Extraction Soxhlet time!

[Orion]

Nickel and chromium can leach from stainless steel.

 

[Jovinn]

Something like a teapot or even a small regular metal pot with a lid with the condenser fitted to it would be inherently safer vs. britle glass.

If you stick with glass, consider an Erlenmeyer flask (triangular shape with broad bottom, more heater contact surface area) vs. the round-type flask you have that I recall is mostly used with heating mantles and wraps.


Yes, borosilicate glass is considered non-reactive or inert, but it's not really all that "clean' or absolutely pure, such as contains traces of metals (if only boron) and other minerals (as expected, with it made mostly from sand) that can leach out. For example, glass is hardly ever used, generally avoided, in biopharmaceutical manufacturing, with either high-purity non-leaching plastic parts in contact with the product used 1-time and then trashed or fixed/permanent stainless steel equipment used.

The flask I was using had a flat bottom, otherwise I would have used a mantle or bath. An erlenmeyer is the exact WORST shape to heat in, safety wise. In glass, anything flat is a potential weak spot, corners decrease the evenness of the heat. Again, it’s like saying it’s dangerous to ride a motorcycle. Sure, but that’s what they’re made for, and the risk is minimal as long as you’re careful. Mr. Soxhlet wouldn’t have gained immortal fame if his apparatus didn’t work.
As to inertness: glass (borosilicate) is VERY inert. Hydroflouric acid and hot strong base solutions are pretty much the only thing that will degrade/ react with it. Want more? Use fused silica. Nothing but silicon and oxygen, and I can guarantee silicon is not leaching out. Plastic is used for many reasons, superior inertness over glass is NOT one of them. All of which is completely irrelevant in this case. Just hydrocarbons (6-10 C) and cannabis. Hardly an aggressive or reactive solution. Definitely no boron coming through .
Can glass break? Of course. Yet it’s used by chemists throughout the world consistently. Must be some reason....

 

[Bill.de.Cat]

I use one as well....perfect for getting goodness from larf and sugar leaf trimmings.....still on m first quart jar from 2nd grow...2 eye droppers full on a store bought cookie (Keeblr pecan sandies) and get a nice, peaceful 6 /7 ours of sleep.

 

[Bill.de.Cat]

And as far as Shining...done that quite a bit as well.....copper was used for ease of getting, using and repairing. Moonshiner or shiner was the person making it, a bootlegger is the one taking from shiner to the buyer..

 

[Bill.de.Cat]

This is taking forever. When they say exhaustive, they’re not kidding. Foil definitely helps. Stay tuned for final product in a week...

Seems you just stuffed the weed in there.....might I suggest using an unbleached coffee filter. If you have a lot of vegatable matter to run you can make up the packs before hand, finish one, use forceps to pull the spent pack out, push new pack in an make another run strengthening your batch.

 

[olbobcat]

Safer, faster, easier.

https://stillspirits.com/products/turbo-air-still

You are always going to lose some soaking your material.
The recovered alcohol is crystal clear.

 

[Jovinn]

Seems you just stuffed the weed in there.....might I suggest using an unbleached coffee filter. If you have a lot of vegatable matter to run you can make up the packs before hand, finish one, use forceps to pull the spent pack out, push new pack in an make another run strengthening your batch.

Well, I blocked the hole with filter paper, then stuffed weed in there. I had a lot and wanted to maximize packing. I still recharged it probably 15 times. Likely 2 1/2 lbs of trim. Ended up with at least two ounces of delicious goo. It took so long partly because I let it go to completion, but probably >95% was extracted in the first rinses. All together took 4 1/2 days, including final evap and decarb. Definitely beats the hell out of handling liters of butter. Personally, I can’t stand ethanol, too polar, too much chlorophyll. But if you don’t mind the taste, works just fine.

 

[Jovinn]

Safer, faster, easier.

https://stillspirits.com/products/turbo-air-still

You are always going to lose some soaking your material.
The recovered alcohol is crystal clear.

A nice aspect of the Soxhlet is that you can run it without anything in the thimble to recover your clean, freshly distilled solvent at the end. The still looks cool, but a bit superfluous if you’re already refluxing through a separate container.

 

[olbobcat]

A nice aspect of the Soxhlet is that you can run it without anything in the thimble to recover your clean, freshly distilled solvent at the end. The still looks cool, but a bit superfluous if you’re already refluxing through a separate container.

I use the still and then a stirring hotplate at end for final evap and decarb. It is very efficient for time.

 

[Jovinn]

I would guess it works very well for ethanol. I dunno about various hydrocarbons, or any other solvent. I know you can remove chlorophyll, but at my scale it wouldn't pay, imo alcohol is just too polar. I want the minimum chlorophyll, sugar, protein and all that other gunk. Even very high proof ethanol contains enough water (which unfortunately forms an azeotrope that will follow through distillation) that it dissolves a Significant amount of extra gunk. Yuk. I stumbled upon VM&P Naptha years ago in an attempt to wash the chlorophyll out with water in a seperatory funnel. Didn't work at all, which was a bit weird as Ive washed chlorophyll out of butter a lot of times. But the end result was much cleaner than with alcohol. Way less disgusting tasting. Any commercial extraction company that uses ethanol then processes the hell out of it (winterizing to remove fats and wax, chromatography to adsorb chlorophyll, then usually short path or wiped film distillation). Otherwise its unnecessarily gross. If you've already got the apparatus, I'd highly suggest you try hexane, or something like it. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.