Is 99% isopropyl alcohol safe for making cannabis oil

M

Moosehead

Active member
My source of ethyl alcohol has dried up as the only company that makes it (Global of Montreal) has quit producing their 94% Alcool and switched to making alcohol for sanitation in hospitals during the pandemic. I was just given a gallon of 99% isipropyl alcohol and would like to know your opinion of its safety for making cannabis oil. I usually soak decarboxylated MJ in a bottle with alcohol and then evaporate the strained liquid in a still to recapture some of the alcohol.
Any opinions on the safety of using the isopropyl alcohol would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
 
Now others may come against it B.U.T. many years when I used my ISO2 Extractor only ever used 99% Isopropyl alcohol just kept it ventilated and evaporate so never had a problem so if you got a gallon I would say you are lucky since it is so hard to even get at that percentage but I would hope Graywolf chimes in he would know or throw him a PM My wife uses Everclear 190 proof Grain Alcohol to be sure

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Isopropyl will work, but soak times are shorter and purging more critical. Isopropyl is a Class III solvent, so residual solvent is limited to under 5000 ppm.

Isopropyl is a pungent alcohol, so you can readily taste it at less than 10% of FDA limits, so if you have normal taste and can't taste it, it is ostensibly safe.

To get to that level with out vacuum purging, I suggest decarboxylating after extraction, rather than before. I would stick the alcohol mixture outside in a 250F hot oil bath, which will purge any remaining ISO and then decarb the mixture in one shot.

You can also bump up the proof of lower concentration vodka by redistilling in a refluxing still, or make your own from a wash. You can also add Drierite dessicant to lower proof and absorb the water. You then filter the Drierite out.
 
i have had zero problems using Isopropyl ,. What you want to stay away from is Denatured alcohol. That has poison in it to keep people from drinking it and the keep the company from paying the same taxes the liquor distilleries have to pay.

99% ISO is fine. just let it evaporate all the way in a well ventilated area.
 
Isopropyl and methanol alcohols are used to denature ethanol as well as acetone, et al. They may also add bitterants like denatonium.

Both alcohols attack the liver and central nervous system, but methanol also attacks the optic nerves and Isopropyl the auditory nerves.

The key is to remove the solvents below FDA residual solvent standards. I typically use less than 10% of FDA standards as a minimum standard.

In the case of Isopropyl, you can still taste it at 10% of FDA's 5000 ppm, or 500 ppm. If you have normal taste and can't taste, it is ostensibly safe.


View attachment FDA solvent standards.pdf
 
One thing to keep in mind, assuming it's accurate: I heard a long time ago that higher-rotating cannaboids suspended in isopropyl and exposed to UV light degrade into CBN and/or CBD very rapidly.

So, it would be a big mistake to (for one example) evaporate off a batch of iso extract outdoors in the sun—an appropriate thing to do for fire safety, but apparently devastating to the potency.
 
A common practice is to place alcohol extract solutions in the sun to "remove" the chlorophyll, but what that actually does is deprotonate the green C-55 chlorophyll by removing the magnesium ion in its tail, and turning it into C-55 pheophytin, which is brown in color. The green taste is gone along with the color, but the carcasses are still there.
 
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