First step in BHO...

BCOGYODA said:

I have to say I don't agree with the small tubes being more effective than large ID tubes. Well I'm not 100% positive on that yet BUT I will do a direct comparison experiment to test this theory.

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after seeing the tube you use and your last experiment, which i wanted to rep but riu wont let me, i am changing my thinking....

Twitch. said:

after seeing the tube you use and your last experiment, which i wanted to rep but riu wont let me, i am changing my thinking....

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Ya man I bough 4 large ones now cause I love them so much. And I have a small ID one that I only use for small experiments though..

Especially if you gotta run larger amounts at a time. Takes up such little room too and I can run more than half a pound dry through one of them in bout 15-20 minutes (haven't timed it yet lol. But now I pre freeze my bud, grind it all up, load all the tubes then put them back in the deep freeze for a bit longer then I can run all my tubes in about an hour/hour and a half at most. No labor either. I rest the glass tube on the edge of the pyrex and blast away. Pyrex does the work lol.
With 4 tubes at 300 grams in each tube I can run 2.6 lbs of dry bud in that little time. I've been blasting at night before I go to bed then by the morning the tane has already mostly air purged itself off then time for the vac purge.
Lovin makin this stuff!

We experimented with up to 1.5" ID for single pass tubes and found the smaller tubes more efficient, though more of a pain to load.

The issue is how evenly you can pack the material so that the butane doesn't just find the easy way through, and it gets harder as the area increases.

You also have material at outer diameter on the injection end, that will see very little butane.

Blackforest, thanks for some of the tweaking ideas...gives me a lot to think about.

Well, I did my evacuation today and the tube held 35.8g of material...a bit more than I thought. I broke the material apart with my fingers, and I removed the stems. I did my best to pack the material evenly, and I used 5 filters:



I was very VERY thankfull I put that bike grip on it...stainless conducts the cold fast, iced up wicked fast. I ran my extraction and the butane ran clear 2/3 of the way through the can...I finished out the can. I removed the material and analyzed it...It was still sticky. I could see what you were saying Fadedawg, it was clear that I didn't pack things as well as I could have. After letting it dry out, I decided to break the bud down a bit further and repack for a second run. I am glad that I did, plenty of color...the color a bit more on the green side...still amber, but I could tell it had a bit more green in it.

I added the second run to the first. After sitting in the warm water bath and completing most of the primary purging, I dumped in what amounted to just under a cup of alcohol. This is what I ended up with...it is now in the freezer.


Couple things I think I should change. Purchase a grinder and try to finess a grind that will allow for better packing. Take more time packing evenly. Pack the tube to 1OZ...do not pack all the way down to the exit. Try to perfect a single extraction....

I followed safety precautions, and I felt relatively confident in the process.

Nice run! Now just have to strain and evap off the alcohol. It should be kinda hard to scrape up when it's fully done.

Fadedawg said:

We experimented with up to 1.5" ID for single pass tubes and found the smaller tubes more efficient, though more of a pain to load.

The issue is how evenly you can pack the material so that the butane doesn't just find the easy way through, and it gets harder as the area increases.

You also have material at outer diameter on the injection end, that will see very little butane.

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Have to disagree with you Fadedawg. After blasting I empty all the contents of my large tubes and every little bit of product has been thoroughly soaked with tane. And like the pictures I showed I spread out all of the ran material thin on a board and all of the material was completely soaked and resin heads gone.

I am a really thorough guy and like to find the absolute most efficient and effective way of doing things and after thoroughly inspecting the runs with my large ID tubes I have found them to be excellent.

I will post up a comparison thread with a small ID tube VS larger ID tube to show the results.

It may also be how well these tubes I'm using were designed; by a die hard oil maker himself. At the injection end the way he has the glass formed the butane immediately spreads out around the beginning part of the tube and distributes itself perfectly even down the tube saturating all parts of the material.
Not one spec of dry un run material comes out of my large ID tubes to speak of.

I want to thank you folks for spoon feeding me in this adventure. I did my filtering and purging today with what I think are fair/good results. After 20hours in the freezer you could easily see the milky ribbons of plant wax being drawn out of solution...took about 25minutes in the freezer to strain.



Poured the solution in my pyrex baking pan...resting on a pot of hot water (175deg F). Since I was using 95.5 there was small amount of milky water...was the last thing purged from the oil. Once the water dried (milky appearance was gone), I spread the beads of oil evenly across the bottom of the pan. I scraped the oil with razors -- I had to soak the razors in alcohol and clean them well before this...They probably had some machine oil residual on them -- I might look for higher quality razors next time.



I spent some time cracking and scrapping the shatter off the blades. This was a little frustrating since I shot a chunk of oil across the counter as I chipped away at the oil. I need to find a better place/method so that does not happen again. After all was done I weighed it:



3.7grams. Not very impressed with the weight, but I am growing autos -- and I have never turned this strain into any concentrate before. I think I have a lot to learn about the extraction method. I am definitely going grind up the material next time; Thanks BCOGYODA for your comparison of ground vs broken-up buds...very good info there.

I have an important hypothetical question for you folks. Consider the technique that I decided to use and the end result....If I invited you over and offered this to smoke...Would you smoke it? I will be giving this to my wife and a good friend...and although it passes the fire test and there does not appear to be any kind of solvent left...I don't want to give them anything harmful. Also, I will be beating myself up about the poor yield today...so if you have additional suggestions on how to improve this...or you overall thoughts on the yield --- I would appreciate it.

pictures ain't workin for me man
And how much trim or bud ir whatever did you start with?

Hmmm, pics might work now. Autoflower -popcorn bud mixed with bud. 35.8g.

Just over 10% from winterized(it is right) isn't too bad in my opinion..I mean it ain't great, but with all bud or better bud most get a range like15-20%

But yea looks really good man, has a slight yellow green tinge, some more than others though so might be lighting..looks like some good amber shatter, not too dark.....I would smoke it for sure...definitely a good first run

Thanks Qwizoking for the help. Realistically, this autoflower strain prolly isn't much more than 14%THC. When you look through it a certain way there is some yellow-greenish...I think I know how to avoid this now. Do you pre-freeze your bud and butane?

I do...
I run fresh frozen bud and freeze any solvent whether iso butane etoh etc....freezing is always good

Ok, giving another go today. 2oz of bud...doing in two separate runs. 1 can of butane each run. I pre-froze the bud, grinder, and butane. Ground the frozen bud and was able to remove more stems than last run. It is packed better...placed the tube back in the freezer for another hour while I get things ready. I modified my tube a bit:


Ground tapered a 3/4inch cap with several small holes drilled in the top.



Taps into place once loaded. We shall see. I hope I can purge this tomorrow afternoon.

Your first run looks great. 10% yeild for winterized BHO isn't bad at all. Winterizing removes those lipids which do make up some weight, but you don't really want to smoke that anyway. I made a small 8"x8" 'box' out of parchment paper and flick my shatter into that, holding it down in there because it does come off that blade quick sometimes! And ooh yeah, I would definitely smoke that! It should smell like plant material and you should not be able to smell any alcohol or butane at all. When it's at room temp it will shatter or kind of pull and snap. I keep mine out in the garage and it's colder so it's super brittle. Nice Job

Thanks Blackforest..

I am going to have to do this...great idea:

I made a small 8"x8" 'box' out of parchment paper and flick my shatter into that, holding it down in there because it does come off that blade quick sometimes!

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I was getting a bit frustrated, more worried, that I would flick and lose a bunch of oil. My dogs would have found the pieces...prolly eat them.

Second run complete. I planned to purge yesterday...even did my filtering. Unfortunately something came up and I had to do it this AM. I noticed in one of the two containers that a swirl of plant wax (much less than I initially removed) concentrated in one of my containers as it sat in the freezer an extra day. I did an additional filtering on that container alone. I am definitely losing product in the filtration process.

Grinding the bud revealed ALOT of stems that I ended up removing. The actual bud weight was 48g. I collected 5.1g of oil-- Same yield..but considering I did an extra filtering...I know I lost some there. I may build another cap with few/smaller holes next time. The good news -- It product is better-- at least I think it is -- haven't vaped it yet.


I took your advice Blackforest...Lined an over-sized cigar box with parchment...snapped the shatter inside the box angled down...Much less stressful that way.

Guzias1 said:

i now unpack when they dry.. this is becoming my next nuisance.. dry tubes are really tough.. no love.. gots to figure that part out now..

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Sounds like its time for a glass tube with a glass butane insert. All you need is a smaller dowel than the one you pack with and ploop one whole log.

Heya BluJayz, almost ready to take the plunge...I have one more experiment to make before I decide. Already spent a few moments in my garage hacking my tube lol. Throwing in a 1/4inch stem-down and drilled a bunch of holes around the tube -- crimp sealed/soldered the end. Slid the tube through an enlarged hole at the butane insert --- soldered it in place. Soldered a smaller nipple that is tapered so that the butane makes a good seal. I am going to use a pipe to pack the ground bud around the tube stem down -- with it ground up--it will prolly still hold an ounce. Looking for a better distribution of solvent through the material...Probably a waste of time, but I obsess over things until I try 'em. Will give this a go beginning of next week -- needs another good clean out~

New end cap. Single small hole with the goal of welling up the butane increasing pressure while the array of holes distribute the butane...in theory lol. I have some stainless steel wool I will place in the cap...the goal, keeping the veg material from obstructing the outlet:


Wow, as I was posting this...I found an old picture of Charlie...a dog my mother adopted that had suffered a broken jaw..with a cleft pallet. You have never met a dog so loving.

Looks really good in your pic. That is a super clean form to smoke! I use a vape pen, and enjoy it. Just in small quantities.....it can take you places.