How To Make Fully Extracted Cannabis Oil Or RSO (Chapter 3: The First Wash)
In September 2017, I shared the story about my first cannabis garden harvest. Once I got all the buds and sugar leaves properly dried and cured, I weighed the material and this was my yield from the plants that I grew:
68.5 grams of Buds and 32.6 grams of sugar leaves
This was harvested from 3 plants that were also fertilized. In addition to the buds and leaves, I also produced about a 1,000 seeds. (Which was an interesting exercise in sorting, so that I could save them for future gardens or trade them. I can confirm that it was quite a laborious task to do by hand. I now fully appreciate why "cloning" to propagate the same strain and plant gender is less time consuming and makes sense to do if you want to keep growing the same strains all the time.)
I Used All 68.5 grams Of The Buds To Make A Fully Extracted Cannabis Oil
68.5 grams of buds, produced 6 ml of fully extracted cannabis oil or RSO (Rick Simpson Oil).
For those of you who may be new to the world of cannabis concentrates a fully extracted cannabis oil is basically the essential oil of cannabis which, when extracted, is a resin.
Here's what a mature cannabis flower (bud) looks like under 60 X magnification:
The essential oil of the cannabis plant (which is made up of cannabinoids, terpenes and flavinoids ) is produced in the spherical structures of the plant's trichomes which are called gland heads. It is the contents of these gland heads that I have extracted from the plant and produced a thick, oily resin from.
This resin is at approximately an 80% concentration level of whatever THC percentage, the original buds contained.
Pro-tip:
Smoking dried buds releases only about 20% of the potentially available medicine within the plant material. Smoking the herb, is by far, the least efficient use of this plant's medicine. However, smoking it is one of the fastest acting ingestion methods and it's most definitely the method that I would recommend for someone who suffers from severe post traumatic stress disorder, panic or anxiety attacks because it will instantly raise the anandamide (neurotransmitter) levels in the brain and stop the attack.
Of all the concentrates currently being made today, I would say that making a fully extracted cannabis oil is on the second rung of the cannabis concentrate ladder. I'd put most electronic vape juices fortified with THC containing oil on the bottom rung. Next, I'd place both Rosin and fully extracted cannabis oil, then shatter, then distillates which can reach up to 99.9% pure THC.
I'm Back Down On Rung #2 at 80% THC Concentration With MY Oil. Here's How I Did It:
- I put all 68.5 grams (of the bud that I broke up) into a seal-able stainless steel bowl and I pressure cooked it in a pressure cooker, with a gentle rock of its weight, for 40 minutes. This technique perfectly decarboxylates the buds.
(This is a video that I made for my YouTube channel called: Stir The Pot Cooking Supplies and I posted it on Nov. 22, 2016. It explains the entire pressure cooking decarboxylation process from start to finish.)
Pro-tip:
If you decarboxylate your buds in the beginning, your final fully extracted cannabis oil will already be fully activated which makes it completely pyscho-active and it can be eaten. Once eaten, it's 10 times stronger than if you smoke it. Technically, this little step takes us to a level closer to a 90% concentration when it's used as an edible. When people start medicating with this oil, it is generally recommended that a person start eating the equivalency of a portion size that is equal to the size of a grain of rice. If someone is using this medication to treat a Stage 4 cancer, they would work up to taking a daily amount equivalent in size to a nickle or 3 grams of oil.
This will give you a size reference. I would say that the glob of oil on the tip of the knife is representative of 3 grains of rice or, 3 individual doses. (@knarly327 decided to eat twice this amount when he tested it for the first time. The high lasted for 20 hours. Edible concentrates are not to be taken lightly. They are powerful plant medicines that should be used with respect. @knarly327 has been eating cannabis every day for almost 9 years. The amount that he took was what we both thought would be a reasonable starting dose for him. What we learned was that he can take the amount shown without issue and won't need to double up on size. Learning to properly dose concentrates (just like any other form of cannabis) is a trial and error process. )
- This is what the broken buds looked like once they were fully decarbed.
- Then I put the buds into a 1.5 litre size glass mason jar and added 1.14 litres of 94% over-proof alcohol.
- I soaked the decarbed buds in the over-proof alcohol for 3 minutes. This is known as a "first wash". Due to the fact that you don't let the buds soak for more than 3 minutes during this wash, the concentrate is more of a golden yellow colour. If I let the buds soak longer, the alcohol would also start to pull the chlorophyll out of the plant producing a dark green oil which is still highly effective but doesn't taste as good.
- As I am concerned about extracting the contents of the gland heads, I rinsed my decarb bowl with some of the alcohol and added this to my soaking jar to make sure that I captured any gland heads that may have broken off during the decarbing process.
- You'll notice a few seeds that I missed when I sorted the seeds out of the buds. I just skimmed these off once they floated to the top of the alcohol and discarded them.
- I set a timer for 3 minutes and got another clean 1.5 litre size mason jar and a strainer ready to do the first filtre. Once I captured the plant material, I saved it and did a second wash with it. (The second wash is another procedure and I will show you this in Chapter 4.)
- This is the first rough filtre. You can see the soaked buds in the top of the strainer and the liquid alcohol mixture that contains the plants' cannabinoids, terpenes and flavinoids. It has literally transformed from a colourless alcohol to a brown, murky colour.
- I ran the brown, murky alcohol liquid through multiple coffee filtres. You'll notice the beautiful yellow colour of the liquid now. (It's gorgeous, if I don't say so myself.)
- This is the material that the coffee filtres were able to filtre out. I used 4 coffee filtres per glass jug and this is what the alcohol tincture looked like before I destilled the alcohol out of it by using a Green Oil Machine. (The Green Oil Machine is ultimately a big still that let's me reclaim a good portion of the alcohol that I used). Re-capturing the alcohol is important because it is very expensive. The 1.14 litre bottle that I used required a special license to buy. I had to apply for this license and the bottle itself cost just over $100 Canadian dollars.
- I then dumped all the alcohol tincture into the canister of the green oil machine.
- I put the machine on an elevated, but level platform and the alcohol bottle a little lower than the machine so that I could take advantage of gravity as I reclaimed the original 94% alcohol.
Pro-tip:
If you make sure that the Green Oil Machine or whatever you are using as a still, is level, then the alcohol will evapourate off evenly and the fully extracted cannabis oil that is left has less of a chance of scorching because it is being reduced evenly.
- Once the machine is set-up and the temperature reaches approximately 79 degrees Celsius, the alcohol will start to condense. I set the machine's temperature to about 100 degrees and once most of the alcohol was condensed off the temperature spiked to approximately 105 degrees.
- Once you observe a 5 degree spike in temperature most of the alcohol has been re-claimed.
It Is An Absolutely Fascinating Process To Watch The Colour Of The Liquid Transform From Golden Yellow Back to Being Crystal Clear
- I was able to re-claim approximately 3/4 quarters of the original bottle of alcohol that I used. The rest of it was taken up by the soaked buds, and the coffee filtres. I also made the decision to leave some of the alcohol in the fully extracted extracted cannabis oil so that I could easily and efficiently pour it out of the Green Oil Machine without wasting too much of it.
Pro-tip:
When the Green Oil Machine is still hot, open its lid away from you. There is a fair bit of steam that escapes when you first open it. This could easily burn a person if they aren't being careful. It is at this stage, that you could switch the machine back on and evapourate any remain alcohol out of the fully extracted cannabis oil but you will have to scrape the resin out with a straight razor blade from a utility knife.
- This is what the fully extracted cannabis oil looks like in the bottom of the machine.
- I poured this resin into a small glass jar.
- Then I continued to heat this oil on a coffee cup warmer for about 6 hours to evapourate any of the remaining alcohol off.
- I let it cool completely before I drew the oil up into a plastic syringe which is traditionally used to dose this oil medically. As mentioned early in this post, 68.5 grams of bud, produced 6 millilitres of finished concentrated oil.
Once the empty jar that held the concentrate is held up to the light, you can see the oil's beauty glittering in the sun.
As Far As I Am Concerned, This Oil Is Just Like Gold To Me
It's the culmination of the last 8 years of the working cannabis knowlegde that I have aquired and I cannot tell you how happy I am to share this with all of you and have this information, forever stored on the Steemit block chain.
That is power my friends.
Stayed tuned for Chapter 4, when I will demonstrate how to do a "second wash" using the buds again and adding in the sugar leaves.
If you missed the first 2 chapters, they can be found here:
I welcome your comments and I invite you to follow me on my journey...there will be oil extractions. ;)
~ Rebecca Ryan
I tell ya @rebeccaryan I watched the entire video and read your full article and I'm blown away by your knowledge and experience with anything related to cannabis!
I really hope that as people come and go from steemit, YouTube or wherever, that they realize and appreciate what kind of pioneer you are to the evolution of the cannabis plant and it's uses. For common folks like me, I never in a million years would have known where to start in the process to making edibles or oils. But here you are giving step by step instructions and even videos here on steemit for free. Rock on, sister!
Thank you Sir!
I have 10 chapters in total, so far.
Today I networked with a Dispensary Owner and his Lab Tech who I'd never met before today. I knew they had a high-end spectrometer from California. (A pharmaceutical company called Sage Analytics.
http://sageanalytics.com/about/our-story/#our-works)
I chatted them up and asked them if they would tested the dried herb that I grew and this concentrate that I made.
I paid for the tests. The equipment isn't mickey mouse (worth over $20,000 US) so it's highly calibrated and accurate. (Right up my alley and I now want my own testing gear. LOL! Isn't that how it goes?) I learned so much and my stuff was the highest FECO that they have tested to date! Mine was the only decarbed FECO they have tested because most people don't know or understand that they should or need to do this.
Numbers don't lie. Decarb or Die is all I can say, especially when it comes to making a concentrate that you want to use to turn a disease around.
Thanks for watching that long ass technical video and reading this long post.
Thank you as well for all your kind words. They mean more to mean than you'll ever know. :)
Stunning Rebecca what a descriptive well narrated post well done. Two questions and I should know this what are sweet leaves, and I didn't see the name of that alcohol? Isopropyl? Keep up the great work. Cheer$:)
'
The sugar leaves are the leaves that you will enventually be trimming away from your buds after you dry them. They contain a lot of trichomes too and are great for using in a second wash when you make an oil concentrate. (So just the leaves around the buds.) The alcohol that I used is an actual alcohol that you can buy in a liquor store. The brand is called Global but it is special in that it's what's called an over-proof alcohol and I had to apply for a special license to buy it. It's 94% where as iso is 99.7%. A personal decision on my part for quality because it's medicine that I will be ingesting.
Wow that's amazing very well done. Thanks for answering my questions. I am South Africa based so not sure bottle stores will sell that here. Prolly need to get at a Chemical company Rick Simpson in on of his videos said you can use benzyne or isopropyl? He also suggest that when you are reducing to add small drops of water as this takes out all the residual chems and what that doesnt the goodness of the THC kind of mitigates all the rest, his words literally, your thoughts on that? Cheer$:)
Many different kinds of solvents can be used. When Rick made many of his videos, it was before people were really openly discussing extraction procedures for cannabis and it was tough to find any information about it on the internet that wasn't cryptic in nature. Rick uses iso, (I think) because it is readily available and it's relatively inexpensive. Getting solvents and impurities out is an issue. You want to use the healthiest substance that you can obtain, that will get the job done. I was able to pull 84% alcohol out of some mead that I made. My plan is to try to make a few different batches of alcohol to see if I can hit in the 90's somewhere. (I wasn't trying for this when I originally made the mead.) I had racked it for 2 years and when I bought the Green Oil Machine, it was the first distillation that I made using it. I just did it on a whim to get to learn how the machine worked before I filled it with precious cannabis and costly alcohol. This was also one of the reasons that I bought this particular machine. Rick Simpson teaches everyone to use rice cookers because they are inexpensive and readily available but they can't distill which let's you capture the alcohol in whatever it is that you are distilling.
Thanks a ton for all your insights Rebecca :)
Wow, was surprised at the cost of the alcohol. Here in the states we have Everclear. 95% alcohol that is the intoxicating ingredient in the famous "skip and go naked" grape juice and Everclear mix. I found out that it has been banned in our state, I'm guessing to many young "skip and go nakeders" ending up in the hospital. The last time I bought some was in the late 70's and it was 10 or 12 bucks for a pint.
It's also surprising that more oil processors are not aware of the decarboxylation aspect.
Congratulations
on the production.
SDG
Hi @sighmanjestah!
Thanks so much for taking a look and reading this long post.
I am really excited because yesterday, I had both the dry herb (I grew) and this oil (that I made from it ) for its respective THC and CBD content. The equipment is pharmeceutical testing grade from Sage Analytics out of California. http://sageanalytics.com/about/our-story/#our-works
I was able to observe the testing being done and I learned so much! My oil scored very well and I will be writing a post about it, in the next day or two.
The dangerous nature of the over proof alcohol is why we must apply for a special license to buy it in Ontario and it is expensive. Many people use isopropyl alcohol at 99.7% because it's affordable, but the big question remains can you get all the isopropyl to evapourate off?
🌟 You've been Upvoted & ReSteemed by our Cannabis Curation Team!🌟
Do you want more rewards on original cannabis content?
For more on the project that is ever growing click HERE.
Thank you!
🤖💬 This post has received a 33.33 % upvote from @iseekush sponsored by @netgodbeerus
Join our Cannabis Curation Team
Wow fascinating process. I like that you explain how it helps with things like severe ptsd or cancer. And i appreciate you pointing out the dosing. In my late teens and early 20s smoking helped my ptsd alot. Unforunately was not a method I could keep doing becausr my lungs couldn't handle it due to asthma. I recently (about a decade later), found hemp paste i can legally use in this state I am in. I have been able to come off a antidepressant because of it. I have ptsd and bipolar disorder so that's big. Thanks for this informative post. Following you
Vaping which is less offensive to the lungs will also raise anandamide levels fairly quickly (15 minutes). Most people don't know that it's a drop in this neurotransitter that triggers adrenaline to be excreted into the blood stream. It's this blast of adrenaline that makes the heart race and the breathing to become shallow. Raising anandamide stops this. So does tricking the brain by engaging in right brained activities like listening to your favourite music or engaging in creative activities like making art. (Admittedly the latter is hard to do when you are triggered in the middle of the grocery store.) I wish you all the best @chelsea88. I have followed you too.
Thanks. I didn't know so much about anandamide. I need to research more into it. I can't vape legally where i live. Job weighs heavily on it.
@rebeccaryan
As you have said. You have spent 8 years pursuing this amazing plant.
All the steps in the process you have completed takes lots of time.
More than that though. It takes knowledge and understanding.
You are a wealth of knowledge in preparing this plant for useful
medicine. Not to mention getting a buzz.
I have no way of describing what you have done and are doing.
I am glad that I can call you Friend.
Thank you
Francis
Thank you for acknowledging my legacy, Francis. This is what I live for. Teaching people how to use the power contained in plants to heal themselves and live the life that they want to.
In control, rather than being controlled by an illness or a disease process. It is a better way to live and it can be done. If a middle-aged woman like me, can do this, anybody can, once they are shown how. ;)
Top!
Thank you so much for helping me @allabout! I really do appreciate it and I am glad that you liked it.
Thanks again, Rebecca
“Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in your heart to cherish forever. Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid it’s like being young again. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didn’t exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face. In their presence, there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life.”
― Bob Marley
Thank you for sharing this @allabout! It is beautiful and I have to say that one of the powers of plant medicine is that it opens your heart so that you can feel love more intensely. Hear it more acutely. See its beauty and taste its concentrated flavour. I stay high because it is the frequency that I prefer to live in, for all of these reasons. I love you @allabout. Thank you for being my friend. <3
i'm very pleased to read your thoughts about all this wonderful things & it happens completely as you imaginary it! ♥my friend♥
I like the frequency! 128BPM
very good vibrations :)
Thanks again @allabout for activating randowhale on my behalf. I really do appreciate it and am hopeful that others will get to see this with the extra boost. Thanks again, Rebecca
@rebeccaryan Your article caught my attention, the procedure as stated above makes it easy to see but should be for your experience.
I just want you to know what results you would get if I used the oil to control anxiety.
I ask the question because smoked the results are incredible, the degree of serenity is very pleasant, the bad thing is that lasts 4 hours. Thanks for the very interesting article.
Hi @raulp! Thanks for commenting.
Smoking is the best way to control an anxiety attack when it's happening.
Many ingestion methods are available if someone wants to use cannabis as a preventative to anxiety attacks.
As I decarbed this oil, it can be eaten. Someone eating it for the first time, would start with an amount equivalent to 1/2 a grain of rice and it would work nicely. Doing some strain research is a good idea. There are strains that can cause anxiety attacks so if a person is prone to them, they shouldn't use those particular strains.
You are the expert my friend! If only you know how I wish I could have a taste and see the effect.
I have yet to experience cannabis oil, I have only smoked buds in my life. I really have to find a solution and get at least a little just for the experience!
Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge my friend!
Nice video btw, you explained and demonstrated everything so clearly!
Thank you Chef!
You know, I make a pretty good cannabis sommelier. I purpose that when our families meet, it be somewhere that the herb is legal and then I can take you on infused gastronomical experience. Different strains, different infusion mediums and concentration levels. It'll be fun!
I love the fact that you willingly share your knowledge with the world. Many people hoard what they know, thinking that they somehow have the upper hand by knowing something that others may not know. I'm more like you in that I believe in sharing knowledge. We all have something we know more about than others would. If we all hoard what we know, then we remain little silos of specialized knowledge. However, by sharing, then everyone knows more about more things and we all benefit from greater wisdom.
Thanks for sharing!
Well said @happyme!
I'm just so happy to know that the information will be saved on the blockchain and will be free for anyone who may desperately need it.
Since this is such powerful herbal medicine, people SHOULD know about it. I feel really bad for all those who died but could possibly have been saved if they had this knowledge.
Off topic: I tried to up-vote your comment but the little circle icon goes round and round for a while and then disappears with no vote! Is that normal when I arrive at this page via the link to my reply notifications? I'm under the impression it used to work before the DDoS attack.
I am going to keep driving that message about how powerful this herbal medicine is, until my last breath on this planet.
Yes, I have noticed this too and also suspect that it is some type of security layer of some sort after the attack.
Very strange... This time the vote went through with no problem.
I wonder if Steemit is still being attacked on a daily basis? I only read that they are working on something to make Steemit immune to DDoS attacks. For all I know, the attacks could be on-going but the developers have instituted something that diverts the attack but still slows the system down. It is all beyond my scope of knowledge.
As to the herbal medicine, I guess we shouldn't call it medicine or it will be restricted to the pharmaceutical industry! Call it a herbal REMEDY or OLD WIVES TALE. Call it anything, but just let people who need it have easy access to it. From what I have heard or read, I think at least a couple people I know would have / should have tried some for their cancer. Now they are dead and it is too late for them, but how many others can be saved? The world needs more people like you!
I am humbled by your words @happyme. I am sorry that you have lost loved ones to cancer. Thank you.
To be honest, when I first saw your post titles listed I never clicked on them thinking that you would be writing about growing and smoking pot for recreational use. I'm really glad that curiosity led me to actually read what you were posting. Your articles are always very informative and more to the scientific side. I'm sorry that I didn't look into your articles earlier. Now I'm hooked and keeping my eye out for your next article to appear in my feed.
I wonder if you know anything about the Rife machine? I heard lots of positive things about it but wonder if your oil would be more beneficial than the Rife machine. What I heard about Rife has been mostly anecdotal, whereas I believe there have been proper scientific studies done on the effectiveness of cannabis oil.
Now the vote worked after leaving the previous response! I didn't leave the page or anything. I just wrote a reply and then clicked the vote button again and now it worked. I've been having problems voting for the past few days and am not sure why.
Have you read much about the attack?