Best method of removing excess alcohol?

S

Stone Age

Member
I'd like to make some tincture and/or oil using Everclear. I live in an apartment, so I really need to do the entire operation indoors if possible.

How can I remove either a large percentage of the alcohol to get a strong tincture, or all of it to get an oil that I can smoke, relatively quickly - and ideally, without creating a lot of alcohol fumes? I've thought about using a regular water distiller, but I've heard of people overcooking their oil this way.
 
smokinrav

smokinrav

Well-Known Member
Just fyi, everclear will leave residual sugars in the oil, making for a harsher bite when you inhale. 90% iso does not.
You get rid of the alcohol in the oil the same way regardless of what you use....wait for it to evap.
I used to hasten the process by using a glass baking dish and floating it on a sink full of hot water, but that will stink up the house right quick, and you need to replace the hot water every hour or so. And it has disaster potential if you spill the baking dish.
But it was definitely faster.
 
S

Stone Age

Member
smokinrav said:
Just fyi, everclear will leave residual sugars in the oil, making for a harsher bite when you inhale. 90% iso does not.
You get rid of the alcohol in the oil the same way regardless of what you use....wait for it to evap.
I used to hasten the process by using a glass baking dish and floating it on a sink full of hot water, but that will stink up the house right quick, and you need to replace the hot water every hour or so. And it has disaster potential if you spill the baking dish.
But it was definitely faster.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I hadn't thought about that (the sugars). I had been a bit leery about using iso in something I was going to consume, but it sounds like that's the better option for oil. I can get 99% on Amazon.
 
Thundercat

Thundercat

Well-Known Member
Stone Age said:
Thanks, I hadn't thought about that (the sugars). I had been a bit leery about using iso in something I was going to consume, but it sounds like that's the better option for oil. I can get 99% on Amazon.
Click to expand...
Iso works great if you are doing a full evap and just making dabbable oil. I normally use 90% because it’s what I could get, and it works great. 99% works great too, they just don’t seek it locally.

Do not use iso for a tincture.
 
Fadedawg

Fadedawg

Well-Known Member
I reduce or remove the alcohol using a still or rotovape.

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OJAE

OJAE

Well-Known Member
One little thing i used to do is, you know those grease splatter guards? i'd have that on with the fan blowing directly down
 
manfredo

manfredo

Well-Known Member
I'm wanting to try this also, mainly for vape oil.

So once the alcohol is removed, Everclear in my case, if I want to use this as vape juice, how thick will it be? Would it vape in a CCell as-is, or would I need to add some VG, or something else? Or does it "depend"? Any other thoughts? I'm starting with decarbed bud....keeping it and the alcohol cold/frozen for the extract. I ordered a half liter each of food grade VG and PG from Biopharm.

I heard someone say they used an old coffee maker to evaporate the alcohol off quicker, but I kind of like the fan/evaporation method myself.
 
cannabineer

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
manfredo said:
I'm wanting to try this also, mainly for vape oil.

So once the alcohol is removed, Everclear in my case, if I want to use this as vape juice, how thick will it be? Would it vape in a CCell as-is, or would I need to add some VG, or something else? Or does it "depend"? Any other thoughts? I'm starting with decarbed bud....keeping it and the alcohol cold/frozen for the extract. I ordered a half liter each of food grade VG and PG from Biopharm.

I heard someone say they used an old coffee maker to evaporate the alcohol off quicker, but I kind of like the fan/evaporation method myself.
Click to expand...
Two thoughts.

Make sure your extract being evaporated is kept above local dew point always. Having water condense into it is a pain.

Evaporate it until it matches the viscosity of a reference sample of distillate. Then it should work well in a CCELL type. I would avoid vg or pg as diluents.
 
The Dawg

The Dawg

Well-Known Member
I do 200 proof ethanol and I use to evaporate my ethanol This method is very expensive. Then I moved up to vacuum distillation kit now I use a re-501 roto evaporator.

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The Dawg

The Dawg

Well-Known Member
I can not speak on potency however stepping up from evaporating to vacuum distillation was a cost saving move and stepping up to the roto vape was a time saving move.
 
Fadedawg

Fadedawg

Well-Known Member
rkymtnman said:
so a ? for both you dawgs lol: @Fadedawg and @The Dawg

is the only advantage to the still or the rotovap just to save $ money on ethanol?

or do you guys think the end product is better doing it your way?
Click to expand...
You can evaporate away the alcohol and water in a thin film over time. EtOH is considered GRAS by the FDA, so total removal is not critical. Toward the end you will end up with some milky alcohol/water/terpene azeotrope hydrosol that will leave cloudy steaks in your otherwise bell clear concentrate.

In practice, when I end up using simple evaporation, I end up using it before the alcohol is fully purged, which adds a sweet taste that I don't mind but gets mixed reviews.

Evaporating under vacuum lowers boiling point and speeds things up, plus removes the alcohol at a lower temperature, reducing decarboxylation.

Rotovapes provide both the vacuum and thin film for faster and more complete purging. Both provide a more complete purge in a shorter period of time.

As you note, recovering the alcohol is also significantly cheaper when using heavily taxed Ethanol.
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
Fadedawg said:
You can evaporate away the alcohol and water in a thin film over time. EtOH is considered GRAS by the FDA, so total removal is not critical. Toward the end you will end up with some milky alcohol/water/terpene azeotrope hydrosol that will leave cloudy steaks in your otherwise bell clear concentrate.

In practice, when I end up using simple evaporation, I end up using it before the alcohol is fully purged, which adds a sweet taste that I don't mind but gets mixed reviews.

Evaporating under vacuum lowers boiling point and speeds things up, plus removes the alcohol at a lower temperature, reducing decarboxylation.

Rotovapes provide both the vacuum and thin film for faster and more complete purging. Both provide a more complete purge in a shorter period of time.

As you note, recovering the alcohol is also significantly cheaper when using heavily taxed Ethanol.
Click to expand...
i've been thinking about using a water bath at 105F using a sous vide machine (immersion circulator) to help it evap faster. i'm not

too concerned with costs as Everclear is pretty cheap here and i would only run a few times a year anyway. i think the rotovap commercial showed it using a temp of 105F which is where i got the idea. edit; the source turbo commercial.
 
Last edited:
Fadedawg

Fadedawg

Well-Known Member
rkymtnman said:
i've been thinking about using a water bath at 105F using a sous vide machine (immersion circulator) to help it evap faster. i'm not

too concerned with costs as Everclear is pretty cheap here and i would only run a few times a year anyway. i think the rotovap commercial showed it using a temp of 105F which is where i got the idea. edit; the source turbo commercial.
Click to expand...
They are using 105F because it is under vacuum, which lowers the boiling point.

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gwheels

gwheels

Well-Known Member
quirk said:
In my tincture tool box, I utilize the Source Turbo to reduce and reclaim with ease.
Click to expand...
I just got a source turbo last week. For tincture do you let it run just 1 cycle (2 hours) regular ?

I will decarb some HAOG in the ardent and run it for tincture later today. I find that is one of the sleepier strains in the bud bucket and i need it.

3 runs so far one waxy...1 black resin tar hunk that scares me and 1 full jar of RSO hash oil (that was 10 grams of kief and i left it overnight in the freezer).

i will try a 3 minute wash next time. The savings in EC will pay for the machine. It is VERY expensive here.
300ml EC goes in and i routinely get 280ml back.
 
Fadedawg

Fadedawg

Well-Known Member
gwheels said:
I just got a source turbo last week. For tincture do you let it run just 1 cycle (2 hours) regular ?

I will decarb some HAOG in the ardent and run it for tincture later today. I find that is one of the sleepier strains in the bud bucket and i need it.

3 runs so far one waxy...1 black resin tar hunk that scares me and 1 full jar of RSO hash oil (that was 10 grams of kief and i left it overnight in the freezer).

i will try a 3 minute wash next time. The savings in EC will pay for the machine. It is VERY expensive here.
300ml EC goes in and i routinely get 280ml back.
Click to expand...
I watch the status through the lid and remove when ready.
 
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