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Tips How long before concentrate goes bad?

I'm not big into concentrates. I prefer to mix it with flowers and rarely do I dab straight up. When I do dab I tend to use my globe with an e-cig/pen. I can use my Evo but it's so much more work than the globe that I don't bother.

Due to the above concentrate purchases tend to last me 6 months or more. I keep it in a air-tight container that gets no light and keep it stored in a cool, dry closet space.

Anyone know how long it might be till it goes bad?
 
Anyone know how long it might be till it goes bad?
Hard to say. I have a huge gob of shatter that I have stored over a year. Its still good but it kinda fossilized into a rock hard piece of amber, it still works though.
 
I'm not big into concentrates. I prefer to mix it with flowers and rarely do I dab straight up. When I do dab I tend to use my globe with an e-cig/pen. I can use my Evo but it's so much more work than the globe that I don't bother.

Due to the above concentrate purchases tend to last me 6 months or more. I keep it in a air-tight container that gets no light and keep it stored in a cool, dry closet space.

Anyone know how long it might be till it goes bad?
Great question man!

In my experience, different concentrates merit different storage considerations. That shatter and rosin etc stores well in parchment, but sticky full melt is going to lead to delamination, loss and tears. Similarly, inadequately dried or improperly stored hash extractions (that is, including all of the contents of the trichome glands, not just the essential oil fraction) will spoil rapidly.

I recommend keeping a silica gel packet inside a glass jar with any ice wax type hashes (these tend to get their consistency from some residual moisture, you'll notice that these get cakebadder like as they dry more), you can of course use parchment in the jar. Protip: Use oxygen absorber packs which are similar to the silica gel sachets, this will also help prevent oxidation of your meds in long term storage.

For oils and rosins, oxygen absorbers are also helpful.

What kind of concentrate are you intending to store long term man?

@t-dub concentrates stored for that length of time require something to prevent oxygen, heat and light from getting into the jar. They also preferably need to be stored cold. For ultra long term storage of concentrates - airtight jars I mention above with silica inside should be placed in the freezer. This will minimize issues with moisture inside the jar due to the compressor activity in the freezer.
 
I'm going to gather up my concentrate jars, place them in a mason jar with an Oxy pack, vacuum seal it and store it in the freezer.

I microdose, so it takes me awhile to get through my stash as I prefer to switch up strains a lot, but I don't want it going bad.....
 
Great info here! I've been wondering for a while how to store my concentrates properly. :thumbsup:
Always glad to be of assistance Mom :D
I'm going to gather up my concentrate jars, place them in a mason jar with an Oxy pack, vacuum seal it and store it in the freezer.

I microdose, so it takes me awhile to get through my stash as I prefer to switch up strains a lot, but I don't want it going bad.....
This is an especially good idea if you microdose. Please be mindful of vacuum sealing packages since if you are not measuring the vacuum pressure you are creating in the vessel, you may in fact be creating a partial cold boiling situation inside which could mess with your actives. Of course this is just one less step to follow :)

Make sure that you keep silica gel in any such sealed freezer container as the moisture in your extract will be drawn to the outside of the jar in the freezer and this can cause conditions for mold and other related spoilage when you retrieve your material out of the freezer. The silica will help to manage the moisture.
 
OK. I won't vacuum seal the jars. But how about adding an oxygen absorbing pack to the jar? Or is this unnecessary if I store it in the freezer?
Depending on the compound doing the task of oxygen absorption, you may find that it does not operate optimally/at all in freezing conditions. Consult the manufacturer/vendor that sells the oxygen packs to confirm and if it works in freezing conditions - no problem :D
 
Don't use the freezer. The eliments are to harsh. Refrigerator is fine.
What do you mean by 'the elements are too harsh'?

Are you referring to the issue of freezer burn from auto-defrost elements in freezers that have this feature?

Even if I personally do not use a freezer that has these features, this is an important point to raise here! It is well known in the medical and scientific research community that sensitive samples should not be stored in auto-defrosting freezers as the heating cycle used on the freezer coils can lead to repeated thawing and refreezing of the sample - this can cause all kinds of problems.

The same feature of auto-defrost is much more widely, perhaps almost ubiquitously used in traditional refrigerators and so they can be a liability for the same problem. This is one reason why some in the right conditions use wine fridges.

If your freezer is self-defrosting freezer, you should not store temp/humidity sensitive organic materials like our meds inside for any extended period. Apologies for not having mentioned this above.

I suggest that all look at the specs of their own freezer before using it in the above fashion. I only recommend using a freezer for storage of cannabis medicines if yours is not an auto-defrosting freezer.
 
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Thanks so much to everyone who contributed to the thread . Especially @herbivore21.

@herbivore21 - you asked "What kind of concentrate are you intending to store long term man?" My answer is .... I'm not sure what kind of concentrate this is. I think it's a Chem Dog derivative and as far as structural look .... it's like the orange amethyst with the mosquito stuck in it that the movie Jurassic Park used to show where they got the DNA to create dinosaurs. Sticky and melts when touched. Another way to describe it would be to say it looks and feels like a piece of semi-cloudy dark orange glass.
 
...have some in freezer and some out..only storing the ones out for limited time (30 days or less)...rest in freezer..
 
Matt Rize, Rez heads, Nikka T and several other artists, store their jars of ice wax in a wine cooler.
This is one good option for some that I have also mentioned before. Wine coolers however cannot be used in all circumstances. In places that experience hot weather for example, the thermoelectric cooling used by these fridges (which reduces the risk of damage in compressor based fridges due to the behavior of the compressor and anti-frost mechanisms - the latter of which most refrigerators tend to have by the way) is ineffective at maintaining a sufficiently low temperature. These are very expensive fridges to purchase and if you have this cash to spend, IMO consider buying an appropriate lab specimen fridge designed for organic samples.

I mention the above methods because most cannot afford a specimen/wine fridge for this purpose. Remember that a separate fridge is quite expensive to operate as well.

@His_Highness glad to help brother! It sounds like your meds will keep very nicely in the method I described above. Remember if you find that your material is too brittle and shattery and gets stuck to the glass, heat the glass or the dabber a little on a warm surface ;) Use a flat HE dabber tool or similar to scoop all material off the similarly flat glass slide with ease :D
 
This is one good option for some that I have also mentioned before. Wine coolers however cannot be used in all circumstances. In places that experience hot weather for example, the thermoelectric cooling used by these fridges (which reduces the risk of damage in compressor based fridges due to the behavior of the compressor and anti-frost mechanisms - the latter of which most refrigerators tend to have by the way) is ineffective at maintaining a sufficiently low temperature. These are very expensive fridges to purchase and if you have this cash to spend, IMO consider buying an appropriate lab specimen fridge designed for organic samples.

I mention the above methods because most cannot afford a specimen/wine fridge for this purpose. Remember that a separate fridge is quite expensive to operate as well.

@His_Highness glad to help brother! It sounds like your meds will keep very nicely in the method I described above. Remember if you find that your material is too brittle and shattery and gets stuck to the glass, heat the glass or the dabber a little on a warm surface ;) Use a flat HE dabber tool or similar to scoop all material off the similarly flat glass slide with ease :D
I have no idea what all climates a wine cooler can be used. I just know that true solvent less hash artesians as well as some collectives that carry high end ice wax and dry sift use them here in Cali and CO. I however don't have jars upon jars of ffwp ice wax, so I simply seal and refrigerate. I've kept hash a very long time this way. I however absolutely never use a freezer for storage. I've done it before and won't do it again.
 
I have no idea what all climates a wine cooler can be used. I just know that true solvent less hash artesians as well as some collectives that carry high end ice wax and dry sift use them here in Cali and CO. I however don't have jars upon jars of ffwp ice wax, so I simply seal and refrigerate. I've kept hash a very long time this way. I however absolutely never use a freezer for storage. I've done it before and won't do it again.
I should definitely clarify that I absolutely do have jars upon jars of full melt bubble over the course of a year and store it long term (I don't make ice wax, I prefer to properly dry my whole, unruptured resin glands via freeze drying or in a more controlled, sealed environment that leads to less terp loss alongside the evaporating water). I make my own full melt, I only use full melt - full time, 24/7.

I have used freezer storage as described above and preserved the flavor of full melt for OVER A YEAR since it was originally made. I was the one that made it, I know exactly what it was like at every point in-between. I have achieved results with the above methods I described that have been more comparable to freeze dried full melt than the less terpy results we get from traditional drying methods.

Most wine fridges specify a maximum ambient temperature of 80f. Thermoelectric fridges cannot maintain temps much lower than 30f below the room temperature IME. For this reason, wine fridges simply won't work for a lot of people in a lot of parts of the world, where temps regularly rise beyond 80f.

In my scientific work (I am a paid, professional independent research scientist), I have learned that organic specimen fridges can run using compressors and are much more effective for our purposes, if you have the cash for a wine fridge (which is equally expensive) look into a specimen fridge instead.
 
I should definitely clarify that I absolutely do have jars upon jars of full melt bubble over the course of a year and store it long term (I don't make ice wax, I prefer to properly dry my whole, unruptured resin glands via freeze drying or in a more controlled, sealed environment that leads to less terp loss alongside the evaporating water). I make my own full melt, I only use full melt - full time, 24/7.

I have used freezer storage as described above and preserved the flavor of full melt for OVER A YEAR since it was originally made. I was the one that made it, I know exactly what it was like at every point in-between. I have achieved results with the above methods I described that have been more comparable to freeze dried full melt than the less terpy results we get from traditional drying methods.

Most wine fridges specify a maximum ambient temperature of 80f. Thermoelectric fridges cannot maintain temps much lower than 30f below the room temperature IME. For this reason, wine fridges simply won't work for a lot of people in a lot of parts of the world, where temps regularly rise beyond 80f.

In my scientific work (I am a paid, professional independent research scientist), I have learned that organic specimen fridges can run using compressors and are much more effective for our purposes, if you have the cash for a wine fridge (which is equally expensive) look into a specimen fridge instead.
Can you repeat that? Lol OK, I need no clarification of your credentials, nor do I agree or disagree. I simply stated facts. What some people do, and what I do. I've heard a million arguments on fresh frozen versus freeze dried versus dried and cured. Been there done that, and all in all, I use the old fridge for my "way less than yours" stash. ✌
 
Can you repeat that? Lol OK, I need no clarification of your credentials, nor do I agree or disagree. I simply stated facts. What some people do, and what I do. I've heard a million arguments on fresh frozen versus freeze dried versus dried and cured. Been there done that, and all in all, I use the old fridge for my "way less than yours" stash. ✌
lol no problem man, don't mind my verbose way of explaining things, I definitely provide much more detail in explaining due to old habits learned in my line of work :lol:

I definitely wanted to highlight that specific temp limitation of wine fridges all the same, since a lot of people could spend a lot of good money on something that may not work in their situation.

If you don't need to keep your meds long, fridge storage like you're doing should be no problem. Like you say, things are very different if you consume your meds quickly. I thank you for pointing it out - this is also important for people to know :cheers: (is there an alternative icon where two people clink their vapes together instead of glasses? :weed:).

@GreenHopper I would definitely use more specific language when making a claim like that :rofl:
 
Concentrate Shelf Life: How Long Does Cannabis Oil Last?

Finding a long-lost cannabis concentrate is a bittersweet moment. Your discovered concentrate was left stranded in a pair of jeans that had been stuffed in the far reaches of your dresser, untouched since that last camping trip. For about a year, it’s been sitting in between some parchment paper, waiting for you to unearth it.

The good news: no mold. The bad news: it doesn’t look like the translucent and golden “shatter” you once had. What’s before you now looks like a collection of off-yellow sugar crystals. Has this hash oil gone past its shelf life? Can you still enjoy it?

The Impact of Extraction Method on Concentrates



The golden standard in any extraction methodology is that the quality of the end product will always reflect the quality of the starting material. “Gold in, gold out; Garbage in, garbage out.” There’s a direct correlation between the quality of the starting material and what remains post-extraction. Inferior products containing compromised cannabinoid profiles will, in every case, result in an inferior extract.

Terpenes will almost always experience degradation of some kind during extraction. The loss will not only affect the flavor and medical efficacy of the final product, it could play a role in that product’s shelf life as well. Some products, such as those purposed for dabbing, utilize extraction methods intended for terpene preservation. Extractions meant for infusions such as for edibles, topicals, and tinctures however, may not necessarily need to utilize these terpene preservation methods.


Concentrates come in a variety of forms, ranging from extracts like saps, shatters, crumbles, butters, and distillates to sifted mechanical varieties like kief, ice water extract (IWE), and dry sift. Their attributes, such as consistency, viscosity, and clarity, are all byproducts of their extraction method.

The basic principle of an extraction is to remove the many impurities from the starting material, which include plant matter, fats and lipids, and other foreign contaminants. Many fats and lipids in solventless concentrates remain because they are more difficult to mechanically remove.

Solvent extractions, on the other hand, produce “oleoresins” that contain a combination of cannabinoids, flavonoids, and terpenes, as well as other impurities such as fats and lipids, in many cases. Through a secondary solvent filtration process called “winterization,” these fats and lipids may be removed from a product, leaving behind a more purified substance.

The process of winterization is known to cause some terpene degradation that could compromise both the flavor profile and the consistency of the final product. However, this process is necessary for the production of super stable hash oil products such as glass-like “shatters,” as well as high terpene-containing saps and sugars.

Terpenes, Cannabinoids, and Concentrate Shelf Life




The greatest perceived enemies of any concentrate, be it a wax, shatter, sap, or any cannabis oil-infused product, are all the same: light, heat, air, and time.
Concentrate varieties range in consistency from stable shatters and viscous saps to butters and sugary waxes. Each variety contains a different combination of molecules (e.g. cannabinoids, terpenes, lipids , impurities), but most carry a high concentration of the cannabinoid tetrahydracannabinolic acid (THCA).

The geometric structure of pure THCA is comprised of lattices stacked onto one another, forming a crystalline structure. However, THCA in a concentrate mixture will crystallize differently, depending on variables such as the ratio of other impurities present to agitation and temperature.



For instance, “shatters,” known for their super stable glass-like consistency, are typically monocrystalline in final form, meaning they exhibit many properties consistent with amorphous solids (they have softer melting point ranges and appear less rigid in molecular structure) when exposed to varying concentrations of terpenes, impurities, or even other cannabinoids like CBD.

In order for shatter to maintain a glass-like physical structure, it must go through further filtration to remove these impurities. If left in a product, these other components can do many things, one of which is to cause a “buttering” effect in a concentrate when agitated or brought to varying temperatures.



When terpenes or even other cannabinoids such as CBD are present in a concentrate, they can also act as emulsifiers (a mixing or solvating agent) to the crystalline THCA. A concentrate that is richly saturated in both THCA and in terpenes can take on different consistencies depending on how the product was agitated and at what temperatures that product was exposed to. These varying phases that concentrates exhibit (e.g. polycrystilline to amorphous) are largely influenced by the many impurities that prevent THCA from crystallizing.

Impurities can include anything from elevated levels of terpenes to fats, lipids, solvents, as well as the presence of other cannabinoids. For example, concentrates high in cannabidiol (CBD) will appear sappier due to the distinct structure of its molecule.



Over time, some shatters will sometimes “sugar out” as their terpenes degrade away, leaving a substance with a higher concentration of THCA behind. Although this process may compromise the experience a hash oil product may have once given, it’s not a final indicator that the product is unable to be used for vaporization (dabbing). Rather, it simply means that the molecular structure of the oil has changed as a result of the terpenes degrading out of the concentrate.

“Sugary”-like hash oils that were once “shatter”-like in consistency is our visual observation of what happens during terpene degradation, when THCA no longer has to worry about terpenes getting in the way of crystallization.

Cool, dark, dry, still environments (refrigerators, freezers, low cabinets, freeze driers) are best for promoting longevity of your cannabis concentrates.
The greatest perceived enemies of any concentrate, be it a wax, shatter, sap, or any cannabis oil-infused product, are all the same: light, heat, air, and time. All of these elements facilitate the degradation of terpenes and cannabinoids, and will hasten the process by which some of your concentrates and infusions change.

Cool, dark, dry, still environments are best for promoting longevity, and when exposed to as few environmental contaminants as possible, some of these products will last a very long time without changing or losing anything.

Optimal storage options include refrigerators or freezers, low cabinets, or a freeze drier. These will help to eliminate the variables that tend to break down extracts. Over time, the cannabinoids (and, in some cases, terpenes) will inevitably change in some ways, regardless of condition. THCA will eventually degrade to cannabinol (CBN), a process which creates an “amber-ing” or darkening effect. Shatters and other dabble oils with higher terpene profiles may also sugar up, just like the one you found in your dresser.



At the end of the day, that sugary shatter isn’t going to be a deal breaker. While your concentrate may not taste quite the same or give you that “full spectrum” feeling, a nice dab will still do the trick as those THCA crystals will still pack a punch.



 

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