Evaporation proof EtOH?

Hash and Stuff Pre/Post-Processing
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I feel like an idiot having to post this, but maybe there’s some knowledge to be gained.

We have been CO2 extracting CBG material for a few weeks now. Everything running smoothly until this current batch;

Started with raw CO2 Crude (FWIW VERY heavy in fats/waxes (10-20%). Went through our normal post processing and winterization. 10:1 200 proof Etoh > 3 - 48hr cycles @-40C > AC/Celite filter.

Now comes the sticking point. We have been trying to recover said Etoh for 2 full days in the roto. Pushed well passed the known parameters we have been using with both CBD and CBG to achieve passing residuals yet still when it comes off the roto and cools, it is far from oil viscostiy. Not quite water, but defintley not thick oil. No smell of Etoh, no heavy material and no crashing like we typically see with CBG.

I’m sure there is a simple answer here but its not in my zip code.

TIA

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Pictures.

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Are you devol/decarbing?

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Decarbing before extraction. Not familiar with devol…

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After you recover your solvent you devolitize (terp strip) and decarb before distilling

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Customer is looking for crude so not going to be taking it into distillate. That was my first thought is to take this “liquid” out in the first pass.

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Hemp seed oil?

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Dont have access to it right now, will upload a video tomorrow.

Basically this batch is as vicious as water at room temp where as the previous CBG runs crystalized within 4 hours.

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Interesting…It was very lightly seeded.

We have ran seeded material before and have never had this, it may not crystalize as quickly but it becomes more honey like.

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What were your roto parameters - vac? Time? Temp?

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Every other batch: 75mbar, 130rpm, 65C, 1-2 hours max at these paramaters

Not proud to say this but pushed this to : 30mbar, 130rpm, 85C. 4 hours here and still not “Oil”

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Have you sent a sample for residual ethanol concentration? It’s possible you have extracted some stuff that makes the extract more liquid that usual. In which case you don’t really have a problem.

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Haven’t sent it off for testing yet due to turn around time. Was hoping to find a solution before testing for residuals.

I think you may be right that there may be other plant oils at play but I’m stumped because nothing in the extraction parameters changed.

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Update:

We’ve tracked the difference between the two batches to filtering with Celite545 & AC vs just AC.

Is there a chance this caused a conversion/reaction that is not allowing the oil to solidify?

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no need for residual tests, if there is enough etoh to make your normally thick distillate runny it would be very easy to smell the alcohol.

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No etoh smell at all. It actually smells pretty close to the input material.

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Dang I’ve never seen extract quite so runny… are you confident the vacuum reading on your rotovap is correct? Do you have access to a vacuum oven? Toss it in there for a few minutes and see if it bubbles up?

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Likewise, and fairly confident. Never had issues with recovery until this batch. Tried the vacuum oven and all we got was hot material, no bubbles.

I’m beyond lost on this one.

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just to clarify, which oil was filtered with what?

the liquidy oil DID have celite 545 or no?

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