Closed Column worth it? (Higher yield?)

Hello! New user, amateur extractor. Been open blasting the past two years now and decided to jump back into things, did some research and came upon the closed column pressure extractor. Hype says that it should help with yield since it lets your solvent "marinate" your goodies. And just an all around easier method.

I'm already pretty set on buying a 60 gram tube but would also like to hear some people methods and experiences with theirs? I'd like to think I've done a good amount of research now but hearing some current feedback is always helpful i say thanks in advance!

just save up and get a CLS and save buttloads of money by being able to reuse your butane

Exactly what hashman said. Plus, who wants to smoke the mystery oil out of those cans anyway.

cls is the way to go. but as far as the mystery oil from cans I doubt that many people that smoke but dont make oil worry about or even know about it. I personally dont notice a difference in physical health when smoking bho made from canned butane for extended periods pf time.

if your going for ease of extraction without spending tons of money open blast is the way. it's also extermely dangerous, do thouroughr rresearch on any chemicals you are using and return to the info on any questions that arise. a stainless steel thermos (with no components that arent stainless) can be washed with a solvent and used to make a closed chamber. when I used to use one I had one for warm temps and cold temps, variation was mainly the pressure release.

Closed loop or not if it isnt a felony to extract with hydrcoarbons EVERYWHERE soon I'll be surprised.

I am also interested in any responses to the original question asked here.

I have been open blasting for a couple of years (yes I take all the safety precautions and yes I use a butane that myself and many other people trust) and am now taking a look at a closed column extractor.
A closed loop would be total overkill for me as I grow for my wife and myself but I am always looking for ways to maximize my output. Currently I get anywhere from 15-20% return with open blasting. I only blast the material once and then save it all to mix in with the leaves after a harvest for bubble hash. I then add the bubble hash the next time I blast.

Is the return from a closed column much higher?
How long do you let it soak? I have seem anywhere from one minute to hours mentioned.
Do you keep it cold while it is soaking?

i'm considering a closed column extractor. the one i'm looking at is only about $250. i blast massive amounts of trim currently using only glass tubes so it should save me at the very least a lot of effort.

dbkick said:

Closed loop or not if it isnt a felony to extract with hydrocarbons EVERYWHERE soon I'll be surprised.

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Define everywhere???

Does that include sleepy little backwater states like OR, WA, CO, and NV, who currently require a licensed facility, to extract cannabis with hydrocarbons and regulate them heavily to insure compliance to local and national codes????

As far as at a residence, it's never been legal anywhere, but you are right that public tolerance for brothers and sisters blowing themselves and others up is growing thin.

The way us'n old outlaws kept from attracting attention, was to become a ghost in the system. Ghosts attend to details and don't have incidents that attract attention, and conduct those extractions in such a manner that even if recorded and prosecuted, wouldn't result in felony reckless endangerment charges, or loss of parental rights.

With legalization, comes regulation, so the business plan of those planning to stay in the extraction business should include meeting the regulated standards.

Luisisdashiz said:

Hello! New user, amateur extractor. Been open blasting the past two years now and decided to jump back into things, did some research and came upon the closed column pressure extractor. Hype says that it should help with yield since it lets your solvent "marinate" your goodies. And just an all around easier method.

I'm already pretty set on buying a 60 gram tube but would also like to hear some people methods and experiences with theirs? I'd like to think I've done a good amount of research now but hearing some current feedback is always helpful i say thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

Marinating, aka soaking most certainly does increase yield, especially of plant waxes, anthro cyanins, and chlorophyll.

Before designing closed loop recycling systems, I experimented with simply flooding a column and then valving it off and letting it soak, including shaking and vibrating it, etc, to see what we could achieve.

What we yielded was more lower quality extract, because of higher levels of the non-target elements above. The waxes we could get rid of by winterizing, and the chlorophyll we could bleach with UV, but we've had to use short path distillation, or chromatography to take out the anthrocyanin plant pigments.

I recommend that you consider a closed loop system that recycles the butane. You can get them as low as $600 at places like BVV, and ASME certified systems for under $4000.

Ostensibly a system with a lower tank large enough to contain a minimum of 3 column volumns of butane.

Besides being cheaper to operate, they permit you to pre-distill your butane to remove mystery oils, and are safer to operate than a system which you open and let the butane boil off to atmosphere, besides being more ecologically friendly, from the standpoint of drilling, transport, refining, and final discharge to atmosphere.

Fadedawg said:

Define everywhere???

Does that include sleepy little backwater states like OR, WA, CO, and NV, who currently require a licensed facility, to extract cannabis with hydrocarbons and regulate them heavily to insure compliance to local and national codes????

As far as at a residence, it's never been legal anywhere, but you are right that public tolerance for brothers and sisters blowing themselves and others up is growing thin.

The way us'n old outlaws kept from attracting attention, was to become a ghost in the system. Ghosts attend to details and don't have incidents that attract attention, and conduct those extractions in such a manner that even if recorded and prosecuted, wouldn't result in felony reckless endangerment charges, or loss of parental rights.

With legalization, comes regulation, so the business plan of those planning to stay in the extraction business should include meeting the regulated standards.

Click to expand...

I meant for the home user. There will be licensed facilities doing extract but theyll operate per MED requirements or lose licensing.
Licensing here carries pretty strict ventilation and procedure inspection.

Up until july 1 of last year even open blasting wasnt covered by any laws that I know, after that any use of butane to extract means felony charges.

dbkick said:

Up until july 1 of last year even open blasting wasnt covered by any laws that I know, after that any use of butane to extract means felony charges.

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Reckless endangerment has always been illegal. Existing fire safety laws limit what you can do in a residence. I promise you a DA can find a list of things to charge you with.

They made it completely illegal here in Colorado to do any butane extractions without a license(insanely hard to get), like @dbkick said, felony charges. Time to buy a press.

Every time we scare the shit out of the public, they write new laws to pile on the old laws covering the same thing. It does give the DA an advantage, in that he can charge more statute violations, and at least locally, two offenses within the same ten year time frame makes you a career criminal, even if they both stem from the same incident, and subject you to Measure 11's mandatory draconian measures.

I think it is reasonable to infer that there will be laws requiring a license to extract in most, if not all states, and to get the license, your equipment, installation, and employee training must meet stringent standards, from ASME and NFPA satisfaction, to meeting food quality standards in the product stream.

That does put the onus on the extractor to either strictly comply so as to become a ghost in the system, or to insure they don't attract any unwanted attention while doing outlaw extractions, so as to stay a ghost in the system.

As noted, a rosin press is a safer and legal way to process personal needs.

I think they got sick of the weekly BHO house explosions where some idiot thought it would be a good idea to open blast in his kitchen and his whole house blows up. Havent been seeing a lot of them on the news lately so my only thoughts are this law might have helped.