Drying Processes - Cannatrol vs. Cryo Cure

[gmarchi]

I'd like to get an unbiased, expert opinion on which drying process/machine is better for premium quality/price indoor, organic flower - Cannatrol vs CryoCure. Thank you.

 

[PahPahCee]

woah cyrocure cc260 (for home growers) cost $49,900. That makes the Cannatrol almost seem cheap.

The cc260 is a freeze dryer that is more tuned towards cannabis. Not sure how they can justify the price when their main competition (harvest right) is a fraction of the price.

I have a lot of strong opinions on these devices. I’ll keep them to myself. I think they’re pricing themselves out of business.

 

[Johnlandy420]

I'd like to get an unbiased, expert opinion on which drying process/machine is better for premium quality/price indoor, organic flower - Cannatrol vs CryoCure. Thank you.

I have used both and strongly prefer cryocure. Cryocure does tend to be cost prohibitive (50k?? Smallest unit) but for good reason. Cryo cure utilizes a process called sublimation. This is very important for the rapid “controlled” drying of flower. No vacuum equals no bueno. Cannatrol bud felt crispy to me while the Crypcure flower was fully dry but still “juicy” in a good way. Sublimation also produces a glycol end product that can be used for processing.. or more profit down the line. I really like Cannantrols idea of making an affordable rapid dry device but it doesn’t really compare to the cryocure. Cryocure literally flew me up to Michigan to demo the machine. Greg and Tracy were some of the nicest people Ive met and I applaud them and Cannatrol for tackling such an important issue.

 

[Johnlandy420]

woah cyrocure cc260 (for home growers) cost $49,900. That makes the Cannatrol almost seem cheap.

The cc260 is a freeze dryer that is more tuned towards cannabis. Not sure how they can justify the price when their main competition (harvest right) is a fraction of the price.

I have a lot of strong opinions on these devices. I’ll keep them to myself. I think they’re pricing themselves out of business.

Don’t keep them to urself. Spread any good informed opinions. Better ideas win

 

[PahPahCee]

Don’t keep them to urself. Spread any good informed opinions. Better ideas win

I spoke against the Cannatrol a few times saying I don’t see how it’s any different than a wine cooler with a build in dehumidifier. This bothered a few people who claim it’s similar but different. I’m still waiting on sometime to explain how I’m wrong.

The cc260 looks exactly like any other freeze dryer. So I can only assume it’s exactly the same thing but with better quality control and cannabis dedicated presets. I haven’t looked that much into cyrocure because I find the price so prohibiting that it’s just not going to become a staple in any market.

I sure can buy a lot of top shelf bud in any market for 50K. Even the price of a cannatrol can get you a few LB’s of nice stuff. I know, I know; the cannatrol will pay for itself in a few harvest. Maybe? Hopefully the company is still around in 3 years to service your device. Companies like that run off of proprietary information so they will not let you fix it yourself.

Anyone remember those $5000 all in one hydro cabinets? The company stopped supporting it after a few years. People started running into software issues and their S.O.L.

These are all opinions. So take it with a grain of salt. Everyone that post about the Cannatrol loves it so what do I know.

 

[gmarchi]

woah cyrocure cc260 (for home growers) cost $49,900. That makes the Cannatrol almost seem cheap.

The cc260 is a freeze dryer that is more tuned towards cannabis. Not sure how they can justify the price when their main competition (harvest right) is a fraction of the price.

I have a lot of strong opinions on these devices. I’ll keep them to myself. I think they’re pricing themselves out of business.

Is Harvest Right really the same machine? Check out the Cannatrol DC 4 system which is $10K less than Cryo Cure and it looks like it delivers similar results. https://www.cannatrols.com/dc-quick-start-systems/ I'm looking at them not as a home grower but as an indoor craft grower to enhance the quality of the flowers and cut the drying process significantly -- both time and labor costs. I do agree $50K is very expensive, why I'm doing so much due diligence.

 

[gmarchi]

I spoke against the Cannatrol a few times saying I don’t see how it’s any different than a wine cooler with a build in dehumidifier. This bothered a few people who claim it’s similar but different. I’m still waiting on sometime to explain how I’m wrong.

The cc260 looks exactly like any other freeze dryer. So I can only assume it’s exactly the same thing but with better quality control and cannabis dedicated presets. I haven’t looked that much into cyrocure because I find the price so prohibiting that it’s just not going to become a staple in any market.

I sure can buy a lot of top shelf bud in any market for 50K. Even the price of a cannatrol can get you a few LB’s of nice stuff. I know, I know; the cannatrol will pay for itself in a few harvest. Maybe? Hopefully the company is still around in 3 years to service your device. Companies like that run off of proprietary information so they will not let you fix it yourself.

Anyone remember those $5000 all in one hydro cabinets? The company stopped supporting it after a few years. People started running into software issues and their S.O.L.

These are all opinions. So take it with a grain of salt. Everyone that post about the Cannatrol loves it so what do I know.

Thanks Pah PahCee

 

[Jeffdaman]

I just got a cannatrol and want to keep in garage (only place I can keep my weed ) well with the 90+ degrees my cannatrol goes up to 75.76 temp. I have been putting ice bags in to help it. Do you think it will mess up the drying or cure 68 overnight and slowly riding up to 76. I get home from work ice it get it back down?

 

[StalkerAF]

I just got a cannatrol and want to keep in garage (only place I can keep my weed ) well with the 90+ degrees my cannatrol goes up to 75.76 temp. I have been putting ice bags in to help it. Do you think it will mess up the drying or cure 68 overnight and slowly riding up to 76. I get home from work ice it get it back down?

Old post but do you have any update on this? Curious if it affected the end product?

Recently purchased one and running my 1 harvest now. I live in a much colder environment and the garage is around 50-56 degrees range. Cannatrol does a great job holding temperature in that range for me.

 

[ACSippi]

Flower should not be freeze dried. I did some experimenting with a harvestright and ended up being able to have really good market ready flower in 7 days from harvest. I didn't perfect it but I was very close. I ran into something that couldn't be fixed, contacted a legit pro who agreed then I stopped freeze drying cold turkey and sold my unit.

FDs are AWESOME for kief! BUT I didn't like the way it presses for Rosin. Maybe I could have messed around and tried fine-tuning it for better results but I dont think it would have been worth the effort. FD kief just presses bad imho. Plus the kief gets everywhere because it's so dry the stuff floats in the air like male pollin. You can't even breath without the kief floating around the air getting on everything.

From a business perspective FDs are great! Half the tricrome heads fall off the buds leaving the stalks so the buds still look frosty to inexperienced smokers. Double your income at the cost of the customers by selling the kief back to them. Disgusting.

Then there's also the fact that (I don't know how they do it with cryo cure machines) terps can be forced out of the buds and collected separately. Then add the terps to co2 concentrates or whatever they do. You can get that info directly from watching Cryocure videos. They tell ya right there. Disgusting.

I can't believe cannatrolls are a thing. Weed growers will buy anything they think will better their results. Sadly there's things they don't know...

In short, stay away from FDs unless you're a business. Hopefully a stand up business that offers a pack of kief with every flower sale.

 

[ACSippi]

I think they’re pricing themselves out of business.

Eventually. Most of the businesses employ limited knowledge growers using bought SOPs. They may call themselves Masters yet they browse places like the sewer at Reddit to fine tune their operation, facts.

Those businesses are just like new growers, they'll buy anything they're told will make them the bestest.

For those companies marketing to businesses is easy money. You wouldn't believe the crap they buy for inflated prices. Spending tens of millions to grow 1000 plants that I could do for 100k (I ain't ran the numbers so don't quote me) but it's close.

Those big numbers leverage government pity and priority.

I suspect cryocure targeting weed companies will allow them to move on to other FD adventures when the weed world sours on them. Meaning Cryocure established themselves as a legit company with a solid product.

 

[StalkerAF]

Eventually. Most of the businesses employ limited knowledge growers using bought SOPs. They may call themselves Masters yet they browse places like the sewer at Reddit to fine tune their operation, facts.

Those businesses are just like new growers, they'll buy anything they're told will make them the bestest.

For those companies marketing to businesses is easy money. You wouldn't believe the crap they buy for inflated prices. Spending tens of millions to grow 1000 plants that I could do for 100k (I ain't ran the numbers so don't quote me) but it's close.

Those big numbers leverage government pity and priority.

I suspect cryocure targeting weed companies will allow them to move on to other FD adventures when the weed world sours on them. Meaning Cryocure established themselves as a legit company with a solid product.

I’m absolutely not a professional grower, just a low end hobbyist that enjoys experimenting with different equipment. The cannatrol has nothing to do with freeze drying but everything to due with temperature and dew point control. Set it and basically forget about it, minus keeping the sponge damp when needed. I’ve taken a few samples before the trol has even completed the curing stage and results I’m very happy with first go.

I won’t argue the it’s an expensive gimmick for growers and something new/shiny to play with. I can say after using it on my current harvest, it change my grow world experience in several different ways. Still hard to justify the price tag on it especially for its small size and not having WiFi data capabilities during 2024 for that cost. Still very pleased with the job the cannatrol has done and the end product just keeps getting better without doing anything. I don’t miss my old technique of drying/curing whatsoever and would recommend bitting the bullet to someone considering the expenditure.

 

[ACSippi]

dew point control.

Glad you mentioned that! And yes, I didnt mean to sound like cannatrol was the same as FDing. I'm like you, test stuff out but something like cannatrol is something I wouldn't touch. But that's just me and my opinion for me.

One of these days I might shake everything up and explaine why people have problems with drying/curing their weed. We've been drying weed for decades in America, you'd think by now we'd have it figured out yet we got companies that have to make wildly expensive products to perfect drying/curing. Here's a hint, why has it taken decades for a company to make a simple climate control box for the weed world? It's already been done, they just microsized it. Shoot, back in the late 80s we thought cigar boxes were the golden tickets lol, didn't take us long to kick that idea to the curb.

I don't remember how much a cannatrol costs but I promise you I can make one for less that's 20x the size. Scratching your head? Small room + AC unit + dehumidifier + humidifier + fan = big ole cannatrol unit. But I get it, some homegrowers can't dedicate a room to drying for a couple weeks.

There's a lot I'm leaving out that could lead to debates I guess. I just want everyone to know there's companies out there that don't know anything about drying weed but they sell products like hotcakes to people that actually dry weed. Think of it like a company in florida selling ice to Alaskans I guess lol.

Fwiw, I use nothing commercial when I dry and ummm...cure. I used to help people dry but im a little man, an actual grower, one of us. I'm nothing compared to a company with marketing, reach, and promises that sound legit so I got run over in favor of those companies. I'm not the only one...

 

[StalkerAF]

I don’t disagree with you at all. And to be honest if the trol was a bigger unit with WiFi capability, I believe it would be worth the cost.

Wish I had more space for literally everything it that is not the case. I came really close to modifying a larger wine cooler that would come close to the cannatrol small unit. Probably would build for under $300 if you found a nice used one. Still don’t think I could copy what cannatrol does but could get close enough.

Either way happy with the purchase but made did they gouge the consumer like your saying

 

[Johnlandy420]

Flower should not be freeze dried. I did some experimenting with a harvestright and ended up being able to have really good market ready flower in 7 days from harvest. I didn't perfect it but I was very close. I ran into something that couldn't be fixed, contacted a legit pro who agreed then I stopped freeze drying cold turkey and sold my unit.

FDs are AWESOME for kief! BUT I didn't like the way it presses for Rosin. Maybe I could have messed around and tried fine-tuning it for better results but I dont think it would have been worth the effort. FD kief just presses bad imho. Plus the kief gets everywhere because it's so dry the stuff floats in the air like male pollin. You can't even breath without the kief floating around the air getting on everything.

From a business perspective FDs are great! Half the tricrome heads fall off the buds leaving the stalks so the buds still look frosty to inexperienced smokers. Double your income at the cost of the customers by selling the kief back to them. Disgusting.

Then there's also the fact that (I don't know how they do it with cryo cure machines) terps can be forced out of the buds and collected separately. Then add the terps to co2 concentrates or whatever they do. You can get that info directly from watching Cryocure videos. They tell ya right there. Disgusting.

I can't believe cannatrolls are a thing. Weed growers will buy anything they think will better their results. Sadly there's things they don't know...

In short, stay away from FDs unless you're a business. Hopefully a stand up business that offers a pack of kief with every flower sale.

Sublimation is the key to cryocure.

 

[ACSippi]

Sublimation is the key to cryocure.

I can't believe they use that to trick customers into thinking it's something unique or patented. Harvestright can make the exact same claim. There's nothing special about sublimation as it's part of the freeze drying process.

 

[StalkerAF]

I can't believe they use that to trick customers into thinking it's something unique or patented. Harvestright can make the exact same claim. There's nothing special about sublimation as it's part of the freeze drying process.

After quickly looking at the harvestright not knowing much about it but I am aware of the some freeze drying equipment available during my research purchasing the cannatrol. No thanks on that equipment for what my needs are. Seemed much more complicated than it needs to be. Again, at least for my needs.

I actually liked the cannatrol approach using basic drying/curing techniques that we can mimic on our own. Cannatrol just built a small semi portable humidor for flower that you can just leave in the unit curing for however long you want. Sounded good to me.

Apparently it started as a cheese curing device and found it works great for our needs. So basically exactly what you mentioned in your first comment response to me. I definitely agree with what you stated. If the whatever product wasn’t incredibly high priced, I don’t think we would be having this conversation. Surprise Asian people haven’t copied this yet…maybe it’s already happened and I don’t know.

 

[ACSippi]

Surprise Asian people haven’t copied this yet…maybe it’s already happened and I don’t know.

They have, at least they got knockoff harvestrights and iirc theyre legit but dont quote me on that. I haven't heard anything about cannatrol knockoffs tho.

 

[Johnlandy420]

I can't believe they use that to trick customers into thinking it's something unique or patented. Harvestright can make the exact same claim. There's nothing special about sublimation as it's part of the freeze drying process.

You are incorrect. Sublimation can only occur in a vacuum. It isn’t unique or patented, just hard to accomplish. Sublimation is not part of “the freeze dry process”.

 

[ACSippi]

You may want to double check that. I learned about sublimation when I bought my Harvestright.