4 replies to this topic

[nickthird]

Why not just use a coffee maker? which is best?

 

Anyone use some device like 'ExtractCraft / The Source'?

 

Using powder, add alcohol, in blender?

 

Alcohol and microwave?

 

... ?

[granmasutensil]

Can make a tincture. Put material with high proof alcohol in container leave a few weeks, shaking every so often and decant. Can use glycerin instead of alcohol too. Can boil make a hot water extract by boiling. Can add alochol after hot water extract to preserve or to further condense extract which works the same with alcohol tincture. Since say high proof vodka still has so much water in it and the majority of extracted material stays dissolved in the alcohol you can then further condense it by freezing the liquid. Then put in for example a salad spinner or some cloth with low absorption placed inside a plastic bag and spin. The centrifugal force will separate the alcohol with dissolved compounds in it from the frozen ice/water, condensing the extract. Hope that helps.

[thedevinroy]

I've used this method:

1. Add glycerin to a glass jar, 2-3x your herb. (I use a Teddy PB jar.)
2. Add your herb, powdered or ground. Put the lid on the jar.
3. Add water to a crockpot with a cloth on the bottom. Turn crockpot up to high heat until it is too hot to touch.
4. Put the jar into the crockpot and leave the lid on for a solid 12-24 hours on medium heat.
5. Filter the fines using several coffee filters. (A coffee pot filter holder is probably the best way to do this.)

I put Gotu Kola and Astragulus extract powder into mine to make a cream for wound healing. Some of the other ingredients were beeswax and olive oil for the oil-based half and lecithin and water for the water-based half. Worked like a charm. Gave it to my fiance's mom for her nails.

 

Next, I am going to make a resin with those two extracts using this method:

1. Add 80 proof alcohol to a glass jar, 2-3x the herb.
2. Add the herb, powdered or ground. Put the lid on the jar.
3. Add hot water to a crockpot with a cloth on the bottom. Turn crockpot up to high heat until it is too hot to touch.
4. Put the jar into the crockpot and leave the lid on for a solid 48 hours on medium heat.
5. Filter the fines using several coffee filters.
6. Line my food dehydrator with teflon.
7. Leave in dehydrator until enough of the alcohol and water has evaporated to leave a sticky resin.

This should make a good spot treatment for wounds like cystic acne and could be ingested, too.

[gamesguru]

grind them in a vitamix.  steep twice in bacardi 151

[cat-nips]

Please don't combine alcohol with the microwave at the same time   .

 

Biggest issues in herbal extractions are heat and sunlight.  Heat will almost always break down many of the beneficial properties within herbal extractions.  Depends on the herb of course, and roots are a different story, but if leafy plant extracts are what you're using, I'd stay away from any long periods of excessive heat, or avoid it altogether.  

 

Within the DIY cannabis tincture world, general consensus seems to be Everclear, 190 proof is the cleanest way to go, shaking, letting it sit in a dark place, and straining out and adding more herbs every few days, up to two weeks, and then letting the final mixture evaporate in a dark place so that the remaining compound is mostly herbal.  People use heat to extract for edibles and tinctures, but other than the initial decarb process performed at 200-250 degrees for a short period, using extended periods of heat in your extraction will result in a breakdown of certain compounds.  This could be what you want, as different compounds are burned off at varying temps, so if that's what you're looking for, get a cheap meat thermometer so that you can effectively gauge temps in order to ensure that your final product is something that will be useful to you, and use a controllable heat source.  

 

Blender/alcohol would probably work.  I've heard of freezer extractions as well.  I'd stay away from the microwave for herbal extractions, because the mechanism itself, in addition to the heat, would probably destroy much of the beneficial alkaloids you're looking to extract.