forgot to decarb before making tincture for edibles. Can it be saved?

Hi there,

I have made mj gummies several times. I use one of the recipes on the magical butter machine website. I usually decarb the weed first, then make an acohol based tincture, then cook the tincture down till it is like molasses and then use that for the gummies.

I hadn't made them in a bit and stupidly didn't look up the instructions, and completely forgot the decarb step.

I haven't yet separated the weed from the alcohol....trying to figure out if there is a way to save it as I have like 60 grams of mj in there, that I grew over the summer and it would be sad to lose so much of my harvest!

Part of me wonders....if I strain out the weed and then cook the alcohol down, will that process be enough to release the THC? The magical butter machine heats at 160 degrees, but of course when I cook the tincture down it's much hotter.

I am not sure. I use gummies to sleep at night. Usually mine are pretty strong, maybe they would still work but be less strong?

If you cook it down at a temp above 200 it will activate the THC. Do it in a mason jar with aluminum foil held on by the ring instead of the lid and put a temp thermometer through it into the liquid.

tslonige said:

If you cook it down at a temp above 200 it will activate the THC. Do it in a mason jar with aluminum foil held on by the ring instead of the lid and put a temp thermometer through it into the liquid.

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Thank you so much! Phew!

I have a sous vide device. It is occurring to me I can probably use that, to ensure the temperature is accurate.

tslonige said:

If you cook it down at a temp above 200 it will activate the THC. Do it in a mason jar with aluminum foil held on by the ring instead of the lid and put a temp thermometer through it into the liquid.

Click to expand...

how do you get the everclear to boil at 200 when it turns to vapor at 173.1 deg F?

I actually made the same mistake lol.. and learned that the alcohol boils off before getting to 200. I wouldn't lid it because it can explode, and using tinfoil the pressure would escape from it boiling.

If attempting anyways, do it outside.. The vapors are very explosive

Nizza said:

how do you get the everclear to boil at 200 when it turns to vapor at 173.1 deg F?

I actually made the same mistake lol.. and learned that the alcohol boils off before getting to 200. I wouldn't lid it because it can explode, and using tinfoil the pressure would escape from it boiling.

If attempting anyways, do it outside.. The vapors are very explosive

Click to expand...

I use a water distiller and add a little water when the alcohol is almost boiled off. Water boils at 212 so it doesn't burn the oil.after the water is almost boiled off I finish the evaporation on a cup warmer

wait so wouldnt the alcohol boil off? I thought he was trying to activate the alcohol as a tincture. So when your at the end of it boiling off you just add a little water to make it to a paste like form and get it up to 200? then just use it like an oil or add more alcohol after that?

Nizza said:

wait so wouldnt the alcohol boil off? I thought he was trying to activate the alcohol as a tincture. So when your at the end of it boiling off you just add a little water to make it to a paste like form and get it up to 200? then just use it like an oil or add more alcohol after that?

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I put the thick oil into 5gm syringes. I then mix it into Coconut and Hemp Seed oil to get the proper strength I want in small batches so it has a long shelf life. Using a distiller I recover about 80% of the Everclear to use in the next batch.

Quite a lot of the alcohol did evaporate but for my purpose this was not a problem at all - I was going to cook the tincture down anyway, to make my edibles. I generally cook off the alcohol and am left with a very thick black tar/molasses-like substance that I then mix with the other ingredients to make gummies.

They definitely are effective, they may be a little less strong than usual but I think that may be more to do with not being sure how much of what was left to mix in and volumes being different. The gummies actually have a much less weed-y taste with them, can just taste a hint of weed as an aftertaste.

The sous vide approach to cooking the non decarbed mixture went great and was super easy.

Might even make them this same way again, on purpose next time.

tslonige said:

I put the thick oil into 5gm syringes. I then mix it into Coconut and Hemp Seed oil to get the proper strength I want in small batches so it has a long shelf life. Using a distiller I recover about 80% of the Everclear to use in the next batch.

Click to expand...

It’s my first time making tincture and I made this same mistake to not decarb. I’d like to make a final product in mct and hempseed oil. As I didn’t realize I should have just made mct oil with lecithin. At this moment I have a small batch in my magical butter machine of cbd bud and everclear. I’d like advice on all my next steps. I ordered my oils and lecithin online so I have time till they arrive. Could I let my mixture soak in the freezer until then? Boil off the alcohol on stovetop. Then put it in the magical butter machine again with the oils and lecithin?