Tincture questions + chocolate recipe

[billymcd]

I've only been looking at tincture recipes and videos for a short time, but I'm really interested in making one. A couple of questions though...

1. Is there a way to reduce the alcohol once infusion has been achieved? The reason I ask is firstly,  I'm trying to make an easy-dose medication for mum - who is allergic to alcohol. Secondly, a few years ago I accepted that alcohol and I don't get along and I gave it up. So if possible, I'd prefer not to introduce it back into my system again. 

2. If using tincture in a recipe (e.g. gummi bears) how is the dosage determined? I.e. Is there a way of knowing how many lollies you'd need for low, med or heavy doses?

I've seen videos where a dropper bottle is used and I love that idea for quick & easy dosing, however I can't find a great deal of info on cooking with tinctures. Butter is a non-option (allergies) so if tincture is a no-go, I might be left with coconut oil as the only option (for mum, not me).


Now the chocolate recipe! I roughly copied this from a guy on youtube (Chef Derek Butt), so all the credit is his:

1. 100g of 70% organic dark choc, melted over low heat in double boiler (don't use milk chocolate!) 
2. Added 10g of very fine, de-carbed herb + chopped walnuts (dried fruit would also be nice).
3. Folded together gently for 4-5 mins, then poured out onto baking paper-lined oven tray.
4. Refrigerated for 30 mins
5. Cut and weighed out into 10 equal pieces, then wrapped individually in glad wrap.  

They turned out awesome! I took a piece with me to a chilli festival, chomped down as I entered, then spent the afternoon blazed and taste-testing various chilli recipes. Super afternoon
 

[gippy]

Decarb the herb and then use iso to make oil.  You can add it to chocolate or anything else you want and you'll avoid all the filthy floaties

 

Also just divide what you put in by what you get out.  Your chocolate having 10g of bud in total could be divided between 10 people who all get a gram.  It's not accurate but it's close enough.  Oh and glycerine for your mum

Edited April 7, 2016 by gippy

[billymcd]

Decarb the herb and then use iso to make oil.  You can add it to chocolate or anything else you want and you'll avoid all the filthy floaties

 

Also just divide what you put in by what you get out.  Your chocolate having 10g of bud in total could be divided between 10 people who all get a gram.  It's not accurate but it's close enough.  Oh and glycerine for your mum

Thanks Gippy, that gives me some helpful things to research! I can't say I'd ever heard of a glycerine tincture, but it's exactly the kind of thing I'm after. Really appreciate it.

 

When you mention dosing re: chocolate, my concern was more about specifically using tinctures in cooking. Or did you mean that I should simply follow the same calculation method? For example, a recipe I found for gummy bears calls for 4 tablespoons of tincture. If I had a tincture made with 1/2 - 1oz of herb, I get a bit confused calculating how that would divide up in the finished product. There are just so many variables... how many candies the mix would make, size of the molds, etc. My poor maths skills don't help either. I'd be happy to learn via trial and error if they were solely for me, however if I'm offering as a medication to non-smokers, I'd like to be able to offer sound dosage advice. Anyway, I'm kind of thinking out loud now.

 

Thanks again for the tips!

[Sir PsychoHashy]

Yep, glycerine is the go if you want a non alcohol tincture, decarb first unless you want non activated tincture (which can still be good for some stuff), but aside from the obvious steep for several weeks for a cold press tincture I don't know the specifics for making it.  Personally I would use hash over green for 2 reasons, 1 is that straining it will be easier and not as important (I don't strain my coconut oil infusions with hash) as leaves have little fine hairs on them that can irritate the gut.  2 is that a measured amount of hash is going to give a closer estimation of dosage from one batch to the next. 

 

Glycerine would be better than alcohol for making medibles like gummy bears and choccies as well.

 

Coconut oil infusions are great for cooking, or there's a tute on the site for making capsules with it.  Again I use unpressed hash to make mine.  I also like to drop this infusion into a milky coffee like a cino as there's fats in the milk, it's simple as fuck, and the hashy taste goes really well with the espresso flavour.

 

Making ISO oil to use is okay, but as iso is basically pure alcohol you need to be sure you purge it completely.

[Gumby1]

you mean vegetable glycerine? .. how do i/we make tincture outta that?... just the same steps or is it different? ?.

 

i have a small bottle of it here.

[Sir PsychoHashy]

you mean vegetable glycerine? .. how do i/we make tincture outta that?... just the same steps or is it different? ?.

 

i have a small bottle of it here.

 

Yep, and to be brutally honest, I don't know.  I got a bottle once and was going to make a cold press tincture with hash but never got around to it so I never bothered figuring it out, but I do know it can be used.  I would guess it would be roughly the same method as for the alcohol based tinctures, but would research before doing.  Reason I wanted to do glycerine is because I just don't really like alcohol anymore and would prefer to keep it that way, but a bottle of hash infused Benedictine does sound appealing.  Other reason I haven't done it is because I've found coconut oil infusions to be a good medibles option, and haven't felt the need to go any further yet.  Might get another bottle of glycerine and have a crack when my current coco oil batch runs out, if so I'll post the method and results

[gippy]

you mean vegetable glycerine? .. how do i/we make tincture outta that?... just the same steps or is it different? ?.

 

i have a small bottle of it here.

Yep that's the stuff.  I haven't made it yet but from what I remember reading you treat it the same as you would an alcohol based tincture except that it has a much shorter shelf life so is best made in smaller batches.

[billymcd]

Thanks very much Sir! That's a big help.

Unfortunately I don't really have access to hash (yet). I've started growing a little plant, but I'm guessing I'll get little to no 'finger hash', when harvesting time comes. I planted her late as an experiment, so it's probably going to turn into a little marijuana bonsai!

Completely with you on the gut irritations though. It certainly wasn't enough to be unpleasant, but eating the chocs (with plant material) did cause a very slight 'gut tickle' before the high would come on. It's great to have a method such as yours which prevents this. I'm starting to think I might go the coconut oil route next, then perhaps tinctures after that. I've read nothing but positive reports about using coconut oil.

Oh and Gumby, this is what I found last night: http://www.hightimes.com/read/alcohol-free-cannabis-tincture Uni assignments have been taking my sole focus lately though, so haven't had much time to read up. Let me know if you give it a try!