Cannabis and hemp analysis

Growing and harvesting Cannabis

The cultivation of cannabis plants under controlled conditions (such as in greenhouses). Cannabis growers should be mindful of temperature and humidity within the growing and storage areas as these parameters are also key for optimal growth, and both can be continually monitored using EBI 25 data loggers with remote alarm features.

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Humidity and Temperature:

Temperature testing along the whole process is critical (post harvest storage,post extraction storage, transportation, final product monitoring) ebro® can help with all this.

Sterilization monitoring:

Maintaining strict hygiene and sterilization standards is essential - whether for cultivation equipment, processing tools, or packaging materials. Proper sterilization not only ensures product safety and compliance, but also helps prevent contamination, cross-batches microbial growth, and product loss.

pH:

When it comes to growing any type of healthy plant-life, pH is an important factor to consider. The soil should be slightly acidic or neutral (defined as: 6-7 pH) as it promotes healthier plant growth.

Pesticide analysis:

Pesticide analysis helps ensure that crops meet legal safety thresholds and are free from harmful chemical residues. Testing is typically conducted on plant material, soil, and irrigation water to detect trace levels of banned or restricted compounds. 
Before plants even reach the extraction phase, proper analysis helps confirm that the cultivation process remains clean and compliant from the start.

Drying and curing control

In the cannabis industry, drying and curing are critical post-harvest processes that directly impact the quality, potency, flavor, and shelf life of the final product. Proper Drying & Curing Control refers to the systems, technologies, and protocols used to monitor, manage, and optimize these two stages.

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Humidity and Temperature:

The cultivation of cannabis plants under controlled conditions (such as in greenhouses). Cannabis growers should be mindful of temperature and humidity within the growing and storage areas as these parameters are also key for optimal growth, and both can be continually monitored using EBI 25 data loggers with remote alarm features

Sterilization monitoring:

Maintaining strict hygiene and sterilization standards is essential - whether for cultivation equipment, processing tools, or packaging materials. Proper sterilization not only ensures product safety and compliance, but also helps prevent contamination, cross-batches microbial growth, and product loss.

Water Determination in Cannabis:

After harvesting and quality control, the plants are dried to reduce their water content and increase their shelf life. Moisture analysis in the buds for storage and post-harvest conditioning. Drying will require temperature monitoring at 70 degrees (+/-5) and humidity should stay around 50 percent (+/- 5). The moisture in the buds will also be tested to ensure the next step is done properly.

Extraction & purification

The active ingredients (cannabinoids) are extracted from the dried plant material, often with the help of solvents or by CO₂ extraction.

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Extraction Process and Clean up:

The extraction and clean-up process is a core part of producing cannabis concentrates, oils, and distillates. This process involves isolating desirable compounds (like cannabinoids and terpenes) from the raw plant material, followed by purification steps to remove unwanted substances such as waxes, chlorophyll, lipids, and residual solvents.

Sterilization monitoring:

Maintaining strict hygiene and sterilization standards is essential - whether for cultivation equipment, processing tools, or packaging materials. Proper sterilization not only ensures product safety and compliance, but also helps prevent contamination, cross-batches microbial growth, and product loss.

Formulation and manufacturing

This stage involves transforming cannabis extracts into finished products such as oils, tinctures, edibles, capsules, topicals, and vape products. It requires a high level of precision, consistency, and quality control to ensure safety, efficacy, and compliance.

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Sterilization monitoring:

Maintaining strict hygiene and sterilization standards is essential - whether for cultivation equipment, processing tools, or packaging materials. Proper sterilization not only ensures product safety and compliance, but also helps prevent contamination, cross-batches microbial growth, and product loss.

Processing Cannabis:

The active ingredients (cannabinoids) are extracted from the dried plant material, often with the help of solvents or by CO₂ extraction. Processing cannabis forms part of the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and more recently the food & beverage industry and requires stringent quality control. Amongst other tests, the measurement of optical rotation of cannabidiol by a polarimeter is simple and may be used to determine the purity or blend ratio of CBD type ((-)- or (+)- CBD) as well as used to ensure finished product is consistent between batches.

Oil Quality Tests:

Ensure the highest quality of your oils with our reliable analysis solutions. From peroxide and iodine values to free fatty acids and saponification tests, our Titroline and TL 7500 KF Trace systems provide precise results for oxidation stability, unsaturation levels, and overall oil quality.

Purity Level:

Measure the viscosity of cannabis oil to assess its purity and suitability for edible production. High-purity cannabinoids tend to be solid at room temperature, while lower-purity oils remain syrup-like.

Color Determination:

The color of a distillate - such as cannabis oil - is often used as a quick visual indicator of purity and quality, especially when sold in bulk to manufacturers or processors. While not the only parameter, color can reflect the level of refinement and the presence of impurities or residual compounds.

Quality control and testing

Products for receiving control & quality analysis In addition, growers can measure how well their plants are developing by using an Eclipse Brix refractometer to measure the sugar content of its sap, which is representative of a plant’s strength. Refractometers can also be used to control the dilution ratios of herbicides, pesticides and other solvents used.

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Verification of purity and isomer identification in extracted cannabinoids:

In cannabis extraction and refinement, it’s essential to confirm the purity of the final product and identify different cannabinoid isomers (e.g., Δ8-THC vs. Δ9-THC). These steps ensure product consistency, legal compliance, and consumer safety. Advanced analytical tools are used to detect unwanted by-products and confirm the presence and ratios of specific cannabinoid forms.

Sterilization monitoring:

Maintaining strict hygiene and sterilization standards is essential - whether for cultivation equipment, processing tools, or packaging materials. Proper sterilization not only ensures product safety and compliance, but also helps prevent contamination, cross-batches microbial growth, and product loss.