Hi All,
We are having an issue with our carts producing a lot of bubbles when you hit them. I have attached a picture of the bubbles in question.
Any idea what causes the bubbles? The oil inside is was extracted -50C with 70/30 butane/propane. Cold crashed to remove THCA, recovered solvent and purged the terpene fraction, decarbed the THCA and homogenized the two parts. The oil is about 69% decarbed THC, 10%THCA, and 4.3% terpenes, 0ppm residual solvent. I have not hit the cart to see the bubbles myself, but my boss did and sent this picture. We got similar looking bubble sin the cart when filling, but stuck the carts in the vac oven at 125F for a couple hours and most of them were gone.
We have a Thomson and Duke semi-automatic cart filler that we use to fill the carts.
Boss thinks that the cold crash is causing it, that doesnt make much sense to me. the bubbles look like they could be decarb, but there is only about 10% THCA in the cart, would that cause that many bubbles? I am also wondering why if that is the case, the bubbles are moving back into the oil and not simply decarbing as it pulls onto the coil and vaporized. There are other Grower/Processors in our state that put out carts that are 8-20%THCA (liquid live resin) and I have not heard of these having the same issue.
Looking for a little guidance, any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Fully decarb and try filling again. I’m with @StoneD these look like decarb bubbles. The bubbles produced from a cart wick becoming saturated are much bigger than this.
When you use your Thompson Duke to fill…
What temp is your oil sitting at while being filled?
What temp is the auto filler being held at?
Could there be air getting in your lines while being filled?
I wonder what temp the other producers in your state are filling at?
Do they even use heat to fill or is it runny enough that they can fill at room temp?
Answer some of these questions and you might be able to find the source of your tiny bubble dilemma.
Most likely decarb bubbles induced by the high shear stress during injection. Try a larger needle and possibly higher fill temp to get everything flowing more easily (don’t exceed 70C).
But in all seriousness decarb at 155-165f in the oven under vac for 12 hours to minimize the amount of loss in terps backfill the oven with n2 or argon.
Or can do it on a hot plate magnetic stirrer, 300-400 rpms even to break surface tension of thca once melted down, go to 135 for the 10-12 hrs it will take, but you need to be maybe about a 2-3 inch max tlc film percolation for this to work properly as well.
Curious if this is what is happening to us, I have a 86% CO2 Full Spectrum Vape that taste great however it has large pockets or cavities forming at the base around the coil. As I consume the oil at the based the oil above does not slide down to fill in the void. Would this be from filling improperly or too thick of oil?
Fairly certain this is due to thick oil. Very high potency distillates require more than the standard 5% terpene infusion, or else the oil will too viscous to flow into the atomizer properly. However going above the 5% terp level can lead to harshness or too strong of a flavor, or if they are CDT may be harder to get or more expensive than distillate so they dont want to use more than 5%.
This can potentially lead to a clog if the cart goes thru extreme temps. Cool temps can cause the oil to solidify and not move at all. Too much heat can cause excess distillate to flow into the atomizer. If too much oil goes into the coil and cools down it can cause a clog within the atomizer.
Take a hair dryer to your cart in 15-20 second increments. Heat it up just enough so that the air pockets close up, or else too much distillate might flow into the coil and cause a clog as it cools You are probably going to have to do this a few times if the problem persits, as far as i know theres no way to make the oil flow better after it’s loaded into a cart besides light heat.
Probably just too thick of disty like these guys have said. We cut ours with cannabis derived terps and extract or reintroduced terps to get that flow a little more on point. If you are having wicking issues both of the above suggestions are good as well.
I appreciate the info, it is actually a 10% CDT cut on the 86% total cannabinoid CO2 pen. I have applied light heat in order to allow the oil to coat the aperture holes. however, this is not a long term solution for customers. It is winter here so I know the ambient temps play a major role, however cartridges should work properly even in colder temps imo.
is this typical with dispensary cartridges? I have mostly worked in California and never had an issue with high purity disty or Raw Co2 flow. I am however in a different climate now and using hardware i’ve never used before.
You are probably going to have to do this a few times if the problem persits, as far as i know theres no way to make the oil flow better after it’s loaded into a cart besides light heat.