Fresh Frozen vs Bone Dry - Thoughts???

Some folks seem to make ISO out of fresh frozen, some say to get it bone dry before freezing. Just curious of everyone's opinions on pros and cons of each.

GrowinDad said:

Some folks seem to make ISO out of fresh frozen, some say to get it bone dry before freezing. Just curious of everyone's opinions on pros and cons of each.

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Well alcohol is hygroscopic meaning it readily absorbs water, so a fresh frozen run would probably end up with a lot of water in the extract. I would say use bone dry for Qwiso every time because you'll save on solvent and you won't need to evaporate as much. I always use butane for my fresh frozen material and it always comes out with a better tasting extract, a 5 minute dry ice-butane thermos soak with fresh frozen material produces a tasty bright yellow extract and excludes most of the water from ending up in the extract.
There's pros and cons to each it just depends on your situation.

My brand of iso went up 10¢ recently ...to a $1.39

haha 1.39 its like 4 bux here bro ;/

I pay $2.19 at the Safeway here :-/

Four bucks? You in Hawaii or something?

is the difference between isopropyl and ethanol that big of a difference extracting wise and purging? .. what about toxicity.. ? i hear people saying. butane isnt safe.. but from what i know about iso.. is iso is more toxic then ethanol. and butane. but maybe im wrong..

anyone ? lol alot of ways to extract .. im just looking for the best way to keep everything as clean and safe as possible. and when extracting with iso or ethanol . do we extract with chilled or room temp. or does it not matter?

I am not an expert (obviously from the OP).. But there are two factors - one would be the efficiency of the solvent choice and the other would be how pure it is/how much water. While I have heard that with ISO, Butane, etc all the bad stuff evaps out, it still worries me for everyday use. I mean who really knows.

I did manage to secure some 100% pure ethanol. I have only done one batch with it and it seemed to work pretty darn close to the 99% ISO I have used in the pass. For me, yield isn't that important. I don't sell and I generate more weed than I can use...

But I did not notice any more plant matter, chlorophyl or anything of the sort.

JointOperation said:

is the difference between isopropyl and ethanol that big of a difference extracting wise and purging? .. what about toxicity.. ? i hear people saying. butane isnt safe.. but from what i know about iso.. is iso is more toxic then ethanol. and butane. but maybe im wrong..

anyone ? lol alot of ways to extract .. im just looking for the best way to keep everything as clean and safe as possible. and when extracting with iso or ethanol . do we extract with chilled or room temp. or does it not matter?

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The differences between the alcohols is mostly that of their polarity and to a lesser extent their boiling points and vapor pressures.
Ethanol is the most desirable choice for an initial quick wash because ethanol, in comparison to other alcohols, is more on the non polar side.
the amount of water in your alcohol will affect the polarity of the solvent by making it more polar, which is why you should pass your alcohol through a drying agent and then distill it, to remove all water before using it to extract.
N-Butane, Isobutane, and Propane themselves are less toxic than any of the alcohols, but the impurities inside the Butane are unknown for the most part which is why people tend to steer away from canned butane but not everyone who wants to use butane instead of alcohol wants to buy an lp5 tank of butane this is the reason why a while back I made a solvent still, so I could ensure I wasn't smoking mystery contaminants and so I could get 4 or 5 1 oz nug runs out of a single can of butane.
If you add activated carbon to your butane before distillation your removing the heavy metals and long chain paraffin contaminants that are the only harmful components of the butane.

91-99.9% iso is perfectly safe. Its the denatured rubbing alcohol that is poisonous. That is usually 70% and says denatured.

lio lacidem said:

91-99.9% iso is perfectly safe. Its the denatured rubbing alcohol that is poisonous. That is usually 70% and says denatured.

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I didn't say they weren't perfectly safe, they are all safe but Butane is less toxic by all routes than any of the alcohols.
The reason I said to distill it is to remove any and all water so it can't affect the polarity when you extract, not that it really matters too much.

GrowinDad said:

I am not an expert (obviously from the OP).. But there are two factors - one would be the efficiency of the solvent choice and the other would be how pure it is/how much water. While I have heard that with ISO, Butane, etc all the bad stuff evaps out, it still worries me for everyday use. I mean who really knows.

I did manage to secure some 100% pure ethanol. I have only done one batch with it and it seemed to work pretty darn close to the 99% ISO I have used in the pass. For me, yield isn't that important. I don't sell and I generate more weed than I can use...

But I did not notice any more plant matter, chlorophyl or anything of the sort.

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If you use your solvent correctly, you can make fantastic extracts with any of the alcohols, it just depends how long the material is in contact with the solvent. Just remeber, when you extract with anything the trichomes are always the first things to go its true with bubble hash and it's true with solvent extracts, all you have to do is keep the temperature very low and do a very quick wash.
Hell, even acetone can make some golden shatter if you wash it quick enough to exclude anything from being extracted from the cell walls of the plant.

is it better to extract with 95% everclear the 190 proof.. should we be extracting with cold solvent.. and cold everything else?

and has anyone used dichloromethane to extract? i got a gallon sitting that i might fool around with .. see what happens.

Accd to Wikipedia, inhalation of dichloromethane is carcinogenic. So I think it fits in with all the other stuff used that we would prefer not to.

Everclear will work, you are just dealing with more water.

If one searches far and wide, 100% Ethanol can be purchased.

GrowinDad said:

Accd to Wikipedia, inhalation of dichloromethane is carcinogenic. So I think it fits in with all the other stuff used that we would prefer not to.

Everclear will work, you are just dealing with more water.

If one searches far and wide, 100% Ethanol can be purchased.

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And it is not cheap and fiercely hydroscopic. I can get a gallon but no less than that, I've found. But, when I get my recovery set up, I will go with that.

JointOperation said:

is it better to extract with 95% everclear the 190 proof.. should we be extracting with cold solvent.. and cold everything else?

and has anyone used dichloromethane to extract? i got a gallon sitting that i might fool around with .. see what happens.

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Dichloromethane has hydrofluoric acid as one of its break down products when combusted.

JointOperation said:

is it better to extract with 95% everclear the 190 proof.. should we be extracting with cold solvent.. and cold everything else?

and has anyone used dichloromethane to extract? i got a gallon sitting that i might fool around with .. see what happens.

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Should we? Fooling around? See what happens?

I'm challenging your attitude with this, in joking way.

More seriously, the more people fool around, the more people get hurt. The more people get hurt, the more the Elected of us, take notice.

Already in CA, they are trying to set up extraction as a Drug Lab Scourge.

They call shatter, pot crack. OK?

So, chemistry is serious. You can go boom, etc. OK?

I learned my lesson in 11 grade High School. Sugar and Potassium Permanganate in the lab. It was in a pour lip mortar bowl. I lit it with the bunson burner. Woosh!!!

4 ft flame, pretty! Ohh.. Then my buddy..(we had sneaked in to do this) slapped down the asbestos card on top. wooooooooooooooooooosh.!!!! (OMG!!!) Rocket flame from the pour lip.

The pour lip was pointed at me....almost. That, now 5 ft flame, shot right past my good stuff, at waist level and singed my shirt.

We were stupid. Don't be stupid, out there, me included.

Blunter the kid said:

I didn't say they weren't perfectly safe, they are all safe but Butane is less toxic by all routes than any of the alcohols.
The reason I said to distill it is to remove any and all water so it can't affect the polarity when you extract, not that it really matters too much.

If you use your solvent correctly, you can make fantastic extracts with any of the alcohols, it just depends how long the material is in contact with the solvent. Just remeber, when you extract with anything the trichomes are always the first things to go its true with bubble hash and it's true with solvent extracts, all you have to do is keep the temperature very low and do a very quick wash.
Hell, even acetone can make some golden shatter if you wash it quick enough to exclude anything from being extracted from the cell walls of the plant.

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So true for N-butane. N600 refrigerant. 99.95 pure. But, the fuel cans have a considerable portion of propane, so a lighter will light in the cold. It is lighter fluid. And there is that mystery oil.

But, N-butane is called food grade in that Industry. All manner of food slurry is pumped around manufacturing plants with N-butane as the transport fluid. It is extracted off and reused at the other end.

Doer said:

And it is not cheap and fiercely hydroscopic. I can get a gallon but no less than that, I've found. But, when I get my recovery set up, I will go with that.

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All the scientific literature I've read relating to the isolation of cannabinoids from crude extracts claims that DCM and chloroform are the most efficient solvent for the extraction of cannabinoids so post your results if you would
I'm gonna get around to making chloroform finally so I can test it out as a solvent

Blunter the kid said:

All the scientific literature I've read relating to the isolation of cannabinoids from crude extracts claims that DCM and chloroform are the most efficient solvent for the extraction of cannabinoids so post your results if you would
I'm gonna get around to making chloroform finally so I can test it out as a solvent

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Everytime I make chloroform I pass out for some reason.

I think I will steer clear of di-chlro-methane.

DCM is the least toxic of the simple chlorohydrocarbons, but it is not without health risks, as its high volatility makes it an acute inhalation hazard.[11][12]

DCM is also metabolized by the body to carbon monoxide potentially leading to carbon monoxide poisoning.[13] Acute exposure by inhalation has resulted in optic neuropathy[14] and hepatitis.[15] Prolonged skin contact can result in DCM dissolving some of the fatty tissues in skin, resulting in skin irritation or chemical burns.[16]

It may be carcinogenic, as it has been linked to cancer of the lungs, liver, and pancreas in laboratory animals.[17] DCM crosses the placenta.

Oh, BTW, ethanol is only my transport and cold filter solvent. I have a closed loop set up I am getting going in another thread.

Though I have wonder at just using ethanol in closed loop.

Have you read much about that in the literature?