Hello everyone! I’m creating this thread as a way of gaining some understanding on how proper purging techniques are not only utilized but fully understood as well.
I recently began trying to come up with a proper SOP that will allow me to create a nice granulated sauce like product as well as a larger “diamond” style products. My attempts were initially met with some obstacles, just like any new venture would, however to my surprise I was able to somewhat quickly create the desired product I was seeking.
This thread isn’t for the explanation/creation of said products, rather than trying to gain a complete understanding of the required purging process to take place. Unfortunately I dont have access to testing at the moment but would like to be able to remove as much solvent as possible with respects to the fragile/volatile terpene profile. I understand and accept that the terp profile is going to be affected regardless simply because of the purging process, that’s inevitable and I respect that. But in my personal opinion, as for the entire extraction process…testing should not really be necessary? I mean as long as one fully understands what her/she is doing…then what or why would one need to test? If you fully understand and know about everything that went into said product then the only reason for testing would be for potency…and that’s not really of importance to me…however I’m looking to gain some understanding on how someone would be content with a proper/thorough solvent purge on such a delicate product.
A high cannabinoid product like a “diamond” or any crystalline product is fairly strong, in the sence that u could pull a fairly strong vac on it without it being very affected by the vacuum other than purging any residual solvent or Terps from it, as well as even being able to wash/clean the product with very cold solvents, or even carry out a re-crystallization, however a very high terpene content product is vastly different in almost every sence.
My general understanding, and…common sence? Obviously tells me that I need to be as gentle and as delicate as possible, however how to I determine an adequate purge without the ability to physically test for it?
For example; a slab of shatter is fairly…telling or …“vocal” (lol)…in regards to know when it’s done purging…again I fully understand that without proper testing their very well could be residual solvents present however after doing it for so long one becomes content with said procedures.
While coming up with this thread I’ve come to realize that an analytical test of my high terpene content extract could very well benefit from being tested so that I knew of how to adequately purge said product…(if the product has X amount of terpenes and cannabinoid present then XYZ procedures are required for adequate purging…? Hmmmm?)
So in a way I contradicted myself from what I said earlier about testing being unnecessary, however I still somewhat stand by what I said in the sence that as long as one knows all the steps taken in the first place then testing shouldn’t necessarily be needed. However that still brings me back to my initial problem of “how to properly purge a high terpene content extract!?”
Before I contradict myself any further I would like to wrap this thread up by saying thank you in advance to anyone that involves themselves in this thread and I look forward to seeing what all these incredible like minded individuals can come up with in attempt to help me solve this problem. 
You need to start with Nug run for best results. More thc more crystals. Winterize your extraction so that you remove acids and fats that will be counter productive to your formulation of crystals. Try using a tri mix blend of ISO -Propanne-ntane and run very cold so you isolate your cannabinoid better. Then depending on what vessel you use for diamond tech… usually the mason jar in a warm oven works great or perhaps collection chamber tech but that is for bigger runs in my opinion. But if you start with trim and do not wonterize you will get sand like diamonds as opposed to fat diamonds. The more thc you start with the better. Nugs brotha. If you look in previous posts there is a diamond tech that was posted
Bruh please format your future posts a bit better and keep it short and sweet cause people are going to hate reading this lmao
Unfortunately although there are great SOP’s available ( search strong sauce tek ) a lot of the procedures to making these products is half an art, I really don’t know what the fuck i’m doing sometimes and that is the beauty of extracting, write it all down in your lab journal - always keep experimenting and share what you find. When you get an procedure you like, stick with it.
Don’t be scared of “testing”, it is inevitable. You will always be picking up new gear, tweaking your processes, have different pressures, volumes, vacuums, temperatures, material etc. Is there such thing as an extractor that has all variables constant during his extraction time after time? I haven’t seen it yet. You have to embrace this, and after a while you will have a feel for the product and the machinery and work your lab like an orchestra.
As for checking that your terp fraction is properly purged, as with any oil in an oven - push it until it doesn’t react. Start very low (70F, -10 inHg), move it up slowly until the oil appears to be stable, and then push it some more - if you can’t get it to react anymore it is likely the oil is purged.
Low and slow for 4-7 days should net you a reasonably clean product. Then move onto smoke testing it, lighting a glob of it, etc to make sure you have none of the symptoms of un-purged oil and eventually get it lab tested to be certain.
Best of luck on your extracting bro
I’m running lil late but I think bro above me got it down, once crystallization occurs your kinda screwed for getting the stuff locked inside unless your gonna start crushing…, throw in full vac for crystals at 85f , they pretty strong to harsh environment… As far terps, low and slow, don’t let muffin, keep your temp very precise,I don’t go over 80 for terps, and-15-20 for about week, the less you have the less time it takes. Btw if your trying to get under a certain threshold might be good to know what’s acceptable,. With things like live resin and FSE there usually is lil higher amounts of residuals… That’s the thing, terps are are easily cooked or purged away… Best thing to help if trying to meet threshold looks like time plus vac oven with temp being critical, and in order to do different vac pressures you have to separate.
For my personal I do no where near that long, but to certain state guidelines some you don’t have that option,. Good luck bro best wishes to ya
Thank you all, for your insight! I genuinely appreciate the advice on this new venture of mine. One of the most valuable pieces of information shared was something I had been avoiding for quite some time now…THE NOTEBOOK! LOL I initially began taking notes but just became lazy and starting neglecting the whole note taking process…no success for the lazy!
I apologize for the long threads lol it’s just nice getting “all the cards on the table”…sometimes sharing ones thought process can help the teacher recognize the students mishaps.
As for the “strong sauce tek” , I followed it on a few occasions absolutely meticulously and had a variety of results…same strain and generally the same conditions…different results…in other words I’ve had some jars crystalize and some jars not…I’ve had large diamonds form and I’ve had small sandy Crystal’s form…
I can absolutely agree that when I dont de-wax long enough or thorough enough then I get a sandy crystal texture and when I extensively de-wax (8hr+@-80c°) I get a much clearer solution with a larger diamond formation.
I’ve found that when too much solvent is present all your doing is preserving your sample rather than actually crystallizing it.
When I began this process I was extremely paranoid of having a jar pop and ending up like a Hollywood movie explosion hahaha but over time realized that the jars could take a lot more than expected and usually would just begin leaking before anything catastrophic happened…
So as a precautionary measure I was able to put a smaller sealed jar inside a larger sealed jar…and when the 1st jar began to leak, it would pressurize the 2nd jar which would then prevent the 1st jar from leaking any further. But that’s when I found that all I was doing was basically preserving my sample lol…
I had a jar inside of a jar for 6 weeks…no reaction…very disheartening. Lol funny as hell now that I look back on it lol and to be honest I still have that jar in the oven. I recently took the jar out of the oven and put it back into a cryo bath which allowed me to open the jar and to my surprise it was frozen. Literally the entire contents were frozen and there was a small puddle of butane on top of this frozen solid terp solution. I opened the jar so that I could attempt to seed the solution with some thc-a crystals. And when I tilted the jar so I could attempt to get the “seeds” to the bottom that’s when I found out the solution was frozen so I literally had to take a spatula and carve down the side of the jar so I could bury these crystals and after about 3/4 days now it has began to grow ever so slightly. Also with that specific jar I combined 2 runs together (same strain and conditions)
Another limiting factor I feel is necessary to share is the smaller scale at which I operate at. I am only able to run about half a pound of material each run and so sometimes I feel like the ratios shared aren’t always accurate for my operation. However with proper experimentation I’ve been able to find great success.
This is the first time I’ve ever purged a “terp fraction” and so I’m looking to gain as much insight as possible before attempting anything and feel like I’ve been pointed in the right direction so I’ll do my best to keep this thread updated with my current situation. I haven’t quite decided on when I plan the separate and purge everything but when I do I will update.
I see now, so that’s your terps,is there any tane in that, that’s extremely a lot of terps vs crystals, mine usually the other way around, more poor reading skills may play factor looks great though, that’s your 85f sealed stage? Looks good keep it up, we all have done probably hundred ways not to make sauce too,lol maybe it’s just me, my whole first year was learning curve, I made a lot of live budder not knowing what the hell I was doing before success, and it’s still a steep learning curve for me, keep it up!
Biggest thing that ever up my return was dry ice or dry/cryo during extraction, or LN for whoever needs.
I had that exact thing happen lol. It was frozen on the bottom. To much butane evaporated out … leaky jar… so did you just warm it up and seed it ? Or how did you go about still salvaging it to crystal ?
With that frozen jar I had I used a lab spatula to carve down the side of the jar and then seeded the jar with some thc-a Crystal’s…the jar I’m referring to is pic # 2…I only seeded it I think 2-3days ago and the sandy Crystal’s spread surprisingly fast considering I waited 6 weeks and didn’t see fuck all and then went from seeding the jar and having a small explosion of small Crystal’s over the course of 2-3days. I’m not sure if they will actually grow or just continue spreading threwout the jar as smaller Crystal’s but will keep u posted…and just like stonejh77 mentioned if all else fails just whip it and gently purge. It will already have an incredible terpene content and so the budder produced is immaculate! I’ve certainly had to make some throughout this learning experience lol a valuable lesson and skill to have is be able to think on the fly and to always stay calm when trying to deal with unfortunate events…
For example pic # 3 was my most recent run, I had seeded the solution from the top this time just out of curiosity and decided to do the reaction in a 50ml beaker inside a 500ml jar. Long story short I knocked the jar off my desk…very scary upsetting situation…the beaker broke(inside the jar) but the jar remained in tact and to my surprise, the extreme serge of pressure only squirted out the most minimal amount of “sauce” through the threads of the jar.
Initially I was absolutely heart broken, but remaining as calm as possible I was able to salvage…a solid 85-90% of the extract with the remaining 10% or so washed off the broken beaker and inside of the jar with acetone and added to a collection jar of waste that I have going (plan on being some distalate crude once I venture down the short path scene)
I salvaged a large amount of sandy crystal which to my surprise were really stuck to the beaker. The Crystal’s were bondended quite well to the beaker, however I still salvaged a large amount with the remaining (HTFSE) turned into a whipped product that smells incredible! Also there was a fair amount of Crystal’s that also found their way into the whipped product which makes me think I’m probably going to end up with more of a sugary product rather than a smooth budder product, tomato tomatto. (Everythings packed away at the moment will update with pics later)
So I have 3 jars that’s leaked and I know if I set them back on dry ice they will freeze. As of now they are lids closed in the oven at 85f … should I just seed one of them with some diamonds? and see if I get a reaction in a few days ? What would you recommend at this point. It’s just like a warm thick honey viscosity
Yeah, you can seed them.
Even with the minimum tane ? Like barely any lol. It’s just honey. So seed them and then recap and Place back in oven again ?
At this point your solution is saturated, the seed crystals should sink to the bottom. If you decided to add more butane the solution may dissolve the seed due to the lower saturation. From my findings the terpenes are the actual solvent doing the work.
Awesome. So this is still salvageable lol. I was like damn I’m not gettin shit of a reaction. Can you litteraly seed it with like let’s say diamonds from a previous run of diamonds a friend has mad wit does it gotta be clean pure THCa diamonds?
You can seed with any thca crystal.
This is what i got going on. So if you say yes. I will commence to dropping some seeds … I only got about a gram though … should I crush it up or drop As is …
Go for it, you don’t need much . Just a few crumbs. Expect smaller crystals from late seeded jars. Here is an old pic, first jar was seeded 2 days after extraction, second was 1 week after extraction. When the seed is added to a superasturated solution it tends to cause nuculation ( fast small crystals ) .
See the nuculation?
Just laced it. I felt like that salt bae guy or whatever he calms himself dropping it in there Sprinkle me mayne Sprinkle me *e40 voice
Lol, you say it like that when you added it?
Exactly like that. I’m from Vallejo lol.
So I seeded it. I should keep them closed for On now on the oven at 85 with no purge. Since I am low on tane I should just let it be and hope for the best in 2 weeks or so …