Having a problem of getting sugar every time I try to make shatter from cryo ethanol extraction. Read a lot of things, on this forum and elsewhere, saying that people may be more likely to end up with sugar if they do not winterize. Examples:
“Winterization, otherwise known as “dewaxing,” is a process used to remove the lipids from the finished product. Often, these lipids can be harsh on the lungs and unpleasant to inhale. This is why some hash users prefer a dewaxed product. This does not guarantee that a sample will not sugar up, but the process will certainly help.”
But just saw this comment implying the opposite:
So question is, do winterized extracts have more or less of a tendency to sugar? If Dred is correct that waxes help to stabilize things, how are people getting EHO shatter from cryo extractions?
Not too sure about wax content, but it does make sense that waxes will prevent nucleation to some degree. But at what point is there too much wax? Is it still going to shatter or will it be pull and snap?
To me, if your products are sugaring up, it means your solvent purge is too slow. What purge parameters are you doing? The longer it takes, the more opportunity the THC-A has to precipitate. You want to get the extract super thick (ie solvent free) as possible. Although if you are already maxing out your vac oven then I do not know what to tell you.
So I’ve been rotovaping the bulk of the ethanol out. I wait till I see no more ethanol condensing and no bubbles in the boiling flask (at various rotational speeds), and then continue rotovaping for 30 minutes past that point. When I pour the oil out it is quite thick and requires a heat gun to get flowing.
At that point I’ve tried several vac oven parameters. The fastest I’ve gone is 105F and immediately pulled full vac (pinned out guage, ~15 torr). I’ve also tried slower purges, at 89F and 50 torr. Both result in sugaring. Thanks for the input tho, I’ll give some faster purge parameters a shot.
So are people able to make shatter or pull and snap from ethanol cryo extractions? Seems like people are able to do so. Any idea what they are doing to prevent sugaring?
I think you are on the right track with the 105F and deep vac right away. Are you taking the slabs out and flipping them? Or does sugaring happen before you get a chance to? Are you extracting super terpy strains?
I would suggest not using a heat gun to preserve THC-A concentrations but it seems like that is not an issue for you due to the sugaring you are experiencing.