Decarboxylating Cannabis: Turning THCA into THC

RAMBO AUGUST 14, 2012 222

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?”

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 “high”. 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?”, 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

Rick Simpson and Rick Simpson Oil

Take a look at this life-changing documentary on Rick Simpson and Rick Simpson Oil.

Making Medicinal Marijuana Tinctures

To make Tincture
Cold Method (recommended)

Here is the recipe for highest quality tincture. This method does not use heat so keeps the integrity of the cannabinoids intact.  FromWAMM

▪   Fill jar ¾ full of herb

▪   Fill rest of jar with alcohol; leave some room at top, stir.

▪   Shake jar [vigorously] one or two times a day  for 2 weeks [or leave it until there is no green color left in the plant matter]

▪   Strain through metal tea strainer or silkscreen.

You can use whatever kind of clean glass, not plastic, jar you have with a tight lid. One-quart mason jars are ideal. Grind the herb thoroughly in a blender. It should be well ground but doesn’t have to be a powder. You can use leaf, bud, shake, joint leftover, or stems. Too many stems will wreck your blender and a weaker tincture. Leaf work fine but for higher potency use shake or bud. Fill the jar ¾ full of herb; it does not have to be exact. You can use anywhere from ½ to 2/3 part herb but ¾ will make a full strength tincture. Use the highest proof alcohol you can, Everclear, which is 180 proof, but hard to find. So just use the highest proof Vodka you can find. Pour alcohol over the herb, filling the rest of the jar. Leave just enough space (an inch or so) at the top so that you will be able to shake the jar. Stir the mixture; the herb will absorb some of the alcohol so you may need to add more. Put the lid on tightly; label the contents and the date you started. It takes two weeks for the alcohol to extract all the active elements from the herb. Shake the jar once or twice a day for 2 weeks. The alcohol will rise to the top and a deep green/red color will develop. After 2 weeks of aging you can strain the tincture through a metal tea strainer or a silk screen into a small tincture bottle with a dropper. You can leave the rest in the jar if you want, it will age and mellow in flavor and you can strain off as much as you want at a time. Alcohol is a strong preservative it will hold for a long time, be careful when handling the tincture, it satins and will turn everything it comes in contact with green. Use Ultra Palmolive anti-bacterial dish soap, the orange kind, to clean the glass, metal or other ceramic utensils, (do not use plastic) sinks and counter tops works best at dissolving THC residue.

Dosage varies per individual but start with half a dropper dissolved in hot tea or water. Hot tea will dissipate some of the alcohol and activate the THC a bit. It can be taken straight but may burn the tongue and has a very strong herbal taste. [If you cut it with equal parts water, you can hold the dosage under the tongue without burning. Takes effect in seconds.]

Upcoming Important Public Hearings on Bills to change Maine's Medical Marijuana Laws

This is reprinted from the Medical Marijuana Caregivers of Maine website

There will be Public Hearings this week on three bills that would change Maine's medical marijuana laws. When: Tuesday, February 11th, starting 1:00pm Where: Health and Human Services Committee, Room 209, Cross Building, Capitol Complex, Augusta What: Patients, Caregivers, and all who care about Maine's medical marijuana law are encouraged to attend and testify at the Public Hearings on proposed changes to Maine's medical marijuana law this Tuesday, February 11th, in Augusta. If you can't attend the Hearings, you can email written testimony to the Committee Clerk: beth.walker@legislature.maine.gov You can listen to the hearings live online at: http://www.maine.gov/legis/audio/health_cmte.html Phone calls, emails, and letters to your Representative and Senator can have a major impact on the outcome of these bills. You can find your Representative and Senator's contact information at: http://www.maine.gov/legis/house/townlist.htm ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Summary of Bills: LD 1739 An Act To Amend the Maine Medical Use of Marijuana Act  Sponsored By: Representative MARK DION of Portland Cosponsored By: Representative GATTINE of Westbrook; Senator HAMPER of Oxford; Representative HICKMAN of Winthrop Note: This bill is being put in at the request of the Department of Health & Human Services, but some of the bill's Sponsors appear open to making changes. Key changes proposed by the DHHS Bill: 1. Adds certified nurse practitioners to the list of medical professionals allowed to issue a written certification for the qualifying patient's medical use of marijuana. 2. Prohibits the use, possession or sale of kief, defined as: “the tetrahydrocannabinol crystals and hairs from cannabis plants that have been extracted by scraping or shaking or another method.” 3. Clarifies that tinctures containing marijuana are considered food containing marijuana, and fall under the same legal restrictions on the production and sale of foods containing marijuana. 4. Amends the Maine Medical Use of Marijuana Act to state that a registered caregiver is allowed to: “Assist a maximum of 5 patients who have designated the primary caregiver to cultivate marijuana for their medical use of marijuana.” (The current provision states that a caregiver can “Assist no more than 5 patients at any one time.”) 5. Clarifies that a medical provider's written certification for the medical use of marijuana expires within one year after issuance (allowing a recommendation to be dated for less than a year.) 6. Authorizes disclosure of registered primary caregiver and dispensary information to the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, Maine Revenue Services for taxation compliance purposes. 7. Authorizes the DHHS to investigate complaints against a registered primary caregiver or a registered dispensary to ensure compliance. 8. Authorizes the Office of the Attorney General to file a complaint with the District Court seeking civil fines. injunctive relief, or both for a violation by a registered primary caregiver or a registered dispensary. 9. Authorizes the DHHS to collect, possess, transport and perform laboratory testing on soil and plant samples, and samples of products containing marijuana from registered primary caregivers and registered dispensaries to determine compliance and for evidence purposes. 10. Moves regulation of best practices for pesticide use on medical marijuana from the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, to the Department of Health and Human Services. Full text of the bill at: http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/bills_126th/billtexts/HP124501.asp ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  LD 1623 An Act To Further Protect Patient Access to Safe Medical Marijuana by Allowing Dispensaries To Purchase Excess Marijuana from Other Dispensaries Sponsored by Representative Deb Sanderson of Chelsea. Cosponsored by Senator Margaret Craven of Androscoggin; Senator Tom Saviello of Franklin; Representatives Farnsworth of Portland; Gattine of Westbrook; Wilson of Augusta Summary: This bill allows Maine dispensaries to purchase and sell excess prepared marijuana from and to each other. Full text of bill at: http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/bills_126th/billtexts/HP119501.asp +++++++++++++++++++++++ LD 1597 An Act To Clarify Provisions of the Maine Medical Use of Marijuana Act Sponsored by: Representative Drew Gattine of Westbrook Cosponsored by: Senator Tom Saviello of Franklin; Representatives Casavant of Biddeford; Farnsworth of Portland; Hickman of Winthrop; McCabe of Skowhegan; Sanderson of Chelsea Summary: This bill amends the Maine Medical Use of Marijuana Act to specify that access to a marijuana cultivation facility operated by a patient, a primary caregiver or a dispensary is open to government officials acting within the scope of their employment, under the direct supervision of the patient, the primary caregiver or a principal officer, board member or employee of the dispensary. Currently, a dispensary is subject to inspection by the Department of Health and Human Services, but there is no law allowing government officials (other than law enforcement with a warrant) to inspect a caregiver of patient's personal cultivation site. Full text of bill at: http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/bills_126th/billtexts/HP116801.asp +++++++++++ Maine's medical marijuana laws have been improving over the years, thanks in part to everyone who has taken the time to contact their legislators and give testimony at Public Hearings. The content of these bills is expected to change in response to input at the Public Hearing and the Work Sessions that will follow in the coming weeks. If the bills are reported out of the Health & Human Services Committee, the House of Representatives and Senate will vote on the legislation sometime in late Winter or early Spring. More information on this and other proposed changes to Maine's medical marijuana laws can be found at: http://www.mmcmonline.org/news.html

Arrival of high CBD Skunk Haze

We just received our CBD Skunk Haze seeds and we are excited about starting to grow this strain: CBD Skunk Haze. 

For those not familiar to the growing process, it takes two months to get a mother plant from a seed.  Then once we take a clone from the mother plant it takes another six to eight weeks for it to grow large enough to be introduced to the flowering room. Once it is in the flowering room it takes about another ten weeks before we can harvest.  We are anticipating that we will have high CBD medicine in about seven months.

CBD Strains

We are currently putting into production some high CBD strains.  Cannabidiol (CBD) is a compound in cannabis that has medical effects but does not make people feel “stoned” and can actually counter the psychoactive effects of THC. After decades in which only high-THC Cannabis was available, CBD-rich strains are now being grown by and for medical users.

Here is some additional information about these new strains:
Project CBD

Stay tuned for more information as we begin to cultivate these strains.

Making Cannabutter

Cannabutter In 7 Easy Steps!

If your looking to make some special treats, Cannabutter is a vital ingredient. The process of making cannabutter is basically just melting butter with marijuana, Straining the marijuana And then re-solidifying the butter. This works because THC (the chemical in marijuana that gets you "high") sticks to the fat cells in butter. Cannabutter can be used in any recipe that calls for butter or oil.

In this thread I will attempt to teach those who don't know how to make Cannabutter, how to do so. The pictures may help a little but in the end it's the text that will help you most.

You will need,

1.) A large saucepan

2.) A stir spoon

3.) Sticks Of Butter (Its about 1lb. of butter to every ounce of weed so make sure you do the math).

4.20) Marijuana

5.) Cheesecloth, and some elastics

6.) A couple tupperware containers with lids


Step 1.

Bring a few cups of water to a boil on the stovetop, it doesn't really matter how much water you use because in the end it will all be seperated, Just make sure the marijuana is always floating about 1 1/2 inches from the bottom of the pan.


Step 2.

When the water is at a boil place the butter in the pan, again it's about 1lb. of butter, 4 sticks, to every ounce of marijuana, so if your using a half ounce of bud thats about 2 sticks of butter. Be sure not to let the butter burn, if it appears to be burning then let melt on a medium setting.

Move the dial to low heat once butter has melted, it should look like this



Step 3.

Now that the butter has melted you can now add the marijuana, Here I used about 5 grams of fresh nug and about 7 grams of vaped bud. Again make sure the stove is now on a low setting.


Stir occasionally, I tend to stir every time the mix starts bubbling.
I usually let the bud simmer for 3 hours, But you can always tell it's done when the top of the mix turns from a really watery consistency to glossy and thick.


Step 4.

While letting the mix simmer, You are now going to need to get the cheesecloth strainer ready, which will also be used to store the cannabutter.

Take two sheets of cheese cloth and fold each one over so they each have two layers, place these over a tupperware container (with the lid off), and secure them there with elastics.

It shoud look like this, I say to make two just incase one container runs out of room.



Step 5.

When the water has turned glossy and thick on top it should look like this


You are now ready to strain the marijuana out of the mix, place your tupperware containers with the cheesecloth lids in the sink and slowly pour the entire mix on top of the cheesecloth like pictured here,


When the saucepan is empty carefully undo the elastic, pick up the cheesecloth from all four sides and squeeze all of the remaining butter out,


I throw away the marijuana after this, you can try and dry it out, let me know what happens.


Step 6.

Now place the lid on the tupperware and place it in the fridge to sit overnight, You need to do this so the water can seperare from the cannabutter, be patient.


Step 7.

Now that you have awakened in anticipation for your new treat, its time to seperate the waste water!

It should look like this now, The cannabutter on top, the waste water on bottom.


Take the lid off the tuperware and hold it upside down over the sink, place a dish in the sink to catch any cannabutter that may fall, squeeze two sides of the tupperware and the waste water will pour out, once all the water is gone your done! The cannabutter is ready to cook with.



If you do not wish to cook with it now, you can just place it back in the tupperware, place the lid back on and store it in the fridge.

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/cannabis-edibles/37701-cannabutter-7-easy-steps.html

And be careful, the high from eating "special edibles" is often considered much more intense then inhaling, lasting anywhere from 2-8 hours. Do not attempt to eat too many at first. And I wouldn't recommend driving. Just chill out, and enjoy!

Some Interesting Reading

A great site that looks at the legal and medical opinions on medical marijuana

Medical Marijuana Pro/Con

A guide to marijuana strains and what conditions they seem to be effective at mitigating

Medical Marijuana Strain Guide

Smoking Vs. Vaporizing

http://www.theweedblog.com/smoking-marijuana-vs-vaporizing-marijuana-infographic/

 A great recipe we use for medicinal caramels

http://goodandbaked.com/recipes/cannabis-caramels-recipe/