How to make cannabis infused olive oil

[chiqifella]

as long as the herb is BONE DRY.its said to be discarded.
Heat ONLY SPEEDS up the process is all.
If the herb has any moisture to it there will be inactive thca, as well as other inactive cannabinoids.

this is what I thought. So when I read "decarb first" this may be misinformation
depending on when the material was harvested and how much moisture is within? Seems everyone is told to decarbs with heat regardless and I wondered why.

I learned heat decarbing was to rid the joint of excess fresh harvest quickly without waiting for it to dry first.
I've found better flavors when I decarb the finished oil from a fresh harvest rather than weed.

 

[Fadedawg]

is old weed already decarboxylated,
like 3 months, dark, 70-75, 40-50% RH?

Probably not.

 

[Fadedawg]

how could one detect if old material is decarb'd ?

room temp dried buds-
four week old oil provides different effects than fresh oil for instance.
how long at room temperature does it take to fully decarboxylate?(thank you)

Run a small sample? You can tell if oil is decarboxylated by heating it and seeing if it fizzes.

I've never tried it, but if you suspended some material in vegetable oil and heated it to 250F or so and watched for CO2 bubble release.

 

[Fadedawg]

this is what I thought. So when I read "decarb first" this may be misinformation
depending on when the material was harvested and how much moisture is within? Seems everyone is told to decarbs with heat regardless and I wondered why.

I learned heat decarbing was to rid the joint of excess fresh harvest quickly without waiting for it to dry first.
I've found better flavors when I decarb the finished oil from a fresh harvest rather than weed.

Decarbing first ostensibly improves the yield some using non polar solvent, because THC is less polar than THCA.

I always decarboxylate the extracted oil instead, because I can tell what is going on by watching the bubbles.

 

[greg nr]

this is what I thought. So when I read "decarb first" this may be misinformation
depending on when the material was harvested and how much moisture is within? Seems everyone is told to decarbs with heat regardless and I wondered why.

I learned heat decarbing was to rid the joint of excess fresh harvest quickly without waiting for it to dry first.
I've found better flavors when I decarb the finished oil from a fresh harvest rather than weed.

Decarbing has nothing to do with moisture. It involves driving off a co2H molecule (carboxyl group) from the thc-a molecule making it thc. Of course one of the effects of putting fresh herb into an oven is that you toast it and it becomes dry.

But it wasn't the moisture you were after, it was the carboxyl group. I've never heard that merely drying out weed decarb's it. In fact, if you could find a way to decarb herb without drying it out, it would be a huge plus; drying drives off a lot of the terpines.

It's easy enough to dry some out though, decarb some and leave some raw, and then make some butter from each. See if both get you just as high.

 

[chiqifella]

Decarbing has nothing to do with moisture. It involves driving off a co2 molecule (carboxyl group) from the thc-a molecule making it thc. Of course one of the effects of putting fresh herb into an oven is that you toast it and it becomes dry.

But it wasn't the moisture you were after, it was the carboxyl group. I've never heard that merely drying out weed decarb's it. In fact, if you could find a way to decarb herb without drying it out, it would be a huge plus; drying drives off a lot of the terpines.

It's easy enough to dry some out though, decarb some and leave some raw, and then make some butter from each. See if both get you just as high.

@gb123 with "unless bone dry"

but weed does decarb over time, as it loses it moisture and becomes dry.
I'm betting if it remained wet it would not decarb over time.The longer it dries the more decarb'd it gets, just like old oil vs new oil I think?

Point is when we read "decarb for X time at X temp, how can that be fitting for all weed, dry or freshly harvested.
If someone bakes their already old decarb'd weed now they have different results.

I'm all set, not looking for technique just understanding.
"just as high" is subjective i find. some like to slack jaw on the couch and sleep for half days from their medibles while others want to be alert for the whole concert. one would say they got higher than the other I think.

 

[greg nr]

@gb123 with "unless bone dry"

but weed does decarb over time, as it loses it moisture and becomes dry.
I'm betting if it remained wet it would not decarb over time.The longer it dries the more decarb'd it gets, just like old oil vs new oil I think?

Point is when we read "decarb for X time at X temp, how can that be fitting for all weed, dry or freshly harvested.
If someone bakes their already old decarb'd weed now they have different results.

I'm all set, not looking for technique just understanding.
"just as high" is subjective i find. some like to slack jaw on the couch and sleep for half days from their medibles while others want to be alert for the whole concert. one would say they got higher than the other I think.

Here is a graph that shows the time/temp conversion rates of thc-a to thc. It unfortunately doesn't have a line for room temp (though I'm sure you can find one with a little searching), but if you look at the slope of the line at 80 C, it is nearly flat. At 21 C it would be flat.

It would take a long time to naturally decarb. Months at a minimum, not days. But, more research is out there. Good luck...

 

[gb123]

heat ONLY increase the process.
It occurs naturally.

people get it all buggered up!

people are told to decarb because MOST POT IS MOIST 60% when you get it
so drying it in the oven is what does it!

 

[chiqifella]

I suspect this is at least partially true. ... not good the day of harvest, usable and great a couple weeks after drying, supreme a month later. non decarb'd old oil from dry non decarb'd weed is stonier than new oil I find, but I want fresh non decarb'd oil for vape, old or decarb'd for ingestion.
Time is on my side.

 

[greg nr]

heat ONLY increase the process.
It occurs naturally.

people get it all buggered up!

people are told to decarb because MOST POT IS MOIST 60% when you get it
so drying it in the oven is what does it!

It does occur naturally, but at what rate? Drying is not listed as a conversion mechanism in any of the literature I've looked at. It seems it will naturally decarb at the same rate whether wet or dry.

You can dry flowers out in days. Is that enough time? How much time dry

I'm open to new data points. Have you used fresh dried flower in a butter and had it be potent?