Questions On Making Alcohol Tinctures

[jamf]

How many grams of meds does a 1.5oz shot of Everclear dissolve?

 

I made some in the past with with 1g and 1shot.  Put it in a brown glass shooter bottle and let it sit for couple months.  It seemed strong

 

Also, how long does it take a tincture to kick in after ingestion?

Edited June 7, 2014 by trix

[Wild Bill]

One ounce of cannabis per pint is a pretty good ratio. So for 1.5 oz of alcohol you can go with 2 - 3 grams.

 

Potency is dependent on the quality of the material used.

Top quality bud will make a more potent tincture than fan leaves.

 

How long it takes to feel the effects will depend on whether you hold it in your mouth to be absorbed or whether you drink it down. I've found if you mix it it a carbonated beverage it hits a little faster.

 

In my experience the most rapid onset is when taken on an empty stomach right before a meal. A good rule of thumb is anywhere from 20 to 90 minutes.

[trichcycler]

months?? geesh. the alcohol dissolves the active ingredients within a couple hours at room temp, or faster when warmed. months leaves me  with a slurry of nasty green tasting chlorophyll and mush. I've put one ounce in a fifth before with awesome medical results. from bartending days, I think that's pretty close to a gram per shot. are their advantages to leaving the wash sit for a month?  when you pull a bud out and look at it the waxy trichome head is empty/dissolved and the oil is gone in a couple hours, what else is there to extract ?

[trichcycler]

one shot doesn't cover 3 grams of my ground bud????

[pic book]

 I've put one ounce in a fifth before with awesome medical results.

 

 

errr...results anyways.

[trichcycler]

you makin' fun of me ?   : )

 I've put one ounce in a fifth before with awesome medical results.

 

 

errr...results anyways.

[Wild Bill]

one shot doesn't cover 3 grams of my ground bud????

Dry it thoroughly, powder fine and do it in batches if necessary. I've never done such a small quantity so it's difficult to envision it.

[jamf]

yeah, I tried small amount as to not waste   meds if it didn't work.

 

I grind it up to a powder with a mortar and pestle and pour it in alcohol.. 

 

I tried it after letting it sit an hour.  Pretty weak, so I stashed bottle away and found it 2 months later.

 

The weed turned to a much lighter shade of green.  Tincture was much more stronger after waiting 2 months.

 

I would hold the tincture under my tongue for a few minutes and down it with pop.

 

I had good luck with wild Turkey 101 proof.  Sometimes everclear is hard to find.

[jamf]

  How does it look?  Like same amount of alcohol as herb or more alcohol?

Dry it thoroughly, powder fine and do it in batches if necessary. I've never done such a small quantity so it's difficult to envision it.

[Norby]

Wouldn't it be easier to kief it and then dissolve it in alcohol?  You could even press a puck of hash and decarb it in the oven while it's in the press?

[trichcycler]

me neither, but was addressing the ops one shot thoughts.  I just looked at 3 grams and know it wouldn't dissolve. I can stuff an oz into a fifth though, and I don't powder it. alcohol will contact every trichome crushed or not in my experience.

Dry it thoroughly, powder fine and do it in batches if necessary. I've never done such a small quantity so it's difficult to envision it.

[trichcycler]

definitely, and minus the chlorophyll and plant sugars too

Wouldn't it be easier to kief it and then dissolve it in alcohol?  You could even press a puck of hash and decarb it in the oven while it's in the press?

[jamf]

gm, is a fifth 750ml?  Shooter bottles are 50ml

 

also, what is decarbing?

[trichcycler]

I dunno the sizes, sry.

 

Decarboxylation is a chemical reaction that removes a carboxyl group and releases carbon dioxide (CO₂).

as it pertains to cannabis, skunk pharm says it well;

Cannabis produces phyto cannabinoids in a carboxylic acid form that are not orally active at least at the CB-1 receptor sites, because they don’t readily pass the blood brain barrier in their polar form.

To enable them to pass the blood brain barrier, they must first be decarboxylated, to remove the COOH carboxyl group of atoms, which exits in the form of H20 and CO2.

Decarboxylation occurs naturally with time and temperature, as a function of drying, but we can shorten the amount of time required considerably, by adding more heat.  The more heat, the faster it occurs, within reasonable ranges, and in fact occurs spontaneously when the material is burned or vaporized.

There is another mechanism at play however, which suggests that we need to control the decarboxylation temperatures carefully.

When we heat cannabis to convert the THCA and CBDA into THC and CBD, we are also converting THC to CBN at a faster rate.  At about 70% decarboxylation, we actually start converting THC to CBN at a faster rate than we are converting THCA to THC, so as you can see by the following graph, after about 70% decarboxylation, the levels of THC actually start to fall sharply.

That of course means that the CBN also begins to rise and the medication is becoming more sedative.

[jamf]

so decarbed it can be ingested orally without dissolving it in oil or alcohol?

[Norby]

After it's decarbed ust grind it up and put it in a capsule.  00 caps hold about 1/3rd of a gram.  You could also roll it in honey and make a pill.

[Wild Bill]

 

How does it look? Like same amount of alcohol as herb or more alcohol?

Pretty much 50/50. You end up with a slurry.

Edited January 28, 2014 by Wild Bill

[jamf]

ok.  mine was about 10m and 90a.  It had a lot more room