Bho vs. Iso/ethanol wash

What do you think is better BHO or ISO/ETHANOL wash? I know butane freaks some people out. When done correctly, which do you feel is best? Can ISO be as pure as BHO? Can you get the same consistency with both?
Please don't start in with the polar/non polar shit! I hope we all know the basics by now. Basically I'm looking for opinions. I've never made ISO so I am wondering if done correctly you can get a BHO like quality.

You can make quality ISO or QWET, but it is easier with butane, as it is more forgiving.

Fadedawg said:

You can make quality ISO or QWET, but it is easier with butane, as it is more forgiving.

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^ that,

my personal belief is iso/ethanol makes a better quality extract, but have no verifiable lab tests to prove such a claim.

Kanivers said:

What do you think is better BHO or ISO/ETHANOL wash? I know butane freaks some people out. When done correctly, which do you feel is best? Can ISO be as pure as BHO? Can you get the same consistency with both?
Please don't start in with the polar/non polar shit! I hope we all know the basics by now. Basically I'm looking for opinions. I've never made ISO so I am wondering if done correctly you can get a BHO like quality.

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I could be wrong but don't you have more control on the quality of the solvent with iso or ethanol?
While there is food grade butane, its still meant for burning eyebrows and heating than actual consumption.
whereas even iso is used to clean hypos and all sorts of medical uses, and of course ethanol is ethanol.

I started with ISO extractions and it definatly possible to make an equaly good product as Butane. but like fadedawg said, its more of an art with ISO, where as with butane you dont need to time things out as much to get a decent lookin product

EzExtractions said:

I started with ISO extractions and it definatly possible to make an equaly good product as Butane. but like fadedawg said, its more of an art with ISO, where as with butane you dont need to time things out as much to get a decent lookin product

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but what about the contaminants in the butane gas?

PurpleBuz said:

but what about the contaminants in the butane gas?

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Of which contaminants do you speak?

I like using a nice clear jar to soak material in iso or ethanol, then i swirl it above my head looking through at a light and watch as the color changes from yellowish to electric green. Of course i had to achieve the electric green or darker a few times before i could time it right. I've messed up way more times trying QWIso than BHO and i actually enjoy the process of making BHO. Since i can only get 91% iso i would use everclear instead.
So i guess maybe start with butane move on to ethanol or 99%iso at some point. Up to you man! I was more intimidated by BHO at first due to the dangers but you don't feel so dangerous when you're taking the right precautions and blasting outside or no around any power sources.

I get better terpene retention with butane. It also has to do with what other chemicals may be mixed with your solvent. The other chemicals can boil at a higher temp than your solvent, and sometimes be more hazardous than the solvent. Get an MSDS for any solvent you plan on using

I havn't tried butane yet honestly, but I've ran Iso several times, a few different ways. I've gotten good results each time, but differing results with different methods. If you want the purest "oil" possible, I found that rather then soaking or shaking the trim in the iso, you use a small amount of trim and rinse the 91-99% iso over it, then replace trim with fresh and rinse a little more over it. Doing it this way you are only washing the trichs of and your doing so very gently. I keep collecting the iso I wash through, and re run it after I finished the bottle. I washed about a mason jar full of trim like this and got a few grams of some super pure amber colored "honey" after I evap'd the iso over a water bath. I also re ran the trim i washed and got a second run of much darker but still very strong iso hash. I mixed that with some dry kief I had around and it made a really nice hash. The oil was fantastic, but I have to say my favorite hash so far I've had was the bubba kush hand rubbed Charas I made last harvest. The flavor on it is so pure, it just hits you in the face and it turned out Super blonde I was pleased.

I ended up making qwet out of 5g of a 90% indica berry strain.
I ground and froze the bud for 3 hours
I had 5 different frozen mason jars with 4oz of ethanol ea that had been frozen for a week
I did 5 30 sec rinses and instantly strained out the flowers
i combined everything and ran it through a coffee filter
pyrex, double boiler, razor, parchment, vacuum on hot plate.
i yielded .83g
real brittle shiny product looked like broken beer bottle
I am not to psyched on the yield but other than that I think I like my BHO better.
Time will tell as I perfect my craft.

That looks like some nice shatter man! I bet you could rerinse the flowers and pull a second slightly lower grade wash.

Kanivers said:

I ended up making qwet out of 5g of a 90% indica berry strain.
I ground and froze the bud for 3 hours
I had 5 different frozen mason jars with 4oz of ethanol ea that had been frozen for a week
I did 5 30 sec rinses and instantly strained out the flowers
i combined everything and ran it through a coffee filter
pyrex, double boiler, razor, parchment, vacuum on hot plate.
i yielded .83g
real brittle shiny product looked like broken beer bottle
I am not to psyched on the yield but other than that I think I like my BHO better.
Time will tell as I perfect my craft.

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Real nice shatter. Did you freeze the EtOH?

Thundercat said:

I found that rather then soaking or shaking the trim in the iso, you use a small amount of trim and rinse the 91-99% iso over it, then replace trim with fresh and rinse a little more over it. Doing it this way you are only washing the trichs of and your doing so very gently.

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I'll give that a try with both IPA & EtOH!

Bubba Kush is my favorite strain. I just made some ice water hash from buds tonight. My fingers smell soooo good! Can't wait to get to the full melt!

2Kushed said:

Real nice shatter. Did you freeze the EtOH?

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Freeze what?

Thundercat said:

That looks like some nice shatter man! I bet you could rerinse the flowers and pull a second slightly lower grade wash.

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I put the washed flowers under a microscope and they were fully extracted. All I saw left was green and the occasional hair.

BHO hands down...gets the terpenes too but not the chlorophyll

n-butane is key

Thanks for the compliments This was my first attempt. I'm looking forward to getting to play more. My problem is getting flowers. I pay full retail like $360 an ounce. I've gotten to play with 1.5 oz's in the last two months. Need more practice!!!