i understand the entire concept of winterizing. i just do not want to use a secondary solvent. a few buddies of mine use this method im just trying to ge some different point of views on it. i dont need help on what is a purge, i wouldnt be asking about solventless winterizing if i couldnt even get to the point of winterizing with ethyl alchol.Nah...check out my explanation of winterizing in "what is a purge"....freezing the butane won't decrease the waxes solubility enough for this to have the desired effect......
i cant find it i really looked....
so the question that stumped him was, paraffin wax and plant waxes are very very similar in some butane they add this to help keep everything lubricated on the inside of the lighter. when butane is released it is at these very subzero temps. why is it that the paraffin wax doesnt collect and clog the butane can when the idea is that the cold temps will make the plant wax fall out. i even got him to admit that it would still need to be washed to be a real absolute.
No matter your methodology, using a completely non polar solvent will prefer to pick up a completely non polar compound...like dissolves like, it will not only absorb thc, which is more polar than the waxes and fats, it will not even prefer the thc over the compounds more soluble in butane............a good extract will yield shatter, winterized or not, but it is harder to do with butane than iso or etoh..and that doesn't mean its an equal product. after winterizing, that same shatter will be a whole different creature
Solubility is largely based on polarity and temp.
polarity is relative, butane does not have a polar hydroxyl group -oh while iso and etoh do . This is responsible for iso's high boiling point, even though its molecular weight is very similar to butane. and why water boils at amuch higher temp, being muchlighter than butane or iso. Hydrogen bonding is the strongest intra molecular force. Imfs are what determine solubility. Their is no defining line between polar and non polar. Its how polar or non polar. To find out,the biggest clue is molecular structure. ch bonds are non polar making hexane with more carbon a better non polar solvent. These hydrocarbon solvents lack the polar hydroxyl group that water iso and ever clear have.. but for them to hold cannabinoids in suspension and dissolve them they must also have anon polar side, which is why you can't winterize in water...likewise You can't winterize in a completely non polar solvent either. Iso is actually quite non polar, so is ethanol. Look at a ph index polar water is 9iso somewhere around 4 etoh 6and butane 0.. this is just an estimate off memory.. Etoh is best, iso will work butane will not. This is because of the waxes increasing solubility in the non polar solvents.