Cheap Homogenizer For Carts

Hash and Stuff Vape Carts
21

If you’re only doing 100 mL batches you shouldnt be having any trouble mixing? Where I work I have done 3000g batches and I would mix by hand. Metal scoopula style.

Place your vape mixture in a sealed vessel and heat it in a hot water bath. Take it out, dry it off, and get to mixing.

A little trick I learned was to put a flashlight at the back of the mixing vessel and look at it from the front. You can easily spot where the disty and terps are not mixed. Make sure to scrape all the walls and the base of the vessel.

Even with a homogenizer you should still probably do this. Also since youre already doing such a small scale you would probably want as little transfer loss as possible. Putting mixing blades and what not in there is just going to take away from your over all yield in my opinion.

1 Like
22

Everything you wrote was wrong.

Hand stirring is a terrible idea.

We arent using homogenizers to be miserly, we are using them to create a better quality product.

Water bath + magstir is the Second worst way to mix/heat

1 Like
23

You really didn’t like the part about the flashlight?

8 Likes
24

:rofl: :joy: :rofl: :joy: :rofl: :joy:

2 Likes
25

I mean I was trying to be helpful… To say everything I said was wrong is a little hurtful. I get he is the “King” but damn.

2 Likes
26

Im not the king of anything other than explaining the same stuff over and over.

The flashlight was indeed a good trick though

6 Likes
27

I feels. I understand my mixing technique may not be exactly like yours but I have had great success with it. I can see how it may be a little flawed but with the right technique and execution I promise its not all that bad. When I thought of that flashlight trick it was a game changer. I even use it to see how far down certain fluids are in bottles are so that I know how deep the pipette needs to go in with out tipping the bottle over. Comes in handy for acids.

28

look at alibaba before buying that china homogenizer from bvv. Hr-6b 150ml Hand Held Small Lab High Shear Emulsifier Homogenizer - Buy 150ml Emulsifier Homogenizer,Hand Held Homogenizer,Small Emulsifier Homogenizer Product on Alibaba.com

3 Likes
29

You are absolutely right about the flashlight! You can see the waves of terps in the solution like heatwaves coming off a grill.

My problem with your tech is opening the jar to mix with the scoopula. Disty is sticky as fuck and whenever you open it you risk getting particles, hairs and dust into the mixture.

Idk if you do this or not, but my biggest tip for mixing carts on a magnetic stirrer or other manual method would be to get the disty heated up BEFORE you add the terps. I heat disty up to a liquid, wait for the jar to cool for a few mins before putting it on the scale to measure. This makes it MUUUUCH easier for your terps to homogenize, and you wont be overheating the terps as much which means less loss from degregation / evaporation. I have had a few batches where terps either evaporated out for less flavor, or were essentially burned and left a weird flavor. I have been using a mag stirrer hot plate for almost a year now and it gets the job done great. I also do mixing with distillate and other types of cannabinoid exctracts for added potency and flavor. Even when theres 4 types of extracts and terps the magnetic stirrer seems to pretty homogenize pretty consistently, but i have not lab tested multiple carts from the same batch to prove if they are fully homogenized.

30

I get really in my feelings about homogenizers because as of this year I am a cart vendor, and there are a TON of leaking/clogging issues due to parts of people’s mixtures being thin/thick.

Just because hotspots aren’t visible Doesn’t mean they aren’t there. I do not sel homogenizers, but if I were to start a pen lab again, I’d buy a homogenizer before MY OWN filler and fill with glass syringes or butter knives

9 Likes
31

My “tech” wasn’t explained in great detail here because I assumed that everyone heated their distillate to a flowing consistency before pouring it up. I have mixed and filled well over 50k pens, disposables and 0.5g carts. I’m not saying thats a lot but I hope it gives you an idea that I know the nature of the beast and how distillate works with and without terps.

I feel like i can hand homogenized faster and with less exposure to the air. Also if you really are concerned you could always seal the jar after the primary mixing is done and shake it by hand with the lid on. I agree this is barbaric as fuck but it is a way to get a rough mix done before really getting the last bits of your distillate incorporated. I just have a hard time seeing a mag stir bar get distillate of the walls of your mixing vessel.

I’m well aware of the particles that may get into your solution which is why we always mixed in hoods to try and reduce the risk of air flow and all the things it carries with it.

Testing each cart for potency is one way you could determine the full homogenization but i feel like when youre pouring into your hopper and actually filling the carts you can see inconsistencies.

@qma I totally get it. Youre passionate about this industry and even more so about this specific field. I respect the heck out of that. You want to make premium products and thats awesome. I have seen plenty of carts clog and leak so I know where the frustrations come with that. I agree totally that they could be avoided with proper mixing techniques. Just where I work we have got our mixing down pretty good and the formulations work very well with the hardware. I dont work with production anymore but ill look into the homogenizers you have mentioned and see if there is a way to make our processes better with them!

4 Likes
32

you cant hand homogenize. Thats like calling cheese homogenized milk.

2 Likes
33

Hmmm, any scientific findings to back that up? I’d love to hear them! Prove me wrong by saying as soon as you stop mixing the distillate, since its major component is thc, it will sink to the bottom and begin separating from your mix once it begins to cool.

Add something to the conversation instead of just putting in your two cents with some arbitrary comparison. Promote thought and make me consider what you’re telling me is right and there maybe an error in my way of thinking.

That could actually make this thread go somewhere and draw deeper conclusions as to why homogenizing is scientifically better.

1 Like
34

Yeah, the distillate is heated up but it can cool down pretty fast. Heat is essential for the homogenization to occur on the mag stirrer. A cylindrical vessel will help the heat transfer up to the sides. A heat gun on low/medium will help melt any distillate on the side of the jar. You get the oil to 130 F and the magnettic stirrer will be able to create a vortex which is where the magic happens, and is mesmerizing to watch. I have hand mixed before, but only on small “crude” batches for testing mixutres and new terps, not on a large scale. I don’t trust myself enough to not contaminate an open jar of hot distillate. I also like the peace of mind the mag stirrer gives me since i can visually see it happen like you said.

35

google homogenization.

36

you should use the magnetic stirrer in conjunction with a homogenizer

37

IM on this thread because I want to learn more about using a homogenizer

1 Like
38

I gotchu woe

3 and 4 man teams

3 man and 4 man teams is where the pen operation stops being a living room hustle and starts becoming a serious business. 3 people can knock out ~3850 carts in 14 batches in 4 hours, while with 4 people it takes 2.

Mixer:

The manager of the operation. They set the pace and can make or break your operation. You utilize yourself or your most experienced wook. They microwave and mix. While watching the filler to see when they are finishing their batch.

Cleaner (4 man)

This person cleans/lubricates the used probes, marks trays of carts for flavor splits and labeling, carries the trays between operators and makes sure every member of the team is prepared for their job. Choose your third most experienced wook.

Filler:

This is the guy that fills the carts. An eye for detail and a steady hand are key. If this guy does his job right, there is no cart cleaning.

Capper:

This one affixes the caps to the carts. Snap tops require 1 capper, thread tops 2, and push tops 3. Stop buying push tops, they are a scheme to sell marked up arbor presses

Process

The mixer heats their distillate in the microwave.

For a 1200w microwave:

A 1 liter media bottle will take 3 minutes to pourable temp and 8 minutes to mixable temp

A half kilo in the blessed wide mouth straight walled bell jars takes 1.5 minutes to purable temp and 5 minutes to mixable temp. These jars are easily scrape-able into your filler

Anchor hocking brand 300 ml 3 point tall measuring cups are the absolute best Heating, mixing, and pouring vessel. They could damn near pour straight into the carts. The heat up to mixing temps in a minute and a half. They never seem to have oil left on the walls either. Blessed.

Mix

While the material is heating in 1 minute 30 second bursts, the mixer should be weighing their terps.

The Terps are poured into the heated material. The homogenizer probe is then placed into the spot where the terps were dumped into the material. The lower viscosity will allow the probes’ generator to pick up enough speed to start dispersing.

Once the probe is up to speed, move it half an inch from the bottom of the material jar and move it around. You should only have to run the homogenizer for about 45 seconds max.

Next, the mixer pours the mixture into the fillers reservoir. The mixer then passes the probe to the cleaner (or cleans it later himself).

Im too lazy to type out the rest, this is a mixing thread

12 Likes
39

@Kinsmanofthesun literally wrote a book on how to cart farm it was super in depth

2 Likes
40

Wrote that before I had ever seen an empty cart. Pieced it together from the internet and then @qma edited helped me edit it. Had been on the other side of the world for many many moons and came back to the USA lookin like a pro thanks to the help of Q and cart.farm

8 Likes