Dang! Thats great insight if you know this area well. What do you recommend please as the best way for me to process for maximum CBD? When I processed mine, I thought it literally tasted like burnt toast! I followed the recommendation to the letter with the timing. Temp prob etc, I even did pre-flight testing before I decarbed given the potential risk for loss. I was quite OCD to get it right.
Cheers, OCD here, too. It is quite doable to maximize the activation of CBD at home, it is just nowadays there are too much contradictory info and too little explanation out there. About activation of cannabinoids in general, there is a spectrum of temp+time set that could work. The problem is in the execution part. If CBD is what you want, then here are the things I learned along the way:
1. CBD doesn't decarb properly in oil in a water bath (100°C ), here is the proof:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6603222/
2. CBD is more volatile than THC, in a controlled lab setting, 140°C 8-12 min with instant cooling is perfect, but in a kitchen, it is not executable, you verly like end up burning CBD when cooking at a temp above 130 °C, because on one hand, oven temp fluctuates, one the other hand, the cooling down part takes time.
3. CBD doesn't decarb fully at a temp lower than 105°C . here is the proof:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5549281/
4. As long as you decarb CBD with a temp above 105, you will have a percentage of loss of the total amount of CBD + CBDA. It is normal, since smoking burns more than 50% of cannabinoids into ash instantly, still people are very okay with it. Decarbing in an oven is still the best option to minimize loss and maximize activation, comparing to smoking and vaping.
Basicaly, there are many things to consider here: 1. activation rate, 2. loss percentage, 3 execution. I make choices from all the possible temp+time sets base on my capacity to control the process. If you don't have lab standard equipment, then my way could also work for you.
These are the combos for maximized activation that are research backed (all CBD-a decarb into CBD):
A. 105 °C + 3-4 hours (minimized loss of total CBDa+CBD)
B. 110 °C + 1-2 hours (minimized loss of total CBDa+CBD)
C. 130 °C + 12 minutes (higher loss of total CBDa+CBD)
D. 140 °C + 8 minutes (higher loss of total CBDa+CBD)
So here is the question: which fits your kitchen invironment?
I personally go for the option B, since it yields result almost like option A, but takes shorter time. Option C and D are not controllable in my kitchen environment. I don't trust my oven to be accurate, and I don't trust myself to be that good at counting minutes.
This is only the CBD part, THC is an other story, the temp+time combos are different. CBG decarb is yet another story with things completely different.
This is what I came up with based on researches and tests. I hope it helps.