Project aimed at a cleaner ISO Hash/Shatter

Hello to all.
I am starting a small project with the goal of making a cleaner final product with the Isopropyl/Ethanol extraction methods. I have been making homemade shatter for some time to convert to vape juice and have been quite dissatisfied with the dark color I get. I am just a user and have no commercial aspirations over this I just wanted it to look more commercial in color. I have read all over and pretty much everyone has the same issue with their final product that does it at home with simple methods. I did find one commercial place that started out by saying the plant material they started with was very clean and that was important. They didn't go into any details about this beyond that but I got me thinking of how to clean the plant before processing. I mean if we are just washing dirt off the plant at the same time how could I eliminate that? I started to think of trying a water cure instead of a traditional dry and jar and cure to see if this will "rinse out some of the impurities" that are being processed and trapped.

There are 2 things I will try in this small experiment to see if they help and what the effects of each process does compared to the other:

1 Water Curing - I will cure in R/o water changed daily for 3 days. Standard water cure is 3-5. Water curing has a tendency to remove taste and color as I recall as its been a really long time since I have done one so we keep a note of this as we go.

2 Activated Carbon Filtering - I am using pellets that are the same ones used in most filters. Please rise your carbon with R/O water and let dry

I will be starting each leg of the test with equal amounts of plant material at 7 grams each. I don't have a lot to just mess with in my situation. If anyone would like to run parallel tests with me with larger amounts please join in .My plants aren't grown the best and I really should work on that but time is limited and I travel for work so they get abused a lot. Hopefully that changes soon.

Each fork of the tree will have equal amounts of volume for each test. All will be done with just a 15 second cold wash. Yield is not the overall goal of this project. There will be no heat used in any stages of this testing. All evaporation will be done at night outdoors with just a fan. Because I am limiting the size of the material it wont take long to get results to compare.

Stage 1
Air curing and water curing currently under way. 2 more days to go on the water cure but the first water change was fairly dark. Like almost the same darkness I see in my jars after filtering normally. Hopefully I am onto something.

Ok that is all for now and I will start updating with some pictures soon. Comments and questions are always welcome.

 

Why dont you just switch to pressing rosin? Its easier, better, etc. I'll never do solvents again.

 

Have you tried just a standard 3 or 4 step bud washing which cleans the product extremely well before air curing?

 

I have only played with a small flat iron which was a joke and don't have the funds to invest in a product that will properly extract all the THC. I would be real curious to do a iso extraction on the pucks left over from a press and see what is left behind. I also make my own ethanol so I am more of what can I do from scratch and since I can make alcohol and weed I am pretty self sufficiently supplied.

 

No I never seen this referenced before but I am guessing its somewhat the same as a water cure?

 

I prefer to do a light wet trim to remove any large leaves before the wash unless you like to leave it all on.

Wash 1 - 32oz of 3% H2O2 (cheap to buy at dollar type stores) & 5Gal of Filtered H2O or RO - All Water is just room/outdoor temp. I Prefer longer flat plastic tubs, and fully submerge the branches/buds and give them a gentle to vigorous shaking. This typically kills the insects and helps with mold or mildew.

Wash 2 - 1Cup Baking Soda, 1Cup Lemon Juice & 5Gal of Filtered H2O or RO. Mix it up well. Same washing as above. This will kill off the rest of whatever exists.

Wash 3 - 5Gal Filtered H2O or RO. Washes off any residue from Wash 2

Wash 4 - 5Gal Filtered H2O or RO. Final cleanup.

If during this process the water starts to get to much of stuff floating I will skim it with a fine cooking sieve like you would do a pool.

I then hang everything to dry as normally done (personal preference). I prefer large clothes drying racks so I can hang the branches and leave them outdoors for a couple hours to drip dry. Them move them indoors to a room with a ceiling fan for about 1 - 1 1/2 weeks to finish. Then a final dry trim before curing for 1-3 months in large mason jars of whatever you like.

 

Forbiddenx711 Thank you for the information. I will gather up the stuff and give it a go at my next cut time. Do you find that any terps are lost in the process?

 

I found it doesn't loose anything and actually improves the aroma.