Refrigerating butane
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SnapsProvolone
Well-Known Member
I never bothered freezing my butane. It comes out of the can cold enough. IME large tanks of r-600 might require some thawing during a run.
WarMachine
Well-Known Member
I always put my butane in the freezer for at least 1-2 hours but I prefer 3-4 hours, but I do the long soak method so helps me quiet a bit more..
Blunter the kid
Well-Known Member
Is there a reason why you chill it to -50 instead of something lower?
Does it hinder cannabinoids solubility in any way?
VP#2
Well-Known Member
material temp doesnt matter IMO as soon as that butane hits it, nothing matters anymore.
freezing the butane is important as, like fadedawg said, it reduces the waxes that are extracted, and it also keeps the butane in the liquid form which is important for 2 reasons. 1, although youre outdoors, evaporating butane is dangerous because it can find a spark and blow up, and although youre outdoors its also not fun at all to breathe in while blasting and its starting to evaporate a little bit because its room temp and in gaseous form not a cold liquid form and 2, it can really start to pressurize your extraction tube, which can make glass extraction tubes blow up if you use too many filters, pack too tight, etc..., or maybe just your filter blow out and kinda ruin your oil run.
so yeah, freeze the butane. your body and yields will thank you. do whatever you want with the material, we all have our own beliefs on that. but in the end, it mainly depends on the grower/ starting quality of the material, cure times, and how early/late the plant was harvested (clear, gold, or dark trics).
freezing the butane is important as, like fadedawg said, it reduces the waxes that are extracted, and it also keeps the butane in the liquid form which is important for 2 reasons. 1, although youre outdoors, evaporating butane is dangerous because it can find a spark and blow up, and although youre outdoors its also not fun at all to breathe in while blasting and its starting to evaporate a little bit because its room temp and in gaseous form not a cold liquid form and 2, it can really start to pressurize your extraction tube, which can make glass extraction tubes blow up if you use too many filters, pack too tight, etc..., or maybe just your filter blow out and kinda ruin your oil run.
so yeah, freeze the butane. your body and yields will thank you. do whatever you want with the material, we all have our own beliefs on that. but in the end, it mainly depends on the grower/ starting quality of the material, cure times, and how early/late the plant was harvested (clear, gold, or dark trics).
Blunter the kid
Well-Known Member
I should have been more clear, i don't use tubes, I use the thermos soak method but I drop a few chunks of dry ice into my stainless steel canister before I add the butane, it keeps butane below is boiling point inside my container and prevents a lot of my butane vapors from escaping.
What I want to know is if the efficiency of the solvent is reduced at temperatures that low or if the waxes are just not picked up because they are solid at those temps.
In other words, if the butane is -50 or lower will it hinder the rate at which cannabinoids are dissolved into the butane?
I perform 10 second washes with butane and dry ice for smoking grade concentrates. Afterwards I leave the material in alcohol to soak for a few minutes, for tincture grade concentrate.
I'd like to know because I'm thinking the colder I can get the butane, the longer I can soak while still coming out with a pristine end product free of waxes, I would like to see more yield on the butane extraction but I also want it to be very tasty and potent.
WarMachine
Well-Known Member
Damn you leave the butane with the material for only 10 seconds when doing a long soak..? I leave it for 30-40 minutes..
Blunter the kid
Well-Known Member
Yup, anywhere from 10-30 second washes, so I can reap a couple of benefits:
1. It's about as simple, fast, clean as it gets without further processing.
2. I get to grind my material to dust, so I can fit more in my small container.
3. It excludes a lot of the waxes, which in turn make my extract easier to purge. While at the same time not having to use alcohol to remove the waxes, which requires higher temps to be effectively purged off.
I figure as long as I extract what's remaining with ethanol, I'm not wasting anything because I still dose up with tincture before I smoke my concentrate.
VP#2
Well-Known Member
yeah I think with butane you cant necessarily over rinse, but ive never done a thermos soak or anything like that with dry ice so im not too sure. also, trying to not capture waxes on the first run like that I would say is very very hard to do, and very inefficient. you would be better off rinsing it fully, then cleansing it of the waxes afterwards. this way you know youre getting all the thc (in smokable form) and no waxes. you would have to say good bye to the tincture though 
how do you know that youre not getting any waxes? have you winterized your quick runs like that to confirm?
sounds like youre making more tincture than anything with that quick of a run.
how do you know that youre not getting any waxes? have you winterized your quick runs like that to confirm?
sounds like youre making more tincture than anything with that quick of a run.
Blunter the kid
Well-Known Member
I have winterized my bho after doing the dry ice thermos soak, there is waxes being picked up, but the amount is significantly less compared to a normal bho extraction.yeah I think with butane you cant necessarily over rinse, but ive never done a thermos soak or anything like that with dry ice so im not too sure. also, trying to not capture waxes on the first run like that I would say is very very hard to do, and very inefficient. you would be better off rinsing it fully, then cleansing it of the waxes afterwards. this way you know youre getting all the thc (in smokable form) and no waxes. you would have to say good bye to the tincture though
how do you know that youre not getting any waxes? have you winterized your quick runs like that to confirm?
sounds like youre making more tincture than anything with that quick of a run.
Basically I'm willing to sacrifice some thc to my tincture, just for the fact that I can keep most of my terpenes when i purge it.
I realize how horribly inefficient it is to do extractions like this, but I don't sell my medicine it's just for me and my family so I like to try and go overboard on purity and terpene retention
Edit: even though most terps are in the tincture. Also ideletemyself and I are sharing some pretty interesting ways to clean up concentrates after extraction so I do have those thoughts in mind, this process is meant to just be simple, fast, and dare I say fool proof
Although I probably shouldn't have said it makes a product free of waxes because it isn literally free of waxes.
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Fadedawg
Well-Known Member
That is about what our butane drops to when we are using a -70C bath and a push pull flood.
Blunter the kid
Well-Known Member
I know it seems that way, but you really would be surprised by how much I still yield compared to my previous method which was a 5 minute soak with no dry ice.
I'd say with the new method it gives me a little under 2 grams from 14 grams of plant material, plus I get the health benefits for orally ingesting the tincture so I don't see much of a down side.
Daub Marley
Active Member
When you remove the heat (kinetic energy of the molecules) it makes the dissolving process much more mild. I can't speak for not dissolving the waxes (seems correct), but cooling the butane will only make it easier to find that sweet spot in the yield curve. It's sort of like slowing down a car so that you can stop it right where you want it and not half way down the block. It will greatly increase the amount of time needed for full extraction, but if it cuts out the winterization then its def. worth it.
at some point beyond -50f close but not exactly I believe is the freezing point of THC or portions of it that are ACTIVE ingredients. Going below -50 ive been told will begin to freeze the thc out of the butane and you will be left with some sticking to your pyrex (or whatever your pouring into). And as such will decrease the yield you receive and some thc will be left un dewaxed in the "dirty" bowl of tane, possibly even in the filter with the material you filtered out if it froze in the fluid and not on the side (extreme exposure). Ideally ive been told the range is -35 to -50f I would lean more towards -40 to -45 to be safe.
For the waxes I recommend properly dewaxing your BHO. to achieve this you want to 1st blast you tube, if its a pressurized tube then fill and soak for 1hr then blast it out. After this process you then can dewax your fluid properly. take your butane and preferably in some Pyrex I blast in a measuring bowl (8 cup Pyrex), and place it on some dry ice for 1-4 hrs until you are happy with the product (most do 1-2 hrs) You want to check it with a heat gun regularly ensuring it doesn't drop below -50f for the duration. you will notice a decent amount of stuff sitting at the bottom when its ready (tan colored stuff norm) then u filter this through a Buchner funnel with the assistance of a filtering flask attached to your vacuum chamber. Make sure you funnel and flask are cold as well if the butane heats up before its filtered wax will dissolve back into your solution. Once this is done you have Properly dewaxed BHO. you cannot properly dewax your BHO in the blasting process, you must perform an additional step either this way or in a separate dewaxing column but both are done after the blasting process. Winterizing also gets rid of the waxes but people have stopped that due to the costs associated with liquor licenses and organic grape alcohol. instead they are keeping the butane in solution long enough to perform this process prior to removing the butane.
For anyone wondering what this does exactly. it makes for a much smoother cleaner better tasting dab with no left over residues. I cant give dewaxing a star rating, but your shatter isn't 5 star without it
.Never put my cans in the freezer before, heard too many stories about a seal or o-ring breaking on the can and causing an explosion. Not sure if it's true or not but i never wanted to find out. We just put a little piece of dry ice at the end of the blasting tube where the tip of the can goes into, the idea being the dry ice would convert the gas back into a liquid before it ran down the tube full of material. Seemed to work ok, no complaints
Jozikins
Well-Known Member
This is exactly what I do. I never bother to check temps because I've done the same process over and over, but i de-wax on dry ice for at least 24 hours. You think that's wasting money? I was fully aware that a lot of thc freezes into the fats at the bottom of my measuring cup, but I figured it was a necessary waste to get the cleanest product possible. Even still I see that thick white booger of fat sitting at the bottom. I used to avoid it during my Buchner pour but now I put that through the filter too otherwise my product never wants to shatter and is lacking flavor.For the waxes I recommend properly dewaxing your BHO. to achieve this you want to 1st blast you tube, if its a pressurized tube then fill and soak for 1hr then blast it out. After this process you then can dewax your fluid properly. take your butane and preferably in some Pyrex I blast in a measuring bowl (8 cup Pyrex), and place it on some dry ice for 1-4 hrs until you are happy with the product (most do 1-2 hrs) You want to check it with a heat gun regularly ensuring it doesn't drop below -50f for the duration. you will notice a decent amount of stuff sitting at the bottom when its ready (tan colored stuff norm) then u filter this through a Buchner funnel with the assistance of a filtering flask attached to your vacuum chamber. Make sure you funnel and flask are cold as well if the butane heats up before its filtered wax will dissolve back into your solution. Once this is done you have Properly dewaxed BHO. you cannot properly dewax your BHO in the blasting process, you must perform an additional step either this way or in a separate dewaxing column but both are done after the blasting process. Winterizing also gets rid of the waxes but people have stopped that due to the costs associated with liquor licenses and organic grape alcohol. instead they are keeping the butane in solution long enough to perform this process prior to removing the butane.
For anyone wondering what this does exactly. it makes for a much smoother cleaner better tasting dab with no left over residues. I cant give dewaxing a star rating, but your shatter isn't 5 star without it
One time I was de-waxing the most beautiful nug run I've ever done and I got this little tiny pool of super mega clear pull snap, and a whole bunch of fatty stuff, 3x as much as my clear stuff. Usually I discard stuff like that for cooking grade, but this poured up into some beautiful and potent shatter. I guess the whole blunder was because I'm de-waxing too long. But you really think it'll only take 2 hours to compete the process? How many pounds of dry ice to you put with one 8 cup measuring cup (with a proportionally sized ice chest of course)?