How to Make a Cannabis Tincture: Easy Cold Alcohol Extraction
Last Updated on August 9, 2023
Come learn how to make your own homemade cannabis tincture using a simple cold alcohol (ethanol) extraction method with our step-by-step guide. I’ve included plenty of photos to make the process as clear and easy to follow as possible. There is also a printable summary at the end – though I don’t think you’ll want to miss the extra tips in the body of the post.
Tinctures are a convenient, discreet, and easy way to enjoy your plant medicine. It’s kinder to your lungs than smoking or vaporizing, and offers more controlled and consistent dosing compared to smoking or homemade edibles. (I love that I can take just a few drops if needed.) You can use this homemade cannabis tincture recipe with any of your favorite cannabis strains, with CBD hemp only, or like we do – with homegrown herb!
What is a cannabis tincture?
A cannabis tincture is a concentrated alcohol-based cannabis extract, often referred to as “Green Dragon” among the cannabis community. High percentage alcohol is used as a solvent to extract the medicinal compounds (cannabinoids and terpenes) from the plant flower or “buds”. Though tinctures are essentially cannabis-infused alcohol, you do not get drunk since only a tiny amount is consumed.
Cannabis tinctures are highly therapeutic. Studies show that cannabis can be used to soothe a wide variety of physical and mental ailments, including sleep disorders, stress, anxiety, ADD/ADHD, muscle tension, joint pain, migraine headaches, inflammation, seizures, cancer, chronic pain and more. Cannabis tinctures can contain THC only (such as THC isolate), a blend of THC and CBD, or CBD alone.
When it comes to CBD, I always use my favorite certified organic full-spectrum CBD oil from NuVita. It’s federally-legal and is the most effective, potent and pure CBD oil I’ve ever tried. It does wonders for my anxiety, TMJ, and sleep issues! (Use code “deannacat” or this link to save 10% off) But if we want something with THC, we make our own tinctures using homegrown cannabis. It’s fun, rewarding, and a great way to save money!
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What type of alcohol to make homemade cannabis tincture?
It is best to use either 190 to 200-proof food grade ethanol (aka ethyl alcohol) or 190-proof Everclear alcohol for this cannabis tincture recipe. Both are strong natural solvents that will effectively strip and separate the desired cannabinoids from the plant material. We use this USDA organic ethanol. It is pure food-grade grain alcohol, and doesn’t contain any additives or water.
Lower-proof alcohol (e.g. 80 proof vodka) is a weaker solvent and also has a higher water content than ethanol, which can interfere with the extraction and tincture-making process. You technically can make homemade cannabis tincture with vodka or other lower proof liquor, but it requires additional steps that we aren’t going to cover in this article.
Do not use rubbing alcohol.
What type of cannabis should I use?
It’s important to use decarbed cannabis in this homemade cannabis tincture recipe. If you’re not familiar with decarboxylation, it’s essentially the process of heating cannabis to “activate” it (explained more below). When exposed to heat, raw forms of THCA, CBDA, and other cannabinoids are converted to their active forms of THC and CBD – making it psychoactive as well as more therapeutic. (It’s the same reaction that occurs when you heat cannabis via smoking or vaporizing, and why eating raw bud doesn’t get you high).
Aside from that, use whatever cannabis you prefer or have on hand! Choose a strain (or combination of a couple) with traits you personally desire from your homemade cannabis tincture. We use what we grow: well-rounded sativa/indica hybrids that also offer a good amount of CBD. Learn how to grow your own organic cannabis at home here, and shop for seeds here.
For the most therapeutic tincture, I recommend using strains with a well-balanced THC to CBD ratio. If you’re looking for daytime relief with less mental effects, choose a CBD-dominant strain. Yes, you can totally use this cannabis tincture recipe with CBD hemp alone!
Why freeze alcohol and cannabis for extraction?
This homemade cannabis tincture recipe uses a cold ethanol extraction method, also referred to as quick wash ethanol extraction or “QWET”. Freezing the cannabis makes the trichomes detach from the plant material more efficiently. When mixed with cold ethanol, the desirable cannabinoids and terpenes readily extract and combine with the alcohol – resulting in a stronger, better tincture.
Furthermore, keeping the mixture at a very low temperature helps reduce the amount of undesirable compounds in your tincture, such as lipids and chlorophyll. It’s a chemistry thing, but basically the freezing temperature influences the polarity of the lipids and chlorophyll so they’re more likely to stay bound to the plant material (and therefore get filtered out) rather than combining with the ethanol.
When done right, the resulting filtered tincture wash will be clear and golden in color rather than cloudy or green.
Supplies Needed to Make a Homemade Cannabis Tincture
- 8 grams of decarbed cannabis
- 6 ounces of 190 to 200-proof food grade ethyl alcohol (ethanol) or 190 proof Everclear
- Freezer-safe glass containers, such as wide-mouth pint mason jars or half-pint jars with lids.
- Small unbleached coffee filters, like these ones
- Cheesecloth
- Digital Scale
- Dropper bottles to store your finished tincture. We like these 2-ounce amber bottles; the droppers have mL markers on them for accurate dosing.
Yields: 2 ounces of homemade cannabis tincture
Please note that this is a two-day process, though ingredients are just sitting in the freezer for 97% of that time.
INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1: Decarb your cannabis
To decarb cannabis, start by tearing up the buds into fairly small pieces. Then spread it out evenly on a baking sheet. For THC-dominant strains, heat the cannabis in the oven at 250°F for 25 to 30 minutes. For high-CBD strains, bake it for 40 to 50 minutes at the same temperature. (It takes slightly longer for CBDA to convert to CBD than THCA to THC does.) If you’re using a well-balanced THC:CBD strain, meet in the middle at 30 to 35 minutes. See this article for a more in-depth look at decarbing cannabis.
Don’t want to stink up the house? Consider using an Ardent Nova device for an easy, nearly odor-free decarboxylation experience. We just got one recently and love it!
Note that your cannabis will decrease in weight slightly during the decarb process (as it gets more dry). So, start with a few extra grams so you’ll end up with the 8 grams needed for this cannabis tincture recipe. Or, bake plenty so you have enough leftover to make homemade cannabis oil or topical salve!
Step 2: Freeze Cannabis and Alcohol (separately)
Use a scale to weigh out 8 grams of decarbed cannabis. Add the cannabis to a freezer-safe glass container with a lid. We like to use a wide-mouth pint glass jar. (Even though it seems more than large enough, the extra room in the jar makes it easier to shake compared to a half-pint jar.) Next add 6 ounces of ethanol to a separate freezer-safe container. Do not mix the alcohol and cannabis yet. Put both containers in the freezer for at least 24 hours.
Step 3: Combine Cannabis and Alcohol (First Wash)
After the initial 24 hours (or longer) is up, remove the cannabis and alcohol from the freezer. Pour ONLY HALF of the cold alcohol (3 ounces) into the container of frozen cannabis. Add a lid and shake vigorously for 5 minutes. Wrap the jar in a kitchen towel if it’s too cold to comfortably hold.
This process extracts the cannabinoids and terpenes from the plant material, and is considered the “first wash”. We’ll do two rounds total.
Now return the cannabis-alcohol mixture as well as the separate remaining 3 ounces of plain alcohol to the freezer for an additional 2 hours.
Step 4: Shake and Strain
Once the two hours are up, it’s time for another shake – and then we strain! Remove the jar of mixed cannabis and alcohol from the freezer, and shake it again for an additional 5 minutes. (We don’t need the jar of plain alcohol at this time.)
Next we’re going to strain the tincture through two mediums: cheesecloth first to filter the larger plant material, and then a finer coffee filter to further remove unwanted lipids and other residue.
First set up the coffee filter straining station. We find it easiest to set a small coffee filter in the top of a separate clean pint glass jar, fold it over the rim of the jar, and then screw on a lid ring to hold it in place. The cannabis tincture takes a while to seep through the filter, so holding it by hand isn’t fun.
Next, put cheesecloth over the jar that contains the cannabis-alcohol mixture (we use the ring trick again) and slowly pour it through the cheesecloth and into the coffee filter jar. See the photos below.
Now return the jar of remaining cannabis to the freezer while the first wash liquid is straining through the coffee filter (about 10 minutes).
Step 5: Second Wash & Strain
Now it’s time for the second and final wash. This step helps extract any final remaining cannabinoids from the plant material into your homemade cannabis tincture.
Grab the jar of cannabis that was in the freezer while the first wash strained (for about 10 minutes) and then repeat the washing/straining process from steps 3 and 4. Add the remaining 3 ounces of cold plain alcohol to the cannabis jar, add a lid, shake vigorously for 5 minutes, and strain through the cheesecloth and coffee filter once again – pouring it into the same filter and jar as the first wash.
Step 6: Reduce
After all the liquid has strained through the coffee filter into the jar, it’s time to reduce it by about half the volume. Excess alcohol will easily evaporate off, and the result is a more concentrated and effective homemade cannabis texture.
Do this by simply allowing the jar to sit out at room temperature with the lid off for several hours. We place the jar in front of a fan to help expedite the process. Note the volume of liquid in the container when you start (use a rubber band around the jar, or a glass marking pen). Keep an eye on it! Once it reduces by half, add a lid to stop further evaporation – or go ahead and bottle your final homemade cannabis tincture.
Step 7: Bottle and Store
Once it’s reduced by half, transfer the strained cannabis extract to a final storage bottle – such as these amber glass dropper bottles. Amber bottles are ideal since they reduce light exposure, which degrades cannabinoids. Store the bottle in the refrigerator for the best long-lasting quality. Congratulations, you just made a homemade cannabis tincture! Keep reading for usage and dosing information.
How to Use or Take a Cannabis Tincture
You can consume your cannabis tincture either under your tongue (sublingually) or mixed with a beverage (oral ingestion). Sublingual consumption will result in more immediate effects, while oral ingestion will have a slower onset but longer-lasting results. See the graphic below.
However, proceed with some caution! 200 proof ethanol is very strong, and I find it causes a burning sensation when applied straight under my tongue. To avoid that, I put a very small amount of water in my mouth first, squirt in the tincture, hold the diluted mixture in my mouth for a few minutes, and then swallow. Therefore my intake is mostly sublingual, but with a little oral ingestion too.
Strength and Dosing for Homemade Cannabis Tincture
When first trying your tincture, I suggest to start low and go slow. Without lab testing, it’s difficult to say exactly how potent a homemade cannabis tincture is. There are simply too many factors: the initial cannabinoid concentration and strain you used, how long and hot you decarbed it, the efficacy of your ethanol extraction process, and how much it was reduced at the end.
Start with a few drops, and then gradually increase the amount to find your “sweet spot” and desired results. (But wait a couple hours to see how you feel before taking more.) With this recipe, a quarter dropper is a fairly conservative starting point. I personally like to take .25 mL or a quarter dropper (though I’ve taken more just fine) while Aaron prefers about .5 mL or half a dropper. That’s just enough to take the edge off, relax our muscles, and help us sleep better without being too stony.
That was fairly simple, right?
Well folks, I hope this tutorial was easy to follow – and will enable you to successfully make your own cannabis tinctures at home now. Let us know if you have any questions in the comments below. If you found this information useful, please consider leaving a rating/review and pinning or sharing this post. We greatly appreciate you tuning in today. Now go have fun making your own medicinal Green Dragon!
Don’t miss these related posts:
- How to Grow Organic Cannabis at Home: Seeds, Soil, Containers, and Care
- Homemade Cannabis Oil Recipe
- Homemade Cannabis Salve Recipe
- How to Feed Cannabis, Organically: Top-Dressings, Teas & More
- Organic Cannabis Pest Control: How to Keep the Bugs Off Your Nugs
- How to Harvest, Dry, Trim, Cure and Store Cannabis
Homemade Cannabis Tincture Recipe
Equipment
- 2 freezer-safe glass containers, such as wide-mouth pint mason jars or half-pint jars
- 1 small unbleached coffee filter
- cheesecloth
- digital scale
- Baking sheet
- freezer
- bottle for final storage, such as 2-ounce amber dropper bottles
Ingredients
- 8 grams decarbed cannabis
- 6 ounces 200-proof food grade eylth alcohol (ethanol) or 190-proof Everclear alcohol
Instructions
- Decarb your raw cannabis. Tear it up into fairly small pieces and spread on a baking sheet. For THC-dominant strains, heat the cannabis in the oven at 250°F for 25 to 30 minutes. For high-CBD strains, bake for 40 to 50 minutes and 30 to 35 minutes for a well-balanced THC:CBD strain. (I suggest starting with a few more than 8 grams since it will get lighter as it dries.)
- Add 8 grams of decarbed cannabis to a freezer-safe glass container with a lid, and 6 ounces of ethanol to a separate freezer-safe container. Put both containers in the freezer for at least 24 hours.
- First Wash: After the initial 24 hours (or longer), remove the cannabis and alcohol from the freezer. Pour only HALF of the cold alcohol (3 ounces) into the container of frozen cannabis. Add a lid and shake vigorously for 5 minutes. Now return the cannabis-alcohol mixture as well as the separate remaining 3 ounces of plain alcohol to the freezer for an additional 2 hours.
- After two hours, remove the jar of mixed cannabis and alcohol from the freezer and shake it again for an additional 5 minutes. Then strain the mixture twice: first through a cheesecloth and then through a coffee filter into a separate clean container (as shown in this article). Return the jar of remaining cannabis to the freezer while the liquid is straining through the coffee filter (about 10 minutes).
- Second Wash: Grab the jar of cannabis that was in the freezer while the first wash strained (for about 10 minutes) and then repeat the washing/straining process from steps 3 and 4. Add the remaining 3 ounces of cold plain alcohol to the cannabis jar, add a lid, shake vigorously for 5 minutes, and strain through the cheesecloth and coffee filter once again – pouring it into the same filter and jar as the first wash.
- Reduce the liquid by half via evaporation. Simply set the jar out at room temperature with the lid off for several hours, or place in front of a fan to expedite the process. Note the volume of liquid in the container when you start. Once it reduces by half, add a lid to stop further evaporation – and/or transfer your finished tincture into it's final storage bottle.
- Store your homemade cannabis tincture in an opaque glass bottle in the refrigerator. We recommend 2-ounce amber dropper bottles.
- Consume the tincture either under your tongue (sublingually) or mixed with a beverage (oral ingestion). Sublingual consumption will result in more immediate effects, while oral ingestion will have a slower onset but longer-lasting effects. **Please see notes of caution and additional information on usage/dosing below.
Notes
- **Ethanol alcohol is very strong and may cause a burning sensation when applied straight under the tongue. To avoid that, I put a very small amount of water in my mouth first, squirt in the tincture, hold the diluted mixture in my mouth for a few minutes, and then swallow. Therefore my intake is mostly sublingual, but with a little oral ingestion too.
- Re: Dosage, start low and go slow. Start with a few drops, and then gradually increase the amount to find your “sweet spot” and desired results. (But wait a couple hours to see how you feel before taking more.) With this recipe, a quarter dropper is a fairly conservative starting point.
Deanna Talerico
Deanna Talerico (aka DeannaCat) is a garden educator and writer with over 15 years experience in organic gardening. She is a retired Senior Environmental Health Specialist, and holds a M.A. in Environmental Studies and B.S. in Sustainability and Natural Resources.
481 Comments
candace marty
Might be a silly question, but what does one do with the cannabis/ethonol remnants? Throw away? Seems a waste. Suggestions?
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Candace, if you want to use the leftover plant material, spread the flower out on a plate or baking sheet and let the alcohol fully evaporate until the plant material is fully dried. You can then use the dried cannabis for tea, make cannabis oil to use in edibles or to make a topical salve. The plant material will have less cannabinoids in it since you already extracted some of them with the ethanol. Hope that helps and good luck!
Thomas
I just made your tincture and it was easy andof high quality. You mentioned using the leftover plant material in a tea. Do you have any instructions on making the tea from the leftover material? Do you just steep it as you would any loose leaf tea?
Thanks in advance for your response!
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Thomas, great to hear you had such success making the tincture! It is incredibly easy to make and an efficient way to medicate, as far as using the leftover plant material for tea once the alcohol has fully evaporated from it. Some people simmer the plant material in water for 10-15 minutes with a little bit of butter or coconut oil which will help the infusion but you can also likely just steep some for 15 minutes or so as you would loose leaf tea with a bit of coconut oil or butter as well. It may not extract as many cannabinoids as a longer simmer or steep. Hope that helps and good luck!
Samuel Fordyce
If I use a blowdryer to evaporate, will the added heat affect the reduced tincture?
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Samuel, the heat shouldn’t be high enough degrade the tincture but not sure how efficient the blowdryer will be at reducing the tincture. Usually setting the jar right in front of a fan with the air movement causing ripples over the top of the liquid is enough to reduce the tincture within 3-5 hours. Hope that helps and good luck!
Steven
Can you take this recipe and up it to an Oz of flower? Or will you see diminished returns the more weight you try to wash all at once?
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Steven, were you planning on increasing the alcohol amount as well or were you just trying to make a ridiculously potent tincture? I have made a mostly CBD tincture with homegrown flower and have used close to 12 grams of flower (while only using the amount of alcohol we recommend in this recipe) and the alcohol still breaks down the flower fairly well and seems to wash it just fine without any diminished returns. I will say though, the recipe as listed, makes a very potent tincture after you reduce the amount to 2 ounces total volume after evaporation. Hope that helps and good luck!
Steven
Thanks for the info. I just had an Oz of shake I wanted to try the recipe on. I am having trouble dissolving off the alcohol though, do you think it would work and be okay to use a slow cooker on low setting to dissolve excess alcohol?
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Steven, yes you can use an electric slow cooker to evaporate off the excess alcohol. I would fill the slow cooker with a small amount of water to create a water bath for your jar of tincture, as the water heats up, the excess alcohol will burn/evaporate off. Do this in a well ventilated area and be sure there is no risk of flames as the alcohol is extremely flammable. Hope that helps and good luck!
SdotMars
Glad I cam across this recipe, I’m in the process now and was wondering if it’s ok to leave everything in the freezer for longer than 2 hours after the first wash? Right now I added the 3oz into the bud jar and it’s in the freezer but is it ok to leave it there until tomorrow and strain? I certainly do not mind if that makes it more potent, in fact I prefer it but I’ve also heard that it can pull out too much plant material and change the taste – using for edibles so wasn’t sure if that’s a factor? Thanks!!
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi, you can leave it in the freezer for a full day after you combine half of the alcohol and the cannabis but we don’t find it to be necessary, the freezing cold alcohol helps strip the cannabinoids from the plant material fairly easily. Not sure if 24 hours together is long enough for it to pull out too much chlorophyll to mess with the taste too much, but again, it’s likely not necessary unless you are going to be busy and can’t finish making the tincture at that time. Hope that helps and good luck!
SdotMars
Great thanks so much – the recipe was easy to follow and the tincture looks good. I’ll be using it to make some gummies this weekend!
munky
After I finish making the tincture, do you think I might be able to add a little glycerin to cut the burn a bit? I don’t want to change it too much but, the burn is horrible.
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Munky, you likely can although I am not familiar working with glycerin. Just add your dose to a small glass of water or juice and that takes care of the burn, the effects will take slightly longer than a sublingual dose but it is still usually felt within 45 minutes or so versus the 15-20 minutes (roughing) for sublingual dosing. Hope that helps and good luck!
Doug Nimrod
Looking forward to making my first tincture. Can I infuse the everclear with blackberries ? If so should I do it first or after I have made the tincture ? Thank you🎃
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Doug, I would infuse the blackberries (you can muddle them a bit to increase surface area for better infusion) in the Everlclear for a couple weeks before you then strain out the blackberry bits then place the Everclear in the freezer for 24 hours before you begin the process of making the tincture. You could infuse the blackberries for less time as well but they will likely infuse more flavor the longer they infuse. Hope that helps and good luck!
cheryl
Hi guys, i have a question about decarboxylation. Can I decarb just dried bud or should i let it cure a while first?
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Cheryl, you don’t have to cure the cannabis before decarbing as long as your flower is fully dried. However, there will likely be a bit more of a “green” flavor to the tincture as there will be more chlorophyll present in the flower compared to when it is allowed to cure and age a bit beforehand. Hope that helps and enjoy!
Andrew
I’m looking to make a more concentrated solution. Do you loose any potency if you reduce by more than half? In other words, when reducing is the only thing evaporated the alcohol with no cannabinoids?
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Andrew, you do not lose any potency whatsoever, the more you reduce it, the more potent it becomes. If you evaporate all of the alcohol off you would be left with FECO (Full Extract Cannabis Oil). Hope that helps and good luck!
Julie Marinelli
Hi Deanna,
I am in the evaporation process, but it’s been two days with no evaoporation? I have not attempted the to use the fan yet, but will definitley see if it helps. My husband and I made this together and I feel we followed the steps closely. Just wondering if you have any other suggestions in regards to the evaporation process. To note, we used Everclear.
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Julie, using a fan to blow air over the top of your tincture should help it evaporate much more readily. I usually make sure the air is blowing over the top of the tincture so I can see ripples in the tincture and it usually takes around 3 hours for me to get it to reduce to 2 ounces or just under. Hope that helps and good luck!
Renee
Hi again, I’m new to diy tinctures and want to see if I’m doing the math right. The cost for 10 grams of raw flower (8 plus 2 extra as you advised) is about $60. That seems incredibly expensive for 2 ounces and doesn’t include the cost for the alcohol. Does that sound reasonable? I wish Florida allowed home growing. I thought diy would be more affordable. Also wondering why smoking flower lasts so much longer than using it for say canna butter which I made last month. I had to take 2 whole droppers full to feel any effect vs a tiny pinch smoked.Thanks for any guidance here.
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Renee, this tincture recipe uses 8 grams of decarbed flower but you could just use 7 grams of flower before it’s decarbed if that weight is more accessible at a dispensary, it will still be pretty potent. The higher proof alcohol you use will result in a better extraction, meaning you will extract more cannabinoids and the resulting tincture will be more potent. We like to use the 200 proof ethanol from Culinary Solvents but you can also look into 420 Extractor which sells ethanol cheaper and they ship to Florida.
Two ounces of tincture after it’s reduced such as in this recipe, creates a potent tincture that can actually make your flower go further. You can estimate that .5 ml is considered a regular dose, if using 20% THC flower, that would make a .5 ml dose around 10 mg of THC. There are 60 ml in 2 ounces which means this recipe would give you around 120 doses of tincture if using .5 ml. I am not sure how many doses 1/4 ounce would give you when you are smoking it instead compared to the tincture. Hope that helps and reach out if you have any other questions.
Mark
Does this alcohol extraction process kill/remove mold?
We had a very wet summer for outdoor growing and lab testing showed 180,000 cfu/g mold count.
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Mark, from what I have read, high proof alcohol such as food grade ethanol will kill mold but not mold spores themselves. Looking at what is allowed in some states as far as cfu/g for mold goes, the highest numbers allowed in some states is 100,000 cfu/g for mold count and it looks like your numbers are almost doubling those, not sure what type of mold it is or the health ramifications of ingesting it, even if it is washed with good grade ethanol. I would do your own research and make the best choice with your health in mind. Good luck!