Hello. Trying to live a life that's completely free.
I love making tinctures. It's a combination of art and science. It's quick, sublingual, versatile, healthier than smoking, discreet, and can be very psychedelic.
I hear I'm quite good at it, but always looking to improve. It's not easy to get solid information from the internet, but with the legalization movement, things are certainly getting better. I'm amazed at how much outright awful information gets tossed around. There are some areas where there doesn't seem to be firm consensus too.
Much of this is clear. The quality of the material matters. The amount used matters, i like to use around 3g of herb for every liquid ounce of final product, often starting with about a pint of Alcohol (of course it must be ethanol) for 1oz. of weed. Perhaps a bit more Alcohol, my goal is to use the least amount of alcohol possible to get a good soak and extract, but since i make butter with the finished weed, I'm maximizing total value. Putting 1/4 oz. of weed into a liter of alcohol will get you weed flavored booze. You would need to get drunk to catch a weed buzz.
I use Everclear. 96%. I love to pre-flavor the alcohol. Berries are great but there are so many possibilities. Just soak the everclear in whatever flavoring you like for a week to a month. I like a squirt of tincture on top of a good beer (be careful). It floats like green oil, and the pine flavor goes well with beer hops. So, how about a fresh hops infused alcohol to start?
Yes, weed must be decarboxylated, converted, whatever you want to call it. The THCA needs to be converted to THC which is the useable form we need when consuming as an edible. Smoking does this all at once, so of course, no need to do this for smoking, or baking brownies. We need to heat the weed enough to convert it, without vaporizing it.
*what is THE best temperature and time for conversion? I do 200-240F for about 15 minutes. I don't see any reason to go longer than that. I know im getting good conversion, and I've seen plenty of lab charts around this but im still not certain if say, 250-270 degrees is better. Or maybe 180F for 30 minutes? I see people doing 325 degrees for even longer and i think that kills it.
*Pre-soak in cold water. I love this. This is good no matter how you're consuming weed, but especially good if you're using less than top quality bud, especially leaf. Don't grind it at all, just put it gently into a jar of ice cold water and in the fridge for 24-48 hours. Gently pour off this green, murky liquid that's nothing but chlorophyll and other plant stuff. The valuable resin is still stuck to the material but you've cleaned your material. Unless you want the full, maximum weed flavor. I can see skipping the water soak if you want your tincture to highlight the flavors of a certain strain of weed.
I like to re-dry this before the Everclear soak.
*why is anyone soaking in alcohol for more than 24 hours? Especially Everclear. Alcohol strips the oil right off the plant. There's nothing going on days or weeks later that hasn't already occurred. Unless you really really want every bit of every terpene or something? I see people putting it in a closet for a month? It probably just breaks down the plant cells. I'd like to hear more from some tincture heads about this. Same for grinding the weed up. Sure, break big buds down a bit, but why grind it? As if the alcohol can't penetrate the weed in bud form? Of course it can. Grinding weed up just gets resin to stick to other things. The alcohol knows what it's doing.
I do like to do this though; When i mix the weed and everclear in a glass mason jar, i put it in the freezer for a few hours. Then i let it get back to room temp, and gently warm it up in a double boiler. Alcohol will start to bubble around 170F. I've already converted the weed, but i like to bring this to the simmer point for just a few minutes. It helps to evaporate some alcohol too. I see no reason at this point why letting it sit for more than 24 hours adds any value. In fact, I'll bet the alcohol does its job in a few hours.
Before bottling i warm it up for better extraction, and pour it through a coffee filter. Squeeze all the liquid out and put the weed aside to dry. I'll use a half an ounce of this for 1 stick of butter. I'll add a little fresh ground bud to this butter when i cook with it.
Depending on how much evaporation occurs, this tincture should be a deep dark green, or perhaps more golden green if you pre soak your weed in water.
One other thing i like; i use a vaporizer and sometimes i will vape at a low temperature and deliberately stop early. I add this material to a small batch of tincture, let it sit for an hour, and strain. Every time i vape, i do this with the same tincture, letting it build and strengthen. I find that this tincture can be especially good for good sleep.
I love making tinctures. It's a combination of art and science. It's quick, sublingual, versatile, healthier than smoking, discreet, and can be very psychedelic.
I hear I'm quite good at it, but always looking to improve. It's not easy to get solid information from the internet, but with the legalization movement, things are certainly getting better. I'm amazed at how much outright awful information gets tossed around. There are some areas where there doesn't seem to be firm consensus too.
Much of this is clear. The quality of the material matters. The amount used matters, i like to use around 3g of herb for every liquid ounce of final product, often starting with about a pint of Alcohol (of course it must be ethanol) for 1oz. of weed. Perhaps a bit more Alcohol, my goal is to use the least amount of alcohol possible to get a good soak and extract, but since i make butter with the finished weed, I'm maximizing total value. Putting 1/4 oz. of weed into a liter of alcohol will get you weed flavored booze. You would need to get drunk to catch a weed buzz.
I use Everclear. 96%. I love to pre-flavor the alcohol. Berries are great but there are so many possibilities. Just soak the everclear in whatever flavoring you like for a week to a month. I like a squirt of tincture on top of a good beer (be careful). It floats like green oil, and the pine flavor goes well with beer hops. So, how about a fresh hops infused alcohol to start?
Yes, weed must be decarboxylated, converted, whatever you want to call it. The THCA needs to be converted to THC which is the useable form we need when consuming as an edible. Smoking does this all at once, so of course, no need to do this for smoking, or baking brownies. We need to heat the weed enough to convert it, without vaporizing it.
*what is THE best temperature and time for conversion? I do 200-240F for about 15 minutes. I don't see any reason to go longer than that. I know im getting good conversion, and I've seen plenty of lab charts around this but im still not certain if say, 250-270 degrees is better. Or maybe 180F for 30 minutes? I see people doing 325 degrees for even longer and i think that kills it.
*Pre-soak in cold water. I love this. This is good no matter how you're consuming weed, but especially good if you're using less than top quality bud, especially leaf. Don't grind it at all, just put it gently into a jar of ice cold water and in the fridge for 24-48 hours. Gently pour off this green, murky liquid that's nothing but chlorophyll and other plant stuff. The valuable resin is still stuck to the material but you've cleaned your material. Unless you want the full, maximum weed flavor. I can see skipping the water soak if you want your tincture to highlight the flavors of a certain strain of weed.
I like to re-dry this before the Everclear soak.
*why is anyone soaking in alcohol for more than 24 hours? Especially Everclear. Alcohol strips the oil right off the plant. There's nothing going on days or weeks later that hasn't already occurred. Unless you really really want every bit of every terpene or something? I see people putting it in a closet for a month? It probably just breaks down the plant cells. I'd like to hear more from some tincture heads about this. Same for grinding the weed up. Sure, break big buds down a bit, but why grind it? As if the alcohol can't penetrate the weed in bud form? Of course it can. Grinding weed up just gets resin to stick to other things. The alcohol knows what it's doing.
I do like to do this though; When i mix the weed and everclear in a glass mason jar, i put it in the freezer for a few hours. Then i let it get back to room temp, and gently warm it up in a double boiler. Alcohol will start to bubble around 170F. I've already converted the weed, but i like to bring this to the simmer point for just a few minutes. It helps to evaporate some alcohol too. I see no reason at this point why letting it sit for more than 24 hours adds any value. In fact, I'll bet the alcohol does its job in a few hours.
Before bottling i warm it up for better extraction, and pour it through a coffee filter. Squeeze all the liquid out and put the weed aside to dry. I'll use a half an ounce of this for 1 stick of butter. I'll add a little fresh ground bud to this butter when i cook with it.
Depending on how much evaporation occurs, this tincture should be a deep dark green, or perhaps more golden green if you pre soak your weed in water.
One other thing i like; i use a vaporizer and sometimes i will vape at a low temperature and deliberately stop early. I add this material to a small batch of tincture, let it sit for an hour, and strain. Every time i vape, i do this with the same tincture, letting it build and strengthen. I find that this tincture can be especially good for good sleep.
