This is a quick-hitting guide for anyone who wants to make high-quality cannabis oil with ethanol extraction. It’s a playbook on how to craft the cannabis oil you want to make. Once you understand what’s here and are ready for more, check out the full article. It’s an intensive deep dive, packed with everything you need to know.
THE FULL ARTICLEEthanol Extraction:Crafting Clean Cannabis Oil, RSO, and FECO→
BEFORE YOU START
What cannabis oil do you want to make?
Gold oilMade cold. About 85% cannabinoids. Carts, dabs, edibles.
RSO/FECOMade at room temp. About 55% cannabinoids. Oral use, topicals.Prepare material and ethanol
01
- Potency and structure both matter. Flower isn’t always the best pick.
- Whole nugs stay cleaner. Broken nugs yield more.
- Dry to 15% moisture or less. Never process moldy material.
- Decarb material first, or oil after, for edibles and RSO/FECO. Skip it for dabs.
- 190+ proof food-grade ethanol.
- Temperature and exposure time are the biggest levers for quality.
- Freezer for 24 hrs: the biggest jump for the least effort.
- Quality gains flatten around -40°F.
Combine for the wash
02
- Room temp: 10 minutes is plenty. 24 hours is overkill.
- Freezer: 5-20 minutes for cleanest, but can go out to over an hour.
- Dry ice: yields top out around 1 to 2 hours but can leave for a day.
- Three levers: temperature, time, and agitation.
- Soak too long, and it goes green. Too short and you lose yield.
- Longer soaks for RSO/FECO. Shorter for gold oil.
- Damaged material needs a shorter soak.
- Shake gently for better yield. Shaking too much will lower quality.
- Never use butter makers or anything that heats or chops.
Strain and filter
03
- Fast, rough strain first, then filter.
- Strain fast to limit green. A kitchen strainer over a bowl works great.
- Coffee filters: about 25 microns. Fine for edibles and topicals, but slow.
- Vacuum filtration: much faster, down to about 3 microns for the cleanest oil.
- Winterize for vapes: freeze 48 hours undisturbed, then filter.
- Winterizing removes waxes and lipids, not chlorophyll.
- When an extraction is done properly, you don’t need to scrub.
Recover ethanol, make oil
04
- Evaporate the ethanol under vacuum at about 85 to 95°F, not 173°F.
- Low temp means no random decarb.
- Reclaim the ethanol and use it again.
- Running one load start to finish is better than topping up.
- Stop early for a concentrated tincture. Run longer for oil.
- Watch the end closely. Temps spike as the ethanol runs out.
Collect and finish oil
05
- Loose, liquid-like oil goes into Pyrex to thicken.
- Thick oil goes onto unprinted side of a silicone mat to tighten.
- How much purging you need depends on your use and preference.
- Air dry: 1-2 days to about 2,000 ppm.
- A fan blowing gently over it speeds drying.
- Jar Tech Decarb will keep terpenes. 1hr @240F.
- Start with air drying to learn how your oil behaves.
Read the full guide →