Making Marijuana Infused Oil On The Blockchain: A "How To" Guide
Everyone seems to think there is some voodoo involved in making oil. As a medicinal user I can tell you quality issues certainly seem to be more pronounced in edibles. Some of this has to do with the attitudes of certain people (like myself) who don't want to "waste" dry bud on making quality oil. Those piles of shake that you've been saving for a rainy day are usually the first to be sacrificed.
As a grower I end up with a lot of trim. Bubble hash to me is like picking cigarette butts out of an ashtray and rolling one nasty cigarette. There is the option to make shatter and other concentrates but nothing is safer and easier than making oil. I have tried a number of methods and materials with the exception of alcohol. From everything ive read Alcohol seems like a safe option for those of you who can take it. The most popular oils for cooking or to take orally are - Vegetable Glycerin (you see this used in medical situations - popularly used with childrens issues), Coconut oil (extremely versatile - can turn from a liquid to a solid and back - tastes "pretty good" - can be used topically on sores - and is easily stored/frozen). Olive oil is commonly used as well - in my experience it does not have the shelf life that coconut oil has - its also less forgiving (many people burn it) - the upside is it stays liquid without much interference - if your looking to take a teaspoon in the morning it might be your option.
I recommend everyone keep their oil in the fridge once it has cooled down and settled but this seems to be much more important for oils similar to Olive oil or butter than say Coconut oil.
I'm one of those guys who require a lot of edibles to get an effect - so my strategy has always been to cram as much material as I can into the oil. I don't recommend this for most people - a healthy dose is about 0.5 gram per teaspoon/tablespoon with bud and maybe double that with trim.
Instructions for making marijuana Infused oil:
Materials:
Coconut Oil (cheapest one you can find since you will likely cook with it) - the size of the jar depends on what you are looking for. 14-20 oz is usually the size jar I buy.
Cheese Cloth (for straining)
Pyrex measuring up (for straining)
Croc-Pot or other slow cooker (I bought one for $10 at WalMart that I only use for oil).
A spoon to stir and a ladle.
You also require a baking sheet, parchment paper and access to an oven.
An oven thermometer (if you arent sure about the accuracy of your oven).
How To:
The most important step that most people never get right is the very first step. Some people feel that this it is an unnecessary one (because they are stupid). If you do not follow this step properly - the only buzz you'll be catching is "in your head" or very dull at best. Raw marijuana does not have the THC you need in order to get a pronounced "effect"; THC is created when THC-A is converted to THC through exposure to high temperature - when you are smoking or vaping this process happens without you realizing it. This is the single most important step in creating an oil that will give you all of the properties you are looking for.
Everyones situation is different - everyones starting material is different. The goal of the "decarb" or conversion process is to maximize THC conversion without THC loss. The best way to do this is with your oven at 3am. It stinks worse than harvest time - if you live in an apartment it might be advised to use alternative methods. One method is to put your material in a mason jar and submerge it in boiling water for 90 minutes. A bbq might be another alternative for those who have one available.
Preheat the oven to 240F
Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper and spread your material out evenly.
If the material is dry and ground you only need 27 minutes in the oven. If you are using frozen or fresh trim it will likely take about an hour. This is where judgement comes in to play - if you overdo it you will end up with a lot of CBN which will give you a nice sleep but not the effect you want. The material will begin to get darker as time goes on. If the material is really wet I recommend "flipping it over" every 10 minutes (which will give you a more up close view of how things are progressing).
Put your slow cooker on low and pour in the coconut oil. Its easiest if you leave the container of coconut oil in some hot water in order to turn it into a liquid before trying to get it out of the jar.
Mix in the material after you take it out from the oven. Some people "grind" the material your using a second time with a food processor - by all means try adding that step and see if you get better results.
Stir the material every 30 mins. The amount of time you leave the oil on low in the slow cooker depends on you. I feel that after 3 hours most of the THC has been transferred in the oil - some people leave it overnight. If you are leaving it overnight - I recommend adding a cup of water - this will also help filter out some of the impurities after. 3 hours with no added water is fine.
Put cheese close over the mixing up and poor the oil/material from the slow cooker. The material will sit on top of the cheese cloth and drip into the mixing cup - squeeze the oil out of the material once it has cooled a bit.
Throw away the cheesecloth and all the material
Pour the oil from the mixing cup into a mason jar. I put cheese cloth over the mason jar as well to get any particles I might have somehow mixed.
Let stand at room temperature for a few hours before putting the lid on and storing.
Enjoy.
Thanks for the breakdown more pictures would also be helpful!
Thank you. Good read. Did you know you can make an alcohol extraction and then simply remove the alcohol using a rice cooker, for example? This way you get the pure oil which stores potentially forever. It can be eaten, smoked, mixed in your tea. Furthermore it is ultra concentrated and unsuspicious...
Yes - there are a variety of methods - I stay away from alcohol as a preference not because its not effective! Using grain alcohol in a jar is one of the better tincture methods - i think Coconut oil is the best "all around oil" because it can be liquid or solid as well as frozen and you simply replace vegetable oil in a recipe with your weed infused coconut oil.
I agree - there are other oils and concentrates that are "better" - but I think coconut is at least a good gateway into edibles.
Great article mate very informative cheers, I did a post a few days ago about CBD is this different. Thanks mike
I used to grow a strain of 8% CDB / 8% TCH - the method to make coconut oil is definitely the same if you want both effects. If you are looking to make a CBD oil that removes as much THC as possible - put it in the oven at 250F for 50 minutes and follow the rest of the instructions.
Thank you very much for your reply cheers pal
Great article @weeds!
I regularly make all kinds of infusions.
Two important things that I will mention is that if people are using a mason jar to decarb in a pressure cooker or boiling water, is that they should buy a "tempered" glass mason jar, just for this purpose. There is a difference and a tempered glass jar will cost about $8-$12. It's safer and I wouldn't want anyone to lose an ounce of good plant material because the glass broke and contaminated it. I prefer to use a sealable stainless steel container when I do my decarb in a pressure cooker.
You do have to modify the gasket by cutting a small notch in it with an xacto-knife/blade . This doesn't let the stainless steel container seal 100% completely. This will let you release the lid once you take it out of the pressure cooker. If you don't do this step, the lid will be next to impossible to pry off. The benefit of decarbing in a pressure cooker is that it almost completely contains the smell and you get an even decarb after 40 minutes of pressure cooking.
Here's one bud, after being decarbed using this method:
The other critical piece of information that I can add, is that even with the best decarb and extracting methods to make infusions at home, the left-over plant material contains approximately 48% activity...so I never throw any plant material out. I combine it right into another edible and will make cookies or squares with it.
Thanks for sharing this important info. So many people don't know that they must decarb, first, if they want to make a truly active edible. :)
Thanks for the advice. I agree - decarbing properly is the single most important step. I've seen people debate the effectiveness of it - but the science is there. If you do not decarb - but you make oil using a slow cooker - and use that oil to bake with - you will still get some effect (which is why some people dont think its important). Decarbed properly you might reach 15% THC or higher - if you dont decarb it but you cook with it after making the oil - there will be activation during the cooking process - but if you look at the average brownie mix - you are only going to get a total of 30-35 minutes of temperatures over 250F which would make for a weak concoction as well as a bad tasting concoction ( you want to get rid of as much moisture in your material as possible).
I recommend the stove method in my instructions simply because its the most efficient. I've used the Mason Jar in boiling water method - if you use the wrong jar (which I did) they can crack/break. It also takes significantly longer because its a lower temperature. I only recommend the jar methods to people who cant afford to have "any smell".
Magic Butter is a device that makes Cannabis infused oils - they have advice on decarbing that is similar to mine: https://magicalbutter.com/recipe/decarboxylation - its gonna stink and its gonna take a while - but its essential!
Thanks for your method!
I own a small cannabis cooking supply company, which is called Stir the Pot Cooking Supplies. I sell Magical Butter Machines and regularly use that appliance to make my infusions and topical liniments.
For anyone who might read this thread: it is absolutely imperative to decarb your cannabis before you cook with it if you want to activate the most medicine that you can.
A baking recipe "NEVER" gets evenly heated all the way through, for the correct amount of activation time and will not produce a strong edible. You ultimately are wasting your cannabis if you don't take the time to decarb properly.
Also, different cannabiniods take different decarb temperatures. CBD activates at 265-295 degrees F and it takes an hour. THC activates at 230-250 degrees F. When I use my pressure cooker to decarb, the internal pressure inside the pot stabilizes at 250 degrees F. Each model of pressure cooker will list, the average internal temperature that it can achieve when it's up to its operating temperature. This info can be found on the internet, if you research the make and model of your pressure cooker. Just so I'm clear, pressure cooking cannabis to decarb it is a completely different procedure than simply boiling cannabis in a glass mason jar. ;)
A pressure cooker at 250F or a closed mason jar in an oven at 250F are no different. I use a cookie sheet because I start with frozen trim but its the same thing - 250F in the oven. As I stated " decarbing properly is the single most important step". Its weed not rocket science..
Unfortunately, it is not that straight forward and I wish it were that easy.
Oven temperatures differ from oven to oven and type of oven to type of oven. A gas or propane oven doesn't not heat evenly or consistently so temperatures can fluctuate. Electric ovens do better at maintaining temperature, but still have limitations. I have tested many ovens (gas, propane, electric, toaster) with stand-alone temperature probes.
Also, water boils at 212 degrees F at sea level, so if someone were to just boil a mason jar, in boiling water on a stove top in a open pot, they will never achieve the proper decarb temperature. A pressure cooker when sealed an up to temperature, uses the internal pressure created from the boiling water inside to exceed 212 degrees F and boosts the temperature consistently and holds the internal temperature at 250 degrees F. It makes the decarb process more even and at the end of the day activates more medicine from the plant material.
I work with and help really sick people who need to pull as much medicine out of their plant material as they can. This is why I have studied the decarb process, to this level.