New to extractions looking for guidance on a CLS

Hi guys! So I have a garden that basically lost water when I was on vacation but basically was able to finish flowering. It wouldn’t be able to be sold in flower form but I thought I’d turn a bad situation into a good situation by diving in deeper into concentrates. I have at least 8 units of crystally buds to experiment with. Still on the plant as currently but just guesstimating and I’m sure there is way more then I would think.

Should I harvest the plant and do a rough machine trim or just buck the stems and just use that material? I’m thinking of going fresh frozen and BHO route.

What size CLS should I purchase and what are all the tools I would need to produce quality product?

Best way of purchasing bulk amount of solvents? Or should I just use cans and collect it? And refill when necessary?

Is a diamond miner setup necessary?

Vacuum ovens can be quite expensive is there anything cheaper?

I’m aiming for sauce/diamonds. And if there is any threads that are worth the read it would be amazing to have you guys link some for me. Thank you!!

Search bar can get you started pretty far.

If this is just a one time solution to try and salvage the harvest a consult might be the best move. Still might be honestly if you plan to transition to sauce/diamonds.

Would just buck the stems quick and freeze and aim for 30 minutes and into freezer.

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I’m sure @Killa12345 can help you out with a cls. The search bar is your best friend on this site but ill give you a couple of links to get you started. As for the vacuum oven I would just buy one. They come in quite handy. Now get to reading.
Only The Strong sauce tek
How to properly use a diamond miner / pressure vessel.

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@Killa12345 would be the dude fo-sho. Just considering that you aren’t planning on making it “your thing” or not will determine what your investment is/if it’s worth it.

8lbs might make it hard to justify your investment. Unless real penny pinching and you nail it. Just my two cents…

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A killa set up, a small best value vacs chamber maybe, you could scrape by and get something back and cover the costs, but it’d be a narrow margin. Not including all the consumables etc.

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Welcome to the future @Steveydvee! Sucks the girls didn’t make it to harvest unscathed, but there are many ways to turn those lemons into lemonade. Yes, this kind of situation is what drove many of us to learn more of the extract arts, just be sure to educate yourself before diving in and actually starting extracting.

If you’re set on sauce/diamonds, a cls is the way to go. Running a cls isn’t exactly something you want to just jump into, but with much research and some intelligent questions, you could get started in a month or two. Sure, you could read the Cliff Notes, have some random cls on your doorstep in a few days, and jump right in, but you could also keep that fresh frozen in the deep freeze while you prepare to do it right. End safety rant.

As an alternative, Bucket Tek ethanol extraction is a great way to get into extracting that is less dangerous, and able to be done on a small scale and small budget. It isn’t ideal for an end goal of diamonds or sauce, but some very nice shatter can be made this way.

Regardless of how you purchase you gas, distilling it before using it is critical. You could get by tapping cans, but it will be much easier to deal with your butane in a cylinder.

When doing fresh frozen, getting your biomass frozen as quickly as possible is key. Think thin layers and dry ice, liquid nitrogen if possible. DO NOT let it thaw, ever! Don’t vac pack it before freezing unless you want bricks of ice weed.

Honestly, if you just want to recoup the loss on a single harvest, I would have someone who is already set up process it for you. On the other hand, if you see extraction as a big part of your future, jump in!

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Well said @BigM

Understand it’s not just “oh I need to extract this” it’s a whole set of parameters, variables, trouble shooting, understanding, utilizing engineering, chemistry, botany, physics, to play the game, it’s frankly, quite the pain in the ass. It has made me a mess these last few years, but it has been a satisfying journey, but seriously… sometimes I go full blonde girl and “just can’t even” with it all.

Basically prepare to go down rabbit holes to the nth degree…

If it still has full trichomes why not some old school hash??? Could you not make bubble hash out of it? I mean provided it has the bulbous trich’s you should be able to collect heads and all that. If it still has shtank it should do fine.

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I can definitely see myself doing extracts when I have time so maybe once a month just knock out all the fresh frozen trim after harvest and I do have an avenue to move the product once made. I harvest once a month anywhere from 10-15 units and usually always have trimmings and immature buds to work with.

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I have a bubble machine and bags but man to just do a pound it’s an all day commitment lol. Maybe I’m just lazy.

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