Can improperly dried biomass, holding to much moisture, result in a lower quality crude? I know the ethanol will pick up the extra moisture and lower the proof which is why you should should run the ethanol through a molecular sieve. But cab it also negatively effect the final crude?
absolutely!!
water in your biomass will very quickly = water in your solvent
water in your solvent will pick up water solubles.
which are also known as undesirables.
try extracting with 151 instead of 190.
if you’re not after terpenes, oven drying your biomass will yield cleaner extract.
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Have you experimented with dehydrators or dehumidifiers to help get moister out while preserving as many terps as possible? I have an industrial dehydrator on my bucket list for this purpose. Thinking at most it will help with starting material destined to be decarbed.
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I’ve worked with a group who used dehumes and grow tents to reduce moisture content pre-hydrocarbon extraction. pretty sure it was a win, but didn’t do any experimentation to prove that.
I’ve given ethanol extraction demos, and had to explain why the -20C solvent over “cured” biomass came out green, but the same temp solvent over oven “decarbed” material came out amber.
Less water, means less chlorophyll.
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To retain a respectable amount of terps while keeping water soluables coming through to a minimum, is 8-10% the desired moisture content to dry it to? And how do you keep it in that range if you aren’t extracting immediately? I assume vacuum packing the biomass and keeping it cool (65 degrees)?
That is very promising, we are having a ton of issues with moister in our trim, paired with the use of cheap rotos with no vac control to properly dial vac rates and temp to know whats being evaporated and when, the issue quickly spirals out of control. Before you know it you are using 175 ethanol wondering why all the oil looks like shit and tastes like grass.
It amazes me how quickly the industry talent pool got diluted here in CA with folks that have little clue to what they are doing and why they are doing it. Seems like a lot of growers are cutting corners curing their product to try and save money and as a result adding moister to the extraction process.
I read an article some where (Ill have to find it and share) stating that decarbed weed for ethanol extracts can have a deleterious effect on extraction efficiency. Have you heard/experienced the same?
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Lol, well Im glad I didn’t go in the $10k cascade wants for their large decarb oven.
have you tried LN2 to flash freeze than vacuum seal. Any moisture can be locked up and the impact of moisture in your material reduced greatly by doing so. You can also reduce particle size without adding any heat, destroying trichomes, and take up less space for storage. Ive been able to reduce total volume by 2-3 times using flash freezing!!
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Yes I’d love to do it that way, but can’t find a vacuum storage solution for large amounts of cbd biomass. Is there a bigass industrial vacuum bag that can hold a supersack worth of material out there?
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Hmmm… Im sure that something can be fashioned. What about having a welder modify a large propane tank, think the kind used at propane filling stations, with a large manhole that you can then full with biomass, chill with LN2 then pull to a vacuum? Would not be cheap but over time the ROI would be there.
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Better yet have one set on a stand vertically one manhole on top and on the bottom that way you can more easily get the biomass out via the bottom. You could also have large mixing blades installed so you can inject LN2 then mix to breakdown the biomass, remove the mixing blades, then pull vac for storage. When ready to remove the biomass you could use a vacuum to suck out the biomass into what ever container you need.
surely at that point we could just add solvent 
and maybe give it a twirl for good measure…
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Lol, so true why waste the time and energy moving it, just extract in place clean and repeat.
was told I’m out of likes for the day…
love this place!!
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Lol, yeah this place is addictive! So many amazing things to learn and to like! Had no idea they capped the amount of hearts you can give each day.
Cheers🍻
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I doubt decarbed cannabinoids lose much extraction efficiency in ethanol… after all, they still have their alcoholic hydroxyl groups! The loss of terpenes from the resin during decarb might have a deleterious effect on solvent based extractions in general, though.
However, I might have said that CO2 extracts decarbed cannabinoids more easily than their acids. That is true, according to direct studies with reagent grade cannabinoids and acids using supercritical CO2.
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Does 151 not attract as much moisture as 190 ?
I’m no chemist so I could have miss understood or simply do not fully understand the effects but I’ve definitely read articles that claim a difference in polarity between the acidic and non acidic forms of THC and CBD. Seems that if THCA and CBDA are indeed more polar there wold be at least marginal benefits in extraction using a more polar solvent? I have not found any research demonstrating any difference and have yet to do a side by side myself. Was on the short list of to do’s but got side tracked by permitting/compliance fun!!
I just realized that the difference, if any, in polarity between THCA and THC is probably much less a factor than the presence of h2o in terms of increasing/decreasing efficiency in ethanol extraction.
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151 has more moisture than 190. it will extract a yucky green mess, and may miss some of your cannabinoids.
There are states that sell Everclear at 151proof (eg VA), and the kids there are sure isopropanol works better than ethanol. because “water”.
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