Since quite a few people seem to be using a Hochstrom filter setup in their lab, thought it would be nice to have a thread about user experiences, Hochstrom filtration setups, optimizations and tips and tricks about the Summit Hochstrom filter.
What filtration jobs are best suited for the Hochstrom, what should be avoided?
Which stage filter paper do u use for which purpose.
Basically a place for all things Summit Hochstrom.
Would this be the next step up after buchner filters?
How would something like this compare?
summit makes one, its called the pig. filter presses dont meet the same needs of a buchner funnel. in our applications, most people experience a lot of leaking with the filter presses because of the nature of their design, the gaskets do not swell appropriately at the cold temperatures we love.
Oh man I must’ve filtered over a ton of THC oil in a Hotchstrom. We’d winterize our crude/solvent in a -86C Cryo freezer and run it through a 25 micron filter thru a drain droid then a 10 micron and once more thru a 5 micron before processing it the the Hotchstrom. We then would freeze again and run a stage 3 filter. But sometimes chlorophyll gets through the filters and the liquore would have a tint of green in it. So to minimize the risk of having to run it with chlorophyll getting thru I would use silica in the Hotchstrom. Place the filter and lock it down then spray ethanol on the filter really well. Turn vacuum on then open valve so the filter gets a good seal. In a beaker put about a cup and a half of silica and freezing cold ethanol inside the breaker. 1 part Silica 3 parts ethanol. Stir until no clumps of silica are visible and immediately pour the mixture into the Hotchstrom. Let it sit for 20 seconds so that the silica settles onto the filter. Open valve and let the ethanol suck through. The silica should be a perfectly flat cake surface. Then run your product thru it. Do not stir or agitate. Let it sit and filter itself. Sometimes it can take long to filter. If you’re not using silica do not agitate it either. Be patient stiring will risk puncturing the filter and you have to start over again. Last step, reprocess using stage 1 filter no silica. That process is usually quicker since most the wax and fats are pretty much filtered out already. I like to think of stage 1 filter as polishing the solution.