Is "Infusion Boosting" possible?
Many of you have asked, and we finally have the lab results to answer! After decarb and infusion in the FX, Mini or Nova, can the infused oil be re-infused again with additional decarbed plant material to make it more potent? The short answer is YES. This is thanks to "infusion boosting."
But why would you want to boost your infusion in the first place? Sometimes, your tolerance increases. Other times, you're hosting, and want to offer your guests a stronger dose without wasting pre-existing oil. And on other occasions, especially if you aren't sure of the potency of your starting flower, your first batch might not come out as strong as you hoped. Whatever your reason is for infusion boosting, we got to the bottom of it, so you can create whatever you like with as little waste possible. See the test results below in order to see what we found.
Please note that by opting to use decarbed plant directly in your final product (no infusion needed), you remove the risk of any cannabinoid loss during infusion. Feel free to sprinkle some decarbed herb over your final dish (that may even include your medicated oil) for an alternative instant addition of cannabinoids.
Here's what we learned:
Step one is always decarb! We decarboxylated a gram of material in the Ardent FX and infused it into an ounce of canola oil. The final product yielded 89mg of CBD in our infusion. We then added another gram of FX decarboxylated plant material into the oil after the first infusion, ran another infusion cycle and strained the oil, which yielded 170mg of CBD in the final product. An excellent infusion rate, nearly doubling the amount of CBD with very little loss (only about 8mg).
Next, we decided to test the limits of our infusion. For efficiency purposes, how much flower could we pack into an ounce of canola oil? We infused 3 grams of decarboxylated material into one ounce of canola oil, and yielded 283mg of CBD in our infusion. When we re-infused another 3 grams into the pre-infused oil, we yielded a total of 532mg of CBD in our infusion. Here again, with infusion boosting we nearly doubled the amount of CBD and other cannabinoids, but with so much flower packed into the oil, and twice, you can see there was a bit more loss in the second experiment.
In conclusion, you CAN boost your infusion with a second round of new decarbed plant material to make your oil more potent!
If you are seeking a super potent dose, we recommend either infusion boosting when there is plenty of oil in comparison to the plant material, infusing with concentrate, or adding additional cannabinoids to your final product by sprinkling or drizzling decarbed material directly on top.
Happy infusing! Be sure to check out Ardent's full suite of activation technology and edibles kits.
