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Improving live resin yields?

E

entyfresh

New member
Hi guys, first time poster here. This forum was recommended as a source for reputable info on high quality concentrates, which I'm sure you're all aware is relatively hard to find online. Over my last few harvests, I've started producing live resin for personal use, and while I'm very pleased with the quality of what I produce, I feel like I should be getting higher yields. Right now, I get about 2.5g of extract out with about 90g of wet material in a pretty simple closed column setup. I've got a number of ideas about how I could change my process to improve things, but most of the options involve spending a fair amount of money, and I'd like to be able to both prioritize my upgrades and avoid spending too much.

My current procedure:

  1. Put 15 lbs of dry ice in the bottom of a large cooler (enough for a weekend), along with 1.5" metal spool with caps and clamps.
  2. Harvest plants, break down into 2" or smaller buds, put into bags that are open to atmosphere and place in the dry ice cooler (idea being that CO2 will displace the air around the buds and prevent condensation).
  3. Pack spool with buds using a funnel with a small opening, forcing buds to break up into 1/2' chunks as they are pushed through the funnel.
  4. Lightly tamp spool a few times while loading, continue packing spool until full and then put caps on.
  5. Pull vacuum on column and then fill with butane from can. Butane kept in freezer prior to filling--can't keep in dry ice cooler or there's not enough pressure left in can to fill the column.
  6. Place column back in cooler and leave for ~90 minutes.
  7. Blast oil/butane out of column, float collection vessel on a bowl of hot water for a few minutes to evaporate most of the butane, collect and put in a lightly capped jar.
  8. Wait about a week for extract to crystallize/separate into sauce.
  9. Light purge at room temp

I've thought about changing a number of things: I think the extraction temp might be too low (dry ice is -78C), the column might be packed too tight, and there might be condensation interfering with the extraction. Or maybe I'm wrong, and 2.5g of live resin out of 90g of wet material isn't that poor of a result. I've attached a couple pictures of what I'm getting now--the clear stuff is a fresh pour and the other is after the live resin has sugared up. Thanks in advance for your thoughts!
 

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theJointedOne

theJointedOne

Active member
Veteran
thats a well written post, im sure someone with some knowledge will drop in and answer your question. From my limited info on this subject i think you may already be onto why the yeilds are lower than youd like.
 
HashoftheTitans

HashoftheTitans

Member
In my experience, proper fresh-frozen extracts yield between 2-5%, depending on material quality, preparation, and water content. It is difficult to compare notes because of the wide range of variables and difficulty in measuring those differences compared to dry material.
 
F

FrozenFire

Member
Use the search bar, as almost everything extraction related has been covered and is available to read. Fresh frozen yields low due to plant water weight, and volume undried. Greywolf has a new website up with tons of info about everything extraction related. Low temps are a good thing and part of the equation of low yields. With low extraction temps you aren't extracting much plant waxes, which is a good thing. Good luck and enjoy your stay at icmag!
 
E

entyfresh

New member
I've tried searching around, but I haven't seen much discussion about live resin, and especially about using a simple column extractor instead of a closed loop.

After my original post, I found one suggestion that Grey Wolf made--and that I haven't tried--which is to pack and evacuate the column before freezing anything. I usually freeze my material with dry ice first to make it frangible in an attempt to increase surface area, but I'm guessing it's more important to get all the atmosphere out before freezing to avoid condensation. I'm hopeful that making that adjustment will help a bit in yields. I'll be taking down a few more plants this weekend, so I can try and report back.

Here's a shot of the Blueberry Headband plant that was used in the extract in my original post about a week before harvest, and another of the trichs at the same time.



 

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E

entyfresh

New member
Three days and no comments with any content at all? I guess I came to the wrong place for help after all. Really disappointing that the only things people seem to talk about on here are commercial setups for turning a profit, and anyone who just wants to make some medicine for themselves at home gets no help. Guess I'll find another community to be a part of.
 
G

gumby420

Member
I've been having some trouble with getting my solvent to actually flood all the way through my column. if I flood 15lbs ill only get like 7lbs through and the rest will be stuck in my material column, even using vapor assist. when the tube is finally opened its just a rock hard block of ice. do you use nitrogen assist when running live material?
 
TychoMonolyth

TychoMonolyth

Boreal Curing
I thought Live Rosin meant the flowers were frozen first, then dry ice sifted, then pressed?
 
Last edited:
E

entyfresh

New member
Hey, sorry for being salty on my last reply. It's been a frustrating week, and a lot of searching for info on live resin extractions didn't really turn up much so that just made me that much more frustrated. With the number of people who blow themselves up doing stupid stuff with open blasting, I probably wouldn't be stepping forward with a lot of info myself.

Anyways, doing the same procedure as before except packing the column before I freeze it definitely helped yields. The last run this morning was 3.5g out for 75g in for a 4.7% yield by wet weight, which I can live with I think. I also used pure n-butane this time instead of a mix, and that seems to have lightened up the color a fair bit.

@Tychomonolyth: Strictly speaking, live resin is any extract you make from a freshly harvested plant, i.e. before you dry it. Most commonly, that means a plant that's fresh frozen and then extracted with a hydrocarbon solvent, but you could use other methods too. There's also "dry ice hash", where you take advantage of dry ice making the trichome stalks very brittle like you would when making bubble hash but by using only dry ice instead of ice water, essentially letting you make bubble hash without using any water in the process.

@gumby420: Sounds like your column might be overpacked?
 
TychoMonolyth

TychoMonolyth

Boreal Curing
entyfresh said:
Hey, sorry for being salty on my last reply. It's been a frustrating week, and a lot of searching for info on live resin extractions didn't really turn up much so that just made me that much more frustrated. With the number of people who blow themselves up doing stupid stuff with open blasting, I probably wouldn't be stepping forward with a lot of info myself.

Anyways, doing the same procedure as before except packing the column before I freeze it definitely helped yields. The last run this morning was 3.5g out for 75g in for a 4.7% yield by wet weight, which I can live with I think. I also used pure n-butane this time instead of a mix, and that seems to have lightened up the color a fair bit.

@Tychomonolyth: Strictly speaking, live resin is any extract you make from a freshly harvested plant, i.e. before you dry it. Most commonly, that means a plant that's fresh frozen and then extracted with a hydrocarbon solvent, but you could use other methods too. There's also "dry ice hash", where you take advantage of dry ice making the trichome stalks very brittle like you would when making bubble hash but by using only dry ice instead of ice water, essentially letting you make bubble hash without using any water in the process.

@gumby420: Sounds like your column might be overpacked?
Click to expand...

This is what I found.
How to Make Frosin.
[YOUTUBEIF]PLw3WDRtBew[/YOUTUBEIF]
 
theJointedOne

theJointedOne

Active member
Veteran
this site isnt as active as it used to be, unfortunately. Still...there is good info around, most folks dont mind answering private messages so if you do find someone whom you think might be able to help dont hesitate to send them a pm.
 
TychoMonolyth

TychoMonolyth

Boreal Curing
theJointedOne said:
this site isnt as active as it used to be, unfortunately. Still...there is good info around, most folks dont mind answering private messages so if you do find someone whom you think might be able to help dont hesitate to send them a pm.
Click to expand...

True. It's a grower's joy to help another succeed.
 
I

Ions71

New member
Live resin yields of 3-4% are not bad at all and fairly common. In a production facility-that is typically our goal extraction yield. Increasing soaking time can also increase your yield, but may increase impurities and require post processing like dewax. Controlling your temperature also helps. Don't go too cold or you lose product too.
 
E

entyfresh

New member
Thanks a lot for the confirmations on the sorts of yields you all have seen, that makes me feel a lot better about things. I did four more runs today and got anywhere from 2.8% to 4.7% yield with an average of 3.6%. Everything with a nice light blond color and good optical clarity.

I made three changes to the process in my original post that all seem to increase yield somewhat, in the order of how helpful I think each change is:

1) Pack the column while still "warm", break up the plant by cutting into 1/2" before packing. I use the handle end of a long flat bladed screwdriver to pack the column--pressing on the blade of the screwdriver keeps me from pushing too hard on it.

2) Packing the column with non-frozen plants also resulted in me packing the columns looser without really trying to: about 75g of wet material in a 12" long, 1.5" wide spool, vs about 90g per spool packed with material frozen with dry ice. Makes sense with the frozen material being so brittle that it would pack more densely with the same amount of pressure vs. non-frozen bud.

3) While soaking the column in solvent, I flip the column over halfway through to help ensure that all parts of the column receive a similar amount of solvent exposure.

I hope this can help any other smalltimers out there who are trying to make small batches of quality meds at home. As always, be safe out there. :good:
 
theJointedOne

theJointedOne

Active member
Veteran
entyfresh said:
Thanks a lot for the confirmations on the sorts of yields you all have seen, that makes me feel a lot better about things. I did four more runs today and got anywhere from 2.8% to 4.7% yield with an average of 3.6%. Everything with a nice light blond color and good optical clarity.

I made three changes to the process in my original post that all seem to increase yield somewhat, in the order of how helpful I think each change is:

1) Pack the column while still "warm", break up the plant by cutting into 1/2" before packing. I use the handle end of a long flat bladed screwdriver to pack the column--pressing on the blade of the screwdriver keeps me from pushing too hard on it.

2) Packing the column with non-frozen plants also resulted in me packing the columns looser without really trying to: about 75g of wet material in a 12" long, 1.5" wide spool, vs about 90g per spool packed with material frozen with dry ice. Makes sense with the frozen material being so brittle that it would pack more densely with the same amount of pressure vs. non-frozen bud.

3) While soaking the column in solvent, I flip the column over halfway through to help ensure that all parts of the column receive a similar amount of solvent exposure.

I hope this can help any other smalltimers out there who are trying to make small batches of quality meds at home. As always, be safe out there. :good:
Click to expand...

awesome
 
T

Terpharvester

New member
I've found that you can get a more accurate percent yeild from live resin if you dry your material afterwards. You then divide your yield by the dry wait insteasd of your wet weight. I was stoked to find out I get the same yield either way.
 
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