Just a heads up that I’m going to be posting a full extraction and post processing SOP in the near future. I’ve received such a response from our oils and the Tek we used to produce them. A bunch of members have contacted me asking for more details. It will be more efficient and effective if I just put it all together and give it to the world. Have a little bit of patience with me-- we are in a super busy mode right now with production. My goal is to have it posted to the forum by the end of next week.
In the mean time, if anyone wants to peruse my Instagram my name there is thelostbiologist. I have a good amount of information on what we’re doing in those posts. Also it’s just some really pretty pictures.
Hey all! I’m running behind on getting the extraction and post processing tek up. I haven’t forgotten, I promise! We are running up on a major build out and with holiday production needs and this fancy early Nor’easter (I’m up in New Hampshire) I just haven’t had the time to get everything together. I’ll be working on it this weekend and will post soon.
Thanks for understanding! And thanks to everyone who has followed me on Instagram. It’s great to be able to share my work with fellow masters of the universe!
@Beaker Where do you source your alumina? I tried some and found that it passed a smell on to the distillate even after running distilled water and then ethanol through it. I have been avoiding iso so I’m thinking of trying your chlorophyll removal procedure with 70/30 ethanol.
Dry ice is about a 30 minute drive and costs over 2$ / lb after fees and such. I winterized with dry ice and did not notice a big difference from my normal -20 celcius chest freezer processing. In fact the whatman filter paper looked almost unused if not for the dimples.
I’ve been using dark alumina I bought from the hardware store.
I have to wash it with about 8 gallons of water per 500g in order to remove smell. But it does come out completely.
Also, you don’t need to get to -60 for winterizing. You can winterize with ethanol at room temperature it just takes a longass time. Maybe do 48-72h at -20 and you’ll have the exact same results.
Did you degas the ethanol before filtering? I’m pretty sure the co2 disolved in the etoh keeps stuff suspended. Or at the very least is really good at fucking up filter cakes…
I get mine online from Amazon. I can’t find white anymore so get the brown. The alumina should impart nothing by itself to flavor. I do run a solvent flush on mine and toss it but just routine as part of packing it.
I decided to do a hot carbon scrub this time and I can’t get this tincture to lighten up at all. Still super dark red. That was after doing it twice, allowing it to cool to room temp the second time before filtration. This was never an issue in the past, the only difference is that I’m doing these scrubs hot rather than doing them cold right after extraction like I did before. I’m going to do a cold scrub tonight or tomorrow (-25c) and report back on the results.
Update: Got it a little bit lighter, but not much. I think doing this larger batch on a vacuum still with a 1-liter bf took its toll. The other batches were only 1-1.5L of solution while this one was 5. I should have emptied the bf after reducing each liter rather than just adding more and more tincture with a sep funnel while running. Oh well, live and learn. I’m excited for the color I’ll be able to achieve once I get a roto and vacuum oven and I’m able to do it the right way. Just glad I’m learning these lessons on a small scale and on my own time before I go and fuck up thousands of dollars worth of extract.
Try reacting your bleaching clay at 90C for 30 min instead of 1hr. If you react too long, you’ll form secondary oxidation products, which will cause more darkening.
Make sure you filter ALL the clay out, or more oxidation products can form during subsequent distillation.
I highly recommend celite 545 on top of a frit if you’re going to filter. It catches small particle while also having really good throughput. It’s a type of diatemacous earth clay that makes a great filter bed.
