Speedmixer use in cannabis?

For terpene mixing with distillate would you rather a cat scientific emulsifier or this?

Assuming my distillate is pre warmed to at least 115F It takes me about 35 seconds to emulsify 500 grams of distillate with terpenes using the Speedmixer. I’ve used the cat MCS78 unit as well which required me to bring the distillate to about 155F and would take a minimum of 7-10 minutes to mix properly.

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However there is a dramatic price difference between the units.

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The Flak Tek spins in two directions and creates some pretty strong shear forces. It is quite fun to use.

I cannot remember the exact number but it definitely can add 10G+ of force to it. If you put almonds in it it will turn into butter.

Great for mixing terps and oil. Nitrogen assist, vacuum available. 100-1000g options.

The only problem is that the cups are plastic, besides I don’t think people are going to spend 10k+ to mix 200ml of Disty and terps.

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Thankfully the cups are only about $1 a piece and can make 500g at a time for the 600g model

We replace the cups after a few runs (if they are back to back as the polypropylene starts to flex due to the heat but usually resets once cooled) and also use the reinforced lid to prevent any leakage.

The problem I see is heating the terpenes and plastic. Not sure how the ultra high shear/friction would stand up to the terps. Do you know what the ticket is on the 600g model?

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Plastic + terps = terp-lastic

Graywolf schooled me 6yrs ago about Terps and what it like to ruin.

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Yeah, this unit is really incredible. The problem is it generated a lot of heat when I was doing R&D with mine. I had to run it 30sec at a time to keep the product from over heating. Besides the plastic/terps dilemma, I don’t see cart guys spending 10k+++++ to mix terps.

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Thanks for the info. Imma take that off the list of cool shit to buy.

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just ask @bg305 to bring it down here to play with. He has a small one in his lab. I know he aint using that shit right now. just sits there collecting dust in norcal.

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The one thing I remember the tech that came out to “train” me was keeps these parts as you will need them to move the machine. I think I will rent a Cadillac whenever I move it to Cal city Justin case. I had a talk with myself last week and decided to quit buying expensive toys that get put away and I don’t use. I had this talk while I looked at this 37’ Midnight.

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When you’re using the speedmixer to remove solvent, do you immediately put the product into the speedmixer under vacuum? I’m thinking you’d need to let the product off-gas for some time before putting it in the mixer? How high are your RPM? Doing a little R&D and trying to mess around with these processes.

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Do you have a speed mixer? They have a vacuum unit that is geared for Solvent recovery. It is one of the higher end units.

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I have the same question as you! We have a FlakTek DAC1100VAC in the lab. Anybody have an opensource degassing SOP for this?

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Do you have the vacuum containers? If not you can over size the cup and just run it with the lid off.

Yes, I have the vented lids. Straight out of a CLS into the flaktek, 1600rpm/10min/10mbar. Poured like warm syrup. Very translucent, no visible bubbles. Will send to analytics for RSA, but tossed it in the vac oven on parchment just for kicks and brought it down to like 3 micron. It was muff city. Could it just be air trapped due to all the shearing force/cavitation…?? :man_shrugging:

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Hey guys,

The Vac SpeedMixer (any size) at about 600mbar should remove hydrocarbons down to 0 ppm straight out of an extractor in about 6 minutes give or take.

We have found deep vacuum is not needed for purging. Plus at deep vacuum you will also drop your terpene boiling points and we want to keep as much of those as possible.

You can also achieve purging with a non vac SpeedMixer it just may take a few minutes extra. Highly recommended this is done within the confines of your state regs, i.e under a fume hood etc. Also make sure there is a hole in your lid.

You can start with high speed to get the material flowable and actually drop the speed once its going. This will also help keep the heat down, if you want/need cooler temps run it slower for a little longer.

@MasterBlaster the vortex action forces all of the air out naturally, hence why it is used in many degassing processes outside of Cannabis as well.
If you want to introduce air for say budder whipping we have ways of introducing air for that purposes, basically it comes down to needing abrasion, otherwise there should never be residual air trapped.

@BG305 What were you guys trying to accomplish that didn’t work?

The SpeedMixer is not just for disty terp mixing. That’s just one of the main processes its good for in the Cannabis industry. Purging as mentioned above is another high volume use. Infusing just about anything even making caviar and auto-whipping are also big applications. Among girinding/milling/destemming and extracting for secondary uses.

The major advantage especially for larger producers is the time/labor savings, repeatability regardless of user, pharmaceutical level homogeneity, saving on analytical testing, new product possibilities, and throughput. Depending on your production scale even the larger machines have had ROI’s of just 5 weeks.

So far we have not seen issues with terpenes and the polypropylene cups, there is no reaction occurring. PP is inert and worst case scenario may absorb a fraction of a % of terpenes. There have been extensive analytics by some SpeedMixer clients to make sure this was the case.

To everyone with a SpeedMixer or SpeedMixer questions feel free to contact me at Ted@FlackTek.net I try to keep up on here but email is the best place.

@shelbyhoop I hope that helps answer your question, please let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Cheers

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How many grams does your unit mix? @MasterBlaster

I’m not sure what you consider right volume. At the time of purchase the largest was 1kg. The problem with the weight allowed by the units is they are not on a commercial level. The larger units are also very pricey for just purging solvent. What does your 1kg machine run with and without vacuum? The CLS I run right now allows me to reclaim my Solvent. I do multiple runs into my collection pot and end up with 5kg+ of concentrate.
I am working on a process that involves using no solvent to take kief to distillate. I did achieve ethanol crystals with your machine by accident during R&D.

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Up to 1100 grams including the cup and spacer. Average batch size about 700g.