Read everything on this forum. Then read it again. There is an absolute gold mine of information here, just keep hitting the search bar. Google is also your friend. Since you have already tried an ethanol extraction with a counter top distiller, this link may be helpful. It’s written for small batch extractions, so easy to relate to. Good luck! ETHANOL EXTRACTION: COMPLETE BREAKDOWN - Home Extraction by IchiBanCrafter
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If you are operating under a recreational cannabis license in NJ then you should be able to buy and sell anything that is available to your license type in your state. Full disclosure I personally know absolutely nothing about the NJ rec market but a quick google search pulled up Recreational License Awardees. Sounds like the category you’re looking for is Manufacturer. If you have a rec license then there shouldn’t be any reason one of the companies listed wouldn’t sell you distillate. If you feel confident/stubborn enough to do this by yourself then the only thing I can recommend is use the search bar and read read read. Etoh, SPD, Winterization, Decarb, and Distillation would be my starting points. Pretty much everything you can within those search parameters. The other option is hire a consultant to come out and spend a week or so getting you set up and comfortable with whatever equipment you chose. Good luck!
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You could - get a job doing this work - so you see all the parts it entails. See if you like doing the work. See if you think that this is something you want to put your personal investment into.
If you are working on the traditional market - then you are not in the legal licensed space. Assuming you want to take that risk - you won’t be able to buy from a legal licensed source (as they can only sell to other license holders, except through small quantities at retail) unless they are hemp folks - which is a whole different game.
2k for distillate would be cheap in michigan where i am, just now on the licensed market. so getting it that cheap in NJ seems unreasonable - except that its non-licensed traditional market and/or hemp conversion stuff.
Someone posted a great link. Start there. Read some more. Read some more. I’ve been doing this for over 10 years and I still read here every day and learn more. So don’t feel bad about it.
If you happen to be a license holder in NJ - and you really need help figuring out how to turn your cultivated biomass into something. Feel free to DM me - I’ve got a processing partner out there and I don’t mind making a connection.
But I’m pretty sure you’re a traditional market operator. And that’s fine - but its a different game and you should spend some time wrapping your head around that first. Because that game isn’t for everyone and there is a legal risk that you are taking by trying to do it. Could it work out? Sure. Could you end up in prison, maybe. Could someone scam you and you have no recourse - sure.
So think about it. Decide what you are trying to do. And let us know. Starting a business? Starting a career path? Looking to hustle because there’s not enough carts in your neighborhood?
There’s plenty of us that consult here as Cannalab420 mentioned. But really - until you know what your goal is, it would be hard for any of us to help.
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There’s people here that sell thca diamonds with a minimum order quantity of 100 grams or less which you can get for under $400 easily. You can buy something to safely decarb them in and make carts that are way better than distillate for a lower initial cash outlay and have a product everybody wants right now. This is what I would do. Do some research on hemp THCA so you know what you’re getting into first though.
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Your idea of trying to produce rather than buy to make it cheaper and also better is on the right track, but I would somewhat agree with some of the others advice here. If you don’t have a ton of extra cash laying around I would be cautious about buying equipment that you dont know how to run, because there is a bit of a learning curve and if you just jump into head on, I can almost promise you will get frustrated and possibly waste more money than if you had of just sourced some decent distillate. Suppliers are around, you just have to know where to look. I don’t think anyone is saying don’t do it, just to understand the equipment before diving in.
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@Rusty is correct. Liquid diamonds is just distillate, change my mind
Start by buying THCa. 50g: THCa Diamonds 50g MOQ
Learn how to decarb under vac (useful if you ever do get to distillate). Decarboxylation under Vacuum?
Add terps and cart. Evenly Mix Terps + Distillate
How to do all that can be found here…
I think the correct expression is READ MOTHERFUCKER!!
As an aside: Calling yourself @distillatefarm at this point in your learning curve seems a smidge precocious…
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Ah man don t shatter his dreams
Hope is maybe the best of things (Shawshank redemption)
And we were all there at one time fu&#
We are getting old
I remember @Killa12345 and @Eastcoaststrange there moments on the curve those where long nights with the time diffrance where I was
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Distillation is easily scaled. Rosin, not so much.
Rosin requires premium input. Distillate has been referred to as “hot dog water”…because you can quite literally clean the dishes you made when making crude, and turn those leavings into distillate.
Try @HowToWeed’s collection. Shouldn’t be too hard to find (https://m.youtube.com/@CartandPod). Nothing on distillation there, but you’ve got some catch up to play before you’re ready for that…
…it’s not like he’s got an SPD I can shatter…
Nothing against aspirational user names.
Not convinced that distillate is where our new NJ farmer should be heading.
We’ve produced almost 1 million carts for the Oregon rec market without a single drop of distillate…
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always got me laughing early in the morning
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Yessir. Depending on color preference and quantity I could possibly do even better.
I thought the conclusion of that thread was vacuum didn’t help? Been awhile since I looked at it, how does a vacuum help decarbing? Thanks for the info if you share, so I don’t need to read all 135 posts lol
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You get to pull volatiles and reduce exposure to atmosphere while hot
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Wouldn’t want you to have to read…
vacuum doesn’t speed decarb, however, today’s goal is decarbing THCa isolate
And I’m of the opinion that
It also prevents entrained/dissolved CO2, which would get in OP’s way during the cart filling step.
@distillatefarm if you find that the decarbed thca isolate is too light in color or you have oxidation issues, you’re already one step ahead of @Cannabin
…you have crude you can add
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Ahh makes a lot of sense, thanks! Wouldn’t it be easier to just replace the oxygen with an inert gas than kill a vacuum though?
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Using an inert gas will also work to prevent oxidation during decarb. OP probably has neither vac nor N2 on hand.
However, if they ever wish to get to distilling cannabinoids, decarb under vacuum is on the list of protocols they need under their belt.
NOT sucking while decarbing crude headed for distillation means a separate devolatilization step is required…
What is it about sucking on decarbing isolate that you imagine is going to damage a vac pump?
When decarbing “isolish” (90-95% vs 99%), use of a chemical duty diaphragm pump is advised…
Same for decarbing/devolatilizing crude.
@distillatefarm you’re not the first to arrive here thinking that recovering the solvent from an ethanol extraction gives them “distillate”, nor will you be the last.
try these videos for a basic introduction :
Then as @Roguelab suggested, dig through @spdking’s back catalogue https://m.youtube.com/@spdking
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Hmm I didn’t mean to type kill, I think it’s some kind of autocorrect, especially with isolate as you say, plus just use a cold trap if that was a concern; it makes no sense to assume it would kill your pump, I meant to say “use” or something along the lines of “bring out your pump”
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Did you know that the custies DEMAND entrained co2, which we “train” by homogenizing powdered thca into d9 just seconds prior to filling? The customers demand the bubble carts every single time.
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Why is that ?
For it beeing proof that the content is a result of decarboxilation of thc-a
Instead of a distillate ?
Got to modify a soda stream 
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