Extraction Decarb before cook?
- Thread starter KonopCh
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here's why
so yes you could if you cooked it long enough, but butter is easyt to ruin by cooking too long. at 212F it would take about 3 hours to peak
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Let me explain the details and science behind decarboxylation and cannabis.
Raw cannabis is non-psychoactive. If you took a nug and ate it, it wouldn't get you high, why? Because raw cannabis mostly has THCA (tetrahydrocannabinolic acid) which is non-psychoactive. In order to get "high", you must transform this THCA into THC (delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol) which is psychoactive.
This transformation is called "decarboxylation". It's a chemical process during which you remove the "carboxyl" group and replace it with CO2. Decarboxylation or "decarbing" happens when you heat cannabis. For example, during smoking when you light your joint, blunt or bowl.
THCA (tetrahydrocannabinolic acid -> Non-psychoactive) is decarboxylated, the carboxyl group is removed from the acid, and is transformed into THC (delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol -> Psychoactive).
Decarboxylation happens in small scale during drying and curing, but mostly happens during heating!
If you don't decarb before cooking the cannabutter, you won't get that big of a high. What you want to do, before cooking the cannabutter, is to decarb the cannabis in oven:
1. Preheat to 240F/115C
2. Break up or grind up the cannabis.
3. Put it on a baking sheet in one layer, spread it out for no empty spaces.
4. Bake the cannabis for 30-40 minutes and check on it every 10 minutes, stir it for an even toast.
5. When the cannabis is medium brown, slightly darker, it should be done. Let it cool off and then use it in cannabutter.
Yea, yea... I know that.
But baking in oven at 115°C before cooking... or just cooking/boiling without baking is also on 100°C or more (water boils at 100°C)... I know what 99% folks do... I want understand "bro science" - I see it's unnecessary... you know, baking or boiling at 100+°C... same sh*t? Temperature is temperature.
But baking in oven at 115°C before cooking... or just cooking/boiling without baking is also on 100°C or more (water boils at 100°C)... I know what 99% folks do... I want understand "bro science" - I see it's unnecessary... you know, baking or boiling at 100+°C... same sh*t? Temperature is temperature.
Coffee Monster
Sole Survivor
Temperature is temperature but the total thing is temperature x time
So the lower the temp the longer it would have to cook and visa versa to decarb all in one step
So the lower the temp the longer it would have to cook and visa versa to decarb all in one step
The chart indicates time to totally decarb. 27 minutes at 252F is what I use. the chart also shows that at even slightly lower temperatures, it can take much longer. So if you project out from the graph, you can estimate that at anything less than 223F will take hours, at 200F it would take about 6-8 hours as an example.
You can see from this, most people are way over doing it and actually decreasing the cannabinoid content by over decarbing it.
You can see from this, most people are way over doing it and actually decreasing the cannabinoid content by over decarbing it.
you want to boil it? sure you can do it that way, but the longer you cook it, the more terpenes and other canabinoids you lose, the more fine particle plant matter left behind, more degradation of all ingredients involved. Its why I've reduced my cooking times. I now oven decarb then cook a MAX of 2 hours, but usually, 1 hour is more than sufficient.
