Having problems making crumble

Hey guys, Iv been having some problems lately that Iv been trying to figure out but can’t seem to get to the bottom of.

Im extracting fresh material with N-butane using acid activated bentonite clay as a media. Our flow has always been a problem but it’s never caused issues like we’re experiencing now. We normally could do a run, pour onto parchment and put in our ovens at 95+ degrees and it would crumble up in 12-20 hours. Now we’re getting what looks like nice clear shatter but it is not stable and won’t crash.

Any sort of direction is very much appreciated.

1 Like

Slow things down (evaporation rate), cool things down, ditch the parchment paper for a Pyrex dish (or line dish with parchment paper), break out some elbow grease and WHIP IT.

3 Likes

Whipping is the key think of it like you’re whipping pockets of air in it making it light like a sugar cookie. Also the answer to how long do I whip it is you whip each section vigorously until you get an iridescent color… cover all areas give it a break for half an hour and repeat and repeat and repeat. The more whipping you do the less heat you will need in the vac oven and you do not need to pull a hard vac… if you do it may go to glass/shatter.

2 Likes

For making crumble in the oven I always made sure there was some nucleation and kept the vac at like -20hg

3 Likes

Interesting, is the vac necessary for results? I’ve been making it with out pulling vac. Just whip, whip, whip and whip some more. Place in oven and next day done.

I actually whipped some up yesterday I’ll post results later.

2 Likes

For crumble I pour into pyrex, higher heat like 95-100f, whip the shit out of it like a badder until its about to crust out - set it in oven - let it dry / crust out, then I just scrape/cut it out and purge. It will have a honeycomb center / crumble consistency if you do it right / know what to look for. Hope this helps. Be safe!

6 Likes

Well, your technique is basically making shatter minus pulling vac on it. So, it makes sense that you are getting unstable/partially purged shatter. The idea of kicking off nucleation through agitation should help.

Also, have you tried just dropping your run, pouring it into a glass container and whipping it on mild heat? You might not end up with crumble. You might end up with good badder instead. If you end up with good badder, keep whipping and heating. But, that is the basic way I would recommend…

1 Like

Pyrex dish and whip it… A few whips and it will setup, instead on putting it in a badder jar just put it in the oven.

1 Like

Whip it whip it good

1 Like

No definitely not necessary. Just if I’m lazy and don’t wanna whip it. It’s also gives more of a honeycomb/space cookie consistency than straight crumble.



3 Likes

Looks good brother.

Add Activated aluminia 150 to the bottom of the bentonite clay
add silica 60 to the top of the clay and then use either Activated aluminia granular on top of th silica

2 Likes

Are u suggesting to scrub more moisture / terps out for good crumble?

How do you guys suggest speeding up my flow with powdered medias.

Using preform/silica/alumina it’s much cheaper and I love the color but the flow is awful. I notice my moisture is causing it to freeze up and slow tons and will pick up a bit when it warms up but that sometimes take hours while when I use mediabros my flow is almost too fast. How can I get a better flow through powders. I know upgrading to 6” would help tons but there’s gotta be something I can do with a 4” 5 micron. Iv baked with not much success.

How tall is your filter column for 4"? Having a proper pack on the media and proper media order should help. Baking isn’t necessary for flow but does help keep moisture down. Are you pre soaking your filter? and are you rinsing your filter after?

No not necessarily. If you use the filter stack incorrectly you can definitely have a CRC smell and flavor especially if using acid activated clay. If your losing terps either your using to much alumina.

4”x24” for 12-15lbs of material I’m using 1 kilo of preform, 250 grams of silica, and 250 alumina. I draw a vacuum on the bottom while I pour in and pat tight with a rubber maul.

Any sort of recommendation would be a life saver

1 Like

anything longer then 12" will really slow down your speed! id suggest going to a with a bigger diameter column for your CRC or run two 4" x 12" columns and swap between the two half way through the run if your using a racked system you can just set them up on rack and have them T off to your material columns. I assume your using 4 4" x 48" tubes?

I use about 500g of zero clear Y with great success on a 3”x12” I believe. What I did is, I clamped two 3” sight glasses together with a 1um disc clamped on bottom and I placed filter paper on the inside of my little “crc” column. I clamp my setup to a 3”x36” spool with another sight glass on bottom. I run about 15 pounds per run and I get good results. Obviously some older material requires more media but I’ve been getting some decent stuff lately that works great with my setup.

Edit: found a picture of my setup so you can get an idea of how it looks.

1 Like

that’s a nice little set up. are you running your butane threw the filter cold or heated ?