TEK - Fairly large scale butane hash oil extraction.

[The Dr]

A write up will be included, but for now the pictures say it all.

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Excellent in all its simplicity. Nice pics.

[Sitbcknchill]

Damn.....

How much bud was in that trash can to start with?

[The Dr]

heh heh... i have no idea, too much for the kitchen scales is how much!

Swim says he was given 2 binbags of trimmings, and that meant 5 red binfulls to extract.

There was a smaller thing he did first...but it had to be scaled up. I'll try and get him to write it all up soon.

total yield ~ 400g......butane @ 50p a can (used 142 250ml cans)

[psychedelaholic]

Holy crap that is amazing. Were you not scared of blowing yourself up with all that butane?

[The Dr]

not i....... swim was cautious though (ie under his growroom extractor-fan that shifts a fair bit of air) and certainly wasnt stupid enough to light a fag.

Having worked in a research lab he got used to treating dangerous things seriously.

[The Dr]

im getting guilt tripped into posting ("Hello The Dr it appears that you have not posted on our forums in several weeks, why not take a few moments to ask a question, help provide a solution or just engage in a conversation with another member in any one of our forums?") by the server, just because swim's been busy planning and performing clandestine chemistry and mycology, rather than posting about it. It's just not fair dammit.

Anyhow, since this thread kinda needs finnishing i guess it's an easy starter.


As i mentioned above, these are the quantities used and produced;

- 2 binbags (~3/4 full) of low grade bush trimmings
- 142 cans (250ml) of lighter gas (butane)
- ~400g of oil

Swim had tried butane extraction just the once, and on a very small scale, so there was some deliberation as to exactly what size and shape container to use.

swim first thought that two 2 liter mineral water bottles with their bottoms cut off and one inserted into the other would work quite well.........the thinking was that a long column rather than a wide short one would work better.
This did seem to work well, but since it only held 4 liters of trim, the ammount of butane used per run (about 8 cans) looked like it would run out well before all the trim was done..... and it was taking a long time. Also the glue on the tape that had been used to seal the join in the bottles had come off with the butane and formed a sticky layer on the outside of the container.

The speed restriction in this process is how long it takes to empty a can of butane (about 1 minute)...

So swim figures that even though it yields more to use lots of butane per ammount of green, to maximise the yield of oil from that ammount of leaf one needs to proccess all the avalible material, even if it means leaving behind some resin. (the reasoning being that the most concentrated butane/oil mix comes out at or near the begining) .

Out he went to get the red plastic bin with clip-on lid. Punched a close little group of holes in the bottom on one side, and 2 holes in the lid, into each was pushed one of the adaptor heads that come in the lid of the butane cans (so they could by quickly discharged and swapped). Also put a few layers of electrical tape around the mouth of the bin in order to make the lid fit as tightly as possible when clipped down.

Swims guestimate was that one should put in the butane till it started coming out the bottom, then put in the same ammount again. This meant around 24 cans per binfull, and was alot easier to see in the big bin that this was about the right ratio of butane to trim without running out of gas.
Put in 24 cans = 6 liters....only about 3-4 liters comes out.

Now 12 minutes of holding down a can in each hand doesn't sound hard, but mark my words, it is. The left arm was just useless, so swim resorted to pushing one of the tins with his chin and the other with both hands..... just picture it.... Oh yeah and that kinda meant inhaling quite a lot of the butane, which was boiling off in the bucket below.


There was a little bit of an issue with ice, forming on the outside of the bin then melting and falling off into the boiling butane...in which it refroze. It really should have been filtered at this stage...or at least poured through a fine strainer. In hindsight this would have removed all the ice really easily. It wasn't too much problem to just remove it with a syringe, but straining would've been better. (see the last photo, the jar on the left has a layer of water at the bottom). And it was very easy to clean up - just wipe up any spills or residues with a tissue paper/bog roll then chuck it back into the extractor and hey presto - no loss or wastage even if you spill some on the floor (so long as it isnt carpet)

After the boiling has stopped and the volume significantly reduced the oil is still relatively runny....so it was put in jam jars in hot water sitting atop a radiator for a few hours (too little butane now coming off to be any worry).

So in my opinion the main improvement needed for large scale extraction using little 250ml tins is some way of holding the valve open without having to constantly push the can down.... or getting a big propane tank and regulator

Reputation Comments on this post:

interesting and informative

[goslamsomeTHC]

you are one lucky bastard....that is all..... man i wish...so yeah.

[freespirt]

400grms of oil damn let it sit fer a year and watch what happens

[goslamsomeTHC]

what would happen if the oil sat? hopefully something good. it better be if i had to wait a year for that.

[The Dr]

swim has unfortunatly found that the small ammount of oil that was left, which has been sitting for 3 months, has developed a rather musky odour. There must have been some water left at the bottom which caused this. It should really have been in the freezer anyway. Silly swim.

The reminance will be combined with some skuff powder (the result of screening some slightly better trim) to create a kind of squidgy oil hash. Hopefully this will mask/eradicate any unpleasent odours ....

[goslamsomeTHC]

oh god no! hopefully.

[freespirt]

be carefull. swim was told it turns into hard butter swim shall take on this mission.

peace, pot, micro-dot

[freespirt]

ok keep it in a refgerter and it will not go bad. my bad

peace, pot, micro-dot

P.S. swim cant wait to read this one

[The Dr]

The photo's on putfile had expired.....so i shrank them down a bit and have attached them to the thread so that they can stay for ever!

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