Unlocking the Potential of Ethanol Cold Extraction for Exceptional Topicals
Did you know you can make potent infusions without any heat at all? The goal of infusing cannabis is to pull (extract) cannabinoids like THC and CBD from the plant into an easy-to-use liquid, referred to as the solvent. Some solvents require heat to effectively extract the THC or CBD. Most oils, including coconut, olive oil, MCT and avocado oil, as well as butter, all require heat to efficiently move the THC and CBD from the plant into the oil. When you make cannabis oil and cannabis butter therefore, it requires a second heated infusion step after the first step of decarboxylation.
There are many solvents, however, that are strong enough to extract cannabinoids like THC and CBD without any additional heat. Alcohols fall in this category. We wanted to show how simple it is to make a topical solution with ethyl rubbing alcohol, This alcohol is for topical application only – it is available over the counter at any drug store or pharmacy. Ethyl alcohol is great for skin irritation, minor cuts and bruises. It acts as an antiseptic as well.
Extracting with Ethyl alcohol is very simple. The first step is to decarboxylate. You need to activate the cannabinoids before you pull them into the alcohol so you will have a THC or CBD rich end product. After decarboxylation, mix the decarbed flower with the ethyl alcohol and shake it. This is the beauty of science, because there are a lot of misconceptions floating around on the internet with respect to this process, leaving many people genuinely confused. Some suggest that cold infusion requires you to leave the jar for several weeks in a dark, cold place with continuous shaking. That is simply not true and we are happy to share the testing results to show how easy this can really be. The testing below shows the results of one gram of cannabis mixed with one ounce of ethyl alcohol.
In the Skywalker Goo flower below, the decarbed flower had just over 200 mg per gram. With a quick cold infusion, 142 mg of THC was pulled into the solution. That’s an over 70% infusion rate with a quick cold infusion.
The more you agitate or shake the solution, the more opportunity the alcohol will have to pull those cannabinoids off of the plant, and the infusion will proceed faster. With minimal shaking, we usually let our cold fusion sit for about an hour or so, but the infusion starting immediately because alcohol is such a strong solvent. When you’re choosing your alcohol, know that stronger alcohol with extract more quickly. Some rubbing alcohol formulations are 50/50 alcohol and water. Choose 70% alcohol or higher for the best results.
You might be surprised to find out that you can extract so well with quick cold extraction. Let us know what you think below in the comments!
These high school Entrepreneurs were challenged with building a brand – from conception through launch – in only 6 weeks!. They were exposed to Ivy League professors, high-level mentorship, and access to the Boston innovation community.
It was inspiring and exciting to see these bright young people dedicate their time and energy to learning how they could start and grow a successful business. I couldn’t be more proud to participate and show that businesses focused on giving back to and building up the community have a ripple effect that empowers the next generation.
Stock up on these healthy and portable cannabis energy balls, loaded with protein and superfoods to power you through the day.
Stock up on these healthy and portable cannabis energy bites, loaded with protein and superfoods to power you through the day. Feel free to substitute ingredients, but keep the liquid/dry ratio the same so they hold their shape. You might consider adding maca root, coconut flakes, matcha, etc. These keep in the freezer for up to a month.
Difficulty: Easy Prep time: 15 minutes Total time: 30 minutes
1 cup almond flour ¼ cup hemp hearts ¼ cup ground flaxseed 2 tbsp. cacao powder 2 tbsp. chia seeds 2 tbsp. sesame seeds ½ cup almond butter 3 tbsp. Maple syrup or raw honey 2 tbsp. coconut oil
You’ll also need… ½ gram cannabis* 1 Nova Decarboxylator 1 large bowl and 1 smaller bowl 1 rubber spatula 1 parchment lined tray
*See our dosing guide so you can decide how much cannabis to add to your recipe.
Directions:
Add desired amount of flower to your Nova decarb for one cycle. Once decarbed, remove from the Nova and grind well.
Add your ground decarbed flower, almond flour, hemp hearts, flax seed, cacao powder, chia and sesame seeds to a large bowl and mix.
In another bowl, add nut butter, coconut oil, and maple syrup. Mix well.
Add the liquid to the dries and incorporate using a rubber spatula until the mix is sticky and uniform, resembling cookie dough. If it’s on the dry side, you can add more maple syrup one half teaspoon at a time.
Next, divide and round the dough into 12 balls approximately 2 inches in diameter. You can also make more smaller balls for a lighter snack.
You can coat each one in any toppings you like: hemp hearts, toasted coconut flakes, sesame seeds, matcha powder, cacao powder. Simply roll each ball around in a shallow plate loaded with the toppings of your choice.
After coating, place each ball on a small, parchment-lined tray and set in the freezer for 30 minutes to set up. You can then place them in a plastic storage bag and keep them in the freezer for a month. These grab-and-go snacks are great after defrosting for a few minutes at room temperature.
Welcome back to the Decarb Diaries, where we show you the test results before and after decarb of different strains so you can see how much THC and CBD you can get from every gram with a precise decarb. Today’s strain du jour is Mulberry Goo. It’s a sweet-smelling hybrid with deep green buds adorned with purple flecks.
We started with 1 gram of Mulberry Goo flower, decarbed it in the Nova, and pulled out the decarbed sample. The testing results for the before flower are on the left, decarbed on the right.
The starting flower had a potential for over 18% THC, and with the Nova’s precision decarb our decarbed flower has over 18% THC.
In one gram of flower there’s over 180 milligrams of active, ready-to-enjoy THC.
That means that Nova fully activated the THC without any loss, and in just one gram of this Mulbery Goo there are over 180 milligrams of THC! The choices are endless when it comes to how you can use the decarbed bud.
Many people like to mix it directly into their food for an instant edible experience. If you prefer a cannaoil or cannabutter, you can place the decarbed flower and butter or oil back into the Nova for a second cycle for an easy, efficient extraction. Let us know how you like to use decarbed flower in the comments below!
Cold Ethanol Extraction: A Promising Method for Crafting Topicals
Launched by the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation in April 2017, the Business Equity Initiative (BEI) was developed to mitigate growing inequality by combining business growth, supplier partnerships, and community transformative development as a means of addressing growing wealth and income inequality in Massachusetts. Ardent was chosen to be a part of the BEI Cohort IV, along with these other fantastic Boston-based enterprises and CEOs:
The Initiative is focused on accelerating the growth of successful enterprises of color by leveraging Eastern’s networks and philanthropic dollars as well as providing targeted, customizable growth tools including embedded trusted strategic advisors, operational support, growth capital, and market access to enterprises of color positioned for growth. This Initiative began with Black and Latino businesses because research shows us that this is where the inequities and wealth gap are the greatest.
The envisioned impact of the BEI includes stronger balance sheets, expanded and deeper supplier relationships between these enterprises and anchor institutions, job creation for residents of color, and the potential for greater civic engagement by the owners of color and their workforce.
Shanel Lindsay, Founder & CEO of Ardent with Bob Rivers, CEO of Eastern Bank
The BEI will match top tier talent (former CEOs, successful former business owners, management consultants, strategists) and expertise to our entrepreneurs and enterprises of color to help them grow. The process begins with embedding these trusted strategic advisors within the leadership team. The Strategic Advisors will perform a full organizational diagnostic and co-create effective growth strategies, and then partner directly with the founding team to help execute/operationalize the strategy. (80% subsidized by BEI). BEI estimates the market value of having up to 420 hours of strategic coaching advice, and execution assistance to be worth $125K. They ask the enterprise of color to contribute up to 10-15% of that value.
Ardent with BEI Advisors Dwight Garland, Victoria Nesson and Linda Stewart
It is anticipated that Initiative participants will have gaps in infrastructure or operational capability that can be bridged with the help of a specialist. Examples include: financial data collection, reporting and analysis, resilient legal structure, branding, leadership development, market research as well as process and flow improvements. The Strategic Advisor along with the leadership team will identify these gaps and the enterprise of color will directly contract with the direct service specialist. The enterprise of color will directly contract with the service provider. Depending on the enterprise need, we estimate subsidizing each company 20% of the direct service support or on average $30K. We will expect the enterprise to pay the other 80% for the services they receive.
Eastern Bank has committed $10MM over the next three years to support the growth of enterprises of color in the Business Equity Initiative (BEI). BEI is committing a substantial part of this resource into a growth capital vehicle that will provide flexible capital to enterprises of color positioned for growth and expansion. For most small businesses, especially owners of color, access to appropriate growth capital and strategic resources and partnerships is a challenge.
The Business Equity Fund will be part of a holistic and comprehensive approach to support the growth of the enterprises of color accepted into the BEI cohort. The Business Equity Fund will provide integrated capital ranging from debt to equity, all provided as potential investment tools toward growth.
It is encouraging to see other legacy Massachusetts institutions stepping up to support this effort. It was announced at the start of Cohort IV that Berkshire Bank has pledged millions of dollars in resources and funds to secure the program’s future. We are so excited to see Berkshire’s commitment to the program and their broader commitment to banking equity through their support of the Business Equity Initiative and their hire of long-time activist and community leader Malia Lazu as their Chief Experience and Culture Officer.
Shanel and Berkshire Bank’s Chief Experience and Culture Officer Malia Lazu
The Business Equity Initiative is partnering with the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce to significantly expand corporate procurement opportunities for enterprises of color. Eastern Bank will be one of the inaugural members of the Pacesetter group and has already committed to doubling its spend by the end of 2018. The initial objective is to increase the opportunities available for bidding by the BEI participants and for opportunities that fit within the strategic growth plans of the BEI participants.
Thanks to your continued support and encouragement, Ardent is the first cannabis company to be accepted to the BEI. This will help us grow and serve you better, and we couldn’t be more excited for this new adventure. Check back throughout the year as we provide updates on this process!
We are back with another installation of the decarb dairies! This time we decarboxylate the Velvet Purp strain and show you what it looks like before and after decarb while sharing some testing results.
We’ve been getting a lot of questions about whether you decarb flower in the silicone sleeve. So in this episode we decarb with and without the sleeve to show you the comparison.
We started with 1 gram of Velvet Pup (first test below) and decarbed normally in the Nova without the silicone sleeve (second test), and then we decarbed using the silicone sleeve (last test).
For this strain, our decarbed bud has over 17% THC, giving us over 170 milligrams of active THC in that single gram.
You can see there was great decarb with and without the sleeve. Both results had over 17% THC – over 170 mg of THC per gram. Decarbing with or without the silicone sleeve yields excellent results. There is slightly more THCA when using the silicone sleeve, but not a significant amount. Feel free to use your silicone sleeve for your concentrates, flowers, trim, or to infuse.
Welcome to the second installment of the Decarb Diaries! We love Silver Strawberry so what better way to enjoy it than to use it as a decarb demonstration for our wonderful community. Let’s do it:
We started with 1 gram of Silver Strawberry flower, decarbed that in the Nova, and pulled out the decarbed sample.
The starting flower had a potential for over 22% THC, and with the Nova’s precision decarb our decarbed flower has over 22% THC.
That means in one gram of flower there’s over 220 milligrams of active, ready-to-enjoy THC.
That means in one gram of flower there’s 220 milligrams of active, ready-to-enjoy THC. You can put that in capsules, use it directly on your food, or you could even infuse it into butters or oils right in your decarboxylator! For an even easier infusion use the Nova’s Infusion Sleeve. Looking for an alcohol extraction? Try a cold extraction with your decarbed flower and check back soon for the next installment of Ardent’s Decarb Diaries.
Straight from the Ardent-verse, we’ve got an activation demonstration to show you what the Skywalker Goo strain looks like before and after activation, share some testing results, and show you how you can get the most out of every single bit of material. We started with 1 gram of Skywalker Goo, activated that in the Nova, and pulled out the activated sample.
The starting material had a potential for 17% potency, and with the Nova Lift’s precision decarb our decarbed flower has 17% THC.
That means in one gram of flower there’s 170 milligrams of active, ready-to-enjoy THC.
You can put that in capsules, use it directly on your food, or you could even infuse it into butters or oils right in your decarboxylator! For an even easier infusion use the Nova’s Infusion Sleeve.
The show might be called Most Expensivest, but the Nova really makes the most-affordablest edibles. Regardless of whether you’re munching on some kief as-is like Miriam or feeling fancy with some Donkey’s Milk Caramel s’mores like Shanel, you can make it all an edible and for a fraction of the price.
If you aren’t already decarbing with Nova or the new FX All-In-One Cannabis Kitchen, grab yours today!
We are so happy at the incredible response our community has had to our beloved Nova being able to infuse as well as decarb!
In our exhaustive pursuit of cannabis knowledge, we continued testing and are ready to share our awesome organic coconut oil infusion results with you here. We love extracting into different oils and keeping our edibles as varied as our cravings, and one we always have on hand is the ever-versatile Coconut Oil. With so many natural benefits, this organic coconut oil is a household staple.
Use it in food and lotion recipes – or just use as-is orally or topically. For those in need of infused suppositories (I’m talking to you period cramps), it can even do that!
With it’s many uses, mild flavor and ability to harden coconut oil is an essential for beginners and experts alike
Velvet Purp is a favorite strain of ours, and not only because of its naturally Ardent-purple color, but also because of its delightful smell and mellow, upbeat effect. Decarbed, it contains 17.2% THC, which is 172 mg of THC in each gram. Extracting one gram of decarbed flower into Coconut Oil gave us a little over 154 mg into the ounce of oil!
Starting flower testing below on the left, finished oil on the right.
How we infuse: We decarbed 1 gram of flower in the Nova, broke it up a little bit (no need to grind) and dropped it into our 1 ounce bottle of Coconut Oil to mix them. (You can also use the nifty silicone sleeve.) When you place the bottle into the Nova and press the button, the THC (or CBD, if you are using CBD flower) extracts right into the oil. A quick strain when it comes out, and your oil is ready to use! All fun and no sweat — which is more than we can say on these hot summer days…
The 1 gram of cannabis we started with had 172 mg of THC, and our final ounce of oil had 154 mg of THC. That’s an over 89% infusion rate with 154mg active THC using just one gram of cannabis. How amazing is that?
*Ardent’s infusion testing is always done with a flower to oil ratio of 1 gram of flower : 1 ounce of oil ratio, unless otherwise specified. This 1:1 ratio is a great indicator of what you can get out of 1 gram of cannabis and makes it easier for you to compare results. You can use more or less when infusing.
We all have favorite cannabis rituals: rolling a joint at the end of a long day, baking favorite edibles to share with friends or packing a bowl for two to share with a significant other. But the importance of cannabis in society didn’t start with our peace-loving past generations. Researchers have discovered many strains of cannabis burned during mortuary rituals as early as 500 B.C. In fact, it turns out that our ancestors used cannabis for ritual, medical and recreational use regularly. Some believed cannabis use facilitated the body and the afterlife. We can only wonder how much faster they would have gotten there with a little ArdentActivated bud.
After publishing our fantastic results on infusing in the Nova, we were flooded with our curious customers’ questions. People wanted to know if they could extract THC and CBD from decarbed flower or trim using Propylene Glycol (PG) and Vegetable Glycerin (VG). These two are often referred to PG and VG, respectively, and are found in many food, OTC and beauty products.
Like the decarb process, infusion rates in PG and VG have remained to the general public an unsolved mystery, mainly owing to there being little to no real testing to show how PG and VG perform.
As usual, we rose to the challenge and tested PG and VG samples extracted using the Nova. With our lab results in hand, we’re excited to share our findings with you and expand your cannabis knowledge – the rest of this post will present the results of our PG and VG testing.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PG or VG for THC Extraction?
THE BIG REVEAL: PG wins! Using PG resulted in over 90% infusion rate. VG didn’t even come close, and had a very poor infusion rate at less than 10%.
The simple decarb and infusion process:
Place the decarbed cannabis and one ounce of PG into a tempered glass jar or our Concentrate and Infusion Sleeve.
Put the jar back into the decarboxylator for a second cycle. The second cycle will pull the THC or CBD from the plant into the propylene glycol.
When the process is complete, strain the plant material from the PG.
The infused PG can then be used to make any PG-based cannabis product.
Propylene Glycol THC Extraction is a Very Efficient Method – Vegetable Glycerin is Not!
When it comes to propylene glycol (PG) and vegetable glycerin (VG), there’s no competition. VG did not infuse well at all, but with PG, we were able to get over 90% of the THC from the decarbed flower into the PG, infusing just 1 gram of decarbed flower to 1 ounce of PG.
Compare that to VG, which pulled less than 6% of the THC from the decarbed flower, infusing 1 gram of the same strain of decarbed flower into 1 ounce of VG.
Out of a total 197.8mg of available THC in the 1 gram of bud after a decarb cycle in the decarboxylator, the VG infusion only resulted in 11.34mg of THC in the one ounce of VG used. Compare that to 179.7 mg THC in the once ounce of PG.
1 gram decarbed flower using the Nova
You can increase or decrease the potency by using more or less PG/VG or cannabis. Check back soon for a video on maximum infusion potential and best practices for PG & VG.
Like with any infusion, it’s necessary to decarb BEFORE you infuse if you want an active end product.
*Please note that this post is about infusing/extracting THC and CBD from decarbed flower, trim, and other material that would be then be strained from the PG and VG after infusion. If you are decarbing concentrates, you can easily mix those with VG and PG in a second cycle in the Nova and get great results, because there is no extraction necessary. Making products with concentrates is a heating/blending process rather than an infusion/extraction process.
See below for the numbers compared in chart form.
Sample
Acid THCA
ACtive thc
Total potential active thc
Total infusion
Testing Results
1 gram of Decarbed Dragon’s Bait flower
2mg
196mg
197.8mg
n/a
https://bit.ly/DragonsDecarbed
1 gram of Decarbed Dragon’s Bait infused into 1 ounce PG
Not detected
179.74mg
179.74mg
90.8%
https://bit.ly/DragonPG
1 gram of Decarbed Dragon’s Bait infused into 1 ounce VG
Not detected
11.34mg
11.34mg
5.7%
https://bit.ly/DragonsVG
*Total Potential THC = THCA x .87 + THC, and represents tha maximum amount of THC in the plant, if it is able to be perfectly activated. When THCA converts to THC, the acid molecule (carboxyl group) is released, reducing the total molecule weight by 13%. You can get the full potential THC with precision decarboxylation. In lab results, look for the “Max THC” field to find the amount of total potential THC.
Perfect Decarb and Infusion in One
Activate and Infuse your THC with the Nova Lift Home Decarboxylator.
Much like the THC decarb process, there’s a lot of misinformation surrounding CBD. This is mainly due to the lack of data regarding decarbing CBD – and the fact that CBD does require different decarb conditions than THC in some cases.
You’ve been asking for more information on decarbing and infusing CBD to make inexpensive and effective CBD products at home. Without further ado, here’s a discussion of CBD activation and infusion along with testing results so you can see how easy it is to replicate the process. Lets dive right in!
THE BIG REVEAL: CBD dominant strains need either 1 or 2 cycles in your decarboxylator for full activation, depending on THC content.
CBD is a cannabinoid, just like THC, and it has a ton of health benefits. Unlike THC, CBD is non-intoxicating, which has helped its push into the mainstream and created a huge demand. You might even see CBD being sold at your local gas station or corner store! Although CBD is becoming more readily available, it is important to beware of fake CBD and CBD made in an industrial settings, both of which have been flooding the market. Thankfully, its easy to make your own CBD products and know exactly what material you are introducing to body or sharing with your loved ones.
Use your Nova for easy, AFFORDABLE, high quality CBD.
Effective CBD decarboxylation starts with knowing how much THC is present in the strain you’re using. If there is more than 1% THC or THCA present in the strain, then one cycle in the decarboxylator will activate both the THC and CBD. However, if it is almost exclusively CBD, meaning less than 1% THCA or THC present, then two cycles are required to get the maximum amount of CBD activated.
Check out the testing results below to see the efficiency of decarbing one cycle in the decarboxylator with an exclusively CBD strain. One cycle results in a solid decarb of over 80%, but not full. Squeezing out that last bit of CBD from the CBDA for these strains requires a second cycle in the Nova, as you can see in the second “double decarb” results below.
The testing below shows this exclusively CBD strain before decarb, after one decarb cycle, and after two decarb cycles.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Does CBD need to be decarbed like THC?
You will notice that a lot of CBD flower looks very similar to THC dominant strains. You may not even be able to tell them apart. That being said, its the composition of the plant that you want to pay attention to: how much THCA and CBDA is in the material. That’s also why its so important to use flower and products that come with actual testing results!
The strain used in this testing has over 11% potential CBD, which is over 110mg per gram. Just like THCA, CBDA needs to be decarbed to be transformed into bioavailable CBD. You follow the same process with the decarboxylator as when activating THC flower, concentrates, or rosin. Just place the flower in the machine and press the button to activate. But the decarboxylation process for CBD does differ from THC, depending on the cannabinoid composition of the strain. Specifically, it is dependent on how much THCA/THC is present.
So how do I know if my CBD needs 1 or 2 cycles to decarb?
It may surprise you to know that it is not necessarily about whether the strain is mostly CBD. There are plenty of high CBD strains that will fully decarb in one cycle. Those CBD strains also have significant amounts of THC.
However, if a CBD strain has less than that 1% THCA or THC, then you will want to run it through two cycles in the Nova (always letting your machine cool between cycles) to get the maximum amount of CBD.
If a strain has more than 1% THCA then it needs only one cycle in the Nova, regardless of much CBD it contains!
Check out our testing results below to see what happens after one cycle in the Nova with a strain containing less than 1% THCA. Although not full decarb, it is a good result of over 80%. Squeezing out that last bit of CBD from the CBDA to get over 95% decarb requires that second cycle in the Nova.
Single decarbDouble decarb
*Total Potential CBD = CBDA x .877 + CBD. When CBDA converts to CBD the acid molecule (carboxyl group) is released, reducing the total molecule weight by 13%. You can get the full potential CBD with precision decarboxylation.
To check out the starting CBDA and CBD check out the raw CBD Flower Control lab results . This is the starting flower we used to decarb and then infuse for our CBD tests.
Make CBD oils, topicals, edibles, and any other products.
Then what?
Once you have your activated CBD the sky’s the limit in terms of what you can make. Use directly in food, make a an oil or butter with one of our infusion kits, or even vaporize if you want. The point is that anything you can make with THC can also be made with CBD. Even better, mix your THC and CBD for the best results.
The recent attention on CBD can make it seem as if CBD is better than THC or that it is a more effective therapy. In fact, CBD works much better in tandem with THC. For many, THC added to CBD is necessary to achieve the relief they are seeking.
To easily create an organic oil made with premium flower for less than it would cost to purchase low-grade CBD products at the store, we took our Coconut Oil Infusion Kit, added a gram of double-decarbed CBD flower to the coconut oil, and popped it in the Nova for a cycle to infuse. (Want to learn more about how easy infusing in the Nova is? Check out our Infusion Guide and Infusion Video for all the details.) After the infusion cycle, the CBD infused oil had almost 100mg of CBD – and that’s using just 1 gram of flower!
1 ounce oil infused with 1g double decarbed:
2 Cycle CBD Decarb Infused Coconut Oil
*We were able to get more than 100 mg CBD in an ounce of oil from one gram of flower that had 120mg CBD.
Its really that easy!. Stay tuned for more research on CBD, decarb and infusion coming soon.
**Don’t forget to always look for testing results. It is so important to know what you’re getting and ensure it meets your standard before putting it in your body or sharing with friends and family.
Perfect Decarb and Infusion in One
Activate and Infuse your THC with the Nova Lift Home Decarboxylator.
Explains what Ardent is and how the decarboxylation process works. Details the science of THC and CBD molecules and how the Nova allows for complete ardentactivation of them. Gives a detailed idea of what types of products the Nova can potentially create.
The NOVA Decarboxylator, launched in beta form in January 2016, looks like a coffee thermos, and uses a heating core to provide consistent dry heat at the right levels for the right time to activate the entirety of THC in marijuana. Customers can then put a tiny bit of marijuana directly into anything, whether food or creams.
