A traditionally dried and cured bud would be smaller and more dense than a live dried bud.
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Not only can it be stored for up to a year in a deep freezer, and then pulled out on command and be as fresh as the day you cut it, but then you can get an additional year of stabilized shelf storage as long as it was stored properly.
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When you hang dry a cannabis plant for 18- 30 days to dry, the enzymes that cause plant senescence deteriorate as they act on the chlorophyll. That is why it takes so long to get rid of the “green” or grassy taste. In freeze drying, all the cell walls are cracked open so it is easy for the biomass to absorb moisture from the air. When freeze dried cannabis comes out of the freeze dryer and is in an oxygen rich atmosphere, the oxygen, moisture plus enzymes which are still 100% potent will cause degradation of the chlorophyll in 1-4 hours (pending humidity) and give you a product that is cured as if it were traditionally dried and cured for 18- 30 days.
USER EXPERIENCE
-Freeze drying cannabis prevents deterioration of THC-A, which when decarboxylated, converts into Delta- THC & CBN, the cannabinoids responsible formaking users feel drowsy or lethargic. That translates to more energy and less inactivity.
-Minimized tussication while providing smoother inhalation than traditionally dried and cured cannabis.
-Fresh floral essence makes for enhanced flavor profiles.
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Once you go below the freeze point of 32° F the cellular wall of the plants ruptures. That is why it is vital to maintain the cold chain once we go below that freeze point. This is done by using deep freezer storage as a staging area before placing into a pre-frozen freeze dryer. We pre-freeze the FD units much in the same way you preheat an oven.
Of course at some point the FD will fill up and that is one of the reasons that it is critical to have proper cold storage. When cold storing/ deep freezing for an extended period of time it is recommended to seal (not vacuum seal) the product to devoid of oxygen which helps to minimize the buildup of ice crystals. Break the seal when you are ready to process.
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That’s too bad, hopefully soon adoption will reach your region and you will get to have a true live’dried experience. We have done a number of Pepsi style challenges and have found that when side by side, folks are definitely reaching for live-dried.
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Yes I am very aware your statement is not scientifically accurate. Maybe correct your statement instead of educate me on it.
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Does “wet” infer that it had been freeze dried or that it was just still fresh frozen? There’s a distinct difference between the two. Although live is a synonym of wet, or when cold stored known as fresh frozen. live dried aka lyophilized is the distinction. Just curious if that was a consideration in this formula.
When we refer to side-by-side COA’s we are definitely referencing lyophilized smokable bud aka freeze dried (not fresh frozen) vS. traditionally dried and cured.
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Check out our webinar with side by side photo comparisons and COAs!
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Freeze dried in a Harvest Right.
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While I do appreciate your enthusiasm @TheOriginalResinator, I have to agree with @Dukejohnson
I think …
should read
But anyways, After trying this again with my legacy freeze dryer over the last 2 days, meh … I have to be honest, its so veggy tasting and its tricky to get the moisture content rite without over drying it … Smoked one and couldnt help but think this may be a good way to rush cure as a half way point but its feels like and extra step and a work in progress, Wish I could be proven wrong tho … I just cant see this scaling well or adding the value I need to make a sale on a commercial scale.
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We have found the Scientific model of the HarvestRight paired with a vacuum controller is the only way to get repeatable good quality results. You need the controllability over parameters that the scientific model gives. Their pharmaceutical model works well for live resins, but doesn’t have the programmability necessary for Live Dried.
Properly live dried bud is 
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Yes, that would be assuming that the moisture content is lower in the freeze dried. The moisture content that we pull out at in our method is similar to dried and cured. If you see in our COAs the moisture content is almost identical, so in this case the moisture does not account for the change in cannabinoid percentage. You can apply the formula to our results to confirm.
Now, if we were pulling out at 2% moisture and it was completely dehydrated, then the formula you posted is definitely valid and worth using to account for changes in cannabinoid percentage of the overall mass, since the mass would be reduced with moisture. IE if the bud weighs 10% less because it has less moisture, then the cannabinoid results could be 10% higher.
For example:
traditional dried cannabinoid content 20% moisture content 10%
live dried cannabinoid content 22% moisture content 0%
But that is not what our COA show.
They show:
traditional dried cannabinoid content 19.98% moisture content 9.7%
live dried cannabinoid content 22.47% moisture content 9.6%
So the 2.49% higher cannabinoid content cannot be attributed to the 0.1% difference in moisture content.
total thc(dry)= 22.47/(1-(9.6/100)=24.856% Freeze dried sample
total thc(dry)=19.98/(1-(9.7/100)=22.126% Traditional dry/cure
It should be noted that this formula is for the theoretical calculation of total cannabinoid content in the absence of moisture. When applied to these results the formula actually further exacerbates increase in potency to show the freeze dried sample had 2.73% higher cannabinoid content.
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Sales guy here. There’s your magic pixie dust.
Anyone can throw something in a Harvest Right. What’s the terp % versus the same strain simply dried and cured?
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No pixie dust here! Take a look at the COAs from my original post. The appearance is night and day for the same strain harvested on the same day. The terpene levels are 1.12% in our live dried bud compared to 1.09% in traditionally dried and cured, once you adjust for the difference in moisture following the formula Spooky posted.
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1% terps 
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only issue I see is the moisture content on your freeze dried which when extracted would result in the .1% difference displayed in potency. so 25lbs a day at a +0.1% to recovery cannabinoids what’s the estimated ROI on that?
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Spooky posted a useful formula which I used to calculated out the cannabinoid content in the theoretical absence of moisture in order to provide an apples to apples comparison. Since there is more moisture in the freeze dried sample, the formula adjusts to show even more cannabinoid content.
For instance if the freeze dried sample weighed less because had less moisture, then the cannabinoid content would appear artificially elevated due to the reduction of mass from loss of moisture content.
But in this case it is the opposite, the freeze dried sample has slightly more moisture (0.1%) content than the dried sample. So it’s cannabinoid content is slightly deflated compared to a dry sample with less moisture content. That’s why the cannabinoid number increases after applying spookys formula to equate for moisture.
Cannabinoid content is artificially inflated in samples with less moisture and artificially deflated in samples with more moisture.
That was the original concern, if our material was so dried out that it appears to have a higher cannabinoid content since the same bud would weigh less.
In this comparison the freeze dried is a tiny bit more moist so it’s results are actually slightly deflated and should show a higher number as is shown by the calculations I did with spookys formula.
so 18,500$ for 4lbs/24hr wet weight@ +0.1-1.2% increase what’s the estimated ROI for the average increase of +0.55% of “quality”? not saying it doesn’t work but um the numbers are not adding up and math is fairly simple…
Judging by total cannabinoids there is a 28% relative increase in the freeze dried bud. Not something to sneeze at for sure but still skeptical, I’d like to see it repeated by an impartial grower.
Looks like a 12% relative increase in the first CoA he posted. Honestly I don’t really believe cannabinoids are that liable to breakdown that much in traditional drying methods but possibly freeze drying is able to up the potency in unforeseen ways? Or you know, if I was trying to show a method was better… I could definitely pick frosty top buds to prove that…
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