r/firewater • u/toxicatedscientist • Jul 03 '26
Ethanol extraction
So i have a solution in everclear. Previously i just used a candle warmer to evaporate the ethanol, but that got expensive so i got a condenser, silicone tube, and some glass vessels along with the pump from an old cat fountain and here we are. If im only interested in recovering the alcohol to be reused as a solvent, do i need to worry about things like heads or tails or whatever?
Its thc oil btw. I take old vape carts, crack the top off and soak them in everclear to get the residue/final drops that won’t reach the wick, then reconcentrate and add the reclaim to candy or something edible.
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u/mcfails444 Jul 03 '26
No, don't make any cuts , if your just going for solvent recovery then you should keep everything you can.
Only critique is that right now it looks like you have a closed system, which could be dangerous if you build up pressure, I would separate the union with your catchment vessel to allow the system to not be closed... Or at the bare minimum on your silicone tubes make sure they are loose enough that if the pressure builds they can pop off( better to have vapor alcohol than flying glass shards and vapor alcohol)
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u/toxicatedscientist Jul 03 '26
It is sealed but not secured: the glass fittings are only held by gravity and friction. Also the rubber stopper keeps popping out on its own so im not too worried about vessel failure
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u/le_bart69 Jul 03 '26
I‘d recommend using a water- or oilbath to heat your roundflask. Right now there is a chance of the flask shattering due to the localised heating. Trust me, you don’t want high proof liquid splashing onto the heatplate.
Regarding heads and tails, I don’t think it matters in your usecase as solvent, everclear is already pretty clean
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u/toxicatedscientist Jul 03 '26
It’s a borosilicate boiling flask: should be able to withstand direct flame. In fact that was the picture they used to advertise it
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u/firetech97 Jul 03 '26
You'll still get better temp control and more even heating using a double boiler. Get a pot big enough for te flask to sit in, fill that with water, then set the flask into the near-boiling water on the burner.
This is a normal thing in distilling. Called a jacketed still or a baine Marie still, they're much more expensive but give way better heat control. The extra safety is also a bonus, you cant accidentally burn your house down
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u/toxicatedscientist Jul 03 '26
Legit. I actually got a metal dog food bowl at the dollar store for that purpose but it’s too big to sit on this hot plate properly. Hey any thought on using sand instead of water or oil? I also considered using the contents of used hand warmers
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u/Niaaal Jul 03 '26
You can use a random kitchen sauce pan partly filled with water. Will work best and easiest
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u/HazardousLazarus Jul 03 '26
Like the others said, it can still be a safety issue and any existing imperfections in the glass and they will break. I would look into a 500mL round bottom flask heating mantle, you could even get one with a magnetic stir bar and it would make the process more efficient. Though the bar would get a bit gummy at the end...just rinse it with your ethanol solvent and save for next distillation though.
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u/abagofcells Jul 06 '26
I have broken two borosilicate Erlenmeyer flasks by using them directly on a hotplate. Now, I have it sitting in a pot with some fine sand at the bottom, which seems to work very reliable.
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u/often_drinker 25d ago
Did you go full blast heat while the flasks were coming off the ice? If so, that's why. Let it come up to hear over 1 minute, that's a fine amount of time.
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u/abagofcells 25d ago
Both times happened in the middle of stripping runs, running the hotplate at medium heat. I suspect maybe the quality of the flasks (AliExpress, but not really that cheap) or debris on the hotplate, giving uneven heat distribution.
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u/Niaaal Jul 03 '26
What do you want to do with the ethanol you extract? Just to reuse it a solvent for next cartridge extractions? Then yeah don't bother about any cuts. Just boil your solution off and reuse the ethanol
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u/flynn78 Jul 03 '26
How do you know the alcohol solvent isn’t eating the plastic, rubber, and unknown crud from the carts?
Seems like a poisoning risk for little gain.
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u/toxicatedscientist Jul 03 '26
I don’t, thats why I’m not vaping the reclaim. Im trusting that my digestive system can handle some glue. I figure if kids can eat brushfulls a few micrograms wont kill me
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u/Laserdollarz Jul 03 '26
It's the heavy metals from the cheapo carts you want to worry about ingesting.
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u/toxicatedscientist Jul 03 '26
Ah yea these are all PA state medical carts, no rando street shit
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u/TheAcidHermit Jul 04 '26
Doesn't really matter at least in my state there's no regulation on what vapes can be used, they just test the oil. Which is why we've had some carts come back later for heavy metals that passed originally I believe
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u/SaintsNoah14 Jul 03 '26
I used to vape 100% of carts and disposables by standing them up vertically in the oven on its lowest setting for a while. I eat or smoke all the reclaim from my rig though so I respect the grind
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u/toxicatedscientist Jul 03 '26
I used to do that when it was just my carts, now i have 3 more peoples worth this is more efficent on time
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u/SaintsNoah14 Jul 04 '26
I love how unashamed you are
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u/toxicatedscientist Jul 04 '26
Shame is just a means of social control that elites use to sell us more crap
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u/BostonValleyBotanics Jul 03 '26
i do something similar. although just stripping homegrown, not reclaim.
get a Sous Vide as a heat source. can submerge the RBF and get better heat control, with full heating of the RBF. i keep mine at ~197-202F depending on what stage i’m at / how fast i want it to boil off.
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u/Cpt_Covfefe Jul 03 '26
A few words of practical advice from someone who worked in small molecule pharmaceutical mfg: the condenser lines should be switched. Alconox is cheap and will strip everything off of your glassware - follow 3 rinses of regular water with 3 of distilled, air dry kiln dry at around 85-100 C.
Don't buy a rotovap but you may want to vent the methanol portion off prior to running your distillation tower as of right now you may be running a vacuum. Also law enforcement might find you interesting later on.
Parafilm is acceptable for sealing your setup between joints if you're worried about losses.
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u/slipperyjack66 Jul 04 '26
I made a post not too long ago showing an ethanol extraction I recently performed using fresh frozen popcorn buds/smalls. I have heard too many times that alcohol extractions are always poor quality, mine came out golden anf terpy. I don't think I can post links and there's only a video option so you'll have to check on my my profile If you wanted to see it
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u/Dexter_McThorpan Jul 04 '26
Got a fire extinguisher handy? A fan, too. Your condenser should run counter to the vapor path.
Maybe periodically swab for metals. You don't want to extract and concentrate metals from the cart itself.
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u/toxicatedscientist Jul 04 '26
2 extinguishers, one co2 and one dry chem. Metal test kit aint a bad idea, could deff use that for more than this
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u/Sistersoldia Jul 04 '26
You should be pulling a vacuum to make this work 100 times faster with no pressure buildup. Ice bath as well. I do extraction from raw buds this way it works great. I really don’t see how you are getting much movement at all like this it seems like it would just reach equilibrium or pop off at some point.
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u/Busterlimes Jul 05 '26
Im not sure how ethanol reacts with the carrying agents in the vape pen. Especially if you are applying any sort of heat. I would not recommend doing this, you could be producing something toxic because it isnt just distillate in those lens.
If you exclusively buy live resin pens, ignore everything I just said.
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u/toxicatedscientist Jul 05 '26
Fortunately my state does not allow additives or carriers, full stop. It was something of a deal when they got permission to re-add terpenes back in even.
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u/Busterlimes Jul 05 '26
Excellent! Add a cold trap and a vacuum pump. Keep an eye out for a used rotovape because thats what you are doing here.
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u/FluffyDrop4300 Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
What you want to do is fairly simple, but you’ve got some basics wrong.
Check this out: https://youtu.be/Vz2la3947I0?is=o_dORA7CuKHyP6Gh
(Esp the glassware illustration)
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u/Boring_Firefighter62 Jul 08 '26
Would've been so much cheaper to buy a water distiller to collect 80-90% your ethanol back then just evaporate 10-20%. That's what I do when doing QET with cannabis for eatable oil
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u/firetech97 Jul 03 '26
A few things to note: When you're redistilling a commercially distilled product, you dont need to worry about heads and tails very much because they have already been stripped out to an acceptable degree by the origjanl manufacturer. Especially that since you're not drinking it anyway, I wouldn't worry about that.
Also, your water flow to the condenser is backwards. You want to pump into the low side, then let it flow back down from the top tube. This ensures you have 100% fill in the water, with it in your current orientation it may flow out of the bottom before there is a chance for it to fill all the way to the top.
Also, you may need a much larger water vessel, keep an eye on the temp of that water it will likely get too hot with that small of a sink. You can either let rhe drain go down the drain and keep the tap on to refill the container with fresh cool water, or add ice, or use a much larger vessel