Cannabis or hash oil is an oleoresin acquired through the extraction of a cannabis plant. It’s typically used to treat epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, and even cancer. It’s also been found to treat other medical conditions successfully.
Source: cureyourowncancer.org
Making cannabis oil isn’t difficult, but you have to be careful about the vapor, which could ignite without proper ventilation. However, once there’s an adequate flow of air, making cannabis oil becomes a safe, simple, and a rewarding method to acquire high-quality medicine.
To make superb cannabis oil, you need to prepare the following:
- 1 medium glass mixing bowl
- 1 oz. of high-quality medical cannabis or 2-3 oz. of trim. You can also include small stems and fan leaves.
- 2-quart measuring cup or container (for the third step)
- Cheesecloth or clean nylon stocking
- Cooking thermometer
- Everclear Alcohol
- Fans or ventilation (if you’re doing this indoors)
- Large wooden spoon
- Parchment paper
- Rice cooker or double boiler
- Safety goggles
- Safety mask
- Silicone spatula
- Sterile oral syringes
- Strainer
Step #1: Prepare your working area
Extracting cannabis oil might be a bit tricky because you’re aiming to make nutrient-dense and safe oil. You’ll be dealing with high heat as well, so you have to make sure the area is clean and clear.
- Using alcohol or water, clean the countertop and get rid of anything that could get in the way. Not that you should expect fire, but you should prepare a fire extinguisher near you as well.
- Make sure all the windows are open. Use a fan to ensure that the workspace is adequately ventilated. This is crucial especially when you make your extraction. For your information, one danger of heating cannabis oil is an explosion. This is why making cannabis oil is best to be done outdoors too, since there would be less buildup of inflammable gasses.
- Prepare a lot of hot pads and a few non-latex gloves too. They might come in handy. They’ll help safeguard you from burns caused by splashback. It’s also ideal to wear a respiratory safety mask while working with cannabis oil. I urge you to wear safety glasses or goggles to help protect your eyes from the steam too.
Step #2: Extract with a solvent
Do you know why it’s best to use a high-proof alcohol as a solvent for extracting your cannabis oil? Because it will eventually burn off 100% during the cooking process, leaving you with nada but pure, highly concentrated cannabis oil in the end. This is how you extract with the alcohol:
- Here’s how you perform solvent extraction: 1) put cannabis into your glass bowl; 2) add the alcohol—just enough to blanket the herb; and 3) using the large wooden spoon, stir the cannabis and the alcohol for a few minutes. Stirring will allow the cannabinoids to mix with the alcohol.
If you don’t have cannabis plants yet, you should totally start cultivating them! You can grow cannabis indoors or outdoors and with or without soil!
Step# 3: Strain and soak the cannabis again
- The next step would be straining the herb from the alcohol. Once the cannabis is strained out, you’ll have to repeat the process of solvent extraction. Doing this will enable you to get the most out of your plant material.
- Now, prepare your measuring cup or other container by covering it with a clean nylon stocking or cheesecloth. Ensure that you can quickly grab and bundle up the clothing because you’ll be pouring the cannabis over the top of the cup to strain the plant materials from the alcohol.
- Pour the cannabis mixture over the clothing and into the cup.
- Collect the nylon or cheesecloth and squeeze it to get rid of the remaining liquid. The dark green liquid you now see is a mix of extracted cannabis resin and alcohol.
- It’s now time for the second soak. Take note that the first immersion removes most of the cannabinoids, and a second one is necessary to get the rest.
- Get your strained cannabis and put it into your glass bowl again.
- Pour alcohol over the top until it’s completely submerged.
- Stir using the wooden spoon for a few minutes.
- Perform the straining process again and empty the second batch of alcohol into a runoff vessel.
Step #4: Burn off the solvent
Hang in there! You’re almost done! You’ve made a basic alcohol extraction already, so that means you’re near the finish line! It’s now high time (pun intended) to separate the resin from the solvent. This can be done with heat. Before proceeding, ensure that the area is well ventilated and that the air is circulating properly to avoid accidents. If you’re indoors, it’s best to keep your fan on a medium setting and position it in a way that it directs gasses towards an open door or window.
For this step, you can use a rice cooker or a double boiler.
The Rice Cooker Method
Using a rice cooker is safer because you can take it outdoors in case of mishaps. But before using it for cannabis extraction, make sure you know how hot it can get. You could test it by adding water before cooking your oil and bringing it to a boil in the cooker, then use your thermometer to check the temperature of water. Let the thermometer reach the bottom surface of the cooker, so you’ll know exactly how hot it can get.
- Fill your rice cooker three-fourths full with canna-alcohol.
- Turn the cooker on and leave the lid open. You can also drape some cheesecloth over the cooker to prevent dust from getting mixed with the oil. Ensure that the cloth isn’t touching the oil.
- Select the white rice setting and heat the liquid on high. Let the solvent boil down.
- Check the oil throughout the entire process.
- Once the oil turns thick and dark green, remove the pot of the rice cooker from the machine using your potholders.
- Stir the liquid. Mind the bubbles. Once the number of bubbles rising to the top dramatically reduces, that means you’re all set to remove the oil.
- Use a silicone spatula to remove the oil from the pot.
- Use a toothpick to gently scoop out the oil and transfer it onto parchment paper.
The Double Boiler Technique
- Use water to fill the bottom of your double boiler.
- Transfer the canna-alcohol into the top pan.
- Turn the burner on and set it on high.
- Wait for the top pot to boil.
- Once the liquid starts to bubble, you must turn the burner off immediately. Let the boiling water do the rest of the job.
- Allow the blend in the top pan to bubble for around 15-20 minutes. If the bubbles have stopped, you can turn the burner back on.
- When the oil has become nice and thick, you can take it out from the pan and scrape it onto parchment paper when it cools.
Step 5: Fill the sterile syringes
Hooray! This is the last step! Once the cannabis extract has cooled, you can suck up your cannabis medicine into your syringe for proper dosing or use a syringe to fill up new pill capsules to make your own cannabis pills.
And that’s it! Congratulations, you just made superb cannabis oil!
If you want to know more about medical marijuana, we would highly recommend that you check out Kind Green Buds. They have an extensive collection of marijuana related information including cannabis genetics, strain descriptions, cultivation and growing help, medical marijuana research.
