Hey guys had a question. So I recently ran a ton of trim my clients had. Ran it through the cls, diluted with etoh, winterized then rotovap. The end result was a fairly thick, dark amber oil. I jarred it and put it in the fridge. Until this day that same jar and all other jars remains the same color and consistency. But recently I went ahead and filled up a bunch of carts. After about a week, they all turned pretty green. I never see green through my whole process, and as I said even now the same jar In the fridge looks the same as it did day one. What’s happening to the oil after I put it in the cart that’s turning green? I’m getting my SPD setup going ASAP, so I know just having winterized trim oil in a pen isn’t the best way. But what is happening to make it green. Thanks guys
Before/After photos?
The jar is what we pulled from. Still looks amber. The pen is the best pic I can get, it’s like olive oil green. I even took a sample out of the jar and left it in open air to see if oxidation is happening. I don’t see that green anywhere, except about a week after loading the carts. There may be a little etoh in there as I recently refined my solvent recovery since I believe I may have been leaving some in after rotovap… but again I even in the sample left open, no green.
What kind of cartridge is that?
From convectium I believe
Leave one out in the sun for a day. I did this once on some oil and it worked for me. I had pulled some chlorophyll during extraction and by putting it in the sun it induced photosynthesis to occur. I did this once and it worked. Not a sure fix but worth a try. If not, you can soak the all the carts in ETOH ,carbonize it, roto vap then short path .
does it take time to turn green or as soon as you eject?
Try this. Fill one. Stick it in the refrigerator. Wait a week…bet you no color change!
I think you said this turn happen a week later??? Its probably the cartridge is prewetted in some kinda pg or something. I use to have this problem often in the past. It wouldnt happen with all my oil either only my shitty west coast super cheap trim id pay like $50-100 a lb…Mine was probably pesticide riddled oil doing it to my cartridges, but i was never able to solve it OTHER than keeping those cartrigdes refrigerated…
To answer the above two posts-
I did end up leaving a sample in the sun for that exact experiment, I know sun/uv removes the chlorophyll. I did not try filling new pens with the sun treated jar so I’ll try that
And next, yea it seems the color change only appears after a few days in both used and unused carts… I MIGHT have some in the fridge I’ll check! I filtered and cleaned up as much as I can short of distilling. It’s just weird I never see the green until it’s in the carts for a few days. So it’s not “air/oxygen”. IF the fridge fixes it, that still poses a problem as they can’t alllways be under refrigeration especially when I give them to people. Weird.
Update. The pens in the fridge, made at the same time, with same material have NOT turned green… but also, the sample I put in the sun and left open on my counter didn’t turn green either… so either
A-the sun killed the chlorophyll which is why the sample jar on the counter showed no green,
B-the sun didn’t do anything, and it’s strictly something in the pen reacting…
What’s your thoughts on the possibility of trace ethanol still being in there? Still mystery why it’s ONLY in the pens.
I’ve made ethanol extracted carts in the past. I use the elcheapo plastic wick carts. I’ve never seen anything turn green, minus the initial extract point. Putting the etoh in the sun truck does work, however at the expense of some potency loss. From what I’ve been told 5 yrs ago.
Imo, if it’s only turning once out into carts, it’s a cart issue and reacting to a manufacturing chemical or solvent used during the build process.
I’ve only noticed separation with carts, never turning. Minus the red ring with distillate from oxidation.
Here is how you might be able to track the green down. First, there are myriad color combinations present in any given extract. Color theory can show you what combinations for example can make up amber, brown, and so forth. The reflective light reflects back to us those colors present that are not absorbed by compound and represent a mix of light for our eyes to acquire and judge overall additive color.
I have found that one way to inspect your compound for green is to place the compound in a small beaker and set it directly on top of a small display light I have so that the light shines up through the stuff. I generally do this when it is in a iso solution because often I use the light itself as a heat source and have cooked small quantities this way.
What I discovered and once even had a video posted before Youtube determined I was rotting the minds of our youth is that the light being shined up this way will reveal green on its own from the transmitted light rather than reflected light and I will indeed see the green fringes on compound that otherwise might be amber or brown or nearly even black.
My suggestion then would be to inspect your compound this way prior to putting it into anything at all. This would either eliminate that the green is other than chlorophyl or it would confirm it. The reason something might turn green from amber is simple in theory but not then so certain why. If green is not seen until the stuff has sat in a pen for a while it means that something is degreading and shifting color in a way that no longer mixes with green colors and so the green is perceived. Take a look sometime at my dewaxing vid on IG. That compound starts as dark brown to the eyes yet when I boil it in iso it turns green and I am talking about supercritical extractions. I am not sure what compound is changing to do this but it is repeatable.
The green you see is almost certainly chlorophyll. If you had a chromatography tube you could identify it that way as well. If you do get a chance to stop by the lab here in Oregon as we had chatted about some time ago and are legal to bring a sample for low tech testing we sure could run it in a DCVC column and for sure then identify what is in there. How we might remove it then is pretty simple really and would be similar to dewaxing run but with a boil first in iso. I realize Oregon law might make it impossible to adopt my personal tech for dealing with stuff on a commercial operation but I bet we could figure it out at least.
You may have answered this already, but have you filled other pens? Maybe its reacting with something in the cart? I have gotten bad batches of carts before.
Tear one those new carts open and inspect, don’t forget the green ones…I’d just have to check it out!!!
Maybe having one those reactions w something in it or the winterization solvent
we havent solved the exact issue, and in the next day or two i intend on making a few various pens with the samples i have to see if its the pen, or something else… I cant imagine it being anything else… as i said, i left the compound in open air, in sunlight, etc and no green…Theres only a few thoughts remaining which are-
A) The pen has something inside of it that is reacting and turning my oil green
B) There is still some ethanol left in the compound, which is perhaps reacting in some way, but as opposed to the open air jar i tested, the ethanol/reaction has no where to go in the cart?
Im going to start purging my oil in a vacuum oven , as i now know there is still some ethanol being stuck in my compound after rotovaping. Once i for sure know the ethanol is out, ill re-try. But i do indeed need to make some sample pens with other carts and see if it still happens…
While not the most ideal for most of you pros, everyone that tried the pen which was just trim oil winterized real well, said they like the color, flavor and effect… So the only thing stopping me from filling tons of carts for this person that wants bulk, is the green…
Oh, also, turns out, eitherway, ALL the sample carts i made and gave to someone ended up leaking. These were convectium carts, and they all leaked…every one… so it was a fail either way. But if i can get past the green,and leak, i would be in a good situation to move a bunch of carts, even with just winterized trim oil