Does anyone have any experience on proper biomass storage in a -20 reefer trailer for fresh frozen extraction? We are trying to figure out the best storage option that maximizes the amount of biomass we can fit in the trailer without degrading any of the material.
I’ve been told to fill the biomass into the classic 27gal black and yellow totes floor to ceiling. Will this prevent degradation and allow the the biomass to freeze all the way through?
We have been running into issues of stacking material in larger bins with the outside of the material freezing and preserving the quality but the inside gets warm and degrades rather quickly.
We are working on the larger end of the scale. If anyone can offer any insight I’d be incredibly grateful. Thank you in advance!
Black and yellow totes at -20C will work IF and ONLY IF you freeze the fuck out of the material before it goes in. Even then we’ve noticed some moisture migration to the bottom totes so their performance may be worse
Is there another solution that you think will work better for us? Perhaps smaller totes? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for your help!
I think the tunnel freezer or possibly dry freeze option is definitely the best route but I need a solution for this season as we are on a short time frame with outdoor harvest. Next season we will definitely be working one of those two options into our equation.
The trick is to freeze fast enough that no condensate can form or in a very dry environment. Vacuum makes a pretty good dry environment but it’s expensive and the heat transfer is shit. LN2 is great because it’s dry. If you could freeze in a normal freezer with sufficiently dry cold air that no frost would form you’d be good, but that’s basically what a blast chiller is.
I do wonder if a quick lyophilization for like 10-15min after freezing would be sufficient to clear the frost before storage but again, at a container load…
LN2 blast freeze and immediately store is the real trick IMO
For a short term solution could a desiccant work to prevent humidity buildup in the reefer trailer we are using? I’d imagine you’d need a shit ton for it to even work. I’ve also heard Boveda packs suck up terps but is it the same for other desiccants?
The issue is that until the material is frozen, it’s both wet and actually self-heating from microbial action. A desiccant drier would work at some scale but the more you pack that trailer, the harder it will be to surround the bud with dry air and the more likely it’ll be that trichs get encased in ice and the longer it goes wet and unfrozen the more cells will lyse and make everything green and nasty.
So, not a hard no but probably not the answer you’re looking for
The other comments here are spot on. Pre-cooling is important, otherwise the latent heat (moisture) in the biomass will slow the freezing.
Reefers are really meant for storing product that is already frozen, although a marine reefer with a -40C refrigeration unit will have enough cooling capacity to freeze hundreds of lbs of biomass in a matter of hours.
Other important factors are keeping the doors closed as much as possible (keep the cold air in and the warm/moist air out) and ensuring good airflow around the totes/packaging.