A buddy of mine got left high and dry in his CBD processing from biomass to crude. It started off last year (early pre-pandemic) consult for winterizing, filtering, evaporation, then distillation. Went from a client to a friend. I was in pretty regular contact with their extractor over the last year and a half and received an IG message a few weeks ago from the owner explaining that he needed help. Their tech walked. Decided he wanted to pursue other things (new girlfriend and young to boot ) and no I’ll will was harbored by anyone (the two still work together).
Anyways… fast forward to the next week and we meet up. The place was in total disarray. Went from one of the prettiest looking labs to an utter slop house. I was floored. Those on here who know me or have seen my setups know how meticulous I am about cleanliness. We sat down and talked. Dudes about to lose it all. He has a great product line (two actually) but he was just the money guy. No experience in extraction or anything but, a marketing genius. He’s just lost.
He offered me a deal….
Full 50/50 partnership in the company if I bring my knowledge (and my equipment ) to the table and get this to run like a well oiled machine.
I’m confident I can get it fully operational within a few weeks (cleaned, set up proper, product rolling). I’ve acquired some more equipment (6 full turn key stills ranging from 2l to 12l, 20l roto, 4 diaphragm pumps, filtering equipment out the wazoo, shit ton of glassware, vac ovens…. A shit ton of stuff with what I’ve already had. He has this set up for equipment
It’s been awhile since I’ve ran ethanol. Any tips for this set up of his? Best way to route from centrifuge to the 50l roto? Have 10 55 gallon drums of denatured ethanol. Anything else you’d recommend? Filtering? Winterizing? Has any of that tek changed? More efficient?
This is a great business opportunity for myself but more so, to help my guy out. Any tips and such would be greatly appreciated!
In the future for sure once I can get him/us back in the green
I’ve done it with Co2 and butane, but not with ethanol… yet.
How is chilling the jacket at -40c and dropping in -80c etho?
I know I need to get AC hardwood and T5 for filtering. But, at those temps, should make it pretty easy to clean up. Also, is it still feasible to rerun the cannabinoid infused ethanol over a few washes ( I used to do 3 washes with the same extracted etho before running fresh again)?
You’ll probably be just fine for not winterizing at those temps
I think 300-400g of biomass/litre was a decent saturation point for us with a circulating spray fuge at around a 7-10% cannabinoid biomass. It’s definitely worth it to run some tests on your biomass to make sure you’re happy with your results. But yes, we ended up recirculating the same ethanol while spraying.
Is it still feasible for you guys to be making isolate/distillate at that scale vs just buying it? It might be good to make sure all your $$ calculations are sound before going balls to the wall (if it’s not already too late)
This is so important! What’s unique about his process that sets himself apart from 95% of other hemp labs? Can he formulate from isolates and terpenes more affordably than the overhead of utilities and consumable costs?
Make sure extracting is still worth it.
If not, see if going from crude is worth it,
If not see if going from distillate/post processed is worth it.
If not, see if going from isolates is worth it.
If not see if this is worth your time or not.
Etc etc.
But if it all works out and you want to extract please spend the time and get yourself a good spray wash setup. Just check this thread out.
We discussed this. All this equipment is paid for (on his end and my end). This was more for the farmers in the beginning, and still is for the most part. That was what it started as with the hopes to flip to the med/rec side in the near future (he started this in 2018). He was doing maybe 1,000 - 5000lb boutique high end flower to run.
Like I said, the ultimate goal is getting the med/rec license and go micro dispensary.
Talked to him about selling off the equipment and going the way of purchasing the product done.
But, like I was telling @tweedledew his ultimate goal was to go the med/rec micro dispensary license. The equipment and building is paid for. If we can pivot in that direction, should be fine.
Should have added the intentions from the get go to shift to med/rec in the very near future
This sounds like a potentially great opportunity if the farmers and the lab already have an established relationship.
Make sure you get your agreement in writing before you go in and devote your future to this place, no urgency to get this rolling is more important than ensuring you get your part of the deal.
His wife’s an attorney and we are meeting Thursday for the details
She is also the one who will be doing our paperwork for the micro
He made almost 500k last year between processing and his product line (opened up his books for me to see). Most people are from Ohio coming up here to Michigan because Ohio’s processing laws are about ridiculous. They pay him to have it extracted, then he formulated them a product line, packages it, then delivers it to them.
He just doesn’t trust anyone to do it right after the last debacle. I was humbled by the offer.
I’m excited for you! This sounds like a perfect match!! You will crush it and probably bring a lot of new great things to the table that he can then market really well!
Back on the extraction talk. Spray wash, upgrade your pump and get a good spray head. You’ll make a better crude than they ever have before if they were soaking and agitating.
Everything you want is outside of the buds, so you don’t want your solvent to sit and soak and make their way inside the plant material and start pulling things you don’t want. Spraying will also speed up your run times as you are already spinning your biomass as your start spraying so physics is already removing yours solvent as soon as you are putting it in. No long drain times and starting a spin cycle after you drain.
the funny thing about those types of deals is, that company is probably nothing without you. will you also get 50% of potential losses to cover? what if the place disappears from the face of the earth, taking all the equipment with it that you own? what if some gets stolen?
I’ve taken a similar deal once, but i made sure to get paid for my time and work as well.
I’ll look into using one of the tanks and pressurize it and use a dip tube to transfer high pressure cryo etho. The bags will be cryo as well at -80c before they get dropped in the centrifuge.
Have to look tomorrow and take apart the tri clamp and see what I can adapt to make that work.
What’s the etho/biomass ration on something like that?
Agreed! As mentioned, the facility (and all the equipment, including mine is insured for damage and theft. Just have to have the insurance adjuster back out to add my equipment) is fully insured.
If this was some fly by night operation, I’d walk. He’s one of the few that I’ve helped that actually did it right. I’ll get the full details of everything on Thursday when we draft up the contract.
As for potential other losses, the only thing I’ll lose is time.
I do appreciate looking at that side of the business as well. A lot to consider. But, regardless if I go through with it, dude needs my help.
) and no I’ll will was harbored by anyone (the two still work together).
