We have a homogenizer, but we’re doing a small volume that won’t allow us to use the homogenizer. We want to mix 95g of distillate with 5mL of botanical terpenes. We were gonna put it on a magnetic stir plate at 70C, and I was wondering about how long we need to mix it. Several hours? I know there’s a manufacturer in my state that does it for 24 hours but I’d love to avoid coming in on a Saturday.
Use a beaker with the smallest footprint possible
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I used these for my 100ml batches and mixed for about 1 hour
Try a batch mixed for an hour, then steeped for a day, then steeped for a week. Then you can figure out if there is any difference that you like for your brand
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We have a 200mL beaker but the amount of distillate is still too small to use the homogenizer. Pretty much have to use the stir bar method
Yes, you will still want to use a beaker/jar with a smaller footprint.
The closer the container is to the length of your stir bar the better
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I get that but we have the equipment we have, so I’m working with what I was given.
So it sounds like your gonna use a 200ml beaker and whatever stir bar you have in the drawer.
Do you think if we let the stirbar go for about 2 hours we’d be good to fill the carts today? Not ideal but it’s the plate I was given.
Pretty much. It’s the launch of our carts so we’re doing small batch.
Sure I would focus on solution temp over the hot plate temp. I forget what my solution temp was for the mixing but I let my disty get up to that temp, nice and fluid and spinning before adding the terpenes. I believe it was 130-140F and then we would let the mix spin for an hour. The type of stirbar is important like @Dr.stanky said. I used that 90$ one because it fits that jelly jar perfectly
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You could hand mix it and still fill them today. As @anon56994712 suggested, mix it about an hour. Then hand mix a bit and scrape the sides and look for striations in the mix
Appreciate your help man!
Thanks for the help dude!
hope you found your solution. what i’ve always done is let the disty get hot enough where i can crank the rpms on stir without it coming off sync. once i reach that level of viscosity ( about 70c like you mentioned) i’ll add the terps and spin the eff outta that thing for a while then i call it a day. i could be over thinking it but i always add the terps last minute then take off the hot plate after a minute or so.
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That’s the right stir bar.
All the more reason to do it with high standards. You only get one chance to make a fist impression.
Do you have a beefy air bar like @anon56994712 suggested and a small beaker to keep the funnel relevant to the contents?
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Exactly what I do bro, I was just thinking I’ve never stirred for longer
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in my head… anything over a minute or so is just going to increase the chance of degradation. i fear the volatility of muh terps haha. i have no data other than when i homogenized my first disty terp mix way back when… . i did it for too long and the mix oxidized to a slight red/amber hue. the next batch was still golden/clear when taken off the plate at 65c after 60 seconds.
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Yea I know exactly the colour bro like a reclaim kinda look to it lol. Maybe mixing shatter like I did way back I’d consider longer mix but with distillate I’d heat the whole jar water bath, then add water I need until I can go high rpm on the spin 
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Degradation (color wise) of the disty happens with heating and cooling as well which is why I try to only heat it once. Getting the temp as cool as possible while keeping it fluid will depend on the delta 9 content of the distillate 80% potency will need less of a temp than 95%. It’s been years since I made carts but I believe the range was 120-140f solution temp
I used one of these to hold the jar on the hot plate so it didn’t spin or fly off
Oh also a thick layer of aluminum foil around the jar will help keep the heat in and the sides of the jar from cooling. This adds a bit of a kitchen meth lab feel to the set up but that’s okay because it pretty much is
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