Ha! Ha! No pictures please. Ha! Ha! 
On a serious note it is a good way to take large doses for cancer treatment.
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No pre-decarboxylation needed.
But remember alcohol vapor is mega-flamable, and it STINKS 
like boiling hashish.
Dont blow yourself up (you wouldnt be the first or last to do so) 
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I would, personally, decarb before hand. Put it in the oven, uncovered, at 250°F for 40 minutes. This also helps dry out the bud and makes a cleaner extraction. Also check the proof of your alcohol, Everclear is sold both as 40% and 95% alcohol. You can use either, but again you will get a cleaner extraction with the 95% because it has less water in it.
The alcohol evaporates at 170°F and is not hot enough for decarboxylation. Once the alcohol evaporates, it will jump to around 210°F until the water is gone. If using a double boiler, it won’t get much hotter than that. It would take between 1-2 hours at that temperature. Of course you can decarb after, but I find it easier to decarb bud than oil.
Just my two pennies. Feel free to ask any questions here. I’ll be happy to help you with this process.
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I just scored some old bud my bro remembered he had in the back of his closet. He thinks it might be a year old or maybe 2 years… he smokes a LOT 
Its very dry, but still has pretty strong odor and no signs of mold. He cant remember the last time he smoked any, but he said it gave him a good hi. He doesnt use it often because it was harsh to smoke.
Would it hurt to add this stuff to the fresh bud I just bought when doing the RSO thing?
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No mold or anything I’d think it’d be ok… old bud supposedly has delta 8 THC which is allegedly a milder more tolerable high for some… it’s worth a google. Though it is probably converted into 11 hydroxy in the body just like delta9 when eaten.
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You lost me with the chemistry, but thanks for the help!
Yes, I would definitely use it. 
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Ok, its going in the mix
Another question just occurred to me. Do I need to cure the plants Im growing if I dont intend to smoke - just go straight to RSO?
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correct, (if dry)…
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No curing is good. That will save me some time at the end of the grow. 
Ok, I did the decarbing at 250 deg, and just finished the soaking and filtering. I did a 3 step wash.
I crammed all of it into a 1 qt mason jar, and packed it in pretty tight, crushing and busting up chunks as I went. Then I did a first wash with about 1/2 full of the 190 EverClear for 3 minutes and drained that off through a coffee filter. Then I did a second wash for about 5 minutes and then a third for 10 minutes. The first two washes came out very brown/amber colored and dark. The third was much lighter, so I hope I got most of the good stuff out. Then I ran the liquid through another coffee filter cycle and its in jars now.
Tomorrow I plan to do the boil off - outside in the open air with a fan and a hot plate.
I just realized I now have just under 1.5 liters of Green Dragon tincture! I saved some of the tincture aside to try as is. Im going to try some of that later tonight in some tea.
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I am surprised there was much left after this first run. Hmm.
The buds all turned a bit brown during decarbing, plus those old buds were really really dry and parts of it crumbled into powder almost. Im thinking the initial dark coloration may have been largely from that browning and crumbled stuff? The first coffee filter had a layer of brown mud looking stuff in it.
That brings up another question I had while reading up on the RSO and Green Dragon techniques. The suggested soak times vary wildly from one ‘how to’ to the next. I saw soak times from 2-3 minutes (repeated two or three times) on the RSO pages, up to several weeks!
Im assuming this is largely due to human nature - most people NOT being very scientific or precise when doing ‘testing’ and reporting of results. I wonder how much partaking of the end product has to do with that as well
Maybe, but any oils in the product should have been dissolved in the first few seconds of contact with everclear.
That goes along with what I read about the RSO technique. The first wash is supposed to get something like 80% of the oils out and the second, third, etc to try try to get the last 20% or so
It just occurred to me that one thing I did NOT do per the instructions, was to fill the container to the top with EverClear. I only filled it up 1/2 way, then rotated and shook it up for the whole time is was soaking. So my first two washes would have been equal to one time filling it to the top.
Don’t know, never been where you are now.
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I steeped my batch for 24 hours in the freezer after reading conflicting information on how long to soak. I did notice the alcohol turning dark within seconds, I wouldn’t be surprised if all the oils were extracted in a few minutes.
I ground the herb up with a sieve and then poured alcohol in the jar until it was about 1 cm above the level of the grated herb.
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Its been a looooong time, but if I am remembering my high school chemistry correctly, its not the time that limits how much stuff can be dissolved in the solvent. Its quantity and temperature, but mostly quantity. The alcohol, or any other solvent, will have a saturation point. In other words, 1 liter of any solvent, will be able to absorbe a certain amount of canaoils and no more. It wont matter how long the stuff soaks, once its saturated, no more will be dissolve - no matter how long you wait.
The question is - what is that point? Can 190 EverClear dissolve 1 gram of canaoil or 2 or?.I havent read where anyone actually tested that.
I suspect thats why some recommend multiple soaks. By the second or third soak, if the solvent is lighter in color, then you are getting most of the good stuff out.
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By the way, I tested out some of the EverClear solution in a cup of tea last night. It works great! Still has some bad taste and odor, but its much much better than the glycerin stuff I made last time, and its more potent. Im still gonna do the distilation and make some capsules, but this version of Green Dragon would be acceptable on its own.
Its hard to be sure because I dont know how good that old dried stuff was, but Im fairly confident I got more good stuff out by using EverClear than glycerin in terms of number of doses created from a given amount of bud. EverClear maybe twice as effective as glycerin, and for sure way easier and faster.
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You will likely not hit the saturation point with ethanol, it is pretty high. What you did should work out fine. Quick warm washes work. I like to freeze everything for 24 hours before hand and then do a 2 hour soak in the freezer for my Green Dragon. I get paid this weekend, I will start my thread. Maybe @PSam will even chime in there with some sage advice.
How much bud did you use and how much alcohol? That will give me an idea of the potency. To test the Green Dragon, I would put about 1/2 ml into a shot glass of water and swish it around my mouth as long as I could stand it, then swallow.
EDIT: the Green Dragon can be uses in cooking too!
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I used 1.5 liter of 190 EverClear. I had 56 gm/2oz of fresh Northern Lights bud, plus about 1oz, but about the same volume, of very old, very dry bud of unknown origin, quality, or type.
My test last night I used a little less than one eye dropper in a cup of tea. Im not 100% sure, but I think I have a 1 ml dropper, so I used roughly twice your amount.
What kind of ratios do you use?
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