Live resin extraction tips and techniques

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greenfriend

ganja farmer
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I wanted to share some tips in live resin hydrocarbon extraction. This procedure is highly technical but will produce the highest quality live resin with just a small home lab setup. The other options are a $20-40k automated extraction system or paying $60/gram at the dispensary :(

To make live resin you extract the plant material within hours of harvest. The result is a concentrate chock full of terpenes that tastes like nothing you've ever had!

The main obstacle in extracting fresh plant material is moisture that is undesirable in the end product. The sources of moisture are

1) The plant material
2) The ambient atmosphere
3) commercial butane
4) commercial CO2 (I'll explain why this is used)

Butane is the longest chain alkane that is still slightly water soluble at 0.0325 vol/vol (3.25%). That means that a liter of n-butane will actually hold as much as 32.5 ml or mgs of water.

Here is a good method to get dry HPLC grade n-butane. First, fractionally distill the butane, then pass it thru a column of activated alumina, then recondense to -20C and collect it in a evacuated Young's flask over a layer of Zeolite 3A.


To combat problem (1) the extraction is done at -20C to -70C. The moisture in the plant material will be solid ice.

This however introduces a new problem. When plant material is exposed to ambient air at -20C the water vapor from the air will condense and freeze on the plant material. This makes it hard for the butane to extract the cannabinoids. To solve problem (2), the extraction flask will be filled with an inert gas (CO2) to prevent ice condensation.

When you buy tanked CO2 it is likely to be contaminated with a little water. Dry it using a cold trap or U-tube packed with anhydrous calcium chloride before using it.


General Extraction Method:

1) Put freshly harvested buds in a Schlenk flask (sealed from ambient atmosphere)
2) Flush the flask with a stream of dry cold CO2 gas
3) Use Schlenk line to add dry butane (at -20C) from Young's flask
4) Soak the plant material
5) Evacuate vacuum purging chamber and use cannula transfer to move raw extract to vac chamber from Schlenk flask
6) Vac purge for along time at 5 deg C (NO HEAT)

Note: In step 2 you don't want to evacuate the flask with the buds in it. Since Co2 is heavier than air, heavy flushing will push the ambient air out the top of the flask. Colder CO2 is better (cold co2 sinks, warm air rises).

Alternative Solvent: Hexane, unlike butane, is not water soluble at all. Using hexane prevents any water from being extracted. However, hexane is hard to vac purge off, doing so would also remove the low weight volatile terpenes we are trying so hard to keep. Hexane is toxic to the CNS, to remove the hexane you MUST extracted the hexane oil with 100% ethanol, then purge the ethanol.

Last thing. Contrary to popular opinion, no one in the cannabis industry has discovered ANYTHING new about hydrocarbon cannabis extraction. All these extraction methods have been used on various flowers etc. for many decades by the perfume industry, among others.

Grow it. Extract it. Dab it.
 
WOW what a process... how are the returns compared to drying and blasting?

The yields are roughly the same. Some people claim lower yields when extracting the whole plant, but when comparing nug runs the yields are the same.

The only reason I could see lower yields from live resin would be if inert atmosphere was not used and ice crystals lowered extraction surface area significantly.

The vac pump and all necessary glassware only cost $1000. Purifying/making your own reagents saves money and gives YOU quality control over your product.
 
I wanted to share some tips about "Rosin" resin

At home setup;

Hair Straighteners
Parchment paper

Results;

20%+ yeilds of "Solventless" Hash Oil, with "Full" Terp profiles

Cost; Minimal

Ease; Very


No vac pumps required
No special equipment


Want or need MORE = use a T-shirt press and Teflon paper



#rosin

View attachment Screen Shot 2015-04-11 at 09.37.21.png
 
Wowwwww,,,way to much for my Dumb Ace,,,me thinks ill just decarb and eat. Lol
Gives me a headach just reading that stuff.
 
I have tried just about every extraction method that I am aware of except the hot press. I have been reading about it and I like the concept but I can't believe a 20% return. From what I have seen, it's about half that.

One way to know...... LOL This is on my list for this weekend (after taxes, ugh :( )
 
I wanted to share some tips about "Rosin" resin

At home setup;

Hair Straighteners
Parchment paper

Results;

20%+ yeilds of "Solventless" Hash Oil, with "Full" Terp profiles

Cost; Minimal

Ease; Very


No vac pumps required
No special equipment


Want or need MORE = use a T-shirt press and Teflon paper



#rosin

It's not possible to get a full terpene profile using heat. The lower weight terpenes WILL decompose from the heat of a hair straightener.
 
I have tried just about every extraction method that I am aware of except the hot press. I have been reading about it and I like the concept but I can't believe a 20% return. From what I have seen, it's about half that.

One way to know...... LOL This is on my list for this weekend (after taxes, ugh :( )

It really no different from any other BHO extraction other than being very careful to exclude water from the extraction. The 20% returns are more attributable to really good starting material
 
Hacker 20%+ returns are def possible... but material needs to be top notch and very dry if your gonna blast it... I cant wait to sample some live resin in Denver and see whats up... :48:
 
Sorry gang, re-read my post and it's confusing. I was talking about the hot press method that - - posted. I should have quoted him.

Other than that, I have found 20 to 25% about average for BHO, Ice Water and Dry Sifting. I have not completed the QWET yet so Idon't know what I'll get but it doesn't look anywhere near 20%.

I am going to try the hot press today. That's the one I can't believe will produce 20+%.

Sorry, gang. :)
 
Sorry gang, re-read my post and it's confusing. I was talking about the hot press method that - - posted. I should have quoted him.

Other than that, I have found 20 to 25% about average for BHO, Ice Water and Dry Sifting. I have not completed the QWET yet so Idon't know what I'll get but it doesn't look anywhere near 20%.

I am going to try the hot press today. That's the one I can't believe will produce 20+%.

Sorry, gang. :)

So what is the hot press method?? Ive never heard of it?
 
Well, I don't know what kind of trick photography these people are using but all I got was a flat piece of pot. LMAO

I tried 2 buds and got nothing. I need to nail down the proper temp and time and pressure. The wand I bought has a variable temp control with a digital readout so I have some control (although, I'm sure it's all not real accurate.)

When I put the little buds in the parchment and squeezed them, a little whisp of smoke came out and WOW, did it smell sweet. So, I pressed for about 30 seconds at several different heat settings and all I am getting is a flat bud. LOL No resin at all. I tried 2 different buds. One was dried and cured and stored at 62% (Boveda). The other was left out all night and was so dry, it crumbled.

Neither produced anything but the whisp of smoke and a flat bud. LOL The flat buds smell like ABV.

I'll try this again and post some pics.
 
OK, short learning curve. LOL

Still experimenting but I got a couple real sweet "footprints". I managed to gather a few dabs worth and tried it in my new Nectar Straw (these things are AWESOME if you use a nail to dab).

Incredible taste. I could smoke this all the time. Soooooo much better tasting than any other extract I have tried.

PITA to do it. The arthritis in my wrists is killing me. LOL I'll need to ghetto this up to automate it a little. I also want to measure the pressure and regulate it. Not quite sure how to do that, yet. I have a couple different styles of clamps I can try.

If this works, my buddy is going to mill a set of dies that we can put in a shop press. Have to wonder what a ton or 2 would do for the squeeze. LOL

He also suggested providing an adjustable, electric heater wrap for the dies that we can control the temps with. This guy is amazing. His shop can mill hardened steel dies for this if it works out well.

So far, the yield is unacceptable for regular use but I still need to reach the peak of the learning curve so I expect the yield will improve.

Amazing idea. I am looking at hot presses for olives, nuts and some other alternatives to improve this method. I definitely think more pressure is needed.
 
OK, short learning curve. LOL

Still experimenting but I got a couple real sweet "footprints". I managed to gather a few dabs worth and tried it in my new Nectar Straw (these things are AWESOME if you use a nail to dab).

Incredible taste. I could smoke this all the time. Soooooo much better tasting than any other extract I have tried.

PITA to do it. The arthritis in my wrists is killing me. LOL I'll need to ghetto this up to automate it a little. I also want to measure the pressure and regulate it. Not quite sure how to do that, yet. I have a couple different styles of clamps I can try.

If this works, my buddy is going to mill a set of dies that we can put in a shop press. Have to wonder what a ton or 2 would do for the squeeze. LOL

He also suggested providing an adjustable, electric heater wrap for the dies that we can control the temps with. This guy is amazing. His shop can mill hardened steel dies for this if it works out well.

So far, the yield is unacceptable for regular use but I still need to reach the peak of the learning curve so I expect the yield will improve.

Amazing idea. I am looking at hot presses for olives, nuts and some other alternatives to improve this method. I definitely think more pressure is needed.

keep us posted... :48:
 
very interesting Hman def let us know more as you learn :)
 
I have practice in a few minutes but so far, I can think of a zillion better ways to do this than with a hair iron. LOL

Don't know how long practice will last but if it's early, I'll try a couple more experiments tonight. I definitely feel we need more pressure than you can exert with this hair iron. I already cracked mine.

Guitar player just arrived... later.
 
I'm sure with massive mechanical pressure good yields can be had with rosin, I'd just like to see test results showing to what degree the heat and pressure degrade the lighter terpenes and the level of decomposition of THC to CBN.

For me that's the whole point of doing a cold BHO extraction, I want to minimize any decomposition and get the highest % of terpenes possible. Rosin and cold bho extraction is apples and oranges
 
I felt the same way when I saw some of the temps they were using in the videos. 400F is way too hot. The THC will vape at about 350 to 400 so you better be quick with that much heat.

I am thinking real closer to 200F, maybe 250f. According to the info at SkunkPharm, nothing evaps before about 275F so 200F or so should maintain most of the terpenes.

I must say, this is the tastiest extract I have done yet.

I looked at 1 of the flattened pieces under the scope and I noticed there is still a ton of trics on it but it is mostly the stalks. It looks like the heads are what exploded and made the footprint.

Well, duh. No wonder it's a great hit. Just the heads? Very cool.

Still, my mind is afloat with better ways to do this. Just going to take some experimenting.

BTW, did I hijack someone's thread, here? LOL Oops
 

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