The importance of decarboxylation (decarbing)

Medical
#1

Have you ever used raw cannabis to make a medical topical cream, oil, or tincture but it didn’t turn out right or had no effect?

This is likely because you didn’t decarboxylate the raw flower first and convert the THC-A and CBD-A into THC and CBD.

Decarboxylation in short is how you activate CBD-A and THC-A as well as other chemicals in cannabis.

Summary

Decarboxylation is a chemical reaction that removes a carboxyl group and releases carbon dioxide. Usually, decarboxylation refers to a reaction of carboxylic acids, removing a carbon atom from a carbon chain.

Through this process you can make potent edibles, tinctures, salves, ointments, oils, etc…

To decarboxylate your flower you need to grind it up, put it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and heat it in an oven between 110-120 C 230-248 F for approximately 40 minutes. If you want more CBN you can leave it in longer as THC begins to degrade and turn into CBN at approximately 70% decarboxylation.

For kief the same process is applied.

If making butter for baked goods this is unnecessary as the baking process will activate the THC-A and CBD-A.

Once decarboxylated it is now ready for use in your medicinal goods and will give you more therapeutic benefits.

I hope this helps some of you in your quest to make quality medicinal products at home to ease your ailments.

Happy growing! :v::metal::call_me_hand:

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#2

Thanks for the info @MDBuds i can really use this im looking for pain releaf

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#3

@Daddy1971 you’re welcome man. Whenever you need help feel free to ask. There are a lot of us here happy to help.

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#4

Great snippet of info to point us in the right directions. Thank you sir.

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#5

Thank you for sharing this with our community @MDBuds

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#6

Excellent information! I wondered why my brownies were potent, but other “extracts” weren’t. This explains it well!

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#7

Thank you for reminding us @MDBuds this will be the step I forget to do and then won’t be able to figure out why it’s not working when I’m done with the final product.

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#8

Hopefully this isn’t too silly of a question, but after decarbing, do you need to immediately process it or can it be “jarred up” for later use (for example, as tea leaves or for making other extracts)? I’m asking because I may have a LOT of clippings I’d like to try this with, and basically would like to know if decarbing is a one time thing, can I ""do it all and use it as needed, etc.

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#9

@Bill You can do it all and use as needed. Just store it as you normally would dry buds. Air tight container in a dark cool place. Even after activated the cannabinoids still degrade at the same rate as THC-A and CBD-A so at most even after 6 plus months of storage some of the activated THC might degrade and turn into CBN but you’ll still have some pretty potent bud for tinctures, edibles, etc…

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#10

My question is can I use the dried trimmings from all my buds from my last harvest it’s been a good month ago so they’re very dry can I use those to Decarboxylate and make a Salve with or something?

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#11

@dmtscravey yes. You can decarb dry trimmings. Just grind them up and put them in a thin layer like you would the bud. Trimminings and leaves aren’t as potent as flower but they still work.

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#12

OK thank you, I just figure I will use them for filler around the Bud.

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#13

That’s exactly what I use them for. I mix my flower with my leaves when I make extracts and other things at home.

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#14

OK so I made some infused coconut oil today. I used about one cup of coconut oil and 28 g of Bud. I decarbed the bud first then I put it in the double broiler on a very low boil for 25 minutes. My question is how do I know the dosing ? trial-and-error from here on out? The bud was purple Kush.

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#15

@dmtscravey yes it would be trial and error without getting a lab test and then converting values but I can give you an estimated breakdown based on the average statistics for the strain.

Did you decarb in an oven, toaster oven, or crock pot?

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#16

@dmtscravey alright so here’s the break down based on average statistics.

Purple kush has an average THC-A of 22%.

That breaks down to 220 mg THC-A per gram.

At 70% decarboxylation (average decarb rate for most decarb methods) that gives you 154 mg activated THC per gram.

Coconut oil has an average infusion rate of approximately 80% of decarbed cannabinoids up to 4 grams per ounce of oil.

You used 28 grams of decarbed bud with an approximate total of 4,312 mg activated THC in 8 oz coconut oil. This works out to approximately 3450 mg activated THC in your oil. I will convert to ml to make the final metric conversion easier. 8 oz is 240 ml of oil.

That all breaks down to an approximate 431 mg THC per oz of oil or 14 mg THC per ml of oil.

If dosing with 10 mg THC you would use .75 ml of oil per dose.

Hope this helps you. Remember all values are approximate based off of average statistics for potency, decarb, and infusion rates.

The only real way to know 100% is a lab test.

Happy growing. :v::call_me_hand::metal:

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#17

Decarbed in conventional oven. Thank you for all the information @mdbuds

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#18

You’re welcome @dmtscravey
I’m actually working on an article outlining this and the best decarb methods. I’ve compiled a lot of data from research that I’m putting together.

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#19

I have to say @MDBuds - the approach you take with everything is very scientific. Very little if any guesswork. I’ve done many years of research in my work and my hat’s off to you sir! You treat this with the respect it deserves!

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#20

@Bill thanks brother. I appreciate it. Hopefully the article I submitted about it gets approved. I compiled all the research I did based on lab tests at clubs and from home growers that have test kits. It should be helpful for medicinal users dosing at home. Happy growing man. :v::call_me_hand::metal:

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