Hey there everyone, I really hope someone can help me out.
The oil in the picture has been dewaxed/degumed by winterizing the oil in a normal freezer with the temp being at -5F and centrifuging while cold various times, this provides excellent results for removing lipids, also for color remediation im using a combination of bentonite and activated carbon, and once all that is over I evaporate the ethanol using a magnetic stirrer setting the temp at 40C. (Im using is 96% ethanol)
Once I finish my color remediation and dewaxing the solution is crystal clear and it remains that way during the whole evaporation process but once all the alcohol is gone im getting this cloudy white fogginess in the oil and this is my biggest problem, I really need help in knowing whats causing this and how can I fix this. Could it be the remaining 4% water of the ethanol im using ? Or is it something else ?
I really appreciate anyone who is willing to help me out.
Thanks
Good old fashioned H2O, my man. You have a couple of options depending on your goals. If you’re looking for a decarb oil or crude you can cook it hotter and boil off the water. If you’re looking for a thca product you can use some 200 proof and let the azeotrope pull out the water as it boils off. You can pull 50ml of water for every 1l of 200 proof you add. You probably don’t have -that- much water. It doesn’t take much to get a cloudy result. Lastly, if you have the option, purge under vacuum as @cyclopath mentioned.
Hey so I’ve noticed same white cloudy thing when making quick wash rso…used everclear brand. I thought it may be something left over from the solvent…which it may possibly be, but IF you used any heat during process unlikely .when finished it always had this slight sweet taste, so i figured some sort of sugar?? But then i came across some videos on youtube and i think its just fats and lipids the 1st process didnt catch…i mean ive literally filtered 5x then left in freezer and 48 hrs there was that same white cloudy stuff settled to the bottom and its impossible to see it till it collects… Looks crystal clear then it settles. Try filtering again…then put your mix back in freezer for 24 hrs …then just take off the top layers w/ metal Turkey baster, leaving that white cloudy stuff on bottom of jar. The best way to tell if its water or fats and lipids is to slurp up a tiny amount and put heat to it…mine always left a residue…like soggy plaster…i think you need to do more than vac purge this…all though 50-100 hrs plus under vac wouldnt hurt.
The white stuff will sort of be seperate of the oil…almost “sits on top” like if in a bigger container more surface area like pie holder you can move it around and slurp it off the top or in a corner…its most likely just more fats…really hard to get em all especially if you used finely grounded up bio mass to start or even if was an extract that had lots of fats left. Hope this helps…
You know, I’ve been asked this before and the answer is that I’ve never tried adding sieves to oil. Sieves tend to break down rather easily and leave behind a merky cloudiness of their own, at least when used in straight ethanol. You can get it out with some fine filtration, but I also don’t know what effect it will have on the oil, especially if you’re using them when the oil is viscous. They can also get pretty hot when they are working, which would probably defeat your low temp approach. Overall it just seemed like a lot more work for the same result (and with no guarantee that you will even get the same result). I’ve never been motivated to give it a try. Maybe someone else has and can enlighten us all!
Thanks a lot for your reply, im trying to make vape pens, ,that is my main goal.
I decarb my material before I extract it, I really dont want to have to apply more heat to it since I do not want the color to get darker, is there a way of removing the water without heat ?
Im sorry for my late reply, I would of replied yesterday as soon I saw your post and everybodys but since im a noob on the site it would not let me.
I got a closed loop CO2 extractor from medxtractor and that is what they recommend, decarbing before extracting, im new to all this so im just following the rules, my main goal is to make vape pens and ive been able to produce some pretty strong ones, the guys at mextractor say that properly decarbing the material before extracting provides better yields, and thats what ive been doing.
Im looking into vacuum chambers just now, I was looking at a best value vac kit that goes for around $160 bucks, im wondering where the alcohol goes after the pump sucks it out of the chamber, is it destroyed by the pump ? or does it have an outlet ? If it does have an outlet what do you do with it inside a room ? Maybe connect it to a hose and put it outside the window ? Also, i read somewhere that you could hook up a cold trap to the vacuum chamber to recuperate the alcohol, do you have any idea how this is done or where I could look up some info to do this ?
I was told that 200 proof alcohol sucks up humidity as soon as you open the container and that for that reason its pointless to use it for the application of water removal, how true is this ?
Over time it will suck up water but it’s not immediate. I’ve had open 200 proof around for months and not had it saturate to 5%. Using it for water removal is far from pointless. It’s my preferred method for oil that’s not going to get decarbed.
I’ve been able to use 200 proof at cryo (-80 to -70c) 3 or 4 times and not had it hit 190 proof. The flower also went in at the same temperature, so that definitely helped keep the water out durring the extraction. I’ve had a bottle of 200 proof in my fire chest for about 4 months at room temperature with a plastic spigot on it. I checked it the other day and it still read as 199 proof. Just used it to pull some water our of an extract two weeks ago.
I’m sure it’s dependent on the conditions it’s in how quickly it will saturate. But it remains anhydrous more than long enough to use for water removal. I mean, if 200 proof instantly turned into 190 proof what would be the point of making 200 proof at all?
