Tobacco extraction using heated Ethanol

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Exchaner

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Do synthetics interact with high proof alcohol or not. One of you said in another thread that they don't, but now I am hearing just the opposite.... So what is the verdict? Some of my extracts came out with a slight plastic taste from the caps on my jars. I emphasize some, not all ....
 
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Str8vision

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Some of my extracts came out with a slight plastic taste from the caps on my jars. I emphasize some, but not all ....


I doubt it would impart a plastic taste but the plastic film used inside the lids of glass food containers (mayonnaise, olives, mustard etc) although food grade may not be suitable for prolonged contact with ethyl alcohol. Some plastics can soften over time when immersed in ethyl alcohol. Google "chemical compatibility of plastic", click on the list provided by a chemical company, most will rate a dozen or more different plastics that are commonly used in industry. Find ethyl alcohol on the list of chemicals and cross reference its effect on each type of plastic. Then google "food grade plastic" to see which plastics are approved for such service, not all are. Since some of your extractions have this taste but others don't, if you're using the same container for all of them the container itself likely isn't the cause otherwise all your extracts would have this taste.

Do synthetics interact with high proof alcohol or not. One of you said in another thread that they don't, but now I am hearing just the opposite.... So what is the verdict?

Some do and some don't, it depends on the type of plastic or rubber involved. There are -many-types of plastic and rubber that are fully compatible with ethyl alcohol and are food grade as well, they are extensively used in distilleries and bottling facilities. Remember this, every bottle of liquor available for sale at your local liquor store (including the PGA we buy/use) has been in contact with rubber gaskets, plastic seals and plastic hoses -several times- before being sealed in it's retail glass bottles. I use Everclear brand PGA (the strongest retail consumable ethyl alcohol available) and it comes with a plastic cap, inside that plastic cap is a plastic coated seal. If it doesn't have a cork, plastic film is used to provide a liquid tight seal even inside beer caps. The various types of plastics and rubbers used in distilleries and bottling facilities to handle ethyl alcohol are food grade and rated for constant immersion in ethyl alcohol, they're perfectly ok. The U.S. is a litigation happy country where people sue over hot coffee being....hot, so if contact with plastic or rubber rendered alcohol "toxic" imagine the stampede of ambulance chasers who'd have brought suit....yet no one has. Besides all being U.S. distilleries, each of these pictures have another thing in common, the alcohol is fed through plastic tubing and the injectors use rubber/plastic contacts to protect the bottle necks;


HarvestSpirits_JMay-5319-871x580.jpg


Boone county distillery.jpg


bottling-area.jpg


Peak spirits distillery.jpg


craft vodka3-1.jpg

20110223_white+rock_6.jpg




Dorcol distillery.jpg


bottling machine.jpg


The bottom line is this; there will always be misinformed people claiming things that simply aren't true. Professional engineers have this covered, they -know- what they're doing, trust their judgment. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=..._tGyJiR5SpiHvXzzGnS-6Q&bvm=bv.112766941,d.eWE
 
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Str8vision

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Thanks Str8vision.
That's a pretty good pressure for our needs.
You could even boil water around 100F at that pressure :)

I bought that 12vdc vacuum pump to use indoors for filtering PG/VG based extracts, my HVAC pump is far too loud to use in the house. The little pump works great for filtering but I really don't know how suitable it would be for heavy long run distillation operations. For running hours on end I'd likely opt to use the HVAC pump instead and perform the distillation process out in my shop building where the noise wouldn't be an issue.
 
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aceswired

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Do synthetics interact with high proof alcohol or not. One of you said in another thread that they don't, but now I am hearing just the opposite.... So what is the verdict? Some of my extracts came out with a slight plastic taste from the caps on my jars. I emphasize some, not all ....
Yes, high proof alcohol will leach chemicals out of most synthetics. PTFE (teflon) is one exception I believe. And vaporized high proof ethanol will do it even faster. The stilling guys won't let a speck of synthetics on their rigs, and for good reason.

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aceswired

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St8, we're talking about high-temp ethanol vapor here. Your food safe ratings are not for vapor. And feankly, I don't really even trust them for liquid above 50 percent.

Like I said we all make our decisions. Mine is that your still, especially the silicon, would leech into the product, and I wouldn't use it. If you feel the chance is worth taking, that's your call. But others should at least be aware. The stilling guys at HD know their stuff, and they'd rip you a new one for that design if you posted it there.

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Exchaner

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St8, we're talking about high-temp ethanol vapor here. Your food safe ratings are not for vapor. And feankly, I don't really even trust them for liquid above 50 percent.

Synthetics and high proof ethanol don't mix.

Totally confused here ... Which of these two quotes is more accurate? Both cases involve synthetics and vapor.
 
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aceswired

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They're both saying don't mix synthetics with high proof ethanol. I'm guessing you read "don't mix" as "won't mix." The intended meaning was "shouldn't mix."

The only synthetic that I know is rated for high temp ethanol vapor is PTFE (teflon). Anything else can leech off into the solvent. If your still has silicone or plastic in the vapor trail, there's a very good chance that components of that synthetic will be in your output. And yes, a silicone seal IS in the vapor trail. You wouldn't be sealing it if vapor couldn't get there.

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rolf

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I have a bit of a quandary ... I made up a heated ethanol extraction following your (@Str8vision) latest process and used the last of my 190PGA, and in Oz cannot purchase any more :( I'm just finishing the heated stage, and will be room steeping for 3 days, freeze filtering, mixing with PG for 30 days, and then reducing.

So my quandary is this: do I buy whatever equipment I need to vacuum distill vodka into 190PGA which, disregarding the purchase of the equipment and assuming 95% recovery works out to $109.75/L or ...

Purchase 100% isoproply alcohol @ $24/2L delivered.

My preference is PGA, but it does come with a relatively steep learning curve (what vacuum equipment is required, what vacuum "pressure" is required, what temperature the vodka needs to heated to @ that vacuum, will that vacuum shatter the vacuum distillation glassware, do I need to have/build a PID controlled hotplate etc). A lot of unknowns here.

The isopropyl has it's own problems, you must remove all traces of it in the finished extract as it is toxic (but not deadly toxic).

As I also mix the extract with PG and then reduce that, I assume vacuum distillation will be the best bet no matter which extraction medium is used.

Some guidance would be most appreciated.


Thank you for your time in reading this :)
hi gt1955 !
I will go the vacuum distiller route to
building the condenser now w 1/4 od copper tube encased in a fiberglas container to fit the 1.5 " coil. water cooling via faucet and if that don't work I allways have the option w ice water and a pump.
the ends will have flared connectors got the tools for that today. str8vision used 20 hg vacuum with the glass jars but my vacuum is higher and I am it little hesitant . maybe I can find a way to regulate the vacuum .bleeder valve? would be nice to regulate the boiling point that way ! the heat source will be a crockpot w temp regulator . the jars wont explode the will implode either way not much fun !!
not sure of that part jet . reinforce the jars w fiberglass on the outside ? for the lids..i am looking to replace them with copper sheet if I can find some natural cork sheet for the guscets ...
like you to many questions left !! maybe str8vision will chime in with some ideas ..have fun
 

rolf

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I have many hot ethanol pipe juices which are aged for 2 months and there is big problem referring molds. There are long white snakes in the juices.

Do you have problems too ?

Do you know a protection against molds ?
hi jonnydoe
bummer ! just looked at my extractions ... none
they are pg heat extractions so ..they are about 18 month old . stored in plastic bottles to !
ordered som glass bottles which can be boiled to sterilize them . going to remix with ethanol to be able to freeze filter them . did you store them in ethanol ? or mixed with pg and reduced ?
the only thing I can think of is boiling the glassware and caps and heat the extract to kill the mold spores . filled hot and capped should form a vacuum .. like canning ..maybe you can try to salvage them ??cold filter ..reheat .. //
 

jonnydoe

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did you store them in ethanol ? or mixed with pg and reduced ?

Hot ethanol extraction with freeze filtering. That means mixed with pg and than reduced the ethanol. I have 10% water in my pg-vg-nicotine base. Perhaps this could be one of the problems. But i havent seen any molds in rolling tobacco juices till yet.

Rolf and the Bremer Stadtmusikanten. Lustig. Sprichst du deutsch ?
 

rolf

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Hot ethanol extraction with freeze filtering. That means mixed with pg and than reduced the ethanol. I have 10% water in my pg-vg-nicotine base. Perhaps this could be one of the problems. But i havent seen any molds in rolling tobacco juices till yet.

Rolf and the Bremer Stadtmusikanten. Lustig. Sprichst du deutsch ?
hi jonnydoe
jes that's the first time I heard of mold development to . and with that avatar ? was sonst !left Bremen in 1954 to Canada and lived most of my life in California .now in Spokane wa . still have two sisters near Bremen .
 

dannyv45

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I have many hot ethanol pipe juices which are aged for 2 months and there is big problem referring molds. There are long white snakes in the juices.

Do you have problems too ?

Do you know a protection against molds ?


I don't think that's mold. I had that the very next day after a heat extraction in PG. The extract started as cloudy when removed from the heated water after a 24 hour extraction and filtering.
After sitting a day it cleared but had white strands floating in it that Looked like snakes as you described. I think it's coagulated tobacco by product as a result of poor filtering. Mold would not appear in less than a day (In my case) and mold cannot grow or survive in PG which is why PG is added to many products as a preservative. In fact I think it's the same substance found at the bottom of the vial after PGA heat extraction and freezing (It's the same color). As PG is thicker it just floats and coagulates and does not sink to the bottom like when frozen in PGA. I did another filtering that same day storing it back in the same storage vessel and now it's been 3 weeks and no white snakes reappeared. I've since used it and am still alive with no ill effects just flavorful vaping. So I would gather after a proper filtering it's safe to vape.
 
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Exchaner

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If you are looking for a bold smokey flavor, Firestorm from P@C is an excellent choice - a "VaPer" blend combined with a touch of dark fired Virginia. I am vaping an ethanol extraction at 5.5% and it's giving me more than enough flavor - so much that I may have to take it down a bit further. Patience is a must with this one, a minimum of 30 days steeping needed - perhaps even longer.

RO Blends - Fire Storm - PipesandCigars.com
 
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jonnydoe

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I am vaping an ethanol extraction at 5.5% and it's giving me more than enough flavor

Have reduced the ethanol extract in pg ? I have 4 tobaccos in my sous vide and i am thinking about only to reduce the ethanol to 20% and no reducing after this with pg at this time. Perhaps its a fuller flavour ? Is your extract with or without pg ? The main question is if i am able to taste in the ethanol in the juice later.
 
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jonnydoe

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Mold would not appear in less than a day (In my case) and mold cannot grow or survive in PG which is why PG is added to many products as a preservative.

My molds appeared after perhaps 2 months. Fresh there was nothing to find. Coagulated tobacco must be brown or not ? Molds can live at the top of a juice. Molds needs water, oxygen and nutrients. I have 10% water in my pg-vg-nicotine base, the nutrients are in the tobacco and the oxygen in the bottles. I have not very much ethanol in my extracts because i have reduced it in pg for hours at the end of extraction Molds are possible and it looks like. I have tried to make a picture but it was not good because i need a lot of light to see the molds.
 

Exchaner

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Have reduced the ethanol extract in pg ? I have 4 tobaccos in my sous vide and i am thinking about only to reduce the ethanol to 20% and no reducing after this with pg at this time. Perhaps its a fuller flavour ? Is your extract with or without pg ? The main question is if i am able to taste in the ethanol in the juice later.

My extracts are all made with ethanol and reduced by 75% (to 25%.); no pg. I do not taste any alcohol at 5.5%, or even at 8%. Sometimes I mix the ethanol extraction with an equal amount of pg and let the ethanol evaporate. But that is not totally necessary.
 
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