Where can I find literature on basic scientific practices? How to tell if a substance is polar or none polar, chemical nucleation, things like that? I’m amazed at what I’ve learned here so far and I want to go further with this any help is appreciated.
Any introductory chemistry book. If you have access to a library there are several. I have a pdf of a very good organic chemistry textbook if you want me to email it to you
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There’s a dozen crash course books in a post on Reddit. This site won’t let me post a link tho, but If you search on reddit (ebook: Zubrick’s Organic Chem Lab Survival Manual - A Student’s Guide to Techniques) it’ll show up.
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I used khanacademy.org chemistry and organic chemistry, and then things like chemistry crash course and chem survival on youtube to help fill in some blanks, to start off some basic chemistry stuff. I’m considering doing an organic chemistry class with lab at a local community college as well if i have the time. A lot of stuff in the beginning isn’t related to extractions but its all interesting.
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Check out MIT Open Source Classes
Search | MIT OpenCourseWare | Free Online Course Materials - Go crazy with this course finder!
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I’ve taken 3 chemistry courses in community college (101, 102, organic) as part of my major requirements. It is filled with a lot of potentially unrelated material but it can give you a lot of good basic knowledge.
A strong foundation can support a big house.
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James Zubrick - Organic Chem Lab Survival Guide [2E OCR].pdf (4.8 MB)
This is what I’m going through to try get a better understanding of basics.
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College courses are worth the money. But the secret to college is actually reading the textbook and doing the learning on your own. Most people don’t realize that right away, some graduate never figuring that out. The value of a real life class is having an expert present who can answer questions. Questions you still have AFTER doing the reading and attempting to learn on your own. (I taught college courses for several years).
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I was a tutor for 5 years and would suggest finding a hungry on point smart chemistry student in 3rd or 4th year to act as a soundboard and to have targeted educational sessions on specific topics and have them fill in the blanks in your understanding. You’ll want to find someone who is perceptive and has a good understanding of people and how to figure out a) what your knowledge gap is b) understand how you learn c) can make things relatable to you. That is the successful formula for a good tutor.
While I was a tutor I had clients that were not only students but also entrepreneurs that needed targeted understanding of concepts in chemistry. This I believe would be good for you to rapidly learn concepts and how they relate to what you’re doing.
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for theory nothing is gonna be better than straight up text book but for practical knowledge ive found youtube videos very helpful for things like hot filtrations, recrystallization and other “procedures”. Nilered nurdrage dougslab chemplayer all top notch
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Super noob, but I haven’t been able to find how “polarity and non polarity” relate to our industry. Searching uncovers a slew of definitions…
What did you learn about the two? How are they different? I’m trying to lead your mind here.
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I was able to find a wealth of information online last night. My original search was only showing non chemistry results, and had me confused how it applies. Still a lot to learn, but makes more sense. Polar is the ability to dissolve and non polar doesn’t…?
“our industry” is science! It all applies!
Finding Basic Knowledge - This thread is a guy in your same shoes
MIT Open Source Classes
Search | MIT OpenCourseWare | Free Online Course Materials - start here and work your way down.
This is where you kick yourself for not applying all your energy to class while taxes and your youth payed for it.
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Agreed. 
thank you for the help!
If you study through this link and take the time to honestly understand what they are laying out and what they are saying then you will have a foundation imo. It could be a million books or links but if you really understand what they are getting at in this link then in my opinion you would be on your way to understanding more fully how say a short path distillation rig works.
While it might appear at first glance to be completely unrelated in my opinion if there are any deficits or gaps in otherwise knowledgeable posts about this topic it nearly always comes from not fully understanding the concepts presented in this topic. The link does go on to topics that are esoteric to say the least but the beginning is core to what a lot of this molecular distillation is about imo.
So after you read through this link then try to answer this tangential question:
When vacuum distilling are we actually transferring distillate towards the vacuum pump or are we transferring vacuum towards the boiling flask? 
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-chemistry/chapter/the-laws-of-thermodynamics/
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The polarity of the various compounds is why it is such a pain in the ass to put into water. Like dissolves like. If CBD was more polar it would be easier to get into aquas solutions.
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A+, Thank you