Bush Therapy
Active Member
I just made tincture synthesizing a few methods from different sources found here and elsewhere. It came out well. Heres my process:
Slow bake ground plant matter (sugar leaves and as many buds as you can manage) in a cheap clean aluminum baking pan. I used one about 9x12 with about a 2 depth, and I pinched one corner into a shape like a pour spout before starting.
I think baking it a bit slower, for a bit longer time, makes it easier to manage; say about 275F just until it starts to smoke and smell.
Let the converted (baked) stuff cool and then pour it into a mason jar. I used a pint sized one and more or less filled the jar.
Higher proof alcohol does a better job of extracting but it also burns your mouth tissues. Its a tissue issue. I used Bacardi 151, and lowered the alcohol % later. See below.
Swish some of {your choice in alcohol} around in the now empty aluminum baking pan to pick up any remaining powdery residue. Theres lots of THC there you dont want to throw away. Pour that from the baking pan (this is why you pinched a pour spout into one corner) into the jar with the plant matter. Repeat if youre as anal as me, then top off the jar with alcohol.
Close the jar tightly and give it a thorough shake. Stash the jar in a brown paper bag (to keep it away from light), and shake it at least once a day for about a week.
Open the jar and carefully heat it in a pan of water, with your stoves vent fan on high. You dont want to boil the water, just get it hot enough to get the jars contents moving. Alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water. The jar should be fairly deeply immersed, but not submerged obviously, in the hot water. Beware of open flame in this process. Watch it closely, the whole time. Dont burn down your house. If youre careful and sober you should have no problem.
Let this simmer a good while, until the jars contents drop a bit, maybe 20 minutes or so.
Let it cool and strain it through cheesecloth into a glass or pyrex or ceramic bowl. I used a pyrex measuring cup with a handy pour spout. I like pour spouts.
For straining theres a better tool than cheesecloth. Someone in another thread, making a smaller amount of tincture, mentioned using a garlic press to squeeze out the plant matter. A good idea but too small for my recipe. I used a potato ricer, lined at the bottom with a circular piece cut from a paper coffee filter.
(Whats a potato ricer? Its a tool for making superior mashed potatoes. Its a great tincture press as well. Google it and youll get the picture.)
Pour some more of {your choice in alcohol} into the stuff just squeezed in the potato ricer, and squeeze it again. Youre rinsing the THC out of the plant mass, right? Do it a third time if you want. Catch the squeezings in your bowl or whatever. A measuring cup in my case.
Refill your jar with more (converted/baked/decarboxylated) plant matter and pour the above squeezings into it. Youre having a second go at this, see? Doubling your potency by repeating the process. Swish more of {your choice in alcohol} around your measuring cup (or whatever you caught your squeezings in) to catch any valuable residue, and pour that in the jar. Top it off with {your choice in alcohol}, close it up tight, and give it a week, shaking it at least once daily, protected from light as before.
Again, as before, put the open jar in a pan of water on your stove, and heat it slowly until the jars contents start to move on their own. Let this go for about 20 minutes or so. Let it cool.
Strain the contents of your jar with cheesecloth (or a potato ricer if possible) into another clean jar. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat. But this time, when rinsing, use a lower proof alcohol. I used 80 proof rum. If you want to further lower the alcohol content, you can further gently simmer your strained tincture, reducing and concentrating it:
Someone in another thread says they simmer their alcohol tincture way down, until they have more or less a syrup, and they add glycerine to give them back a useful volume and potency with much less alcohol burn in the mouth.
Ive also read that alcohol tincture keeps better. So I add back 80 proof rum to make a total of about 13 or 14 ounces. Strain it again, with multiple layers of cheesecloth (I tried using a coffee filter for this last filtration, but it clogged too easily and the flow stopped way too soon) to get out all the residue you can, and add a bit of honey for taste if you like.
I do this as caregiver for my wife. I personally cant say what the effects are but she has some very serious pain issues and it helps a great deal without having as great an effect on her consciousness, as smoking or vaporizing does. She uses about half a dropperful at a time.
I expect that a lot of smarter people than I am will have something to offer regarding this process. Cool. Theres always room for improvement.
Slow bake ground plant matter (sugar leaves and as many buds as you can manage) in a cheap clean aluminum baking pan. I used one about 9x12 with about a 2 depth, and I pinched one corner into a shape like a pour spout before starting.
I think baking it a bit slower, for a bit longer time, makes it easier to manage; say about 275F just until it starts to smoke and smell.
Let the converted (baked) stuff cool and then pour it into a mason jar. I used a pint sized one and more or less filled the jar.
Higher proof alcohol does a better job of extracting but it also burns your mouth tissues. Its a tissue issue. I used Bacardi 151, and lowered the alcohol % later. See below.
Swish some of {your choice in alcohol} around in the now empty aluminum baking pan to pick up any remaining powdery residue. Theres lots of THC there you dont want to throw away. Pour that from the baking pan (this is why you pinched a pour spout into one corner) into the jar with the plant matter. Repeat if youre as anal as me, then top off the jar with alcohol.
Close the jar tightly and give it a thorough shake. Stash the jar in a brown paper bag (to keep it away from light), and shake it at least once a day for about a week.
Open the jar and carefully heat it in a pan of water, with your stoves vent fan on high. You dont want to boil the water, just get it hot enough to get the jars contents moving. Alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water. The jar should be fairly deeply immersed, but not submerged obviously, in the hot water. Beware of open flame in this process. Watch it closely, the whole time. Dont burn down your house. If youre careful and sober you should have no problem.
Let this simmer a good while, until the jars contents drop a bit, maybe 20 minutes or so.
Let it cool and strain it through cheesecloth into a glass or pyrex or ceramic bowl. I used a pyrex measuring cup with a handy pour spout. I like pour spouts.
For straining theres a better tool than cheesecloth. Someone in another thread, making a smaller amount of tincture, mentioned using a garlic press to squeeze out the plant matter. A good idea but too small for my recipe. I used a potato ricer, lined at the bottom with a circular piece cut from a paper coffee filter.
(Whats a potato ricer? Its a tool for making superior mashed potatoes. Its a great tincture press as well. Google it and youll get the picture.)
Pour some more of {your choice in alcohol} into the stuff just squeezed in the potato ricer, and squeeze it again. Youre rinsing the THC out of the plant mass, right? Do it a third time if you want. Catch the squeezings in your bowl or whatever. A measuring cup in my case.
Refill your jar with more (converted/baked/decarboxylated) plant matter and pour the above squeezings into it. Youre having a second go at this, see? Doubling your potency by repeating the process. Swish more of {your choice in alcohol} around your measuring cup (or whatever you caught your squeezings in) to catch any valuable residue, and pour that in the jar. Top it off with {your choice in alcohol}, close it up tight, and give it a week, shaking it at least once daily, protected from light as before.
Again, as before, put the open jar in a pan of water on your stove, and heat it slowly until the jars contents start to move on their own. Let this go for about 20 minutes or so. Let it cool.
Strain the contents of your jar with cheesecloth (or a potato ricer if possible) into another clean jar. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat. But this time, when rinsing, use a lower proof alcohol. I used 80 proof rum. If you want to further lower the alcohol content, you can further gently simmer your strained tincture, reducing and concentrating it:
Someone in another thread says they simmer their alcohol tincture way down, until they have more or less a syrup, and they add glycerine to give them back a useful volume and potency with much less alcohol burn in the mouth.
Ive also read that alcohol tincture keeps better. So I add back 80 proof rum to make a total of about 13 or 14 ounces. Strain it again, with multiple layers of cheesecloth (I tried using a coffee filter for this last filtration, but it clogged too easily and the flow stopped way too soon) to get out all the residue you can, and add a bit of honey for taste if you like.
I do this as caregiver for my wife. I personally cant say what the effects are but she has some very serious pain issues and it helps a great deal without having as great an effect on her consciousness, as smoking or vaporizing does. She uses about half a dropperful at a time.
I expect that a lot of smarter people than I am will have something to offer regarding this process. Cool. Theres always room for improvement.
