i'm also curious as to how you're doing the extraction. maybe I or someone else can help you refine it.
It was my first time trying and I just wanted to try it out and see how difficult the process actually is. I did alot of reading and watching vids of different things people had tried. It seemed easy enough but I don't want to waste any cash right now so I bootlegged it. Basically all you need is a container that can take a bit of pressure without coming apart. I read that someone on here does is with a 2 liter soda bottle, so i figure plastic will work. And I saw how the honey bee extractor was just four whole in a screw on lid. I had a very small amount of trim that wouldnt even fit in a 20 oz. soda bottle, but I really wanted to try this. So I got an empty prescription pill bottle with a child proof lid and poked 4 wholes in it. I then sandwiched a coffee filter between the lid and carefully tisted and locked the lid. I then wrapped another fliter around the outside of the lid. I read that a few ppl do that, but i wont put any filter on the outside next time. It soaked up lot of oil and got a little wet cuz I got it to close to the water. I think I am gonna trim it to only what I need and this should stop the problem as I left the whole coffe filter intact, so it was sticking out of the lid.
I used ronson butane. I was thinking of splurging and trying to get a cleaner butane because I have read that it makes a difference, but at this point I have nothing to compare to. And I had to drive all over town just to find two cans of the cheap stuff.
I forgot about covering the intake hole, I guess that's what it would be called, so I'm sure butane leaked from there and I think thats why I ended up using both cans.
I saw this kid on youtube dripping the extract into a pyrex dish filled with water then skim it off the top of the water. This worked surpisingly well for me but i think it made it look like I had more than I really did when the water evaporated. I put it on a thin peice of metal and since it was such a small amount after 45 minutes at room temp and ocassional stirring and still in a ventilated area, I used a lighter to "cook" the reamining butane and water out. I tried to use some too early and it flamed up a bit, but I was watching for this so it didnt catch me off guard and it wasnt until I touched the drop with fire that it flamed up.
I pretty much did everything wrong and still got somethat that I was very impressed with. So for the next time I do this I was thinking of just using a two liter or getting a small pvc tube, and some kind of fine metal screen instead of that coffee filter. I used to work at starbucks and a french press, which has a metal screen, is better than a paper filter because paper traps the natural oils of the coffee. I just thought of this. I may just use the screen out of one of these. It seems like it would free up the flow of liquid coming out. If I can find a better butane, i will use it, if not I'm fine with what I used. I'll take suggestions from anyone that has experience with this and see if I can them to work out for me.
