Anyone use a vacuum oven?

I'm new to the wonderful world of concentrates and would like some help when it comes to using a vacuum oven.

Ive vey read most of the basic how to posts but would like some clarification.

It it sounds like you want temps between 100-120 for shatter, between 120-140 for wax and up to 190 for oil.

is this the temp of the oil or the oven temp? Can I set my oven tot 100 and expect shatter or set it to 135 and expect wax? Or do I need to play with oven temps to get the oil to those specific temps in order to get the desired texture?

so far I've made two wax runs. One came out a darker tan and the other a dark brown. I haven't been able to get the golden color yet. Does this matter? Is there a different quality based on color?

ive also made a run of shatter. It is fairly solid but will bend if moved slowly or break if bent quickly.

Thanks for for the Insight and help. I can post pics of the equipment and oils if it helps

Dehydrate or dehumidify the material before hand for lighter color

"Ive vey read most of the basic how to posts"
Maybe you should try again man...this comes up often and has been answered many times

Try guz's wax thread perhaps
Maybe the hash and oil picture thread
Read read and read again

there is no set temps for end product... i have had stuff wax at 110 and stuff wax at 140

Yeah especially with vac ovens youre probably better off setting the temp low and then taking reading with an IR thermometer. Just to see if youre oven is off by a few degrees. You can try calibrating the oven too but i havent gotten into that.

Twitch. said:

there is no set temps for end product... i have had stuff wax at 110 and stuff wax at 140

Click to expand...

this. a lot of it has to do with product and heat, lots of variables involved

Thanks for all the help and feedback. I have spent hours over the last few days reading on how to perfect this craft. It really is a mix of art and science!

i look forward to my many future runs and will be posting my results and questions as I grow.

Thanks again

johnnymcpotts said:

I'm new to the wonderful world of concentrates and would like some help when it comes to using a vacuum oven.

Ive vey read most of the basic how to posts but would like some clarification.

It it sounds like you want temps between 100-120 for shatter, between 120-140 for wax and up to 190 for oil.

is this the temp of the oil or the oven temp? Can I set my oven tot 100 and expect shatter or set it to 135 and expect wax? Or do I need to play with oven temps to get the oil to those specific temps in order to get the desired texture?

so far I've made two wax runs. One came out a darker tan and the other a dark brown. I haven't been able to get the golden color yet. Does this matter? Is there a different quality based on color?

ive also made a run of shatter. It is fairly solid but will bend if moved slowly or break if bent quickly.

Thanks for for the Insight and help. I can post pics of the equipment and oils if it helps

Click to expand...

When I give temperatures, it is the temperature of the oil.

Does your vacuum oven have a thick heavy shelf, or a wire one?

It has a solid metal shelf. I took it out and just set the parchment on the bottom

You are right on to note the difference between the product temp and the controller temp. Further, there is a difference between the shelf temp and the product temp. all of the heat your product sees will be transferred by conduction from the heat source, across the shelves to your product. This is slow but steady. A rookie mistake is to assume that slow progress means that nothing is happening. People see that the shelf is cool compared to the oven controller temp so they crank on the heat. By the time the product sees the heat you have built up a lot of thermal mass and can't prevent it from scorching your product. Experiement in small batches that you don't mind losing. Make small, slow, deliberate changes and write it all down. Whatever you do, do it under vacuum. Don't play with pre-heat cycles with the oven at ambient pressure. All you are doing is heating the air in the chamber which you are about to dump anyway.

Watch NWgreenthumb or rump on youtube. Alot of the top of the game extractors go over all of their techs and trials and tribulations.

I like comparing NW vs Rump because NW likes the budder wax form and rump likes the shatter but are both top shelf products with very little if any residuals.

The oven temp/oil temp/rushing to bump up the heat makes sense and I'm guilty of pushing the heat up too quickly I'm sure.

Those videos are great! Very helpful with wax!

thanks again great people of RIU!

No problem!

johnnymcpotts said:

It has a solid metal shelf. I took it out and just set the parchment on the bottom

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The bottom of your oven, where the heat strips are attached, overshoots the set point quite a bit, because the thermocouples are typically located elsewhere. It also has local hot spots.

If your solid shelf doesn't have enough mass, you might using a chunk of marble on it to even out the heat and act as a sink.

As CT notes, the various surfaces in a vacuum oven will be at different temperatures, because there is no convection, so having a heat sink to conduct heat from is way faster than waiting for enough radiant energy to arrive to raise the temperature.

Thats the thing thats always stumped me. A vac oven is a pretty serious piece of equipment that scientists use. Youd think theyd have that shit dialed in on temp and have a fan in it like in convection oven to get everything moving. Then again, there isnt much left to be moving once you pull a good vac on the thing. But even for just the heating procedure then it turns off, a fan would be very helpful.

It sounds like it's just going to take some trial and error till I get everything dialed in. I'm going to look into a ceramic or marble tile. Maybe if I cut one to fit the bottom of the oven it would help

You could pobably find a pizza stone for not too much. 30-50 at a cooking store

budbro18 said:

Thats the thing thats always stumped me. A vac oven is a pretty serious piece of equipment that scientists use. Youd think theyd have that shit dialed in on temp and have a fan in it like in convection oven to get everything moving. Then again, there isnt much left to be moving once you pull a good vac on the thing. But even for just the heating procedure then it turns off, a fan would be very helpful.

Click to expand...

As you note, there is virtually nothing left to blow around under 1.5 Torr partial pressure.

Unlike convection heating, where the heat is transferred via heated gas (air), only conduction and radiant energy transfer works.

If you use the radiant energy from the shell of the oven, to heat large masses inside the vacuum, they too will radiate heat, which you won't instantly lose when you open the oven and insert the product.

Some Cascade TEK ovens have optional heating elements in the heavy aluminum shelf plates, replete with their own thermocouple, and control the heat of the individual shelves.

Consider that with the product sitting on a marble shelf, that a second marble shelf placed above it radiates both up and down.

Those things look really nice! that tvo2 would be a nice starter for anyone.

With the programmable logs and everything.

Some concentrators would love the different heated shelves. Especially for testing. Run all the same strain but put them on 2-4 different shelves all at different temps. Then lab tests after.

I wish they could get lab testing on point too. I always hear of some places testing so high and its always from the same one, when the rest of the world is testing lower than them. People going to one lab test at 10ppm res hydrocarbons and at other labs theyre hittin 250ppm+ and vice versa. Theres a bunch of shit thats still iffy in this business. But im glad its getting better. haha



Im still trying to map out a "baby terp" for the average user who wants to do closed loop. So then they can just buy some good butane like theyre comin out with now a days and just run that.

Ive heard theres a few people supposed to drop some canned 90%+ N butane. and for someone who only runs an oz every week thatd be a good, reusable investment.

Extraction experts have a better priced closed loop system. It's not cheap by any means but it's the best price I've seen. I'd love to move to a closed loop if you have a better more affordable choice I would love to hear it.

I had had a few 4x4 ceramic tiles left from my shower. I am going to set one in the vac oven and see how it works