capsaicin Capsaicin extraction from pepper?

J

jakeb

Is anyone familiar with a way of extracting capsaicin? I don't need pure capsaicin but I won't to create something really potent; almost like pepper spray. It should be fairly inexpensive (I can't spend $1000 on scientific equipment).
 
     I imagine you could use grain alcohol to extract capsaicin from dried peppers. Just blend them together, filter out solids and evaporate the alcohol. It's gonna take a lot of peppers to get an appreciable amount of capsaicin, though.
 
I used a big mason jar and filled it with pepper flakes and everclear. It sat in the fridge for around 2 weeks and i took it out and shook it up real good every couple days. After a while the everclear was a deep red and i ran it through a series of strainers and finaly through new pantyhose filter any last visable particals. It was then put in a glass baking dish and covered with a cheese cloth to keep out bugs and dust. I let a fan blow on it a few days and was left with a dark red film in the bottom of the dish. I used a razor blade to scrape it off the glass and into a ball.

Lol.. now this stuff was hot but way concentrated. A pepper "hash" was basicly all that was left. The thing is that its just a concentrated cap and will only be as hot as the peppers you use. Don't get me wrong its more of a pure form so use it moderatly depending on what type of pepper you use.


Or you could go buy a piece of pvc and 2 caps. You want a hole in one end and a smaller hole in the other. You'll also need to go to your local head shop and buy medical grade butane. Stuff the pepper in the tube and put the top with the small hole on top and run the butane through it. After sitting for a while or being cooked low on a hot plate will bring the same results a little faster. Your head shop prolly sells these glass tubes that are shaped like a big vibrator, screens and a strap to hold the screen in place but pvc is cheaper.
 
Smileyguy, I am wondering why you put the everclear/pepperflakes in the fridge?  Also I don't understand what you mean by it will only be as hot as the peppers you use, if that is the case what is the purpose?  Or does that mean that the hash will only ever contain as much capsaicin as the peppers did, albeit in a small volume?
 
Robisburning said:
Smileyguy, I am wondering why you put the everclear/pepperflakes in the fridge?  Also I don't understand what you mean by it will only be as hot as the peppers you use, if that is the case what is the purpose?  Or does that mean that the hash will only ever contain as much capsaicin as the peppers did, albeit in a small volume?
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I'm not sure why I put it in the fridge because the alcohol disolves the oil from the pepper. Tbh i before i did it i had read a bunch of threads on making hash and figured since alcohol disolves both thc and cap might as well do it the way the kid in the thread did. Now i do know cold water extraction works great to make bubble hash so thats prolly why he did it.


Any way the part about "the extract will only be as hot as the peppers you use" was hard for me to word without explination. For example if you cut a juciy hab open next to a scorp and licked the oil one at a time the scorps oil is hotter. So if he does side by side extractions and #1 is 300 thousand shu and #2 is 1.2 million shu #2 will still be hotter because were not using a lab to break it down to the pure form. Basicly what I'm getting at is we're just extracting the oil and not refining. So i could throw 2 pods in a pot of chilli but the extract is concentrated so it takes less and seems hotter because your putting more oil in.
 
Awesome, thanks for clarifying.  I am familiar with the butane extraction but have not tried it on chilli peppers.  I found it was not a very strong solvent so took only the most readily available crystalline elements of the plant without extracting any chlorophyll etc. Very good for herbal extractions.
 
I honestly think its cheaper and safer to just buy some. I get its the fun of doing it but if you are looking for a cheap way that is the cheapest. Like pure evil " I understand it is not an extract" you can get the newest 9.6mil for less than 100$ I think. but like I said its the fun of doing the project so if you end up doing it less us know what happens.
 
Robisburning said:
Awesome, thanks for clarifying.  I am familiar with the butane extraction but have not tried it on chilli peppers.  I found it was not a very strong solvent so took only the most readily available crystalline elements of the plant without extracting any chlorophyll etc. Very good for herbal extractions.
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No problem rob. Honestly i haven't tried the butane method on peppers either but know a guy that swares by it for other extractions. I kinda wonder if doing it that way works from the frezzing temps of the butane. The cold has to play a part in it somehow but I'm no expert and haven't googled it.

Nightshade said:
I honestly think its cheaper and safer to just buy some. I get its the fun of doing it but if you are looking for a cheap way that is the cheapest. Like pure evil " I understand it is not an extract" you can get the newest 9.6mil for less than 100$ I think. but like I said its the fun of doing the project so if you end up doing it less us know what happens.
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Lol.. You are exactly right also. For me it was about having fun and experimentation. Yes you will get a better prouduct buying some of the pure evil and it would definatly be cheaper if you were to try and aquire all the equiptment to do a proper extraction. I also have to point out I've never tried any of Annes product. Around the same time i tried my experiment i did buy some stuff off ebay tho. It was a 1.6 million shu extract and it tastes like crap so if i ever but more I'll most deffinatly buy the texas creek.
 
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