Looking for recommendations on a pre-process biomass grinding options.
Passing through a 1/4" screen after freezing at -80C is my gold standard for particle size, and nothing else I’ve tried comes close.
I know some folks use ninjas, but imo a rapidly spinning blade is not the right response. The fines those create just make filtration of solvent from biomass harder to manage.
I tried a futurolla shredder they were using next door for pre-rolls, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. Having to push 8 buttons to perform a 7 second grind got old long before the first keg was full of cannabis.
Based on their design, I looked at a Lawn Chief leaf mulcher…it turned leaf into clouds of fine dust in a matter of moments 
The right solution seems like a mill of some sort.
Anyone care to share it solved?
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We have been using a hearty industrial kitchen blender but is suboptimal.
Robot Coupe offers very expensive blender options and claims that some processors in Canada are using them.
Id like so see the futurolla style in action. It seemed like the best lead. Will likely look into it.
sorry I don’t have a great solution. Will update as I am also looking to this .
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We have a futurola and I really like it because how fast and efficient it is, but at the same time we do a lot of stuff by hand to get the stems out so they don’t put a hole in our material bags.
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Hammer mill! The best fastest thing you can get!
Bigger question. How are you separating the trim trash? Eg: zip ties, green plant tape, rubber glove tips.
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Fixed arm hammer mill Fritsch PULVERISETTE 19 is a German tank or a mill.
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Both will resist small arms fire …lol
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ok I have been running fresh frozen for the past 2 months. My yields vary from 1.5-3.5 %…I have never been a fan of breaking my material down, i feel its more work and it doesnt increase the yield much. Also when my material is negative 80 it pretty much compacts to dust as i pack my tubes. any one else here try to break down fresh frozen then blast
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I’ve always pushed my fresh frozen through the same 1/4" screen as my cured frozen material.
yep, -80C makes for easily broken up material. Don’t have yield data at my fingertips.
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That PULVERISETTE looks like a tank alright.
@Soxhlet How are YOU dealing with trash in you cannabis stream?
It is certainly easier to catch that stuff when hand pressing frozen material through a screen that it will be when feeding into a mill.
Speaking of trash. I ran across this open-source plastic shredder a while back.
https://preciousplastic.com/en/videos/build/shredder.html (edit: link broken at three year mark. here’s a new one: Precious Plastic Community)
I might go look at their version 2 plans to see if they can be put together without milling US stainless plate to metric thickness. Or if anyone has bothered to adapt either version to US gauge plate.
Edit: $510 for parts kit out out of Portland, Or $750 assembled.
https://bazar.preciousplastic.com/en/listings/563042-star-usa-star-complete-shredding-mechanism
Good question, I’ve never seen it adressed before. We use a not so high tech approach. We have a few of the long folding tables from wally world, we build a lip around the table except for one end. The open end gets a large trash can. Material is visually sorted via minion, then pushed into the can. It’s not perfect, but it was the best we could come up with.
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It did cross my mind to just scale up the 1/4 screen to table size and go with the hand sorted/ground route.
Especially after seeing how well the panzer listed above, or any hopper fed grinder would reduce detritus into tiny pieces in the blink of an eye.
I don’t currently have a working -80, so that’s not going to happen today.
At 15lbs in a beer keg, using a drill mounted mixer on -40C material in -40 Ethanol makes a nice slurry very quickly, but the particle size distribution is not consistent, leading to sporadic filtration issues. That trick won’t work with the CUP.
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Man, you need a good refrigeration tek. They can breathe life into your old freezers and chillers.
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The only one I know in the area retired. Tried to coax him out with cannabis (CBD) or maybe just curiosity. He said he’d come take a look, but never did. I should probably try again. The other alternative is for me to buckle down and figure it out. which is unlikely, but not outside the realm of possibility. The guys in the yellow pages took one look at the cascading compressors and shook their heads.
For today I went with the futurola for 5-7 sec (left that for minion to determine) then through the 1/4 screen. The futurola is essentially an elongated/stacked string trimmer in a tube, and as such, it won’t turn tags or other debris into powder (at least not at 5 sec). Pouring through the 1/4 screen will catch anything that ought not go in the extraction, along with twigs and any flowers that didn’t get ground. Might go with 3/8" screen next time around.
It’s far from ideal, but will work till I can talk the boss into that German tank, or a pedal powered version of the Dutch light personnel carrier…
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string based shredders similar to the Futurola.
except for the big one. probably.
we explored a pelican head style grinder attachment on a hobart mixer for our pre-rolls. Apparently the minions also tried it for grinding 15lbs to go into Ethanol. I would have told them it was too fine, and would clog the filters if they’d asked…
They said it was a lot of work without a bigger hopper. I should probably spend $15 on the right size cutting disk and give it a fair try.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/12-Pelican-Head-Attachment-S-Blade-OEM-Hobart-Commercial-Shredder-Slicer/173295241026
I had someone else suggest a Hobart continuous feed food processor. eg:
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Have you used there knock box ore roll filling machine before?
I would not call the Futurola => CUP15 a win.
at least at the 5-7seconds I told the minions to try before bailing yesterday. too many fines. too fine in general. 1/4" screen also let too many sticks through after the Futarola. really need to get my -80 fixed or replaced.
Boss likes the look of the Fritsch PULVERISETTE 19.
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yeah, we have that tek. we purchased a shredder after borrowing one for a bit. I think we’re sold. I don’t operate either, but could ask questions of those that do if you’d like. we’ve been running them for about 8 months.
If that was too fine the hammer mill is going to be too much. That mill will make everything into dust sized particles. Have you tried no shredding? Hammer mill is good for co2 and hydrocarbon, etoh too but you need a filter press to deal with the fines.
yeah, I figured as much. although the “lump breakers” look promising.
the Tank appears to be adjustable.