I’m doing some Research on infusing Hemp Derived Cannabinoids with either Non-Alcoholic or De-Alcoholized Wine and/or Mocktails. It doesn’t seem to be an issue with all the information I have read so far in this forum but I have yet to put my thoughts to actions. Has anyone messed around with this yet? I have looked for a while on here to make sure no one has made any posts similar to this but I never found any relating to the questions I have.
How can I determine the Shelf Life?
How can I prevent separation from happening? (So there is no sediment look to the product) -------> Various sites are saying Wine is Homogenous so my plan was to get the smallest Nano Emulsions (Seems to be CBD Infinite from who I’ve found so far) and to homogenize them together.
The acidity of wine is going to give you issues attaining a shelf-stable nano formulation. I can tell you that just adding an emulsion and mixing will 100% not work.
I use my nanoemulsion in a terpene infused nonalcoholic spirit that is ph 2.5 and haven’t had any issues thus far (2 months) no separation or noticeable change in potency. I would imagine that particle size, concentration and which surfactant you use plays a role here.
Alcohol in wine means you have a good chance of dissolving alcohol fractions - like fortifying with a spirit. So learning how they blend things with wine to make eg: sherry etc would be helpful.
You can determine shelf life through testing companies that study shelf life of the product. They have methods to accelerate aging. Couple these tests with potency tests. When the product fails either one of these tests that will be approx the shelf life.
You can prevent separation from happening by having a high quality nano emulsion and a formulation and container which do not promote separation. You really need a high quality nano emulsion that doesn’t cause you problems with product stability. Most nano emulsion starters are using the wrong ingredients or a combination of ingredients that are not stable, and most people making infused nano emulsions are not using the right equipment to make their nano emulsions and have no quality control (they don’t do PSA).
The formulation of the beverage is also important, ingredients have their own shelf lives and can speed up separation of the nano emulsion.
The container is important if you have either a bad nano emulsion formula or poorly though out beverage formulation for infusing with a cannabis nano emulsion.
Products of this type already exist in a number of recreational states. Main one I’ve seen (in multiple states) is the Vertus canna-champagne stuff. Might be worth tracking some down near you for some competitor research if you are serious about pursuing it.
If you want to source pre-made nano emulsions the top two companies on the west coast that provide that service (either wholesaling bulk emulsion or bringing a skid to your facility to process your inputs into bulk emulsion) are Sorse Technology and Vertosa. I’d recommend reaching out to one of them, but be warned that they provide a premium service and product and charge accordingly. Much cheaper to do it in house, IF you have the knowledge and cap x spend to get all the right equipment to do it and can sell enough product to pay it off.