Seal the bags before all the air is sucked out …
Yeah I purchased it because it was cheap. Decent fresh frozen on my market is too high for what the sales price is.
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Unfortunately, bricking like this adds a level of friction-based thawing that really compromises the materials quality.
The proper way to vac seal WPFF is to vac down but leave a small pocket of air. Flash freeze and voila- no degredation post-harvest
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What Phil said^
Pellet/feed mill? Chop saw into chunks to make them fit? Do it all in a walk in freezer so nothing thaws?
this open source shredder looks appropriate, and might even even hold up to a prechilling with dry ice or liqN2
Hey just wondering if you were able to resolve this issue in any way. I’m also kind of a noob when it comes to working with fresh frozen and I had a question about material prep as well. The stuff I have been working with is also extremely hard/frozen, so much that it kind of resembles like those rocks you’d find in a rock garden. Some pieces have literally ripped holes through the extraction socks that they’re packed in. I have been getting pretty lame yields on the material as well, a 5000g run produced only 121g of resin. I’m running a PXP, 70/30 butane/propane chilled to -60f, soaked for about 5 minutes. I’m wondering if the problem is the solvent isn’t penetrating the biomass, or is it something else? I’ve also not ruled out that the material was bunk, I’m waiting on a potency test of both the spent material and not yet ran material to see what the actual cannabinoid content is.
it’s called dont squeeze the air outta the bag before before freezing…and freeze fast
if u smash it, itll rock up and bitch to bust up
if u leave it be, o it’s so easy…just seal the bag before squeezing the material
Buy your producer some socks. Fill the socks before vac sealing and freezing… voila perfect ready to go filled frozen socks.
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Thanks for posting this. I came here for this exact question. These bricks are ridiculous and gotta be causing degradation to the trichomes. We are doing solventless ice water extraction and having to soak these things for over an hour so we can pull them apart easier.
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If you can break them apart in the freeze you have them in while still bagged. Temperature rise is your worst enemy when dealing with fresh frozen. Make sure anything it touches is around the same temp of the bio itself before it touches it, what you use to break it up, the socks, the columns, your gloves too! I prefer to load in a deep freezer/walk in.
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I got some fresh trims id loke to run ff. So I should freese it first and then pack it? Ive done it before but it was getting condensation when its frozen. i guess maybe freeze in a baggie and cut the edge off to pack it through so its not all exposed to humidity.condensation? I can also pack it lightly and freeze under vac? which is best.
Absolutely. I’ll let you know my solution was to actually go deeper on the freeze, -80C, put them into thicker plastic bags, and then bust them down into bits.
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I’d like to try getting it colder and busting it into small pieces next time rather than soaking the brick. After @Cheebachiefextracts comment, I’m guessing you get more trichome degradation from a soak as the temperature rises in the water, than if I smashed the brick while it was frozen solid and then added it to the water. I also think these bricks thawed and re-froze so they were like blocks of ice. 
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If they were thawed then one option you have of saving the material is to subliminate the water presence off it in a roto with a dry ice bath running under full vacuum you will be able to use the material but yes yield will be lower since it was thawed & then frozen again no matter what. But thawing definitely is a major part in degrading the material prior.
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I’ll give you “only chance is to sublimate…”, but if the only way you can think of to achieve that is in a rotovap. then you haven’t been paying enough attention 
just as an example; Harvest Right makes a purpose build tool… and then there’s Search results for 'DIY freeze dryer' - Future4200
just sayin…
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I’m going off the assumption for what they may have on hand. Obviously a harvest right is made for it, but also not a feasible option be on the waitlist to get one, or having to source one when the lab likely has a roto on hand for recovery it would be a faster route for them to entail was my thought.
With how he will have to break up the bio he can go with either route of course. But setting parameters for the prep of the bio & every surface it’ll touch prior to sublimination will be what matters most of course.
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you can use the CLS itself…all you gotta do is suck.
…and maybe protect your vacuum pump from the water you’re removing if the pump you’ve got on hand requires than sort of thing.
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True & fair enough, without knowing what they would have for on hand equipment (extra spools for prep on subliminate & extraction packing) I just looked at it of a way to sort of streamline it & with the roto I feel it would allow more constant surface area of the bio making it easier no?
100% agree with that edit add.
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I’ve got two nominal 40lb hydrocarbon extractors, and it has taken me months to get a rotovap onsite; “why do you need one?”.
no way I’m keeping up with dehydrating material, even in a 50L rotovap, so that excuse won’t fly. AND, because I’ll eventually get poor frozen biomass (same day I get my first frozen biomass I’m betting), I know I need to be thinking about/building/ordering that sublimator now.
All I’m questioning is “the ONLY way…” because fuck that. there is always another solution if you look at the problem right (probably untrue, but works as a motivational tool…at least for me )
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