Filtering RSO FECO or QWET Pre Reduction troubles

thanks for reading this.. so i'm getting these tiny plant particles left over in my final concentrate.. how should i filter my wash? i have used 2 coffee filters during two separate filtering steps. thinking about stacking two coffee fitlers together next time or trying a different brand of filter or just using mesh bubble bags. maybe a 25 micron or 73. or a 120... i defintely need a better method thatn what i am doing now to have pure oil at the end without the particles in there.. super frustrating. any help is appreciated

I use tripled up coffee filters and I do the filtering in the freezer. I also don’t grind or break up my material any more to reduce the amount of cell damage(the alcohol will extract less water soluables that way) and small particles of plant material. Doing fast cold washes also helps improve the quality of the end product.

What size are the plant particles?? A coffee filter is around 25 microns, so unless there is a hole in it, or a way around it, there should be no particles substantially larger than 25 microns getting through. I typically use a #1 lab filter in a Buchner funnel, and install a commercial coffee filter on top to protect the lab filter from gross depositions that will clog its pores.

If I'm extracting with Ethanol, I first pour the material through a pasta strainer sitting in a Chinois strainer, before filtering. That quickly separates the material from the alcohol, and reduces further pickup of undesirables.

I've also filtered again at 0.2 microns, using a syringe filter, to produce gem quality concentrates for show and tell pictures.

Thundercat said:

I use tripled up coffee filters and I do the filtering in the freezer. I also don’t grind or break up my material any more to reduce the amount of cell damage(the alcohol will extract less water soluables that way) and small particles of plant material. Doing fast cold washes also helps improve the quality of the end product.

Click to expand...

thanks so much
triple coffee filter it is for me next round as well as doing a frozen/ cold extraction
i’m trying to go as close to full extraction as possible without the particles since the oil will be used for ingestion for a bunch of health issues
will probably smash the buds while they are frozen and keep things as cold as possible

Fadedawg said:

What size are the plant particles?? A coffee filter is around 25 microns, so unless there is a hole in it, or a way around it, there should be no particles substantially larger than 25 microns getting through. I typically use a #1 lab filter in a Buchner funnel, and install a commercial coffee filter on top to protect the lab filter from gross depositions that will clog its pores.

If I'm extracting with Ethanol, I first pour the material through a pasta strainer sitting in a Chinois strainer, before filtering. That quickly separates the material from the alcohol, and reduces further pickup of undesirables.

I've also filtered again at 0.2 microns, using a syringe filter, to produce gem quality concentrates for show and tell pictures.

Click to expand...

thanks so much as far as size of particles, some are large but it must be because they are clumping together during the decarb stage
i will post pictires of the particles left over in the measuring cup after syringing up most of the oil
since you mentioned it i also have some syringe filters , i have tried using them once before but made a mistake with having too thick of a solution running through them. think i need to run it through them while in the alcohol stage instead. might give them another go in the future
attaching a few pictures
these are after i syringed up the oil, the rso and after i added coconut oil to gather the rest of the oil stuck to the measuring cup
it is after syringed up the coconut oil and you can see some of the clumped up particles left over

A little hard to tell from pictures, but while the one on the left looks like it could be particles, the one on the right looks like you are dropping some of the longer chain molecules out of solution.

If it is plant particles, you have a hole or path around your filters somewhere in your system.

If the clumping occurs after you mix in the oil, I would guess it is longer chain non targeted constituents falling out of solution.

You are trying to mix a polar extract with a non polar solvent.

You definitely have to syringe filter while still dissolved in alcohol. After the first vacuum filter, I syringe filter before removing the alcohol.

Fadedawg said:

A little hard to tell from pictures, but while the one on the left looks like it could be particles, the one on the right looks like you are dropping some of the longer chain molecules out of solution.

If it is plant particles, you have a hole or path around your filters somewhere in your system.

If the clumping occurs after you mix in the oil, I would guess it is longer chain non targeted constituents falling out of solution.

You are trying to mix a polar extract with a non polar solvent.

You definitely have to syringe filter while still dissolved in alcohol. After the first vacuum filter, I syringe filter before removing the alcohol.

Click to expand...

Thanks
Very interesting regarding long chain molecules..seems like particles since grainy but anything is possible..
also the smell of left over plant matter is not good at all during evaporating and decarbing

I seem to run into this issue often when I attempt to make oil so I don’t attempt to make oil as regularly as I would like to
in the past it has happened also when adding the coconut oil that I pulled out a particle that clumped together and was like a rock..

also, this past time, before adding the coconut oil to “clean up the measuring cup,“ when i swirled the solution before it was reduced all the way, I noticed tiny particles suspended in the solution of alcohol.

thinking It is also possible that my bleached coffee filters are of sub par quality and should stack 3 on top of each other like you mentioned
or I can just use a 25 micron hash bubble bag
i also have small 25 and 37 micron rosin bags I can run the solution through ...
Or the syringe filters .....but not confident with these .the Largest syringe I have is 60ml, and have 1 left, etc
so many ways to approach it but definitely going to keep everything as cold frozen as much as possible begging to end of extracting and filtering

most important realizing the difference between a polar solvent ( 190 proof alcohol) and a non polar one like 200 proof 99.9% alcohol

chooselove said:

Thanks
Very interesting regarding long chain molecules..seems like particles since grainy but anything is possible..
also the smell of left over plant matter is not good at all during evaporating and decarbing

I seem to run into this issue often when I attempt to make oil so I don’t attempt to make oil as regularly as I would like to
in the past it has happened also when adding the coconut oil that I pulled out a particle that clumped together and was like a rock..

also, this past time, before adding the coconut oil to “clean up the measuring cup,“ when i swirled the solution before it was reduced all the way, I noticed tiny particles suspended in the solution of alcohol.

thinking It is also possible that my bleached coffee filters are of sub par quality and should stack 3 on top of each other like you mentioned
or I can just use a 25 micron hash bubble bag
i also have small 25 and 37 micron rosin bags I can run the solution through ...
Or the syringe filters .....but not confident with these .the Largest syringe I have is 60ml, and have 1 left, etc
so many ways to approach it but definitely going to keep everything as cold frozen as much as possible begging to end of extracting and filtering

most important realizing the difference between a polar solvent ( 190 proof alcohol) and a non polar one like 200 proof 99.9% alcohol

Click to expand...

Ummmm 200 proof 99.9% alcohol is still polar. Anything with a dielectric constant greater than 15 is considered polar. Attached is a chart with column E showing dielectric constants of different solvents.