Freeze dry my weed?

[Ckbrew]

I now have access to a freeze dry system. The kind usually used for food preservation. Does anyone have experience using this system for processing cannabis? Maybe it would turn out like hay if one intended to smoke it. I was thinking more for trichome extraction and then hash making. Looking for any prior experience using this. I have some already dried and cured stuff I can experiment with. What would happen if fresh cut would be processed in the freeze drier?

[Gingerbeard]

I effing wish I had hands-on experience with a freeze dryer!
Live resin is my go-to and cold cured live rosin is what I whip out when I comb my beard, put on my little black dress, and want to impress the company. But I cannot make live anything because I do not have access to a walk-in deep freezer or freeze dryer. Damn my life!
Freeze drying dried bud is superfluous. Like vaping vaped weed. Like allowing the dried paint on your walls to dry. Freeze drying is all about fresh bud and locking in trichomes.
You gotta let me know what you do.

[Going2fast]

Freeze drying would turn your weed into dust. I have a friend with one that is sort of a prepper and he tried basil and oregano and it just turned it to powder.

[No3odiesShad0w]

Never tried one but Technology Connections just made a full 1 hour in depth video about freeze dryers and what to expect. Grated it's not cannabis content, but lots of REALLY valuable info in that video about their functionality and what to expect. Highly recommend it.

[No3odiesShad0w]

On YouTube..

[Bluey]

I've frozen after curing it just in vacuum packs in the freezer and that worked but freeze drying is another ball game altogether.

For super long term storage, like longer than a few years, going the concentrate route may be a better option, eg. oil, but I really have no answers on that.

Some NW states, eg. Oregon, have over 1500 ton of flower in long term storage. We could look into how they do that but I'm guessing deep freeze, but just a guess, like minus 40⁰C or lower.

[Ckbrew]

1500 tons of flower...

[Bluey]

Old news and Oregon had probably its biggest harvest Oct 2024 with more than 11 million wet pounds harvested.

February 2023 figures of cannabis in storage in Oregon and it has increased since then.

1360 ton flower
34 ton extracts and concentrates

https://apnews.com/article/cannabis-marijuana-420-legal-california-oregon-washington-ae7880387eee7dbfcfecaff563d0b211

Extract below

"In February, the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission reported marijuana businesses were sitting on about 3 million pounds (1.36 million kilograms) of unused cannabis, as well as 75,000 pounds (34,000 kilograms) of concentrates and extracts."

The above is a growing pattern in west coast legal states

[StickyNugsAZ]

You freeze dry your ice water hash before you press out the rosin

[Gingerbeard]

That's not something I ever considered StickyNugsAZ. Is freeze drying the kief for a different purpose than just letting it air dry?

[StickyNugsAZ]

I'm not exactly sure but freeze dried probably leaves less water in the hash. It might also be for quicker processing. Live rosin gets harvested and flash frozen then washed then freeze dried then pressed all within a few days I believe

[Ckbrew]

3 million pounds (1.36 million kilograms) of unused cannabis, as well as 75,000 pounds (34,000 kilograms) of concentrates and extracts.

[Bluey]

And that is just in Oregon.

North America has an over supply that is massive.

So someone in North America has worked out how to store it long term because there are 1000s of ton of medicinal grade sitting in long term storage for many years to come and will eventually be sold

[Gingerbeard]

I'm not going to read the article because it would require reading. Does it say where I might go and see 34 tons of concentrates and extracts? I need to see what 30,844,290 grams looks like. Sounds like a bucket list item.