My distillate guy told me 2ml of terps is good for 90grams is it alright I’m just scared it won’t flow and work properly in the cartridges (first time mixing distillate with terps I been filling carts
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U should do your ratio mass:mass
Mass:volume doesn’t translate as well.
2-4 grams terps should suffice. Don’t break the 5% barrier and don’t heat up the terpene blend.
This is the step that takes practice and finesse and you need an understanding of what you’re doing. You have to do your own r and d and figure out what works best for you and your blend
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I have a homogenizer for the mixing process if I don’t heat up the terps how will the distillate mix it’s thick af
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I personally do 3mL for every 50g of distillate
Learned this the hard way, kinda forgot after taking a 2-3 month cart break so tried to stir 100g on my hotplate lol, did not work, was way too thick so I poured off, stirred again and added terps, after spilling 20-30g and cleaning up added 30-35 more grams and added more terps
90 grams will not homogenize/mix well so i would break it into 45g per jar, add .6mL per 10g so .6+.6+.6+.3mL for 45g
Do not reuse syringes trust me you will have a bad time when your plunger gets popped out and your hand jerks and hits the jar
Do not exceed 200+F when mixing either do like 130-150 but 150 is even pushing it, considering you shouldn’t have your disti+terp mixture jar on heat for too long tho you should be good, i jus do 140-160 but when i did a temp check on my magnet stirbar it read 125-131F compared to the hotplate temp of 140-160F, its a cheap hotplate, got a little damaged in transit too so i plan on buying a new one soon
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Heat up your distillate in a pot of warm water thats at 150-170F
Stir it around to help get it to a higher viscosity
It will take 10-15 minutes
Clean your tool before mixing, 90%+ iso wash/soak, wash in distilled water and then hot water and then distilled again and wipe with paper towel if wanted but for “contamination” let it air dry
Heat up, pour into jar, weigh out 45g, jar will be hot as fuck so grab an oven mitt(not a pad a mitt/glove that will still allow you to grab) then pour, and if your current disty jar that holds the raw is small enough use that for mixing terps in as you’ll have 45g in that as well after you pour into a 2nd jar
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5–10% is the limit. You can go up to 10%, but thats TOO high, 5-7% is ideal imo, 6% is best for me, 5% too low for me but perfect in general I just prefer 6%
6% hasn’t failed me this batch
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Sounds like you have been doing the ever so important r and d!
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I have a decent memory on information and numbers to an extent
Names and other things? Ehhhhh
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I have to 250ml beaker I am going to be using for mixing is that good also what’s max time the distillate can be on hotplate, 2ml of terp into 90g distillate is 2% terps?
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Personally i do 2.5% terpenes to distillate. I also heat up the mixture for easy pouring into my filler. I use an overhead stirer for mixing. Usually run it about 5 to 10 minutes to ensure its mixed well.
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Well the max time all depends on temp. Keep it low and you shouldn’t have it burned considering it should take 5-10 minutes to fill 45 carts
I would use a smaller beaker for saving distillate as you’ll have some cling to the sides of the jar still
No. Probably be around 3%
Imo id raise to 5%
In my experience anything under just makes it too thick
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If you don’t have an overhead stirrer a hotplate w magnet stirrer is best, what I use right now and I let it mix for 5 minutes. Worried about burning terps and it thickening up while on hot plate
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Only way a distillate + botanical terp cart tastes at all decent is using lower terps. Most of the better brands in the stores only have 2.5-3% added terps which is similar to where fresh flower sits at. You hear people wondering about why it doesn’t taste like a store bought cart and it’s because they added 2-3x the terpenes.
Everyone on the internet is always trying to make excuses to add more terps because they know the terps cost less than the THC. It shouldn’t “flow” at room temp but if you absolutely insist then incorporate other cannabinoids. CBC, CBT, or CBG will loosen it up ever so slightly and keep it wicking.
Adding more terps is harsher on the end user, tastes worse, breaks down the hardware, and is just an excuse to cut your cart. Adding more terps just makes it taste more chemical and/or muted flavor (in place of harshness and sinus irritation). This is true even with cannabis derived. The more you add the less natural it tastes. People just need to stop telling people to add so much
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Our company does cart formulation and filling for a company I won’t name but they have us make carts with 8% True Terpene blends 92% disty. Crazy huh? They sell like hot cakes!
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Yeah that’s crazy. They don’t burn the throat or nostrils? We started at like 5% and the reviews came back that they were too harsh. Eventually we found that people around here like 2-3%.
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Only use glass syringes when dosing terps.
You can absolutely reuse regular plastic syringes with distillate.
SOP
Remove blunt needle from syringe
Pull back plunger fully.
Microwave syringe 20-30 sec
Replace blunt needle
Flame needle for 2 sec
Push plunger clearing needle of distillate
Quickly draw up warm distillate into syringe
Go to town
If you need to stop, just repeat SOP.
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Is it okay to reuse the same beaker for mixing I have 15 different terps I need to mix into 80ml of distillate each, or should I buy 15 beakers
I’ve been taking 100ml of 96% rock hard at room temp, adding 9ml of terpenes, and letting it sit overnight in my vacuum oven at 120F, no vac. In the morning, it’s mobile enough to drop a stir bar in and blend. I run the hotplate at 135F and my 50Shot at 145F. If it won’t draw through a 15 gauge needle, I add 5 degrees of heat to the plate and gun. If it still won’t draw, I switch to a 14 gauge needle. I haven’t needed a plan D so far. I guess I’d add more heat. In shooting about 10k carts (not very many), I’ve found, if I can’t draw it through the needle, it’s not going to shoot right. It’s likely to overflow before it sinks in, or I’m going to have to go very slow to give it time. I don’t make distillate, so when sourcing, I look for labs in the 92-96% range, with a little CBD, some terpenes left, or other minor cannabinoids. The 98% D9 I’ve found, is too thick to stay under 10% on the terpenes. I use disposable syringes to measure the terpenes and toss after one use. I split my liters into 100ml mason jars. I label and keep the mason jars for documenting my waste disposal for the state. I don’t sell enough fast enough to make a liter of all one flavor (which is all I think added terpenes in a cart are, flavorings)
Take all this knowing my limited experience. Anyone that’s shot 5 more carts than me, may have better advice. YMMV.
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Let’s just say this is a very subjective question. It depends heavily on the quality of terps and the quality of distillate.
If you think that most THC carts in a regulated market are 5% or less terpenes, then you are sorely mistaken. Our formulations fall anywhere between 6-10% and are always based on volume, rather than weight. We make large batches (1 kilo approx) and measure terps with graduated cylinder.
Distillate should be odorless or at worst, slightly sweet smelling at 150F. Any other undesirable smells will magnify obviously and be a prevalent taste.
Stay away from heat guns or heating terp’d oil above 135F for very long. True Terpenes is not what I consider good terps btw…
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