Step 5 - Reduce

Step 5 - Reduce and Decarb

Introduction

Congratulations. You are through the hard part and ready for the final Reduction and Decarbing. From the prior step, you should have the wax free liquefied oils in a metal bowl. If you want an alcohol tincture, and/or wish to keep the acidic state, you are done. But if you wish to have oil, continue reading. 

For best results, use one of the recommended cooking appliances that has accurate heat control for this step. Gray Wolf recommends using a fondue maker as it has accurate temperature control circuitry. Low end consumer devices have wide swings in temperature and will quickly overheat the oil then incinerate any residual impurities giving the oil a burnt flavor.

Procedure

1. Place the bowl on the heat source and set the dial temperature to 120c/250f and let it boil down. This bowl should have a flat bottom that has even contact with the heat source. 

2. If trying to save the acidic state, stop when the temperature rises above 100c/212f. Do not let the oil exceed 107c/225f as this is top end limit for water boiling off.

3. For decarbing, let the oils heat up to 121c/250f. Watch the entire bubbling as C02 bubbling starts at  107c/225f. Once a majority of the C02 has vented, the bubbles will rapidly slow to a few nucleation points. With less C02 to vent the heat, the temperature will now start rising. Watch carefully as the oil can spike upwards of 135c/275f and higher.

Here's is an illustration of what you will see over time:

Science

Obtaining Highest Proof Ethanol.

If you use Ethanol throughout the process, it's best to use 190 Proof/95% ethanol. Lower proof alcohols contain water that interferes with dissolving the oils after distilling. If 190 proof ethanol is not available in your state, you can use lower proof down to about 100 proof. This will take a lot more time to dissolve the oils, so heating up the alcohol to about 60c/120f will help. Do not go higher than 54c/130f or the alcohol as the alcohol starts evaporating leaving nothing but water. 

Depending on your state's laws, owning and operating a moonshine still to concentrate the alcohol may be legal. Here is the most important point. You will not be generating new alcohol. You will be removing the water. This is legal in most states. Use a moonshine setup like the one listed above for condensing your alcohol. You can take 80proof/40% vodka and concentrate it to 190proof/95% in a single pass. The trick is to stop distilling once the rises a few degrees above ethanol's boiling point, 80c/178f.  Watch the temperature gauge closely. Once the needle starts moving higher, swap capture jars.  The first jar will contain 95% ethanol, the second about 70% as it collects more water. Save that second jar for future distillations.

Do your homework. Find out if this is legal in your area before proceeding. If not, then use the highest proof available but you might have to heat it up to 60c/120f. Do not overheat the alcohol, you'll end up with water only. 

Tips and Tools

Take a moment to review the recommended cooking appliances for reduction. 

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