Making oil for edibles

[Geeza]

Hi Guys and Gals,

I'm looking for the simplest way to get THC/weed into an oil for making edibles.

At the moment, I use the trim along with whatever buds that fall in the pile, decarb them in the oven, then put them directly in heated MCT oil in the slow cooker at medium heat. After slow heating for about 4 hours, I then strain all the weed out (with mutton cloth) and then I bottle the leftover oil, and from there I use it to put into baking cookies/cakes etc.
The oil never looks very nice as it comes out a very dark green or even black colour, and it usually makes whatever I'm putting it into taste "weedy"
I have been thinking about filtering it through something like the coffee/paper type filter to see if it comes out cleaner and tastes less "weedy."
I suspect what I'm doing is not the correct process. I would very much appreciate it if anyone could help with how I should be doing it.
Thanks.

[Wayzee]

Ay man, I done a bit of cooking with butter infusion and alot with coconut oil which I think is similar to MCT in a very similar fashion to you. I've also tried other edibles from around the place and I think you can always taste weed. Chocolate, vanilla essence, peanuts, are some of things I use in my cooking to try and distract from the weed taste. I wouldn't try to filter mct oil through coffee filter, only time I've used coffee filters is when making butane honey oil.

[DabberDog]

Ooh! This is right up my alley.
My current method is using shatter and coconut oil to make brownies: Decarb shatter, add coconut oil over a double boiler, stir for a couple minutes until the shatter dissolves. No taste. No smelling up the house. Don't know about cooking with MCT. I've made my own shatter as well as using store bought. Using kief is also a good way to go so you don't get the taste. You can actually sprinkle decarb'd kief on food like salt. Both methods take more time and maybe more money, but it solves the taste issue.
If you go and buy an 800mg THC gram of shatter or kief, you know what you have is 800mg. When you go to cook with it, you can divide your final product into reasonable doses instead of just guessing what you are taking. I make 8-100mg brownies with a gram of shatter.
Here's a thing. What you are making is RSO. It is about as full spectrum a product as you can extract from your plant because it also involves the leaves.

[DabberDog]

I missed your clean-up questions.
The finer the screen you filter your RSO, the cleaner the product. But running RSO through a coffee filter is not as easy as just letting it gravity drip like coffee. The particulate matter is too fine and will clog the filter. You either need to find a way to push the RSO through a filter or use a Buchner funnel and vacuum setup.
To go the extra mile, take a look at winterizing.

[Geeza]

This is interesting stuff, Thanks, Dabber

[Allotrope1000]

Hi, Geeza.
I have five years of oil making under my belt now. Infusing your cannabis directly into MCT also drags in all the other substances like waxes and fats. May I suggest the following?
1. Decarb your bud, and do an ethanol quick wash (3 minute soaks x 2, using fresh ethanol each time) using bud and alcohol stored overnight in your freezer. Combine both washes and filter to remove contaminants, then boil off alcohol to make RSO. Decarbing first breaks down the cholophyll, which will partially dissolve in polar alcohol. Freezing slows the dissolving of other plant substances into the ethanol - both add to bad taste. If you don't get a "golden dragon" oil, try lowering your evaporation temperature.
2. Your "golden dragon" RSO should have less "planty" or "weedy" taste. From there, add the RSO in desired strength to your MCT and warm up to help thoroughly mix. When mixed, I pour into small medicine eye dropper bottles for future use.

That said, you don't need the MCT oil for edibles. I simply add the straight RSO to melted store bought chocolate bars for chocolate edibles, or to MCT oil for a quick dose tincture. I mix 50/50 RSO/ethanol and "paint" on choc chip cookie dough and knead in before baking. While I have not done this, I believe mixing the RSO first into butter for brownies will work for that chocolate delight.

Hope this helps.

[Wayzee]

G'day. I'm interested in what you think about using ethanol for edible RSO. I've read alot saying ethanol (unless it's food grade) leaves a residue that you will be then eating...? I made it with high proof cane sugar alcohol for that reason but it's bloody expensive and Im not set up to recycle the alcohol.

[Geeza]

This is what I was looking for. I hadn't heard of this winterization until now,
Thanks Allotrope