Can Everclear be Fully Saturated with Cannabinoids?

[GreenDragonRon]

Hello,

I am planning to extract the cannabinoids from several ounces of bud using Everclear. I'll be boiling off the Everclear after so to save some Everclear I was hoping to use same small volume of Everclear several times.

Let me explain, I would do a QWET on one ounce but I would then use the tincture to do another extraction on another ounce. Has anyone ever done this? Anyone see a problem with this?

Thanks,

GDR

 

[UrbZ]

Yea thats called a double wash. But usually you just do it with the same bud you already washed once.

I dont think the potency increase from washing 2 seperate batches with same mixture will be worth the extra bud.

Maybe do two small batches 1 each way. then test your results.

 

[DoctorJohnson]

To answer the question in the title, yes, of course a volume of ethyl alcohol can become so saturated with cannabinoids (and other alcohol-soluble plant molecules) that it won't be able to dissolve any more.

Even if it's not fully saturated, it's not going to dissolve the cannabinoids in the second ounce as well as the first.

Practically speaking, it depends on the volume you use. If you use a lot of Everclear for the first extraction, it will have lots of capacity left for the second.

At first when I saw that you were going to be boiling it away, I thought you were going to do a fractional distillation in which you boiled away the ethanol and condensed it to use again, leaving the cannabinoids behind. That would be pretty slick.

 

[GreenDragonRon]

To answer the question in the title, yes, of course a volume of ethyl alcohol can become so saturated with cannabinoids (and other alcohol-soluble plant molecules) that it won't be able to dissolve any more.

Even if it's not fully saturated, it's not going to dissolve the cannabinoids in the second ounce as well as the first.

Practically speaking, it depends on the volume you use. If you use a lot of Everclear for the first extraction, it will have lots of capacity left for the second.

At first when I saw that you were going to be boiling it away, I thought you were going to do a fractional distillation in which you boiled away the ethanol and condensed it to use again, leaving the cannabinoids behind. That would be pretty slick.

I am hoping I will be able to afford a Source Turbo Extractor some day, then I can vacuum distill and recover 90% of my Everclear.

 

[DingusKhan]

So then DrJohnson understood you correctly: you mean to remove the everclear from your cannabinoid tincture solution so that you can reuse it extract another batch? Then yes, you would have to do some form of fractional distillation to separate your alcohol from your oil. You can get the parts to do this pretty inexpensively from a lab supply house.

 

[Dutchman1]

Dissolving the cannabis trichomes and then reducing the amount of alcohol is the best way to get more potent oil. Not using the same saturated alcohol to make another batch. Low Temp heating or fan is the best way to do that unless your going to try to recover the alcohol.

 

[Dutchman1]

Agreed, except you use new alcohol for the second soaking of the same material then add to the first batch and reduce by heating or evaporation.

 

[UrbZ]

So you are saying wash the herb twice with seperate batches of alcohol then mix the two batches together before evaporating. Ive been doing it the other way for 6 years with great results. Ill have to try this and see if I can improve.

 

[GreenDragonRon]

No, distilling will be for the future.

I want to use the actually tincture to do another extraction on a fresh batch of bud but only if it's effective.

 

[GreenDragonRon]

I'm not trying to make more potent oil, just trying to get all I can get out of my Everclear. If it can extract more after an initial QWET, I want to use to it's fullest.

 

[GreenDragonRon]

I have 3 ounces I can try an experiment with. I'll do my normal QWET with one ounce and I'll try the double extraction with the other 2 ounces and see if I get double the RSO.

 

[Dutchman1]

The everclear can only absorb so much. It would be a waste of weed. Just do a longer soak to get more absorption of Trichomes. But there is a limit. Id also recommend putting the material and the alcohol in a freezer then adding the alcohol to the material after they have frozen for a few hours. Then filter through a coffee filter in the freezer. Youll get a much better tasting tincture.