How to Make Full-Extract Cannabis Oil (FECO)

Features

• A powerful plant medicine that can be made at home
• Just 2 ingredients needed: cannabis flower & high-proof grain alcohol.
• No special equipment required.
• Can be used as a sublingual tincture, edible, or topical!
• Versatile and can be made with your favorite strain of cannabis flowers.

Why You Will Love This Method

For many people in my Well With Cannabis Community, FECO is the holy grail of all cannabis extractions.

Full-extract cannabis oil, also known as FECO, is a concentrated, whole-plant, full-spectrum cannabis extract made by soaking the cannabis in a solvent like alcohol.

The alcohol is then evaporated off, leaving behind the concentrated plant oils which hold cannabinoids like THC and CBD.

One of the few concentrates that is easy to make at home, this powerful product can be used for so many different needs from edibles and topicals to sublingual tinctures and capsules.

Continue reading to get step-by-step instructions for making FECO with tips on how to do it safely, so you end up with the purest plant medicine in the end.

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What is Full-Extract Cannabis Oil?

Let's break down the name FECO, or full-extract cannabis oil. We know cannabis oil, which is just an oil obtained from the cannabis plant.

Full-extract means that all of the important plant compounds, from cannabinoids to terpenes and other plant materials, are present in the extract.

FECO is a powerful concentrated cannabis extract that interacts with our own endocannabinoid system. It can be extremely potent, making FECO an excellent choice to be used for medicinal purposes. 

Once the FECO is prepared, it can be used in various application methods including sublingual, topical, and edibles.

Please note: it is not recommended to use FECO for inhalation or vaping.

What Is The Difference Between FECO and RSO?

If you're unfamiliar with the following abbreviations, be sure to check out this cannabis terms and abbreviations guide.

One important thing to note is that many people confuse FECO with RSO – also known as Rick Simpson Oil. 

RSO is FECO. Both FECO and RSO have the same final characteristics and appear very dark, thick, sticky, and tar-like consistency upon successful completion and both utilize alcohol as the solvent for extraction. 

The main difference between FECO and RSO is the type of alcohol used for the extraction.

FECO utilizes food-grade grain alcohol, a much safer solvent than the isopropyl alcohol or naptha used in the RSO method.

The final outcomes are similar, but isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol, like the kind you would find in your medicine cabinet) IS NOT SAFE TO INGEST. 

I DO NOT support the RSO extraction method.

Again, here we are making full-extract cannabis oil, FECO, with a tincture made with food-grade grain alcohol which is safe for human consumption.

If you are having problems finding high-proof, food grade grain alcohol, be sure to checkout this guide to help you access safe products.

Ingredient Notes

• Cannabis flower: You will need your desired amount of cannabis flowers, ranging from 1 gram up to 1 ounce or more. Choose THC, CBD, or CBG dominant flowers. You can purchase them from your local dispensary or purchase hemp flower from my online shop here. Do not forget to decarb before getting started.
• High-proof alcohol: You need high-proof, grain alcohol. You want at least 150 proof, but ideally 190 or 200 proof. Lower proof alcohols, like vodka, are not ideal. Be sure to check out my guide for where you can 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.

Note: a complete list of ingredients with amounts and printable instructions is located in the recipe card below.

Super Quick FECO Instructions

For my friends who just want a quick overview of the process, here it is.

Below you will find more detailed instructions for each step. 

1. Decarboxylate your cannabis in an oven or Instant Pot
2. Prepare a cannabis alcohol tincture like the Green Dragon or Golden Dragon
3. Evaporate off the alcohol using our safe evaporation methods
4. Store your medicine in a glass syringe or other container
5. Consume your medicine as an edible, topical, sublingual, or in a capsule

At the end of this process, we will have evaporated off all of the alcohol, leaving a small amount of concentrated cannabis oil. It is important to note that at the end of this process, you will have collected a very small amount of oil. A rough guesstimate expects to use 1 cup of tincture and collect only approximately 3 milliliters of FECO. 

The Step-by-Step Process

Note: complete step-by-step printable instructions are located in the recipe card below.

Step 1 - Decarboxylate Your Cannabis

Before jumping in and simply pouring alcohol over your cannabis flower, you need to make sure you don’t forget this crucial step – decarboxylation.

Without decarboxylation, you may not experience the full range of effects from cannabinoids like THC or CBD.

With this process, we heat the cannabis flower at a low temperature over a long period of time to allow complete decarboxylation to occur without destroying the other beneficial compounds such as terpenes or flavonoids. 

Decarboxylation can be done with the traditional oven or in the Instant Pot.

The time and temperature should be adjusted depending on whether you are working with THC flower, CBD flower, or even CBG flower.

Use this guide to decarb at the right temp for the type of flower you have:

• THCA to THC → bake at 240° F for 40 minutes
  
• CBDA to CBD → bake at 240°F for 90 minutes
  
• CBGA to CBG → bake at 220°F for 60 minutes
  
• THC to CBN→ bake at 240°F for 180 minutes

Step 2 - Make A Cannabis Tincture with Alcohol

The second step to making full-extract cannabis oil is to prepare a cannabis tincture with alcohol.

You can follow either the long-soak, Green Dragon method, or the Golden Dragon freezer method.

I ran my own lab tests to compare the traditional Green Dragon cannabis tincture to this Golden Dragon QWET tincture, and the results are posted here.

According to the results, the Green Dragon long soak tincture method produces a more potent tincture. However, this method also produces a stronger tasting tincture with more residual plant matter like chlorophyll. 

This leaves you, the consumer, with the decision of choosing potency over taste. 

For both processes, you will need your decarbed cannabis flowers and food-grade, high-proof grain alcohol. It is important to use high-proof grain alcohol for the best quality extraction.

Here is my complete guide for where you can get high-proof alcohol for making tinctures. You will not achieve the same results with lower proof alcohol like vodka or rum.

From here, you have many choices on what you want to do with your tincture. You can leave it as is, not evaporate, and simply have an alcohol tincture to use in cocktails like sangria.

Or you could use it in some of your favorite recipes, like gummies made with tincture. You can also pour the tincture over white sugar and make cannabis sugar with it. 

You can also move on to Step 3, where we evaporate off 100% of the alcohol to make FECO, or full-extract cannabis oil.

Step 3 - Safely Evaporate the Alcohol

There are a few safety concerns to keep in mind before you start evaporating off the alcohol of your tincture.

We are using high-proof alcohol, which is EXTREMELY FLAMMABLE.

That is why we want to be careful about how we evaporate off the alcohol.

If you introduce an open flame while you’re trying to evaporate the alcohol, you run the risk of starting a fire or, worse, having an explosion.

I do not ever recommend evaporating off the alcohol over an open flame or gas-burning stove. This is dangerous and unnecessary.

Thankfully, I have safe evaporation solutions outlined below.

Evaporation At Room Temperature

You can allow the alcohol to evaporate just by sitting at room temperature. It is the safest option, but it does 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.

I recommend adding a coffee filter or other breathable material to the top of your vessel to keep any contaminants from getting in. Use glass, if possible.

Evaporate Alcohol With Heat

We want to introduce heat to help evaporate the alcohol faster, without an open flame. My safe solution has ended up being a small (0.65 quart) mini-warming crockpot.

This is a perfect solution because the mini-crockpot does not heat above 160° F, meaning it won't destroy any cannabinoids.

Simply pour the tincture into a clean mason jar, place the jar in the mini-crockpot, and pour water around the jar, creating a water bath. Turn the mini-crock pot on and allow the water to heat up.

You want to make sure you do not have the lid on the jar, as this will slow down the evaporation process. Additionally, I recommend doing this in a room with good ventilation to keep the windows open and airflow moving.

The evaporating alcohol has a strong odor that may be unpleasant in a small, confined space. A fan can help here, too.

Additionally, if you don't have or want to use a mini-crockpot, I have many more ideas here in my guide for how to safely evaporate alcohol from tinctures.

During the evaporation process, the alcohol will begin to leave the container, and your volume will drop significantly. Don't worry, the good stuff is what is left behind.

You know you are getting close to the final stages of evaporation when the mixture starts to turn into a black, thick oil. There will only be a very small amount of this oil left at the end.

Step 4 – Store Your Medicine

When you have successfully evaporated off all of the alcohol, you will be left with a small amount of very dark, thick, sticky, molasses-like oil.

This is your FECO, full-extract cannabis oil. From here, you can collect it and store it in an airtight, glass, vessel of choice.

I recommend using these reusable glass locking syringes. Not only are they a great way to store your medicine, but they contain mL labeling, which helps make dosing easier. 

Collecting the FECO may be difficult due to its sticky nature. Be sure to collect the oil while it is still warm.

If it is too thick to draw into the syringe, add a few drops of either more alcohol or carrier oil of choice, like MCT oil, to thin it out.

How to Mix FECO With A Carrier Oil

Because of the sticky, molasses-like texture of the FECO, many people prefer to mix in a carrier oil, which will help to dilute the FECO and make a more viscous, tincture-like oil. 

One of the most popular carrier oils to mix FECO with is MCT oil, a form of coconut oil that is liquid at room temperature.

If you want an oil-based tincture, I recommend mixing 1mL of FECO with 29mL of MCT oil for a 30mL infusion.

Note: you may need to heat them together slightly to get them to combine.

If you have to heat them together, do NOT heat them in the microwave. Combine in a double boiler or use one of the gentle methods suggested here.

You can then store it in a dark bottle tincture like this one.

Step 4 – Consume Your Medicine

Once the FECO is prepared, various application methods can be used, including as sublingual, topical, or edible.

Again, it is not recommended to use FECO for inhalation or vaping. 

If you are new to using a concentrate like FECO in recipes and edibles, be sure to check out my guide to making edibles with cannabis concentrates.

How To Put FECO Into Capsules

Another way to consume FECO is to put it into capsules that can then be swallowed or used as a rectal or vaginal suppository.

For making capsules that can be swallowed, be sure to check out my guide to making and filling cannabis capsules.

How to Determine The Dosing

Want to get a more accurate guesstimate of the potency of your cannabis infusions and extractions? Try our popular edibles calculator!

Not sure what your perfect dose is? Learn more here.