Critical Co2 Reviews?

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xavier7995

xavier7995

1,806
263
No review, but I would be hesitant to order one. The pictures provided appear to be in the guys living room and they couldn't even get a clean co2 tank for the promo shot. Also uses a generic email addy, most professional folks wouldn't really do that. Website also has a fly by night feel.

I could be horribly offbase though, no experience with the product, just initial reaction to it.
 
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Levitated

7
1
No review, but I would be hesitant to order one. The pictures provided appear to be in the guys living room and they couldn't even get a clean co2 tank for the promo shot. Also uses a generic email addy, most professional folks wouldn't really do that. Website also has a fly by night feel.

I could be horribly offbase though, no experience with the product, just initial reaction to it.


This is why I'm hesitant to order. I really like the idea of the machine and if it's real, I want one. I actually have a buddy in Calgary where he is based and asked if I could send my buddy to see the machine in action. I got a really round about answer on how hard it was to see.

This guy is posting here on THCFarmer, and if it's a scam then we should get rid of his posts or let people know it's a scam. If it's real, I want one.
 
xavier7995

xavier7995

1,806
263
Buyer beware:) It would be pretty sweet and sounds good, but yeah, stuff that sounds too good to be true and all that jazz.

I don't know enough about it, but it is priced way way lower than most other co2 systems I have looked at. granted the ones I looked at were more commercial production models and not really for at home use. The fancy ones do seem quite overpriced to me regarding material costs and such, but anything under 100k would make me very curious why.
 
RochesterCo2

RochesterCo2

23
3
I'm currently running a 5LD 2000 series Apeks extraction unit. And I love it! It's easy to use if you know what you're doing and unlike any other sources of extraction you can pinpoint and extract different oils based of volatility. Such as pure terpenes. Only thing negative is startup costs are expensive (ours was over 100k). Let me know if you have any questions about it and I'd love to answer!
 
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OregonDuck

1
1
I'm currently running a 5LD 2000 series Apeks extraction unit. And I love it! It's easy to use if you know what you're doing and unlike any other sources of extraction you can pinpoint and extract different oils based of volatility. Such as pure terpenes. Only thing negative is startup costs are expensive (ours was over 100k). Let me know if you have any questions about it and I'd love to answer!
What are the processing capacities for the Apeks unit. For example how many pounds do you start with and how many pounds are resultant?
 
RochesterCo2

RochesterCo2

23
3
What are the processing capacities for the Apeks unit. For example how many pounds do you start with and how many pounds are resultant?

Since my system is the 5 liter I can only process 2.2 pounds at a time (1000 grams). I usually get about 15% to 20%+ yields. So roughly 1/3 a pound to a little less than a half pound of oil from my extraction in a 7 hour run at subcritical settings. (Average yield is about 10% for most extractors, so I'm not saying you will be guaranteed to get that percentage) It's all based off your parameters and starting material. There is the 20LD system that costs more but you do get more out of it (obviously). It's over $15k extra to upgrade and takes over twice as long to extract your material. They do have other higher capacity ones as well that you can see on their website http://www.apekssupercritical.com/
 
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Sunstate

5
1
Thank you sir for your quick reply. What the temp and pressure parameters you use? In essence what I’m asking is are these the steps to achieve the result?
1. Grind the trim
2. Dehumidify the trim
3. Decarboxylate the trim
4. Load extractor with trim
5. Extract the oil

Thank you again.
 
RochesterCo2

RochesterCo2

23
3
Thank you sir for your quick reply. What the temp and pressure parameters you use? In essence what I’m asking is are these the steps to achieve the result?
1. Grind the trim
2. Dehumidify the trim
3. Decarboxylate the trim
4. Load extractor with trim
5. Extract the oil

Thank you again.

You're very welcome! I can't share with you my parameter settings, sorry. But I can discuss these steps.

1. Make sure your starting material is dry and cured properly. Water can actually oxidize your material because it's essentially two thirds oxygen. And it also makes it harder for the oils to separate in the extraction vessel being that water is a weak polar solvent, so it gets dissolved with the CO2 because it's polar too. So it takes away from the CO2 dissolving the oils instead (Essentially it takes longer to extract your material because water gets in the way, while also lowering quality) A great way to dry the material while still preserving the terpenes is to have a freezer dryer with a vacuum pump.
You also should make sure the plants have been flushed properly. Pesticides are known to dissolve in the CO2 and can contaminate your concentrates.

2. Don't decaroxylate your starting material, you can always do that to the extract after it's been processed. Decarboxylation diminishes the terpenes so you won't get nearly as much in your concentrates. Only reason I'd decarb my material is for vape cartridges or edibles.

3. I prefer to blend my starting material to make sure most of the plant cells are exposed. A good size reference is to the point of coffee ground size and consistency. If you don't grind your material you're more than likely going to have a lower yield. And don't worry about chlorophyll getting inside your extract. Higher than normal pressures and temperatures will dissolve them so you should be fine if you avoid those parameters.

4. When I load my vessel I LIGHTLY pack the starting material in there and fill it all the way to the top. If you pack your material too hard in the vessel you can create CO2 flow channels that flow around the over-packed areas. So you end up wasting material and get a lower yield.

5. As for extracting my oil, I like to set my parameters to subcritical on my runs. Subcritical preserves the terpenes and has less fats and waxes because of the low pressure and temperature, but takes longer to process. For every pound at sub you should run your system for about 3 hours. Don't over-run your material either though because you will have the chance of breaking it down more and there's nothing else for the CO2 to dissolve so it can start pulling out chlorophyll from the plant cells.
Some people prefer to run supercritical because it gets a higher yield and takes way less time to process. But the cons of doing that is you'll pull out more fats and waxes, while also diminishing the terpenes because the high temperature and pressure. Thus you'll have bland low cannabinoid testing extracts. Supercritical runs usually take about an hour per pound to process too.

Subcritical is a sub-cooled liquid and acts as a solvent by passing around the material and dissolves the essential oils.
Supercritical acts as a gas and a liquid so it takes on the properties of gas by passing straight through the plant material while also taking on the properties of liquid by dissolving the essential oils. That's why it takes a shorter amount of time to process your extracts.


Hope that helps you, and anyone else that gets a chance to view this!
 
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Sunstate

5
1
1. How do you know if the raw material is dry and cured?
2. How do you know the extraction is complete for a given weight of raw material?
3. Also the yields you mentioned is for trim? Which is absent of the buds which one would sell separately?
4. Moreover, do you run the whole process at sub and extract the terps and then ramp it to super to do the full extraction? Or am I wrong?
 
RochesterCo2

RochesterCo2

23
3
1. You can tell by the way it breaks down in the grinder, or by touch. If it sticks to the walls of the blender and doesn't blend to the point of a becoming a fine coffee ground size powder it's still wet. Also if it doesn't crumble easily in your hands.
2. Like I mentioned Subcritical takes about 3 hours for every pound of starting material, and Supercritical takes about an hour to process.
3. And yes this is with trim, no bud. When I extract bud I do tend to get the same yield percentages, but the oil quality is better and more terpy.
4. I run the whole process at subcritical. I even found a way to fraction off just pure terpenes straight into the collection cup and set them aside before I continue the rest of my run. I don't bother with running supercritical after because I'd just pull a bunch of fats, lipids and waxes that are of no value to us.
 
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Sunstate

5
1
I don’t know if I’m asking too much, but what are the equipment you’re using. We’re in the process of deciding to get an extractor. What other equipment in your experience is valuable to get such as grinder etc.
thank you again for the invaluable expertise.
 
RochesterCo2

RochesterCo2

23
3
You're very welcome! I'm glad you appreciate it. And no need to worry, you can ask as much as you want. I love sharing information!

What kinds of products are you looking to create? Currently I use a vacuum oven to post process our extracts. You'll need to get as much water out of it as possible before the concentrate is "dabbable". If you're looking to make oil for vape pens I'd use a heated centrifuge so you can skip winterization and the use of a rotovap/ethanol. This keeps the product a lot more pure from its original form too. Ethanol tends to strip a lot of terpenes away. And a centrifuge is more cost effective. Also if you're looking to make edibles I'd decaroxylate your oil so it's activated before putting it in anything.

A short path fractional distillation setup is perfect for concentrates to put into edibles too. It can fraction off terpenes, and contaminants that would otherwise be in your oil like fats and waxes while giving you an ultra pure distillate that doesn't have any taste and smell at all. It is highly sophisticated to use. But worth it if you want edibles that don't have that aftertaste of weed.

If you're looking to make high quality oils I'd also get a freezer dryer with pump to preserve the cannabis and to take out unwanted water. This works perfectly for live resin as well.

Currently I'm using a ninja blender for my starting material. Food processors work well too! If you're doing large scale extractions though I'd buy a commercial grinder because it takes a while to blend with a ninja and one of those does it just about instantly.
 
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progeny-prodigy

102
28
Since my system is the 5 liter I can only process 2.2 pounds at a time (1000 grams). I usually get about 15% to 20%+ yields. So roughly 1/3 a pound to a little less than a half pound of oil from my extraction in a 7 hour run at subcritical settings. (Average yield is about 10% for most extractors, so I'm not saying you will be guaranteed to get that percentage) It's all based off your parameters and starting material. There is the 20LD system that costs more but you do get more out of it (obviously). It's over $15k extra to upgrade and takes over twice as long to extract your material. They do have other higher capacity ones as well that you can see on their website http://www.apekssupercritical.com/
im curious as to what ur starting material is. i hav a much less sophisticated machine with 1 lbs capacity and i use indoor trim with settings at 2000 psi and 100f and i get about 7-9 percent in about 5 hours
 
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