I see everyone talking about Nucleation in every honeycomb thread but I don’t really understand what it means…
Is this Nucleation?
1 Like
Basically, your THCA is migrating within the slab and linking up to eachother. These links form micro crystals that cause your shatter to turn cloudy/crumbly.
4 Likes
I have read that, let me reprhase myself.
When the wax starts to bubble up like my picture, is that reffered to as nucleation?
English isn’t my first language.
Sorry if i sound rude that was not on purpose, just trying to make my wax dry out and stay in crumble “form” 
1 Like
I wouldn’t call that nucleation during the purge process. Generally when you have a muffin like that, the “grainyness” you’re seeing are just micro bubbles holding onto gasses that haven’t been released yet.
To get it to dry out, just purge longer, or add a touch more heat and it will help evap some of the terpenes and cause it to dry up and be more crumbly. Some also whip the extract between purging to help speed up this process. If you’re going for crumble you want nucleation to occur and agitating the resin will get that going.
3 Likes
In my many years I’ve heard it’s mostly from water. Dry and moisture free extract doesn’t do that as much when flat pan purging. Typically when they do fresh frozen and go to get shatter, if the extraction takes water of the butane has alot of residual water it will nuke the fuck like a disease and start spreading in areas that aren’t even consistent with moisture present. We used to cut it out if we seen it and it would prevent the slab from going further. There’s also many more reasons for sugaring but in case your refering to the old man’s water nucleation effect that’s what I’ve heard and seen it come from with many others.
5 Likes
me too i need to be clarified on this as well, thanks for bringing it up
good point. Humidity in the air does this too.
whip on heat at about 100f. once the extract looks “buddery” scrape on to parchment. whip it again, carefully, on the parchment or silicone pad as it cools and thickens. have your vac temperature set to about 90f. once you’ve whipped it into a thick, buddery paste at ambient temperature put it in your vac. pull vac until your extract is almost at full muffin. then cut heat. while maintaining vac. this is a trick I used to use with oil that was being stubborn and would melt back down.
1 Like
Someone with the same problem as i, finally 
I have whipped it 4 times today (1hour between each whip) and been leaving it at the oven at 20C.
Before i left my workspace i put it at max vacuum and turned of the vacuum pump and the heat is at 25C.
Will be there for atleast 20hours and it did muffin up a lot before i left, will see the results tomorrow.
If that doesn’t work ill try your tek, thanks!
1 Like
Think of nucleation as when a party on a beach reaches critical mass to attract more people than leave.
Say you and a buddy are chilling, nobody is going to stop by and eventually you two get bored and leave. (No nucleation)
Say that you and your buddy have 2 more people. Still not enough to get many people to stop and hang out (no nucleation)
Now, say it’s you and forty people and a keg. Now everyone walking by stops and joins the fun. Nucleation happened. More people are joining the party than leaving.
Sub THC or CBD molecules for people and the new crystal is the party.
2 Likes