Capsaicin extraction from Habaneros.

[JFish15]

There's nothing really special about this, just a simple extraction in ethanol.. but might as well put it up for anyone who cares.

My friends who work at Buffalo Wild wings, one of them being the kitchen manager, said they wanted to extract pure Capsaicin for their upcoming "Wing Fest" event, but said they'd rather have me overlook the procedure- plus they wanted to see if I could obtain anhydrous ethanol, but of course I told them that's just silly of course and they'd have to make due with 95% ethanol.

Anyway- 20 dehydrated Habanero peppers, 6 regular Habanero peppers, around 15 Jalapeno peppers, and a full spice sized bottle of Cayenne Pepper were put in a blender along with around 350-400 mL of ethanol from the chem lab.

Was let to sit in an 800 mL beaker overnight.. a couple hours later a blood red liquid settled to the top and if I remember correctly should be around 60% capsaicin and the other 40% other capsaicinoids. Could be the other way around though.. can't find the write-up they showed me.

I was really impressed with the yield even though we haven't started the extraction yet. It looks to be around 50-100 mL of shit.

This stuff is wicked though.. I went to swirl the beaker around, and apparently the saran wrap we had over it had some of the liquid on there and I touched my eye, and I felt like I was going to go blind, of course my friends said it look liked someone came in my eye.

Then along with my friend I touched my finger to the liquid settled on top and touched my tongue, and it was pretty miserable even though it was just one drop. Luckily, he had popsicles in his fridge.

Then of course we had gone out drinking and I was having trouble going to sleep though and decided rubbing one out might be the answer, I didn't realize I had never washed my hands and used lotion and my urethra caught fire. It felt like I was getting a catheter put in, but for 10-20 minutes. Needless to say I never finished what I started...

Anyway, if you feel you might have use for nearly pure capsaicin for malicious purposes and such, the yields are pretty great and the shit is awesome... They're going to have to make people wear gloves and sign waivers for anyone who wants to try and eat the Blazin' wings with a drop of two of the shit on each wing.

[Midnight Sun]

you aren't extracting anything from me

[Gun Lover]

I always assumed that the extraction of capsaicinoids was annoying, but looking at their apparent solubility in EtOH, it's easy.

Awesome, I've been looking for something to 1-up the Bhut Jolokias I've been eating

[JFish15]

Originally Posted by Gun Lover

I always assumed that the extraction of capsaicinoids was annoying, but looking at their apparent solubility in EtOH, it's easy.

Awesome, I've been looking for something to 1-up the Bhut Jolokias I've been eating

Na man I was as surprised as you were! I was expecting only to get like 10 mL or something and it'd be hard to separate from the rest, but it forms an impressive layer- and that was only like three hours later. We'll see how the boil down goes though.

[Indigo]

Yea oleresin is no joke. I have had all kinds of horrible experiences with it.

The problem is the stuff is messy, the end product is always a snotty thick liquid/tar, I would love to get something crystalline from habanero.

You really gotta remember to wash your hands, even after touching habanero ribs let alone the finished product. I made that mistake a few times, my girlfriend really paid the price for it once. Stuff was on my fingers and things ended up getting a little hot....things did not progress past foreplay, I guess that sort of killed the mood for her. She spent the next ten or fifteen minutes rolling around the bed, holding her crotch, literally screaming in pain.

BTW, I have had FAR better results using acetone instead of EtOH, and the vast majority of cap is concentrated in the ribs and seeds, no need to use the whole pepper.

[JFish15]

MAJOR fuck up... we were drinking beer while we were doing the boil-down and we forgot a very important part... FILTERING the chunky pepper shit out of the solution before the boil down. So we boiled down almost all of the alcohol and we were left with tons of chunk.

This Wing Fest is tommorow and I didn't really know what to do, so as a last resort I suggested using water as a means to add to the remainder of the shit as a means to filter it.. I don't know how it's going to work out, but I think the the good stuff and the water should make separate layers in the separator funnel.

I won't know till the morning because I didn't even realize I was imposing on my friends newest pussy conquest because I never take anything serious. I realized it in retrospect. I'm HOPING for the best.

I don't know how I manage to fuck up that bad without filtering from the beginning I hate my clumsy ass sometimes.

[Fractals]

Why can't you add more alcohol and filter?

[JFish15]

Originally Posted by Fractals

Why can't you add more alcohol and filter?

Well because I only grabbed a half liter sized bottle of 95% alcohol from the lab, and when we realized we fucked up it was the night before the wing fest. So I did a hail mary hoping the water would just provide a vehicle for me to be able to filter it even though it'd be more of a pain to boil off. But capsaicain boiling point is like 210-220 C so it was kind of a hail mary.

I couldn't trust my friend to do the boil down though, and he ended up throwing it all away even though I told him I'd still love to play with it.

I'm going to have to attempt it this time without fucking up on my own because I feel I have to finish what I started. I don't think they sell habaneros at grocery stores though

Anyway, I'd try it with acetone since it would be better, but I'm worried that maybe there'll be a residual acetone funk taste to it or something.

[Fractals]

Oh, that makes sense. I just woke up, my brains a little foggy...

[Kow]

Originally Posted by Habanero

you aren't extracting anything from me

Can I?

[Hydroponichronic]

Shit, why use capsaicin when you could just cook with NaOH? I find it burns a hell of a lot more.

[JFish15]

Originally Posted by Hydroponichronic

Shit, why use capsaicin when you could just cook with NaOH? I find it burns a hell of a lot more.

I know, I've had many a burn with lye and all its solutions.. they're the worst. I've spilled a little bit of HCL and H2SO4 on my fingers, but nothing burns as good as a nice strong base I've found.

[Von Bass]

Originally Posted by Hydroponichronic

Shit, why use capsaicin when you could just cook with NaOH? I find it burns a hell of a lot more.

Have you ever tried capsaicin extractions? They get fucking insane! Honestly one of the more dangerous things I think I've worked with, it would actually burn skin by the time I'd crudely concentrated it enough...

[Hydroponichronic]

Originally Posted by Von Bass

Have you ever tried capsaicin extractions? They get fucking insane! Honestly one of the more dangerous things I think I've worked with, it would actually burn skin by the time I'd crudely concentrated it enough...

You, know, I've always thought about it, if only to make a solution of capsaicin in DMSO with which to bring about a fate worse than death to those who would wish me ill MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!1!!

srsly, though. sounds neat. Might give it a shot one of these days. I always thought of doing a simple butane extraction on dried Cayenne pepper. Figured it would turn an oil that would be 50% capsaicin or some such.

[Gun Lover]

Originally Posted by Hydroponichronic

You, know, I've always thought about it, if only to make a solution of capsaicin in DMSO with which to bring about a fate worse than death to those who would wish me ill MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!1!!

Holy shit, you are a genius Even at a mere 1,000,000 scoville units, the concentration of capsaicin in Jolokia peppers, transdermal irritation ensues even at the fingertips.

@ 16,000,000 SHU, I couldn't imagine the pain of effective transdermal absorbtion

[stateofhack]

Right, so now where is Rizzo?

[Leshrac]

Originally Posted by Hydroponichronic

Shit, why use capsaicin when you could just cook with NaOH? I find it burns a hell of a lot more.

Ever saw that documentary where they went into a lab that produces 99.9% Capsaicin ?

That shit be nasty. REALLY nasty.

Originally Posted by Gun Lover

@ 16,000,000 SHU, I couldn't imagine the pain of effective transdermal absorbtion

Inhale... and die... :/

[Johnobody]

Did anybody try re-condensing the alcohol that is evaporated off of the slurry?

As I am trying to make something to discourage my dog from chewing on shoes, I think taking the oily layer off of chopped habaneros mixed and cooked with high concentration rubbing alcohol may be the right answer, but distillation may yield a purer, more volatile form of the oil.

Sure as hell, I'm going to have to cook this out in the garage because the last time I sauteed the habaneros and jalapenos with the onions for chilli, it made the kitchen a no-go area (in spite of the exhaust fan) and despite hand washing and sanitization, I must have had enough oil trapped in my pores that foreplay was intense. (In other words, clean the stuff off your hands as well as you can, then get busy. It'll add to the experience)

[tariel]

It's quite common to use cayenne pepper to discourage dogs from chewing things. You don't need anything majorly hot, just enough to make it uncomfortable.

[Gun Lover]

Originally Posted by Johnobody

Did anybody try re-condensing the alcohol that is evaporated off of the slurry?

As I am trying to make something to discourage my dog from chewing on shoes, I think taking the oily layer off of chopped habaneros mixed and cooked with high concentration rubbing alcohol may be the right answer, but distillation may yield a purer, more volatile form of the oil.

Sure as hell, I'm going to have to cook this out in the garage because the last time I sauteed the habaneros and jalapenos with the onions for chilli, it made the kitchen a no-go area (in spite of the exhaust fan) and despite hand washing and sanitization, I must have had enough oil trapped in my pores that foreplay was intense. (In other words, clean the stuff off your hands as well as you can, then get busy. It'll add to the experience)

Dude honestly all you'd have to do is rub the habanero cores wherever you want him to quit biting. It doesn't take a whole ton to discourage a dog; your average supermarket habs will be more than strong enough.

[Irukanji]

Stick it in a spray bottle and run through a crowded area. Spray copiously. Next they will ban all form of chilli peppers.

I wonder if this would work on cayenne pepper, it is easier to get in large volumes. Depends if the concentration of capsaicin is worth doing. Habaneros are $30/kg here at the moment too