First attempt at Shatter... Is it clean enough?

Okay, guys. I'm sorry if this sounds dumb, but I've been making honeycomb since kingdom come. Not really, about 4 years now. I feel it's very simple. Scrape it, set it, and forget it. The paddy tells you when it's done. Shatter on the other hand, seems like unfinished product to me. I know it's completely wrong but in my mind when I look at shatter, I see honeycomb that's not done. It's really fucking with me. Lol. This is a 60g sour diesel nug run from mostly bottom nugs grown indoors. It's about 9-10 g's total. I've purged it at 97 degrees prob for about 30 hours. Flipping multiple times throughout the process. Started the temp lower and worked my way up to a finishing of around 98. I don't wanna go any higher because I don't wanna run the risk of it waxing up, but I feel like I'm still seeing tiny bubbles. How do I know when this is done?

Btw: I do not wish to winterize because I want to retain as many terps as possible. This is already kinda flying all over the place when I dab it.

It looks good. I can't answer your question but I have one...or two. The first batch I did waxed up because of high temps. What do you start your purge temps at? How long? You are vacuuming it right?

Never mind.. I just read the rest of your post. Do you vacuum?

I do vac purge, but because the temp is so low, little bubbles would form, but not pop. After 36 hours of purging, I assumed they were terpenes. I start out vac purging with no heat, and as it stops reacting, increase the temp by 1 degree increments over the course of the day. The first 2 days I was purging at 83, 3rd day at 87, and at the end as high as 98 I believe. It tastes great and doesn't sizzle when dabbing but I still don't know how to tell when it's done. At least with wax and honeycomb you KNOW when it's finished. Thanks man. I appreciate the feedback. Hoping somebody experiences with shatter can chime in and give me some feedback. My last batch of GDP and crippler started to wax up at 83 degrees. It was obviously due to high moisture in my starting material or the age of the product. It was pretty old. I just cranked the temp and let it honeycomb.

Runbho said:

I do vac purge, but because the temp is so low, little bubbles would form, but not pop. After 36 hours of purging, I assumed they were terpenes. I start out vac purging with no heat, and as it stops reacting, increase the temp by 1 degree increments over the course of the day. The first 2 days I was purging at 83, 3rd day at 87, and at the end as high as 98 I believe. It tastes great and doesn't sizzle when dabbing but I still don't know how to tell when it's done. At least with wax and honeycomb you KNOW when it's finished. Thanks man. I appreciate the feedback. Hoping somebody experiences with shatter can chime in and give me some feedback. My last batch of GDP and crippler started to wax up at 83 degrees. It was obviously due to high moisture in my starting material or the age of the product. It was pretty old. I just cranked the temp and let it honeycomb.

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Thanks for taking the time to explain. I can't control my temps to 1 degree but my heating pad should keep me in range of under 95 or lass with a towel as a buffer.. I am starting another batch soon so I'll give shatter a try. Hopefully someone will let you know if what you have is ready. I have fresh nugs that I let sit under a fan for several days. I don't have a way to dehumidify but they feel crisp so hopefully they'll be ok.

I don't leave my nugs out to dry before blasting. I usually keep it bagged until ready to pack the tube. I'm going to try freezing my material next time, for I hear it's most efficient. Man, please get the heatvac kettle companion. Other companies make a similar product for a cheaper price so look around. But, this product changed my life. It's a peel and stick rubber heat pad type thing that sticks to the bottom of your vac chamber with a wire coming out of it that attaches to a digital temperature box. It goes as low as room temperature and higher than you'll ever need. It literally turns your vac chamber into a vac oven. This is my first batch of shatter because I've never had a heat source that could go low enough to properly purge shatter. With this setup, you can make any consistency. And, they sell them in various sizes so you can get the right size for your chamber. It's really badass. Love this thing. I bought an infrared thermometer to be sure and my oil is usually right within 2 or 3 degrees of my set temp. I have noticed after a long period of vac purging at 88 degrees, I temped my oil after letting air back in and it was 98 degrees in some places. What I'm getting at is if you plan on setting it and forgetting it making shatter with this setup, set your temp around 10 degrees below your desired temp. I highly suggest you buy one of these. They will blow your mind.... But, find the cheaper one. I paid $175 but you should be able to find one for around $120.

I'll keep my eye out for a heatvac companion for the next time. Now money is tight and $175 was as cheap as I could find.

Did you finish your honeycomb? I am trying a batch again. I started at around 90deg then after 24 hrs I upped it to 99 and it is looking better now, but still a long way to go.

I also got some everclear and am winterizing my wax. According to what I have read I should dissolve the wax in the everclear, freeze for 24 hrs, strain with coffee filter, evaporate, scrape and put it back into the vac chamber. Does this sound about right to you?

Hmmm... a little everclear is surprising good with orange juice too.

Wow, This everclear and wax has a bunch of unwanted crud. Now I know why it was so harsh.

This bottle started turning in the hot water bath. I wonder how it will look after 48 hrs in the freezer.

Make sure to filter it in the freezer if you can as well.

Runbho said:

Okay, guys. I'm sorry if this sounds dumb, but I've been making honeycomb since kingdom come. Not really, about 4 years now. I feel it's very simple. Scrape it, set it, and forget it. The paddy tells you when it's done. Shatter on the other hand, seems like unfinished product to me. I know it's completely wrong but in my mind when I look at shatter, I see honeycomb that's not done. It's really fucking with me. Lol. This is a 60g sour diesel nug run from mostly bottom nugs grown indoors. It's about 9-10 g's total. I've purged it at 97 degrees prob for about 30 hours. Flipping multiple times throughout the process. Started the temp lower and worked my way up to a finishing of around 98. I don't wanna go any higher because I don't wanna run the risk of it waxing up, but I feel like I'm still seeing tiny bubbles. How do I know when this is done?

Btw: I do not wish to winterize because I want to retain as many terps as possible. This is already kinda flying all over the place when I dab it.

Click to expand...

Runbho said:

Okay, guys. I'm sorry if this sounds dumb, but I've been making honeycomb since kingdom come. Not really, about 4 years now. I feel it's very simple. Scrape it, set it, and forget it. The paddy tells you when it's done. Shatter on the other hand, seems like unfinished product to me. I know it's completely wrong but in my mind when I look at shatter, I see honeycomb that's not done. It's really fucking with me. Lol. This is a 60g sour diesel nug run from mostly bottom nugs grown indoors. It's about 9-10 g's total. I've purged it at 97 degrees prob for about 30 hours. Flipping multiple times throughout the process. Started the temp lower and worked my way up to a finishing of around 98. I don't wanna go any higher because I don't wanna run the risk of it waxing up, but I feel like I'm still seeing tiny bubbles. How do I know when this is done?

Btw: I do not wish to winterize because I want to retain as many terps as possible. This is already kinda flying all over the place when I dab it.

Click to expand...

Ok first if you dont have a vac oven dont waste your time . People have made some pretty legit chambers with supplys from local hardware store , but if you have the resources get a industrial grade oven theyre not cheap but worth every penny if you blast alot. I used a friends yo purge a nug run i did the other day . It was a mix of all the strains ive had lately... all indoor and og . Used about 85 gs of dried flower and ended up with 18 .6 gs of shatter . Purged for only 28 hours at 95 degrees . Seems like it did the trick! Super stable and super terpy. I was pretty suprised with my yield as well was not expecting more than 10 gs lol.

I don't leave my nugs out to dry before blasting. I usually keep it bagged until ready to pack the tube.

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Its good to put material for a while on a dehydrator (at 30C max) to get rid of that last bit of moisture. Makes end product clearer and improves your yield too.

Purged for only 28 hours at 95 degrees . Seems like it did the trick! Super stable and super terpy.

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That is way too short, did you flip the patty at all? Try and go 2 or 3 days min if you want the least amount of residuals possible.

Purging for days...
Sounds crazy to me

qwizoking said:

Purging for days...
Sounds crazy to me

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Right, I never understand why you would subject your extract to that

All I know is there is a lot of snappy shatter out there that is tasty and by appearance alone, seems to be done. You think it's good shatter properly purged, but it reality it could be 800ppm+. The only way to know for certain is to vac for days. Yes, it seems redundant and for some it is. Some folks aren't too concerned with residuals as long as it works. Clubs want clean dabs and that usually means less than 400ppm residuals, which still seems like a lot to me. And, in my opinion, seeing how you're already purging shatter at such low temps, another few days in the vac oven won't adversely affect it in any way. It will only reduce residual solvent levels and increase potency. I'm all for purging for days. It usually takes me a solid 4, sometimes more.

Bublonichronic said:

Right, I never understand why you would subject your extract to that

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With wax, budder, honeycomb etc., purging for days will reduce flavor and smell. But, you know when it's done because it waxes up and tells you it's ready. Shatter doesn't give the obvious visual cues of being properly purged that wax consistencies do. So, shatter = purge for days
Wax= purge until it's done.... Imo

Just to give you another perspective on this question, OP....


I live in a legal state where some of the cities hold contests to see who grows/makes the best weed and concentrates. Many entrants are professionals who use state-of-the-art closed-loop systems and laboratory-quality vacuum purgers and ovens and everything you can imagine....and even the best-of-the-best of the extracts made with that type of equipment STILL show residual solvents when tested.

So, to think for even a second, that some relatively inexpensive homemade, backyard blasted BHO using the butane that comes from the aerosol cans (which contain lubricants that don't purge out) can be clean enough to use safely, then I would advise you to think again.

However, never fear...rosin tech is here! No-solvents! Mucho terpenes! Full melt! Anyone can make it -safely!

Yeah I'd also suggest AGAINST making BHO if there is any open blasting involved. Everytime someone blows up their parents kitchen, the chance of it being legal in states like california become more distant. Also, if you want to consume under-purged stuff that's your deal, but please dont even give/sell that crap to your friends.

As far as the purging for days thing, the length of the purge doesn't mean shit. You can purge for 7 days but if you don't keep bringing down the vac and flipping, then it's all for nothing. You have to constantly circulate fresh air into that vac chamber and keep flipping it to get the wax out.

Something I've learned over the last few weeks is that if you let it sit in the vac oven when it's done and knock it up a few degrees, it will put the wax in such a state that some of those tiny bubbles that just wont come out will work their way out.

Smelling a cow fart for one second would put more harmful gas in your body then a pound of properly processed winterized bho. If ya don't believe me try it. I did!!

Runbho said:

Started the temp lower and worked my way up to a finishing of around 98.

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Sorry to go off topic, i know jack shit about dabs shatter etc, but how does cooking/boiling whatever you do at such high temps not burn the weed away ?

i thought high temps are bad for tricholmes etc .... like i say i know jack shit, but i can't understand how the weed effect/tricolmes etc etc still holds after such a battering making this stuff.

anyone wanna fill me in dumby style ? lol

If you keep it under 100f flavor loss is minimal ime. Just warm enough to pull the solvent out under vacum but cool enough to retain flavors.

I don't go over 90f, purge for a week. Comes out w a beautiful taste and shatters like glass