Stainless steel extraction tubes - THE TRUE NUMBERS

ChiefRunningPhist said:

I do the soak method as well, but like @OldMedUser I don't like the cost per run when not reclaiming it. I've been looking at a cheap way of distillation but not trying to blow up my house lol though I may look into your technique. Seems to work alright? Are you measuring pressures? That's the big thing I was leery of. Haven't built any vacuum chambers really (mason jar with vac sealer is all I've used), so not sure what materials could handle what pressures and what temps and volumes equated to what pressures ect.. I like the room temp distillation, makes sense and seems much safer..

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There's really no pressure in simple distillations like that or even when distilling alcohol or other solvents. A basic pot still is open at the end and the only time you really have any pressure is if you're boiling too hard then you get into 'bumping' where the pressure builds up slightly then releases repeatedly. A larger diameter outlet tube fixes that. I made a still out of a large glass bottle that I can put a whole gal of Coleman's camp stove fuel in and cook that out to get pure naphtha for extracts. Or make everclear from a simple sugar-yeast mash with 3 passes.

Instead of boiling balls the same thing could be made out of a couple of mason jars with copper tubing soldered into the lid of the boiling one and just a hole drilled into the receiving one to let the end of the tubing fit inside and vent any possible pressure around the loose fit. There's no fumes really tho smoking is not recommended and static sparks are to be avoided. Instead of soldering an outlet on a handy person could use threaded fittings to attach an outlet to the lid. If a person is not so handy then things like DIY stills should probably be avoided but there's plenty of stills for sale on the web.

In Canaduh now you can get 14 years in the slammer for making concentrates with organic solvents so if they can prove you blew up your house doing it then you got more charges to face. Not to mention your insurance company ain't gonna pay.

HomeDistiller.org is a great place to get lots of info about stills. Recipes, plans for stills etc.

Found a pic of my little setup. Here I'm using the smaller jar to cook down some oil made with naphtha. The mix is in the large jar. The condenser is made from a steel coffee can so I can put a 2L pop bottle in it that is full of salted water and kept in the deep freeze. Then I don't need running water and can swap out the bottle as needed. The can has car antifreeze in it for good heat transfer and prevent the can rusting out like my first one did.

@OldMedUser
What a great post!

I'll have to look more into it. In some states it's the same way, a big no no. Ill probably work outdoors till I'm confident in the system.

What vessels are you using to store? If your freezer goes out are you confident the pressure will not exceed vessel ratings?

ChiefRunningPhist said:

What vessels are you using to store? If your freezer goes out are you confident the pressure will not exceed vessel ratings?

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I'm not storing the butane atm. Tried keeping it in a thermos but it leaked out even tho it was in the freezer. Thinking I could rig a propane torch bottle for a pressure vessel but haven't tried it yet. I got an empty one to play with. They just use valves like in a tire so with a tiny funnel it might work tho I'll probably have to rig a larger ball valve on it to get the liquid butane into it.

I got so many projects that need doing and it's hard to choose so they pile up. lol

Like I said before..... GREAT, interesting info from you guys. I am going to read up on this a bunch more.

ChiefRunningPhist said:

I've been curious about this as well. If butane really does strip all the cannibinoids, then one should be able to approximate their potency. IE 1oz goes in, 3g's comes out, that's 10.5% (3/28.5). All runs would have to be totaled, but I rarely get much of anything past (1) 20min soak at <0°F.

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If you were to lay the material out on a table with a grid painted on it, and tested the amount of oil extracted, as well as its potency for each grid, you would find some close, but they would all be different, because we are talking about Ma Nature's kitchen, with the material growing at different locations on the same plant.

We measure ours by pulling the fan leaves, but processing the buds and trim together. I've gotten higher yields processing manicured buds, and when we've run donated trim, the yields were all over the place.

When we average and compare the whole plant yields from two plants of the same strain from our own gardens, they are reasonably close in yield and analysis.

I have the 12” Ablaze tube. I just packed 35g into about 11”, with the last inch empty space and a ball of stainless steel mesh as a diffuser.

They advertised it as a 90g tube....

I also bought the 25 micron screen for under my stainless mesh. Hopefully the two will mitigate any particles. Trial run happening soon.

JayBio420 said:

I have the 12” Ablaze tube. I just packed 35g into about 11”, with the last inch empty space and a ball of stainless steel mesh as a diffuser.

They advertised it as a 90g tube....

I also bought the 25 micron screen for under my stainless mesh. Hopefully the two will mitigate any particles. Trial run happening soon.

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A 1 1/2" X 12" X.065 wall tube would be 17.68 cu/in internal volume, without filter packing, and 90 grams would be around 5 grams/in3.

My volume number includes one wadded coffee filter in front of the plant material and three after, but my maximum load for such a tube would be around 72.5 grams.

To achieve a 4.1 gm/in3 load, I dried the material to the point of frangibility, or when it would just break up when rolled between my finger and thumb, and then passed it through a 10 mesh screen to remove al the timber, before packing. At that packing rate, I lean on the ram until it stops, and pack frequently to keep it even, but don't pound or force it.

I pack the same way at 3.8 gm/in3, but just break the material up into about 1/2" chunks and process it after hanging and drying long enough for the small stems to break, about 5/7 days here.

Turned out great! Just about to sample! Made from a Walter White, Lemon Thai and Tangie. My
Mind is blowing seeing the ripples texture in the shatter. Not sure if that is crystal structure of just a result of popping bubbles?

(Edit: I have had two small dabs. Far smoother than my last non-vac’d shatter! This batch was made from older shake and last years buds.. I didn’t find the terpene profile to really reflect the fruity citrus I was going for.. it was fairly flat. The cannabinoids definitely are up there! Wow.)<— this is this morning before I heated it up to 110F and purged again.

Looks great. Feel like sharing what you did?

Fadedawg said:

A 1 1/2" X 12" X.065 wall tube would be 17.68 cu/in internal volume, without filter packing, and 90 grams would be around 5 grams/in3.

My volume number includes one wadded coffee filter in front of the plant material and three after, but my maximum load for such a tube would be around 72.5 grams.

To achieve a 4.1 gm/in3 load, I dried the material to the point of frangibility, or when it would just break up when rolled between my finger and thumb, and then passed it through a 10 mesh screen to remove al the timber, before packing. At that packing rate, I lean on the ram until it stops, and pack frequently to keep it even, but don't pound or force it.

I pack the same way at 3.8 gm/in3, but just break the material up into about 1/2" chunks and process it after hanging and drying long enough for the small stems to break, about 5/7 days here.

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I like the idea of screening it first! Would that affect long chain extractions

HighLowGrow said:

Looks great. Feel like sharing what you did?

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Tomorrow I will share.

Some key points In my process:
The material was between joint grind and larger pieces, pea sized.

The material was packed into the tube with a fine steel mesh gasket and a 25micron screen at the output end, followed by a ball valve and barbed fitting. This small exit helps to slow down the butane, but is always open. At the injection end there is a balled up piece of stainless screen. That ball gets hit with butane and helps to slow it down and spread it out more evenly. A diffuser. This end has another ball valve that I close between cans, and after the last can is emptied.

I lined my extraction Pyrex with parchment.
I evaporate with 2 hot water baths.


I purged the first night at around 90-110F and -25”Hg. (I’m at a high altitude). I used more warm water baths and a seedling heat mat for all purges and over night. During the first night I pulled, released and pulled vacuum overnight. The next day it was brought up to molten, I pulled a 26.6”Hg vac and let it purge for another few hours. Finally it gets stored in my freezer.

Digital heat mat is on my list for today!

I need one too. Looking at this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071WG2P54/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=AWMD3Y9GWXKN7&psc=1

Ok so I CRAMMED this into my 8" tube. It took a loooonng time for the butane to run through.

But when it did, the oil came out like runny toothpaste. I used NO heat for the purge, although outside temp was 101.

Then I whipped the shit out of it for 15-20 mins.



And onto my pad. Still no heat.



I pulled a full vac and release 3-4 times and here it is

I put it in the fridge for a few minutes and flipped it around and broke it up. lol



I rearranged it so it was an even thickness. Heated it to 105, whipped it around gently, and pulled full vac. Did this a few times. Here it is.

It is currently under full vac @ 110 degrees. Last time I looked it was doing nada. I whipped the hell out of this prior to initial vac. The first 3 vacs gave me some big muffins. I'm trying to get to that crumble where I can grab a nug of oil and drop it in my insert without getting sticky. I'll give it another hour and take a look.

I left it at 110 degrees for 1.5 hours.



So here it is. Exactly what I was after.

7 hours total start to finish
4.80 grams/cubic inch Sour Stomper x Purple Gorilla
56.6 grams of bud in.
8.6 grams of oil out.
15% return




Almost forgot. When I was finishing up injecting the butane, I got distracted and left the ball valve open up top when I pulled off the butane can. F#$@ing my hand got it. And ya. I couldn't find the alcohol and I'm right in the middle of this. What a mess. I've slightly opened the bottom valve a bit too much before, but nothing up top like that. I laugh now, but what if I was over it and it got in my beard.

HighLowGrow said:

I laugh now, but what if I was over it and it got in my beard.

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Or eyes