearl clutching, please.
Total shout-out to Curador who gave me a sweet deal on some organic 190 proof recently.
Break a leg everyone as we head into extracting season.
Nice sparklies! May I ask how long you extract for? And do you do any post processing on your extract?
Thanks 
was at 30c
2 hours at -30C. Time goes down to 30 min at -60.
We do a lot of winterizing and filtration because we extract a lot of gunk by reacting -30C for 2 hours.
That is a lot of typing to give our whole post-processing SoP. We use fairly typical processes, in a kremmermanian style. We filter 2-4 times 3 different ways and winterize twice in between. We don’t rush any processes because we want quality not quantity. Speaking of rushed, I gotta go now…back later.
Damn, that is the longest time I’ve seen anyone doing ethanol extraction. Your post processing must have had a tonne of R&D into it. Thanks for sharing!
I was purging at 90f the entire time, but evaporation bubbles began to stall out, but there is clearly ETOH still left in the sauce, i turned the temp up to 110 and evaporation continue, but the sauce is disappearing…are the terps being evaped off? is it possible to get the terp sauce down to below 5000ppm with ethano? I can get the crystals below 5000ppm, but the liquid needs the higher temp apparently, but then it begins to evaporate? any suggestions/tips?
Just spitballing here. But you could probably lower residency time & increase terp retention if you pulled the sauce off, then ran the sauce in a roto or heated stir plate under mild vacuum. Just get it to maybe 20c above it’s relative boiling point in relation to vacuum. The agitation might help get that trace ethanol out of there better.
I like that idea. On the next batch Ill pull the sauce off. It’s a little too viscous now for the “sauce” to pour off
What was your vacuum depth the deeper the vac the lower the temps needed to boil for all compounds terps included but might make a diffrace
