Ethanol extraction

Hello, I’m having problems getting my concentrate to work in a vape pen. This is how I do it. Decarb, strip with very high proof alcohol, screen and then evaporate. I then and pg/vg and terpens. I also put it in the freezer before evaporating it and screen it again before evaporating. The problem is after a little while it starts hitting hard. I’ve tried different pens and cartridges. I will be grateful for any help.

could be your diluent (that with which you diluted. ie your pg/vg), your cart (they are not all created equal), your extraction, or your winterization technique.

all those keywords are LINKS.

read…

then come back and work through what you’ve learned to make sure you’ve understood which steps you want to try first.

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I suppose maybe it’s my diluent, it is high proof moonshine. Maybe it’s not pure. I also use rosin from a press a made. Last time I used “wax liquidizer”.

nope.

as stated your diluent is your pg/vg.
or as you’ve now mentioned “wax liquidizer”

follow the link I left you on “diluent”!

then winterization.
which is what you’re doing with your moonshine.
you need to get a proof on that too.
because water will drop your cannabinoids (search for louche).

most take their crude to distillate before adding diluent and terps and tossing it in carts. That is not necessarily required, but it depends on your extraction.

what are you using for your “screening” during winterization?

what temperature are you extracting, and for how long?

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I put it in the freezer for 24 hours and use a coffee filter to screen it. Last time i extracted it i put the shine in the freezer for 24 hours also. I will reread the links that you attached. Thank you for your help. It’s hard to find good information online, everyone seems to have a little different process but this site seems to have professionals on it. I wish I would’ve found this site first.

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I also ran the shine through it for 4 minutes.

You’re not going to like hearing this, but it’s fairly unlikely that someone on here is using the exact same sop’s, same input biomass, same carts and same chemicals that you are. More details on your sop’s will certainly help others on here to troubleshoot the problems you are having, otherwise you just need to change some variables, document those changes and see how that impacts your end product. Scientific method and all that

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I don’t mind, just tell me like it is. You won’t hurt my feelings. I will start over and research each step and record it. That will be helpful to all of us. Thank you for your input.

If your shine isn’t 190 proof, preferably organic ethanol, it’s not going to produce top notch product. Instead of vg/pg try and use terps instead. There’s diluent terps with no taste to use if the ones with taste aren’t enough. The more unwanted compounds there are in your product the harder/ harsher it’s going to hit. Try getting better filter paper and a buchner funnel with a vac pump, doesn’t have to be high end. Cheap vac pumps can be found at harbor freight. The rest you can find online, Amazon has a wealth of products. Try carbon scrubbing, that removes a bunch of unwanted compounds. There is so much to making quality vapes that you are most likely going to have a lot of trial and error before you succeed. God knows I spent countless hours on here and in the lab before I made something I was happy with. Still trying to perfect my game and I make 99% distillate as my best run. But persistence and determination are your friends and with them comes success. Keep studying and reading threads in this forum and you will get there.

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Thank you. Yeah I’m very determined to figure it out. I can’t stand to buy something that I can make myself. Thank you for giving me advice and support.

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My pleasure. That’s what we’re here for. Level up together.

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colder or faster. or both.

10min at -20C (average home freezer) will be better tasting than 24hrs.
10min at -40 or however cold you can manage will be better still.

you need about -70C if you want to do indefinite soaks without picking up undesirables.

done at -40 or below, you can get a “crude” that is worthy of simple decarb => cart.
or at least I have.

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Okay, I will do that. Thank you