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 Summary

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

Decarboxylation

This is a big word for a simple process. For our use, applying energy to an acidic cannabinoid molecule and you remove it's oxygen atom. This makes the molecule small enough to pass the blood barrier and enter the body for use in the endocannabinoid system.   Here is Wikipedia's page on decarboxylation.

The amount of energy determines how fast this 'boiling off' effect occurs. 

Any acidic cannabinoids remain in the blood system. This should be considered a tool. Oregon State University published a study showing acidic CBD (aka CBDa) binds to COVID virus slowing down COVID's ability to infect human cells. Here is a use for keeping CBDa in the blood stream to attach to the circulating virus.

Tips and Tools

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

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