The other day I was asked by an acquaintance why the tincture they were making had very little, if any, noticeable medicinal or psychoactive effect. They swore they followed the same process found in a book on making edibles and soaked the cannabis in high proof for weeks but the tincture just didn’t work.
The answer was simple but one that many in the cannabis industry don’t understand. One very important and necessary extra step had been overlooked. Cannabis used to make tinctures as well as other edible cannabis products requires decarboxylation. From asking around I have a feeling a lot of you just blurted out “Say What?â€
So here is the deal. THCA (Tetrahydrocannabinolic Acid) is found in abundance in growing and harvested cannabis and is a biosynthetic precursor of THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol). Wow, this sounds scary like organic chemistry, doesn’t it? It is, so for both of our benefits, I’ll give you the dumbed down version.
Research suggests THCA has anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects but does not produce the psychoactive effect that make you feel “highâ€. This “high†is from the cannabinoid THC, of which little if any is found when cannabis is growing or recently harvested.
Decarboxylation is a chemical reaction that releases carbon dioxide (CO2). This means a chemical reaction takes place in which carboxylic acids loose a carbon atom from a carbon chain. This process converts THCA to THC, the much loved compound with many medicinal and psychoactive effects. When the cannabis drys, it very very slowly begins to decarboxylate and converts THCA to THC.
The good news is we don’t have to wait years for cannabis to decarboxylate. We can speed things along with a process that is a lot simpler than you might expect. Simply heating dried cannabis to the correct temperature for enough time releases that carbon dioxide and creates THC. Why have so many of you never heard of this before? Decarboxylating takes place without extra effort when cannabis is heated during the act of smoking or vaporizing. It also takes place to some degree when cannabis is cooked into butter or when hash and kief are added to a favorite recipe and then cooked in the oven.
When making tinctures, cannabis is not heated or baked, it is simply soaked in high proof alcohol. Decarboxylation never takes place and you end up with a product with a lot of THCA and very little THC. This may be a good for some symptoms but will not produce the results most expect.
Setting Up The Experiment
After explaining decarboxylation it became clear why the tincture was ineffective. Naturally they wanted to know how to decarboxylate cannabis quickly and easily so they could get on with making their tincture. I knew how to do it, but I really needed to nerd out for a bit so I could give them the best possible answer.
It really is as easy as heating the cannabis, but for how long and at what temperature? If the cannabis is heated to much, we run the risk of vaporizing and losing some of the important cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids which have medicinal properties. At the same time we want remove the CO2 as quickly and effectively as possible.
According to a report published by John M. McPartland and Ethan B. Russo “Cannabis and Cannabis Extracts: Greater Than the Sum of Their Parts?â€, the boiling points, and hence vapor point of the major cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids range from 246.2° and 435.2° Fahrenheit. I have included a substantial list taken from this report in the appendix of this article. This indicates that by staying under 246.2° Fahrenheit there should be little if any inadvertent vaporization of plant compounds that might produce medicinal benefits. I do need to qualify the above statement by saying that some terpenes actually evaporate to some degree while the plant is growing and there is not much that can be done about it.
I decided to conduct a bit of an experiment to see if my hypothesis was correct. I had some extra kief and trim that I had been keeping in storage for a rainy day. They would work perfect for the experiment and there would be no great loss if things didn’t go as planned.
Easy Steps to Decarboxylation
Consumer grade ovens are not always exact so I decided to shoot for a decarboxylation temperature of around 240° Fahrenheit. This should produce quick results without losing any medicinal potency. 30 minutes seemed like a nice round number for a first test and should give the kief and trim plenty of time to come up to temperature.
Kief has a tendency to ball up in the bag which could lead to uneven temperatures and possibly uneven decarboxylation. Before I put it in the oven, I loosened up the clumps with a fork. While most of the trim was already fairly broken up from its time in the kief tumbler, there were still some budlets in the trim that I wanted to break apart.
A few minutes in the Cuisinart works great for breaking up trim and also works well on buds if you have a bunch of joints to roll. The static from the plastic separated out some low grade kief which loosely clung to the lid of the Cuisinart. I brushed this back into the trim.
I placed a pizza stone on the middle rack of the oven and set the oven dial to bake at as close to 240° Fahrenheit as possible. Ovens lose a lot of heat when the door is opened and sometimes the temperature spikes with little explanation. The pizza stone absorbs the heat and helps maintain a constant temperature. In order to track my temperature accurately I used a thermometer with a heat resistant cord. I placed the thermometer on the pizza stone and the digital readout on the counter next to the oven where it could be monitored.
Once the temperature reached about 240° and did not appear to be increasing I placed a small Pyrex bowl of kief and another of the trim on the pizza stone. I set my timer for 30 minutes and continued to monitor the temperature. A Pyrex lasagna dish would be perfect for larger quantities. As expected, the temperature fell a few degrees from opening the door and then came back up to temperature. Throughout the half hour the temperature rose and fell several times for no apparent reason but stayed between 229° and 245° Fahrenheit.
After 30 minutes I removed both Pyrex containers with an oven mit and placed them on the counter to cool. Both the kief and the trim had noticeably fluffed up and gave off a slightly roasted scent. I took a few grams of each and packaged them for lab testing.
I returned the Pyrex dishes to the oven and set the timer for another half hour. I was pretty sure that 30 minutes had been enough to mostly decarboxylate the kief and trim, but just in case I wanted a backup test at a full hour. Either way I had to be patient and wait a few days for the test results to come back.
Results of Decarboxylation Experiment
The following charts show the results of the 30 minute and 60 minute decarboxylation experiments. Also included are the lab results from testing done prior to any artificial decarboxylation to establish a starting point. Note that because of the age of both the kief and the trim, decarboxylation had begun to take place to some degree naturally. This may not be your starting point, but should not affect the results of the experiment much.
Kief
| Compound | Before Decarb | 30 Min Decarb | 60 Min Decarb |
| THCA | 24.5% | 2.6% | .1% |
| THC | 3.8% | 25.4% | 25.5% |
| CBDA | .6% | .3% | .3% |
| CBD | 0% | 1% | .1% |
| CBN | .4% | 1% | 1.4% |
| Moisture | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Total Cannabanoids | 29.3% | 30.3% | 27.4% |
Cannabis Trim
| Compound | Before Decarb | 30 Min Decarb | 60 Min Decarb |
| THCA | 6.5% | 2.9% | .2% |
| THC | .6% | 4.8% | 6.9% |
| CBDA | .2% | .2% | .1% |
| CBD | 0% | 0% | .1% |
| CBN | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Moisture | 3.4% | 4.5% | 0% |
| Total Cannabanoids | 7.3% | 7.9% | 7.3% |
Testing provided by SC Labs
As you can see from the two charts, 30 minutes was not quite enough to completely decarboxylate either the kief or the trim. At 30 minutes the kief was about 90% decarboxylated but the trim was only about 60% decarboxylated. This difference is likely because the trim had a higher starting moisture content. After 60 minutes however, both keif and trim samples were close enough to 100% decarboxylation for my satisfaction.
So there you have it. 240° F for 60 minutes should be enough to decarboxylate any cannabis with a reasonably low moisture content. For material with higher moisture content, the time can be extended but the temperature should not be increased. If you are concerned about losing organic compounds, lower heat can be used but the time should be extended to compensate.
Interesting Findings
As with most experiments, the results often lead to new questions. Here are a few unexpected finding that may lead to future experiments.
The kief and trim both appear to have lost some total cannabinoids after the second 30 minutes in the oven. Some of you might suggest this is from vaporization from being at temperature for too long. This could be true, thought they were from the same plant they were not the exact same samples. Additionally lab tests do have a margin of error, so I’m not sure that is a safe assumption. This would need to be tested with more samples to have a solid verdict.
For some reason the moisture content of the trim tested higher after the first 30 minutes in the oven. I have no idea why this would be. It could just be a fluke.
Tbe CBDA did not appear to convert to CBD during the decarboxylation of the THCA. Some further research might shed some light on this.
Appendix – Cannabis Cannabinoids, Terpenes and Flavonoids
As I mentioned above, here is the list of some commonly found cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids that I used to pick my decarboxylation temperature. This is by no means a complete list but it’s the best I could find.
Phytocannabinoids
THC (Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol)
Boiling point: 157° C / 314.6° Fahrenheit
Properties: Euphoriant, Analgesic, Anti Inflammatory, Antioxidant, Antiemetic
CBD (cannabidiol)
Boiling point: 160-180°C / 320-356° Fahrenheit
Properties: Anxiolytic, Analgesic, Antipsychotic, Anti Inflammatory, Antioxidant, Antispasmodic
CBN (Cannabinol)
Boiling point: 185°C / 365° Fahrenheit
Properties: Oxidation, breakdown, product, Sedative, Antibiotic
CBC (cannabichromene)
Boiling point: 220° / 428° Fahrenheit
Properties: Anti Inflammatory, Antibiotic, Antifungal
Δ-8-THC (Δ-8-tetrahydrocannabinol)
Boiling point: 175-178°C / 347-352.4° Fahrenheit
Properties: Resembles Δ-9-THC, Less psychoactive, More stable Antiemetic
THCV (Tetrahydrocannabivarin)
Boiling point: < 220°C / <428° Fahrenheit
Properties: Analgesic, Euphoriant
Terpenoid Essential Oil Components of Cannabis
β-Myrcene
Boiling point: 166-168°C / 330.8-334.4° Fahrenheit
Properties: Analgesic. Anti Inflammatory, Antibiotic, Antimutagenic
β-Caryophyllene
Boiling point: 119°C / 246.2° Fahrenheit
Properties: Anti Inflammatory, Cytoprotective (gastric mucosa), Antimalarial
d-Limonene
Boiling point: 177°C / 350.6° Fahrenheit
Properties: Cannabinoid agonist?, Immune potentiator, Antidepressant, Antimutagenic
Linalool
Boiling point: 198°C / 388.4° Fahrenheit
Properties: Sedative, Antidepressant, Anxiolytic, Immune potentiator
Pulegone
Boiling point: 224°C / 435.2° Fahrenheit
Properties: Memory booster?, AChE inhibitor, Sedative, Antipyretic
1,8-Cineole (Eucalyptol)
Boiling point: 176°C / 348.8° Fahrenheit
Properties: AChE inhibitor, Increases cerebral, blood flow, Stimulant, Antibiotic, Antiviral, Anti Inflammatory, Antinociceptive
α-Pinene
Boiling point: 156°C / 312.8° Fahrenheit
Properties: Anti Inflammatory, Bronchodilator, Stimulant, Antibiotic, Antineoplastic, AChE inhibitor
α-Terpineol
Boiling point: 217-218°C / 422.6-424.4° Fahrenheit
Properties: Sedative, Antibiotic, AChE inhibitor, Antioxidant, Antimalarial
Terpineol-4-ol
Boiling point: 209°C / 408.2° Fahrenheit
Properties: AChE inhibitor. Antibiotic
p-Cymene
Boiling point: 177°C / 350.6° Fahrenheit
Properties: Antibiotic, Anticandidal, AChE inhibitor
Borneol
Boiling point: 210°C / 410° Fahrenheit
Properties: Antibiotic
Δ-3-Carene
Boiling point: 168*C / 334.4° Fahrenheit
Properties: Anti Inflammatory
Flavonoid and Phytosterol Components of Cannabis
Apigenin
Boiling point: 178°C / 352.4° Fahrenheit
Properties: Anxiolytic, Anti Inflammatory, Estrogenic
Quercetin
Boiling point: 250°C / 482° Fahrenheit
Properties: Antioxidant, Antimutagenic, Antiviral, Antineoplastic
Cannflavin A
Boiling point: 182°C / 359.6° Fahrenheit
Properties: COX inhibitor, LO inhibitor
β-Sitosterol
Boiling point: 134°C / 273.2° Fahrenheit
Properties: Anti Inflammatory, 5-α-reductase, inhibitor
Decarboxylating Cannabis: Turning THCA into THC,
I’v been reading about decarb for a long time. I’v made the infamous “Green Dragon” and a simple tincture too. GD packed a punch, tincture didn’t.
For what i found over teh internets, several people decarb @325ºF for 5 min; but they didn’t had any lab test made… so those results cannot be checked.
How old was your trim?
That may work just fine if all you are concerned about capturing is the THC. However, we know that many of the terpenes will vaporize at higher temperatures so lower heat for longer is better than higher heat for less time. The trim I used was about two years old and had been stored in a 30 gallon plastic tub out in the wood shed.
interesting article but this is how i learned to do it from ruffhouse studios. put it in a sealed container (double wrapped tinfoil) and stick it the oven at 220 for an hour.
The Vancouver Island Compassion Society developed the 5 mins at 325 F decarb method many years ago in order to make a THC rich texture. We partnered with a lab and did a number of conversion experiments comparing many different temperature and time ratios, and found that 5 mins at 325 resulted in 90-100% decarboxilation with little to no loss of cannabinoids due to vaporization. Although it may seem counter-intuitive to do this at such a high temperature, it’s now a method successfully adopted by dozens of dispensaries and thousands of patients throughout North America.
While you may not be loosing any cannabinoids, you may still be loosing a significant amount of terpenes which I am pretty sure you never tested for. These terpenes also have medicinal effects that would be lost at the higher temperatures you are suggesting.
The moisture might be higher after 30 minutes because the decarboxylation produces water and co2
That is a really good point and quite possibly the reason. I had assumed that the intense temperatures would have reduced that moisture vapor to a near zero humidity but I may not fully understand the physics behind it all. Thanks for pointing that out.
Please help! So I have been searching for the answer and maybe you can help me. So thca is what we look at when we see bud right? Thc is activated when heat connects with thca, turning it into thc which is then inhaled right? Ok but as for other cannabinoids, how are they activated if the heat required to activate them is different when you are smoking say a bong bowl. You hold the lighter to the bud, which is killing all cannabinoids but also combusting the weed, the combusting weed should be burning and releasing all the cannabinoids in the plant am I correct? So if all cannabinoids are being burnt off the actual plant material and all playing an effect on your high. I think I have this all correct but then my confusion comes in at resin. If all cannabinoids are put to use then resin must just be left over plant material???otherwise the resin would be left over cannabinoids which I thought all were put to use when the bud is burning. Please help!
resin is a combination of soot and other unburnt material that was in the smoke. Cannabinoids THC and other cannabinoids are burnt up, they release gases that you inhale just like any other material that is heated or lit on fire. Some of those gases condense along the sides of the pipe leaving behind what you call resin.
Am I better of decarboxilating before extraction in say glycerine to make tincture or after extraction by gently heating in a double boiler?
I don’t think it really matters one way or the other. I know people who do it both ways. Obviously it would not work/be safe to heat an alcohol based tincture. I suspect you may have more trouble reaching a consistent temperature for a long period of time in a double boiler
Okay. The research has been done. It public as part of GW pharma’s patent application for the cannabis medication “Sativex”. I’ll make the story short and sweet. 2 Hrs. at 200 degrees, F. Please remember, those are magic numbers. it can be done on a cookie sheet with dry cannabis with no loss of potency (G.W> Pharma, BAKES their cannabis). You do not need to take my word for it. Here’s the patent application in toto. (I do not advocate infringing upon a patent, but cannabis ticntures have been made for hundreds of years, and decarboxylation is a process understood for at least 100 years itself. In principal it is not legal to patent a practice in current widespread use.) Here you are: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7344736.html
You will thank me. Just remember. darkcycle told you.
Good find. Thanks for sharing.
It’s much more complex than just 200F for 2 hours if you read what’s in the document. Look for this line:
… the first step is conducted at a temperature in the range of 100° C. to 110° C. for 10–20 minutes ….
BIG THANKS FOR THIS INFORMATION. IT IS GREAT TO KNOW THE PROCESS, AND OBVIOUSLY IT IS NOT THAT DIFFICULT IF YOU FOLLOW VALID PROCEDURE.
I JUST ORDERED MY FIRST VAPORIZER, AND I CANNOT WAIT FOR IT TO ARRIVE. THIS IS A SLOW HEAT PROCESS AS WELL.
Wow! Thanks a lot for the link! (Omg that sounded so sarcastic in my head, trust me when I say im being honest 😛 )
I’m gonna scour through this, then I am gonna ask Rambo to do a couple of experiments for us, as there are a few other factors that play, other than time and temperature, into the decarb’ing process.
Lol, when you abbreviate decarboxylating to decarb’ing it totally sounds like something you’d do on the P90X workout regiment 😛
Oh and btw, cannabinoids+sugar=best steroids in the world.
Not even kidding 😉
P.S. Just made a tincture using the process outlined above. I took a dry extraction of two ounces of kief and cooked it at 210 degrees for 2 hrs ( it was in a big clump in an open mason jar, so I allowed the extra 10 degrees to compensate for the additional time needed to bring the entire mass to temperature). Then combined it with 151 proof rum. Shaken regularly, it was ready to use in 24 hours. And it’s serious medicine.
What would you say the minimum temperature for decarbt would be?
I dont have any way to send results to a lab so I was wondering If I could place a mason jar of the product on a candle melter. They provide a temperature of 138-141 degrees C which is about 280+ degrees F. I know this is above 240 so I know the timing must be shorter and obviously some terepenes will be vaporized. 5 minutes sounds reasonable?
Also,
I am a college student so realistically I can not ‘cook’ cannabis products in a microwave, crock pot, or oven. I doubt my dorm hallway or residence adviser would appreciate that. Just looking for some alternatives that could work.
Furthermore, look into glycerine tinctures. You can place the result under your tongue and you feel it in minutes, compared to alcohol tinctures which tend to burn and take longer to kick in. I am experimenting with this, I will try using 1oz of glycerine for every 1 gram of cannabis. Then, I will let the jar sit for about a week, shaking it twice a day.
There really is not minimum temperature for decarbing. It will happen on its own at room temperature given enough time… By this i mean years. Your candle melter is a bit warmer then I would like. Try to stay under 240 if you can. Do you have a friend who lives off campus who would let you use there oven for a half hour? Glycerine works for tinctures but it tastes like shit in my opinion. I much prefer the burning of high proof. In fact the alcohol based tincture should kick in faster as it readily absorbs to some degree in your mouth.
Sorry, you are wrong. Cannabis “left alone over time” does not convert magically from thca into thc. It degrades into cbn, the compound that is notorious for that couchlock feeling. Great as a sleeping aid, but, it does nothing for pain or cancer.
Sorry, I’m not wrong. The THCA in dried cannabis left alone over time will slowly begin to degrade into THC. Cannabis that is growing that is not harvested when it is time and continues to be left out in the elements will begin to degrade into CBN.
FALSE. why are you posting this false information? you are completely incorrect.
Hello Kim!
Re: your post
What you describe here sounds fascinating! You might have discovered a whole new type of cannabis. Wow, go ahead and name that strain after yourself dear. Then read on.
THCa converts to THC first, then THC degrades into CBN. You seem to have found a new kind of cannabis with THCa that skips right past THC and goes straight from THCa to CBN. CBN does make you sleepy. Older cannabis or cannabis that has been stored over a long period of time will have a high level of CBN.
Geranyl pyrophosphate and olivetolic acid combine in an enzyme catalyzed reaction to form cannabigerolic acid (CBGA). CBGA folds in upon itself to form rings which gives us the final structure using the THCa synthase enzyme to form THCa. CBN starts with the same two compounds eventually forming THCa, then over time or with heat the THCa loses it’s carbolic acid (decarboxylates) to form THC, then over time or with heat this THC degrades into CBN by losing hydrogen atoms and forming double bonds in a particular ring.
But hey, if you found a special plant that skips that whole process then good on ya. Thank SC Laboratories for the info.
Thank you for explaining things in such a concise way. From what I understand, THCA that is converted to THC can then be further converted into CBN through a similar process. How would one go about converting THC into CBN. I have tested cannabis that is quite old and still found CBN levels usually between .1% and .2% but never any higher than .5% I would love to find a way to convert THC artificially and hit numbers closer to 5%. Any suggestions?
Hi Rambo. Take the edge off tincture taste by adding a little bit of Monk Fruit Extract. This tip came from a chef with a double PhD in gastronomy and nutrition. You can find it in Chinese cooking for the last several thousand years, and also at a health food store. Spread the word, and enjoy!
great suggestion.
I’ve followed your method for the slow bake. I make a tincture using Stroh Rom 80 since getting Everclear in Europe is a near impossibility.
I’m not a fan of the alcohol in a double boiler method because of the difficulty in maintaining a temp in the alcohol plus the risk of fire. I’ve been taking my bake, putting it into a 50 ml bottle, Stroh Rom in and lid on tight. Leave a little headroom in any container. Then into the oven at 70C for 60 minutes and voila. Tincture ready to go in a couple hours time…
I am confused. I have seen test results for hundreds of samples of dried cannabis and I have only seen THCA results like that (as well as that low of THC) on green wet, or improperly dried cannabis.
Almost all the dried medicinal quality weed I have seen tested has THC levels in the 10-25% range and I have never seen a significant THCA level listed at a dispensary?
Can someone explain this?
Test result like what? The dried cannabis used was trim not bud and it had already been run through a kief tumbler so most of the trichomes had already been removed. Most clubs do not display THCA levels only the combined levels of THC and THCA. This is for several reason. Most people have no clue what THCA is and only care about the THC level. THCA turns into THC when you light it on fire or vaporize it so it isn’t relevant for cannabis that is intended to be smoked. Many labs are using a cheaper older method of testing cannabis that requires it be essentially vaporized which of course then can’t measure THCA only THC. Additionally, cannabis being wet or dried improperly will only read low on cannabinoids because of larger percentage of the sample weight is water, not because the bud actually contains less cannabinoids. Hope this helps.
I admire not only your scientific training; but, more importantly, your application and descriptions. So much variation with 325 for 5, that I look forward to 240 for 60.
Quick question: The covering your dish directions, below, appear to “contain & collect” more of what we all want. Your thoughts?
http://www.thctalk.com/cannabis-forum/archive/index.php/t-60297.html?s=f280184abab46a895b33e27073d2a97f
I didn’t read the whole article but I assume you are talking about the part in which they suggest covering the material with tin foil to keep any vaporized canabinoids from dissipating? I’m going to go with worthless extra step but if that makes you more comfortable, go for it.
Thanks, going with 240 for 60 from now on. I don’t need any more ‘worthless steps’ and only question the scientific validity of covering to decarb.
I am probably the only one curious enough to ask you for the specific scientific evidence of ‘not covering during the process.’ Your thoughts?
Well, they suggest the point of covering it is to “trap” any vaporized cannabinoids from leaving the product, but we know the vaporization temperatures for these compounds. If you are keeping your temp below 240 then its a non issue.
Something I read elsewhere, in regards to covering while decarbing, is that is may happen more readily with less oxygen preset, or in a vacuum.
Say, a sealed mason jar in the oven (won’t explode i’ve done it. though i maybe cautious if it was some wet heavy trim or something from which a LOT of water may evaporate
Not a wasted step when you consider Rick Simpsons recent discovery, that vaporizing and collecting, like a covered jar and to a lesser extent, a foil covered container, significantly increases thc percentage. I have yet to study his findings and if anyone finds them please share. tokes2ya:)-Chummy
I ended up putting 2 ground-up grams into an oz of glycerine in a mason jar. The jar has been on the candle warmer for about a week, I was concerned about the high heat so i placed a folded up napkin under the jar. I’m going to give it another day so it will have been cooking a full week. I will post the result at some point. Taking your advise into consideration, I want to make an alcohol only tincture then one with mostly glycerine and some alcohol. All in the interest of science 😉
This has been the single-most power-packed blast of helpful info I’ve found in a while. I’ve been posting on forums & asking questions, but there’s been few responses that are even a fraction as thorough as this article (and the answers to the comments following the article). Sincerely, I am at a loss for words, because this answered so much. There are still questions, undoubtedly, but I may be able to figure out the answers now that I’ve got all this great info.
Rambo, you are The Man.
Thanks. You are to kind.
…too kind not to kind
Thank’s Rambo this is the best link I have come across in all my searching , keep up the good work ..I am treating myself with Oil that is high in CBD’s with no THC ! Oh yea I have COPD ,I don’t know what I am doing I thought that if I take the oil orally that the oil would work into my lungs I’m also vaporizing the oil and some good bud , If you have any suggestions I would appreciate any and all . I have been using this oil for about 1 month and I don’t feel I am getting much good out of it . Thank’s
Right on Brother!
Great post.
It is kind of interesting to see the look on someone’s face when you tell them:
“No, there is no psycho-active compound in Cannabis”
PS Do you mind if I post this material on my website? I would link back to your site. Thanks.
Feel free to post with credit noted. We appreciate the link.
Brudda Rambo! Many thanks for sharing!
I’m glad you enjoyed the article. I have many more like this floating around in my head. If only I had more time…
I’m curious about making oil infusions. One method I seem to have had success with is with a crock pot – e.g., 1/2 oz. bud, 1 1/4 oil (grape seed), and 4 cups of water. I leave it cook for 8-10 hours. Finally, I chill the mixture and separate the water and oil. Is this an effective method for decarboxylating cannabis and would you suggest any preparation beforehand or any other tweaks?
I don’t know if you are getting full decarboxylation and only testing would tell us. The alternative would be to decarb the bud before you mix it with the oil and water. Question, what is the purpose of the water since oil and water don’t mix anyway?
I’ve made a lot of cannabutter. The water is probably the best medium for releasing the trichomes from the vegetative matter. I simmer at just below a boil for about two hours. Depending on the elevation at which you do this, the 200+ degrees should decarboxylate the THCA.
I do know that my results are killer. Not too much science here but my butter doesn’t lie.
I’ve made the observation that the oil will normally gather in more or less one “pool” of oil in the water, where also most of the plant matter will be attracted to.
I’m also guessng boiling the trichomes would make them liquid, thusly binding to the oil when it comes in contact with it.
It”s also more convenient to collect the processed oil from the water bath, than to have to stand and pour and use a plastic scraper to make sure youre not loosing valuable drops of medicine. Remember, not everyone have their own garden – some of us have to go meet shady people in shady alleys to get our medicine. Waste not, want not and so forth 😀
brian- crock pot with water probably will not work. boiled it with butter in water before and it was ineffective.
Ya did it wrong! The butter, water, cannabis recipe works for millions of people worldwide. It must be your method. Prob too high a temp. Most electric stoves vary by as much as 40 deg F. Never never trust the setting on your stove. Always use an electronic thermometer which sells for less than ten bucks here in Nova Scotia. Liquid thermometers are too slow to respond in real time.
tokes:)-Chummy
Thanks for the great info here! I am wondering if you can decarb by vacuum sealing the herbs and poaching them in a sous vide machine at 210 degrees for 2 hours. A sous vide machine is a low temperature water bath that keeps the temperature within 1 degree accuracy for as long as needed. For example, you can cook a steak medium rare at 131 degrees for 2 days and it’s incredibly tender. This would cause no smell and you could leave at 210 degrees for as long as needed, I assume 2 hours or more. My biggest concern with this method and question for you, is does the herb need air to decarb or can it be done under the conditions of being vacuum sealed. Thank you!
This is a great idea and it may be the perfect solution to maximizing temperature control while not loosing any of the terpines. I honestly don’t know if it needs air to decarb but there is an easy way to find out. Give it a try and see how it works. Report back and let me know what you find.
Did anyone try the sous vide method? If so please post your results. Thanks
I’ve been trying to find all the info I can before I attempt to make a high potency alcohol tincture out of kief. Does anyone have any thoughts on the max saturation level between the alcohol and the thc/kief?
P.S. what do you guys think is the max amount of kief would be wise to use on a pint or a 5th for maximum potency without waste
well it depends on how much of the tincture you want to be a dose. I would say a gram should provide 5 to 10 doses so do the math from there.
I don’t really know but I have been curious about this myself. This is more of an issue for the extraction part. Once it is made you can evaporate off any unwanted alcohol to strengthen the tincture.
I’ve seen a lot of people saying this around the web. So the THC and cannabinoids don’t evaporate with the alcohol?
no, they do not.
If the THC and cannabinoids don’t evaporate at all, why not let all the alcohol evaporate?
And also why would not adding a little water after the alcohol is almost completely evaporated cut down the taste while leaving the same potency?
but you can soak up a non-decarboxylated tincture in a cotton ball, dry it, and put it in a vaporizer. trust me, it works.
great article and helped a lot. used the 240-60min anhd am pleased with the results
Question? i have about 180 grams of kief left along with trim and small buds and would like to hear your method of turning into hash. tried several systems and not to pleased with my results over the years
anyone who did the research you did on kief must have a damn good method. another article perhaps?? or just an email with an outline is fine. thanks ledonz
Making hash pretty much boils down to extracting the oil from the thichomes. This requires a solvent of some kind. Butane is probably the most common, but CO2 works great if you have the correct equipment and tons of others can be used as well. Propane, Hexane, High Proof etc. bubble hash is pretty much the same thing as kief since the cannabinoids are not actually extracted from the trichomes, just the trichomes from the vegetation.
Rambo,
Well Done!
I’ve been doing a lot of internet reading on decarboxylation lately. Your method is the 1st one I’ve seen with the support of lab testing. I’ve only tried two methods so far. 220f/30min and the 250f/30min both seemed to work but I had no way of knowing how well due to difference in material and application (edible/topical). Thanks to you at least I know I’m on the right track. I would like to find a lab in Colorado that does decarboxylation testing so I could hone my decarbs.
Big Thanks for publishing your experiment!
Any lab that uses High Performance Liquid Chromatography can tell you the degree of the decarboxylation because the results will show levels of THCA and THC. When the THCA is 0% or close to it, you know your decarb is complete.
Thank you so much for this. Tremendous help for my cause.
Just read through this thread and am suprised that “Rambo” doesn’t understand why to do the water/oil method. I’ll help ya out with that.
Just like you said that water and oil don’t mix, the purpose is that you can set the three ingredients cannibus, fat and water together and boil away. The heat of the infusion will never get higher than 212 degrees thus giving you heat for a better extraction and staying well below the point of killing any thc. Also the water draws out other chemicals, (sorry, no scientific data just info from research) that have no effect on the positive side of results. Just chlorophyl and stuff like that.
Also decarbed as wee speak. My last batch had approximately .125g of bud per cookie. Relatively a low number. But, I believe because of the decarbing it increased the thc as you said above. I decarb at 275 for 15 minutes a typical 1/8th of headies in an altoid tin. Then just crumble into butter and make a batch of cookies. If anyone wants a recipe hmu. Peace.
Don’t be surprised if I don’t understand something. There is a whole lot I don’t understand. I am here to learn from all of you as well. Thanks for the comment.
Great, great article. Thank you for posting this.
Just a thought but could the extra moisture after 30 minutes be because of the effect of the decarbing?
What I mean to say is that when turning THCA into THC the by products of this are CO2 and H2O.
So it’s the decarbing that creates the moisture (or water, H2O).
Again, I’m no expert but it did cross my mind.
That was kind of what I was suspecting but I figured at those temperatures the H20 would evaporate.
Superheated water?
LOL.
I just have to say it again, this is the best article on decarboxylation there is anywhere.
Great job man, you are far from an average joe.
Thank you.
Do you have any pictures or a discription of what it looks like when its done?
The look really does not change very much but a green cannabis will often turn kind of brown and crumbly
Decarbed and made 1 and 1/2 tbsp coconut oil to try out. Slow cooked a steak in it and it worked amazingly.
I am a long time smoker presently exploring various options for non-smoking consumption – need high pain relief capabilities with minimum offensive “side-effects” for someone who can’t/won’t smoke and isn’t keen on edibles or topical (salve) applications. For ease of use, tincture seemed the most practical, and ethanol based was the plan, but I am conflicted about choices for plant matter and methods. Would high quality hash in an ethanol base be effective? I am concerned about the decarb step – hoping that using hash would eliminate this step? My logic being the following: hash should have a very high THC content (because of its nature would have to already have been decarbed, otherwise it would be much to dense and sticky to decarb with the same method as trim or keif), allowing me to use substantially less initial product, ethanol as a solvent should do the trick for breaking down any of the plant waxes left, making this a little speedier. Combine the ethanol and hash and we’re good to go or will I just end up with muddy lookin’ Everclear and no pain relief? Do you have any experience or pointers regarding this thought?
I am pretty sure that Ethanol is poisonous so I would us high proof. Most Hash is not decaroxilated so you would need to do that first if you plan to use hash. There is no reason however that you need to use hash. You can make a fine product with trim that other might consider garbage and throw away.
Indeed, no need to waste good hash.
Follow the directions at the link below, noting that there are a few corrections along the way (specifically on decarb time/temps, the best and most forgiving range was 250 deg for 30 min), and you will have excellent strong medicine that does wonders for pain while maintaining a clear head and giving a pleasant feeling of floating on a cloud of post-coital endorphines.
Ethanol is everyday drinking alcohol. Methanol is what kills and makes people blind.
most labs get denatured ethanol which contains a small amount of methanol so people dont try and drink it
i decarbed using a food dryer set at 95 degree for 8 hours. i use this for alcohol tincture (everclear/glycern)It seems that the jury is out on how long the extractiom process should take.Through tril 7 error i find that 30 days is too long and leaves a more bitter taste to the finished product. i have it down to 5 days with shaking every dayone strained and in your bottle age it for a week or more in a dark place at around 60 degrees
After decarboxylation will the plant still have the same medicinal effects for pain relief, glaucoma, inflammation, etc? Also if further heating is required in order to make a tincture, or for cooking, should the decarboxylation period be reduced accordingly, or will it not make a major difference?
Well if you are planning to ingest the plant material the only way you will get any pain relief is from decarbing it before eating it. You can’t decarb something too much as long as you keep the temperatures low. At some point it is done and can’t be done any further though. It would be wise to do it before cooking with it to make sure it is done fully.
I’m a bit confused about this. Is dried bud already decarboxylated to some degree? I have made tincture without decarboxylating several times, and it always worked for me. The effects were similar to that of other edibles and there was definitely a strong high.
This is my normal method: I use 1 gram of well-ground, dry bud (plus a few scoops of kief if I have some) in one oz of Everclear and let it sit for as long as I can wait. (I know many people say a few days is sufficient, but I usually wait a few weeks just in case). I don’t heat it up at any point so if what you’re saying is true about decarbing being necessary for psychoactive effects, my bud must have already been somewhat decarbed, right?
Either that or your are experiencing the placebo effect
I was ding what Steve did, sort of. I’ve been using a candle warmer and glycerin. It never occurred to me that I should decarb BEFORE i mix the glycerin with cannabis. I was just mixing it all together and letting it cook. I put a cooking thermometer on my candle warmer with a ceramic cup over it, and it stays at 180 F. How long should I let the cannabis decarb for at 180 F?
I would imagine a few hours would do the trick, but I’m not an expert on this. That is why I created the experiment and wrote the article. Looking for answers just like the rest of you.
Dercarboxylation times/temps/effectiveness chart:
http://medicalmarijuana.com/files/expertarticle/uploads/decarboxylationchart_thumb.jpg
The definitive Green (and Gold) Dragon (cannatincture) thread @ cannabis.com, with lots of good info on decarbing:
http://boards.cannabis.com/concentrates/82380-definitive-green-dragon-revised-updated-combined.html
Raw cannabis has fantastic healing properties, including pain reduction. A benefit to ingesting raw cannabis is that mass quantities of the other healing and therapeutic cannabinoids can be consumed without any couch-lock caused by decarboxylated THC(A). When the liver is allowed to decarboxylate the cannabinoids, there are different reactions to the medicine. Cures including cancer, like RSO only different.
Look up the video, Leaf, on youtube. Also Cannabis International. It’s a dot org. There is a wealth of information, and Dr. Courtney’s videos explain volumes. He is a frequent speaker at Hempfest, etc., with a cannabis based medical practice located in the Emerald Triangle city of Jasper, California. (He is also the state representative for the entire Northern Cali coast.)
you can do an alcohol wash of fresh dried ground material with low temperature evaporation and still keep the ‘acid’ form of thc & cbd. Juicing of fresh cannabis is a good method but yields little. I’m hoping an alcohol extraction of fresh material will yield more than the juicing method and extract more medicine than juicing but this is to be determined. I believe if you use the juicing method you can evaporate the juice to a powder like powdered wheat grass juice and put in capsules to ingest.
THC-Acid is very medicinal too but is not considered anywhere near as effective as decarboxylated THC for fighting cancer. The biggest advantage to raw THC-Acid is the larger quantities you can consume but it doesn’t have the same cancer killing effects of THC. So if you are trying to treat cancer cooking is essential. Both are good for your overall treatment but properly made RSO is supposed to be decarboxylated, there is no evidence that raw oil is better, or even as good at fighting cancer as cooked so while I wouldn’t discourage its use I would discourage using it instead of cooked.
BlueRoux, the picture you posted from medicanmarijuana says the results were from the heating of the extract, so they mixed it with alcohol (or whichever solvent) before decarb. I would assume, which the graph shows, that higher temperatures have a higher thc result because it was mixed first. Same reason why salt water has a higher boiling temperature, sort of.
Please correct me if I am wrong, but I still believe the data of 240 degrees from Rambo is more valid.
Wow! Ask and yee shall receive. I am planning to bake edibles for patients for our local 420 event. I googled “what temperature should cannabis be cooked at?” And found this link. Jackpot! Rambo thank you for your research and ability to explain it all in terms an extremely non scientific mind could understand. I feel very confident that my treats will be at their peak medicinal performance. Happy 420 to you.
Correction on the wording of my question
” what temperature releases the oils in cannabis?”
your link was the first on the page. I am one happy girl.
While you have provided a very interesting and detailed article, much of your information is superfluous, as marijuana was originally made legal for medicinal purposes rather than recreational.
Cannabis should NEVER be decarboxylated when used for medicinal purposes (especially when physical ailments are involved), because THC decarboxylated from its acid component has lost much of its medicinal value.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa0nLdVJiIg
http://www.cannabisinternational.org
The above video and link (which DragonTat2 originally references) to the international organization has at least five offices worldwide, includes highly-accurate research and testimonials by doctors, scientists, patients, caretakers, legal professionals such as state representatives, senators, law enforcement officers, and attorneys explaining all of this in great detail.
actually it has been proven that THC is medicinal. yes the medical benefits of thc-acid are coming forward now but please don’t discount THC as medicine (marinol/dronabinol) and more THC is easily obtained than THC-acid since you can only get the acid form from fersh leaf (no bud) material (which yeild little juice)
HELLP NEEDED! I tried making a tincture for the first time and have my ground herb sitting in a jar with high proof alcohol for almost week now- I skipped the decarb step at the beginning, and am wondering if I can decarb now, or If its too late
I’m really hoping that I didn’t waste a bunch of good herb. Any thoughts?
Simply evaporate off the alcohol until you have a tar like hash left over, decarb what is left, then add fresh alcohol back in.
… Or, heat the alcohol and cannabis mixture in a double boiler and bring it up to boiling. A lot of the alcohol will evaporate off so you may need to add more after to bring the potency back in line with what you want.
Rice cooker works well for evaporating alcohol. Please STAY AWAY FROM ANY FLAMES. Alcohol evaporating is HIGHLY FLAMMABLE. Do not attempt inside. Some use fans to blow vapor away from heating source. Peace.
can you heat the tincture w a cover so the alcohol won’t evaporate so much or will the pressure build too high.
Decarboxylation is removing the carboxylate group COOH not CO2. Learn to properly cure your buds (cure your trim for better hash results too). The old timers figured this stuff out before scientists ever thought to figure out why it works!
Curing properly will get you part way there, but it does not turn THCA into THC. If you are smoking or vaporizing it doesn’t matter, but if you are making tinctures or edibles that don’t require cooking, a good cure will not replace decarbing.
Hi I’m kinda new to decarboxylating and I wanted to know of an alternative to using an oven
so if I am planning to make candy, where I wud add tincture to 300 degree candy wud I need to decarb?
Yes the COOH (carboxylic acid) group is what breaks off of the THCA compound but COOH is a proton (H+) donor, so the byproduct is H2O and CO2
Sorry, I misspoke; -COOH is a carboxyl group.
I just dry my weed very throughly, dose by dose, in a small airtight container which is also three-quarters filled with freshly dried silica-gel. I keep the silical-gel separate from the weed with a layer of filter-paper and a plastic grid. I just screw the lid on to the little pottle tightly, and leave it somewhere nice and warm for a few days. Practical bio-assay methods confirm that decarboxilation has successfully taken place.
So I see how this may be a viable method for drying very small quantities of cannabis, but please explain what you mean by “Practical bio-assay methods confirm that decarboxilation” This really does not mean anything to me. Drying cannabis and decarboxilation are not the same thing.
Hi Rambo!
Very useful info, thank you.
Do you think the same values would apply for hashish?
The same values should apply
The higher water content after 30 minutes could be related to several factors. Another is condensation. A high h2o content sample (compared to the environment-the stove interior) is placed into a lower concentration h2o environment with significant temperature variances. So, h2o in the environment is seeking a lower energy state, settles on the plant matter until temp in the plant matter reverses and evaporation occurs due to the increase heat level.
On the effect coming from decarbox, isn’t the carbon and h2o already in the plant matter? We’re just adding heat as a catalyst for the rxn correct?
I think we are getting a bit above my pay grade with this. Interesting speculations though.
Terrifically informative and well presented. Thank you!
Ok, so do you think I would get the same (or close) decarb results if I simmer it in H2O and butter @200 for 2 hrs; or in oil @ 240 for 1 hr.?? Would any THC evaporate out of the H20, should I cover it???
yes, you can decarb in butter. this is what happens on its own when people make canna butter or make edibles with cannabis.
Nice guide you have written. very informative with confimed results which makes it that much more credible.
Just in regards to tempature vs time for decarboxylation, a few observations ive made and resulting inferences (bare in mind im no expert).
So from what ive read you state that THCA degrades to THC just in ambient heat and that rasing the temprature speeds up the release of carbon dioxide from THCA conciderably.
You also state that decarboxylation is not lt nessesary if self administration is via burning/vaporisation as at these tempatures THCA is converted mostly to THC in the say 5 seconds it burns.
This seems like a chemical rather than organic reaction. that THCA is ‘unstable’ if you will losing carbon molocules and that this process speeds up as the tempature is increased.
Intresting to me is how quickly THCA converts to THC when smoked which would seem to susgest there is a ‘critical’ tempature at which point THCA can no longer hold onto its carbon dioxide molocule resulting in its conversion.
Is this right? What is this critical change tempature?
Concidering these observations while pondering the disagreements on times and tempatures leads me to this possible conclusion. Is this possibly happening due to the people setting the oven higher for a shorter time bringing the THCA to the ‘critical tempature’ faster than the people who use a lower tempature? Keeping in mind that when you first place it in the oven its at room tempature and its tempature rises from there. Obviously its tempature would rise faster in the hotter enviroment. It would be intresting to measure the exact tempature of the material as it heats.
I dont have the means or will but another intresting expriment to settle that debate and enlighten us all would be to finely chop/grind some marijuana up so its a uniform potency, then divide this into 3 equal weights. Bake each seperatly one at your tempature, one at a much lower tempature and one at a much higher tempature. Over the course of each bake take a sample at 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes and 60 minutes.
From here you could graph the data, i would expect to see the raise in THC levels ranked by tempature highest to lowest. At some point the hotest would start to drop as THC vaporised and the next tempature overtake it in THC content.
This makes me believe its plausable to use a higher tempature for a shorter time to achieve a similar result. Sure it would lose some THC but i think if you found the right tempature for density/volume on marijuana this loss would be minimal.
Also am i really ripped or did your keif THC + THCA content drop slightly over the expriment?