How to make cannabis extracts

Oil & alcohol extract

Edible cannabis has much more choices than just cookies. In principle, you can completely integrate the lovely hemp into the menu. The best known preparation is the green butter: a decent piece of it in the freezer is always a nice base for all sorts of sweets. But sometimes there are dishes where butter just does not fit. The good cannabis chef should always have a few alternatives in the spice cupboard. Especially if you can easily make them yourself.

The basis for all food should always be carefully decarboxylated hemp.
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Fortunately, I have always available, because I inhale only in Handvaporizer. Of that is enough for me then always a charge at low temperature, but then there is still a lot of drug in the leftovers. Eaten 0.2 grams of the evaporated herbs are still enough for a multi-hour high. Now the herb is pure but quite rough in the effect. My favorite foods are the alcohol tincture and Rick Simpson oil.

Cannabis liquor: maceration

For alcohol tincture I use as high as possible liquor, preferably with more than 40% alcohol. The variety is a matter of taste, neutral spirits will accept the taste of the herbs, I prefer rum and will try tequila soon. Ultimately, this is not relevant, if the tincture is sufficiently strong, a teaspoon is enough for the desired effect.

The preparation is very simple, herbs and alcohol come together in a bottle and then put it for a good week in the freezer. You should like to thoroughly shake the infusion three times a day. If the alcohol content was over 40%, the tincture is ready after seven days, with weaker liqueurs it should last longer. Then the liquid can be poured off over a coffee filter and stored cool and dark. The herbs are then largely triggered and can be disposed of.

For this maceration - that is the cold triggering of the active ingredient - there are, of course, a wide variety of recipes and dosages. One can also forget cut remains in a bottle of liquor for a year in a dark chamber. I prefer the method in the freezer with alcohohl and a defined amount of herbs. Small tasting vials of 20 to 40 milliliters are just enough to generously cover two to three grams of plant material. If the strength of the herbs is known, so in my case I can get eight to ten serving portions from two grams, I simply transfer the ratio to the tincture. This can be enjoyed pure or poured over any food and drink. Pure on an empty stomach, the effect begins very quickly and then keeps as usual long and very evenly.

Extract with Isopropanol - "Rick Simpson Oil"

Especially for small amounts of herbs, the extraction with isopropanol is very well suited. Isopropanol is a very strong solvent, available at the pharmacy or in the well-stocked head shop and relatively safe to handle, if you are aware of the risks. The best-known user is probably Rick Simpson, who has published numerous videos of the making of his medicine.

It must now be mentioned that high percentage isopropanol or isopropyl alcohol produces anesthetic and explosive vapors. Since the preparation of extracts, the solvent is completely evaporated, you should work in any case outdoors and keep away any sources of ignition.

The process is even easier and above all much faster than the preparation of the alcohol tincture. Coarsely ground, decarboxylated herbs and isopropanol, both frozen, are stirred briefly and then filtered off. Again, all you need is enough solvent to cover all herbs in the jar. There are various indications about the duration of the dissolution process, some say 30 seconds are enough, others want to trigger the last remnants of active substance in several minutes. I achieve satisfactory results after two minutes. When filtering, I wring out the filter again neat, it creates a cloudy solution, which can then be evaporated.

For larger amounts in the liter range, the solution is heated to evaporate. This goes on a stovetop in a water bath, Rick Simpson uses a rice cooker. This accelerates the process, isopropanol boils at 80 ° C. It naturally produces much dangerous vapor. For "home use," I prefer a gentler method. My smallest amount of solution comes in a flat as possible container, this in turn in a larger bowl of hot water on the balcony. Regularly from the cooker, the water bath is renewed. 20 ml of isopropanol evaporate in less than an hour, during which time I poured hot water four times.

Then you should thoroughly clean the extract. Here you are back on the stove on the safe side, the oil vessel should be treated in a boiling water bath until it no longer blisters bubbles and then dry for several hours to remove the last remains of isopropanol. If a tall jar, such as a small mason jar, has been used, the water bath can boil without splashing water into the oil. For flat plates, this is not possible, because you have to dry longer. The last difficulty is to scratch the extremely viscous oil out of the jar, a small metal spatula and a little patience are needed. When working in a flat-bottomed vessel, a razor blade goes too.

The green-brown hash oil can now be eaten pure, dissolved in slightly warmed olive oil or inhaled in a vaporizer. The only problem is the dosage. One should estimate how strong the raw material was and then divide the oil. But that does not work so well, because the concentrate is really strong. But that does not matter, because the oil causes a strikingly clear, medical high with a very stable mood. An unpleasant trip is rather not to be feared, you should only plan that it may take a little longer.