Decarb Oil for Gummies

Hey guys! I've been lurking for awhile collecting info and now I could use a little help dialing in my process to make gummies. The last couple of batches haven't been as strong as I have hoped. I think I might be losing some potency due to over-carbing but I'd like to know what you professionals think

Currently I am doing 2 ethanol washes, straining and filtering them both into one jar. I am using a fondue pot to heat up vegetable oil to 250F, and placing the jar of cannabis oil in the bath. My thought was this bath would decarb the oil while burning off the ethanol. I waited until the bubbles subsided and I was left with about 4.5g of oil from 28g of high quality flower.

This process took a long time, maybe 2 hours. Am I overcooking the oil and thus reducing the potency by cooking it this long? How can I tell the difference between the decarb bubbles and the solvent bubbles? Everything I have read says this is the process to evaporate the ethanol but I am concerned I am lowering the potency this way. I'd appreciate it you guys can let me know what you think. Thank you!

BoomerBrian said:

Hey guys! I've been lurking for awhile collecting info and now I could use a little help dialing in my process to make gummies. The last couple of batches haven't been as strong as I have hoped. I think I might be losing some potency due to over-carbing but I'd like to know what you professionals think

Currently I am doing 2 ethanol washes, straining and filtering them both into one jar. I am using a fondue pot to heat up vegetable oil to 250F, and placing the jar of cannabis oil in the bath. My thought was this bath would decarb the oil while burning off the ethanol. I waited until the bubbles subsided and I was left with about 4.5g of oil from 28g of high quality flower.

This process took a long time, maybe 2 hours. Am I overcooking the oil and thus reducing the potency by cooking it this long? How can I tell the difference between the decarb bubbles and the solvent bubbles? Everything I have read says this is the process to evaporate the ethanol but I am concerned I am lowering the potency this way. I'd appreciate it you guys can let me know what you think. Thank you!

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I'd have to see pictures of the final stage of your decarbing but your setup sounds reasonable. Use a digital thermometer to make sure you're reaching 250f. Here's a graphic to show you the phases of reduction and decarbing.

MimiEMU said:

I'd have to see pictures of the final stage of your decarbing but your setup sounds reasonable. Use a digital thermometer to make sure you're reaching 250f. Here's a graphic to show you the phases of reduction and decarbing.

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Hey, these pictures are very helpful, much appreciated!

I just made a new batch yesterday and my process was to do the ethanol wash. I strained and filtered it and placed it in a oil bath. I dialed it in until the oil was at 170F and starting to boil off the ethanol. I left the temp alone, and it started to rise as the ethanol was decreased. It eventually got to around 225F and I let it bubble out and pulled it when it looks like the last picture, maybe 30 mins after the oil was gone. 28g of flower yielded me 3.7g of oil or 13.2% which is probably close to the THC % of the flower.

Now that I think about the failed processes before, I never saw the bubbles like this last time, and I would get 4.5-5g. I wonder if there is a chance that I didnt let it go long enough and it never properly decarbed the oil.

BoomerBrian said:

Hey, these pictures are very helpful, much appreciated!

I just made a new batch yesterday and my process was to do the ethanol wash. I strained and filtered it and placed it in a oil bath. I dialed it in until the oil was at 170F and starting to boil off the ethanol. I left the temp alone, and it started to rise as the ethanol was decreased. It eventually got to around 225F and I let it bubble out and pulled it when it looks like the last picture, maybe 30 mins after the oil was gone. 28g of flower yielded me 3.7g of oil or 13.2% which is probably close to the THC % of the flower.

Now that I think about the failed processes before, I never saw the bubbles like this last time, and I would get 4.5-5g. I wonder if there is a chance that I didnt let it go long enough and it never properly decarbed the oil.

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Well, it sounds like you went too long. You saw 225f and that around the transition between water bubbles ending and C02 bubbles coming on. See the red line in the illustration? Before that line is 'Daytime' oil and to the right 'Nighttime' oil. I think you got to that point when you let it sit for a half hour. Graywolf and Carla say to stop decarbing as the bubbling starts to fall off, so there will still be bubbling but will continue to diminish until the final picture. Watch this video and guess when the bubbling intensity falls off. Here's the video. Watch it on Youtube, but don't read the caption below the video until you guess the ending time.

This is exactly what I needed to see. After reading what you said, I would have guessed closer to 5:55 but I see that's a little too long.

What is the difference between daytime and nighttime though? I figured night time means stronger head buzz and more sedation. I don't get that feeling at all from the oil which makes me wonder if I wasn't going long enough.

BoomerBrian said:

I just made a new batch yesterday..

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You are basically making classic RSO by washing the plant and boiling that down to 'oil'. If you had that tested, you'd have about 40% Total Cannabinoids, which means 60% is sludge. If you want to make cleaner more potent oil, I published a simple hack for medical patients to refine RSO to near distillate potency. Google "RSO RxCE" and look for the home page. It's a modification of the standard RSO recipe called Refined Cannabis Extract. You can now take 2oz dry plant and make decarbed winterized oil in 2-3 hours instead of 2-3 days. Your 4.5-5g will lose 30% volume but you'll double the potency. Lab tests are there to show it works.

MimiEMU said:

You are basically making classic RSO by washing the plant and boiling that down to 'oil'. If you had that tested, you'd have about 40% Total Cannabinoids, which means 60% is sludge. If you want to make cleaner more potent oil, I published a simple hack for medical patients to refine RSO to near distillate potency. Google "RSO RxCE" and look for the home page. It's a modification of the standard RSO recipe called Refined Cannabis Extract. You can now take 2oz dry plant and make decarbed winterized oil in 2-3 hours instead of 2-3 days. Your 4.5-5g will lose 30% volume but you'll double the potency. Lab tests are there to show it works.

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Very interesting, I'm reading now! For what its worth, Ive been using an oil bath and it takes 3-4 hours I'd guess with the short wash. I'm definitely not spending a couple of days per batch.

BoomerBrian said:

This is exactly what I needed to see. After reading what you said, I would have guessed closer to 5:55 but I see that's a little too long.

What is the difference between daytime and nighttime though? I figured night time means stronger head buzz and more sedation. I don't get that feeling at all from the oil which makes me wonder if I wasn't going long enough.

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Daytime is more THC, whereas nighttime starts weighing in towards CBN. when CBD and THC convert to CBN, it makes it sedative, but also it takes longer to kick in. I've had oil where it took 3 hrs for an onset. Stupid question - are you sure this was cannabis/THC not hemp/CBD?

Yeah absolutely sure. It came from a medical grow and I had it tested for commercial use. THC, terps, metals, etc.

I basically followed this guys directions in regards to time and temps

MimiEMU said:

You are basically making classic RSO by washing the plant and boiling that down to 'oil'. If you had that tested, you'd have about 40% Total Cannabinoids, which means 60% is sludge. If you want to make cleaner more potent oil, I published a simple hack for medical patients to refine RSO to near distillate potency. Google "RSO RxCE" and look for the home page. It's a modification of the standard RSO recipe called Refined Cannabis Extract. You can now take 2oz dry plant and make decarbed winterized oil in 2-3 hours instead of 2-3 days. Your 4.5-5g will lose 30% volume but you'll double the potency. Lab tests are there to show it works.

Click to expand...

This looks so simple, nice work! A couple of quick questions....what are those filters? Also the webpage says to repeat the wash til the ethanol is clear, but the video only shows a single wash. I am doing washes of about the same length and temp right now. And my filtering is about the same. The only difference appears to be the distilling and winterization.

This is awesome, thanks again

BoomerBrian said:

This looks so simple, nice work! A couple of quick questions....what are those filters? Also the webpage says to repeat the wash til the ethanol is clear, but the video only shows a single wash. I am doing washes of about the same length and temp right now. And my filtering is about the same. The only difference appears to be the distilling and winterization.

This is awesome, thanks again

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Yeah, I have to update the video. The 3 wash was an optimization employed after publishing. I'm solving one problem in distilling where sediments have to be collected, so thats basically done. The process is pretty complete now, so its time for a new video. The filtering I'm using are during the wash, collecting sediments after distilling, and then filtering out the waxes during rapid winterization. Here are the three I use today -

For washing the plant:
Mesh screen Mason Jar cap to hold the plant body back when pouring out the alcohol. That's a loose straining.
pour the wash into a Fryer Oil Filter. This is synthetic so it might have microplastics. A paper linen-like napkin will do the same but may tear. Use the paper if concerned about microplastics. Pour this into a stacked pair of No4 or No6 paper coffee filters.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B091KVMBN5 Fryer Oil Filter

For capturing Sediments after distilling:
Attach the tea bag by rubber band to the top of a soda bottle.
Pour the sediments thru, the tea bag will catch them. Place the tea bag in a bowl of warm alcohol, the oils will melt off.
Use that alcohol for the next step.
I used a non-woven polypropylene bag in the picture, working with wood fibre/paper tea bags now for a non-plastic solution.

For capturing waxes after winterization:
Just a No4 paper coffee filter.

I will be holding a video session for the facebook group soon to demonstrate these optimzations. Everyone's welcome to join in the video.