So you've made a cannabis tincture and now you’re ready to evaporate off the alcohol to remove the burn, concentrate the volume, or make FECO - but you’ve heard it can be potentially dangerous. Have no fear! This guide will review all the different ways to evaporate alcohol from cannabis tinctures safely and effectively.
Why You Will Love This Method
So you've made (or want to make) an alcohol-based cannabis tincture.
You've heard that they're a great way to medicate and reap the benefits of cannabis.
But you're currently stuck with this unpleasant, burning, alcohol mixture that doesn't taste or feel good.
What can you do to fix the problem? Evaporate the alcohol!
But how? Especially when the process can be potentially dangerous?
Don’t worry! My guide will teach you how to evaporate the alcohol safely so you can eliminate the burn, concentrate for use in cannabis recipes, and make FECO with ease.
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Why Evaporate The Alcohol?
Whether you’ve made the Green Dragon long soak tincture or the Golden Dragon QWET freezer tincture, you've likely used high-proof alcohol.
The high-proof alcohol used during the extraction process is no doubt harsh and unpleasant for consumption.
But using high-proof alcohol is a necessary evil because it's a powerful solvent that helps extract the cannabinoids we want, like CBD and THC, from the plant matter we don't want.
The good thing is that you can completely eliminate the alcohol from the tincture through evaporation, leaving behind all of the good stuff.
Evaporation can happen naturally at room temperature, or you can speed up the process by introducing heat. Heat evaporates the alcohol faster, leaving concentrated medicine behind.
Additionally, air movement, such as with a fan, can help to evaporate the alcohol faster as well. Remember, evaporation can only happen when the tincture is exposed to air. It will not evaporate if covered with a lid.
There are many different ways to introduce heat to evaporate the alcohol from a tincture, some of which are safer than others. Let’s will review them below.
Safety Considerations
First, lets ensure we are safely evaporating the alcohol in a way that does not cause any physical harm.
Flames
High-proof alcohol is highly flammable and should not be exposed to open flames.
Exposing alcohol to open flames may start a fire or cause an explosion. When evaporating alcohol, take similar precautions as you would when handling gasoline or other flammable liquids and avoid open flames.
Skin Contact
Strong alcohol may cause skin irritation when there is direct contact. Always wear protective gloves when handling alcohol to minimize the risk of irritating your hands. It is also good to remove all contaminated clothing and wash it thoroughly after handling.
Eye Contact
Try to avoid splashing alcohol on your face as it can be dangerous for your eyes. If you accidentally get alcohol in your eyes, clean the eyes with water or regular saline. If symptoms do not go away after twenty minutes of washing, seek medical help.
Inhalation
It is recommended to evaporate the alcohol in an open place or in a well ventilated room.
Do not allow the vapor to come directly into your nose. If you feel you have inhaled the alcohol vapor, move to an open place with good air circulation.
Safe Evaporation Options
The main risk during the evaporation of alcohol is starting a fire or an explosion.
That means if you have a gas stove, you should not use it to evaporate the alcohol!
Since you are not advised to use an open flame, here are many safe alternatives that involve the use of no heat or indirect heat.
No Heat Method
You can actually evaporate the alcohol off just by letting the tincture sit at room temperature, but that can take a very long time.
Here is a picture of a shot glass I filled with 1 ounce of the tincture. It took approximately 3-4 days for all of the alcohol to evaporate off. This timing will depend on how much liquid is in the glass and the temperature settings where you are.
If you're patient, this no heat evaporation process works just fine. I recommend adding a coffee filter or other breathable material to the top of the container when air drying to keep any contaminants from getting in.
Indirect Heat Methods
Indirect heat is one of the safest, most popular methods to introduce heat to the container containing the alcohol for evaporation.
By introducing low heat, without flames, we can safely speed up the evaporation time. There are many simple ways to do this.
Here are some options my Well With Cannabis Community members have reported using as indirect heat sources:
When introducing indirect heat, I suggest placing the tincture in a mason jar first. This will collect the important FECO leftover at the end of the process.
Frequently Asked Questions
Evaporating the alcohol can be brand new to even the most seasoned cannabis consumer, so here are some of the most common FAQs I get asked from my Well With Cannabis Community.
Check out this guide here where you can discover how to order high-proof grain alcohol online and have it shipped to your door, or learn more about what to ask for when visiting your local liquor store.
These are just two different tincture-making methods. The Green dragon involves a long soak of 24-hours or more, and the Golden dragon involves the freezer and a short soak of a few minutes. You can learn more about the potency differences in these methods here.
If you have questions or are looking for guidance on your journey, I definitely recommend joining the Well With Cannabis Community where you can ask questions and get support.
Recipes To You Make With Your Tincture
My Edibles Made Easy Online Cooking Course will teach you how to easily make cannabis edibles and topical recipes at home. This step-by-step video course will teach you how to infuse, extract, and create edibles with many different product types - all from the comfort of your own home.
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L
Hi! When evaporating at room temperature, is there an ideal for the conditions the glass is left in? Humidity? Airflow? Light exposure? Thanks in advance!
Emily Kyle
L, the warmer the temperature, the quicker it will evaporate. Air circulation will help speed up the process, too 🙂
Francine
Would you please tell me how to use the coffee warmer to evaporate the alcool…..how long to leave it, etc.
Thanks so very much. ♥️
Emily Kyle
Hello Francine. I would put your tincture in a mason jar (with the lid off) and place the mason jar on the coffee warmer and turn it on. How long it will take will depend on your starting volume. You will know it's working when the volume begins to decrease and you see a black sticky substance left behind. That is the FECO 🙂
Lynsey
Thank you for this!! How will you know when the alcohol has evaporated?
Emily Kyle
You are most welcome, Lynsey! You will know when all of the alcohol is evaporated when you are left with a black, thick, sticky substance - that is your FECO 🙂
Roman Haller
Hi Emily. Your site is great! A big THANK YOU for your work!
As to evaporating alcohol, I think I have discovered another good method: I put the tincture in a shallow Pyrex dish and use a hairdryer directly on the liquid. It’s great because it combines heat and blowing the alcohol fumes away. Temps will stay below the 150C THC breakdown threshold. You don’t want to hold the hairdryer too close to the tincture in order to not overheat it or spill any tincture. This method is super fast!
Emily Kyle
Hey Roman! Thank you so much for your kind words, and thank you so much for sharing your fantastic method with us!! I really appreciate it 😀
David
Hi Emily. I love your articles. Thank you for you in-depth resources.
I’ve made some alcohol tincture according to your recipes but the high proof is way to “hot” for me to take sublingually.
Once I evaporate off the desired amount of alcohol, can I use the remaining to infuse with MCT Oil to make it more palatable?
Thanks.
Emily Kyle
Hey David, thanks so much for your kind words 🙂 Yes - the alcohol can burn so much! You absolutely can mix the remaining with MCT oil - I hope it makes the final product more enjoyable.
Will
Hi Emily,
Great website and info.
Long time pot smoker user 1967 - present
Using it now to help deal with cancer.
Any feeling about best strains for pain?
I’m switching from making your excellent chocolate chip cookies to gummies. I have everything (plastic pet syringe) and instant pot but what temp do I set it at?
Emily Kyle
Hey Will, thanks so much for reaching out, I'm sorry to hear you are dealing with cancer! I find that strains are very unique to each one of us, it's important to experiment to find what works best for you! As for the IP, I would set it to slow cook low - you can find full directions here 🙂
robert allen
after evaporation, how do you recover the Good Stuff ?
Emily Kyle
Hey Robert. That good stuff is FECO and I have a complete guide including the syringes I use to gather it all. You can read more here.
Kate
If using an induction stove top, what temp do I set it at. Flower was decarbed then processed in an infusion machine with everclear. Thanks!!!!!!
Emily Kyle
I would start with the lowest temperature first and then adjust as needed. Going low and slow is the best option to ensure it doesn't get too hot 🙂
Lynsey
I have let me tincture sit at room temp for a few weeks and it went from 6 oz to about 1-2oz. It’s still like a liquid and doesn’t appear sticky yet. It also still has a bit of alcohol burn. I’m going to place it on my candle warmer to help it along. My question is, not ever having made this particular tincture with high grain alcohol, is will it always have a horrible, slightly burning taste?
Thank you for your time:)
Emily Kyle
Hello Lynsey! Yes, as long as there is alcohol still present in the mixture, you will feel the burn, too. Unfortunately, the taste of the final product, FECO, isn't great either, but thankfully, you only need to use a little bit to get the effect 🙂
Devin
I've left my tincture out to evaporate. I didn't see the part about putting a coffee filter on top so it's been out in open air for a couple days. There's some brown spots forming on the top of the liquid. There's still quite a bit of liquid. Is this normal? Or could it be bacteria growing?
Emily Kyle
Hey Devin, it sounds like that is the FECO forming - you are looking for a thick, sticky, black oil at the end. It is unlikely it is bacteria growing given the strength of the alcohol, but theres always a possibility of cross contamination. I would use your best judgement!
lacie
This is my first batch I am using the crackpot bath method to evaporate. I have it on low. What temp is maximum temp to use this slow cooker recipe
Emily Kyle
Hey Lacie - all crockpots have different temperatures for high and low, so I would just keep it at low to be safe 🙂
George
I made my first tincture using the freeze method and 190 proof grain alcohol. I then evaporated the alcohol using an instant pot eater bath. The alcohol solution before it evaporated stayed around 180 degrees F. Once evaporated to FECO, I mixed in a small amount of olive oil to combine and make it easy to use a dropper (I read that somewhere and I don’t mind the taste). I tried a couple drops last night and really didn’t feel anything. Do you think it got too hot?
Emily Kyle
Hey George. No, I wouldn't think it got too hot. I would suggest taking more than a few drops to see if it's a dosing issue.
James
Hey, I was wondering if you lose any THC during the burnoff/evap process? I was using the tincture when it had more everclear and it worked great, when I evaporated the alcohol left the FECO was there but it wasn't more concentrated, like some of the THC had been burned off!
Emily Kyle
Hey James! I'm sorry to hear this 🙁 It is possible if you used too much heat during the evaporation process, THC can begin to burn off at 340°F+.