The Acid Lab is a new business where you can make and sell acid. The business model is similar to the MC Club Businesses but it has its own distinctions that make it special as well. It will cost GTA$ 750,000 to get going but can be quite lucrative once running smoothly.
Read on to learn everything you need to know about the Acid Lab business in Grand Theft Auto V Online, and why many are saying it's one of the best businesses to come out in the last few years.
Contents:
How to Unlock the Acid Lab Business in GTA V Online
In order to unlock access to the Acid Lab in GTA V Online you'll need to first complete all 6 of the First Dose missions.
Over the course of these missions you'll meet the Fooligans, establish the Freakhouse, and steal the Brickade 6x6. These are all involved in the Acid Lab business.
Once you complete the last mission you'll see a notification telling you what you need to do to set up the Acid Lab.
How to Complete the Acid Lab Setup in GTA V Online
Once you complete First Dose you'll be able to find the Acid Lab Setup Equipment on your map, as pictured above.
Here are step-by-step instructions for completing the setup:
- Head to the Acid Lab Setup Equipment.
- When you get there, find the yellow entrance to the building and go in.
- Inside there will be about 4 enemies. Take them out.
- Find the forklift and start driving.
- There are three pallets full of acid lab equipment that you'll see on your mini map. Pick them up one at a time and drop them on the large truck.
- If you take a while doing this, eventually more enemies will show up. Simply take them out then continue with your work.
- Once you put all three pallets on the truck, get in the cab and drive out the garage door.
- As you head back to The Freakshop enemies will chase you. Just keep driving and they'll eventually drop off.
- When you get to The Freakshop the mission will be complete, but you won't yet have access to the Acid Lab.
- Walk up to Mutt, who's standing in The Freakshop Vehicle Workshop next to the Brickade 6x6.
- A notification will pop up that says you can pay GTA$ 750,000 to convert the Brickade 6x6 into an Acid Lab.
- Once you do this you'll get a tour of your new Acid Lab business.
Acid Lab and Delivery Bike Customizations & Upgrades
Customizations
Because they're both vehicles, both the Acid Lab (Brickade 6x6) and the Delivery Bike can be customized. You can access these customizations in the Vehicle Workshop inside The Freakshop.
Like with any vehicle, these customizations will make it easier to complete the Source Missions and Sell Missions that use them. Improving Brakes, Engine, etc., will make driving easier. If you're on a budget, do this only if you're having trouble with the missions.
Upgrades
The top category in the Acid Lab Customization menu is the Acid Lab Upgrades. This is by far the most important category for the success of your Acid Lab business. Here are our recommendations in order of importance.
Acid Lab Equipment
Like the MC Club businesses and the Bunker, upgrading your equipment will increase efficiency and product value. Unlike the above businesses, you can't just throw cash at it immediately. Instead you'll need to complete at least 10 Fooligan Jobs to unlock it. Once unlocked you can pay GTA$ 237,500 to purchase it. This is highly recommended.
Other Upgrades
If you're going to use the Brickade 6x6 for Source Missions (which we don't recommend, see more on this below), you may want to purchase some of the other upgrades.
The EMP Proximity Mine can be helpful and would be our first recommendation. The Ram Weapons are also helpful but pretty expensive so probably should be skipped if you're on a budget.
The Brickade 6x6 already comes with Armor Plating so don't accidentally pay $20,000 to remove the Armor Plating, unless you feel like things are too easy and you're trying to make more of a challenge for yourself.
Running an Acid Lab in GTA V Online
As mentioned above, this business runs very similarly to the MC Club businesses and the Bunker. Below we'll list a few ways in which this business runs differently.
Sourcing Supplies
As with the other similar businesses, you can either steal or purchase your supplies. And as usual we recommend purchasing as the source missions take a long time and don't give you very much supplies.
You can purchase supplies through Mutt, either by talking to him inside the lab or calling him on your cell if you're away from the lab. It will cast GTA$ 60,000 to completely fill supplies when empty.
If you really don't want to spend the extra cash, you can trigger Source Missions from the supplies corner inside the Acid Lab while registered as a CEO, VIP, or MC Club President. The Acid Lab (Brickade 6x6) also must be outside of The Freakshop when initiating a Source Mission.
You can use the Brickade 6x6 for these missions or use a vehicle of your choice. The pro of using the lab itself is you don't have to bring the supplies a long ways back to end the mission after picking it up. But it has obvious cons as it probably doesn't drive as well or as quickly as other vehicles you may have.
Boosting Production
Other than upgrading your equipment, you can also manually boost production once per day from inside the lab. Go to the area that looks like it has two jars of blue and red paint. Watch the animation for a few seconds and when it's over your production will be temporarily increased.
Acid Lab Business Sell Missions
Once you have enough product, initiate Sell Missions from inside the Acid Lab in the product storage corner while registered as a CEO, VIP, or MC Club President. If you're not sure where the product storage corner is, look at the icons on your mini map.
There are three different Sell Missions you can get. Two of them are very easy and the other gets slightly more complicated. See full descriptions below:
Stash Sell Mission
In this Sell Mission all you have to do is stash the drugs in four or five different locations within 20 minutes. However, if you do this in front of NPCs you may be caught and get a 2-star wanted level.
Simply lose the cops by your regular means and continue on with the job. You can also just call Lester and have him remove the wanted level. Either way, you can't stash any more drugs until the wanted level is gone.
Paper Boy Sell Mission
In this scenario you will be throwing the acid, rolled up in newspapers, into baskets throughout the map. You'll need to do this in 4 or 5 locations within a 20-minute timer and only one location will show up at a time.
The most difficult aspect of this one is accurately throwing the drugs into the basket. If you're not careful they may bounce back out and you'll have to try again.
Sting Sell Mission
This is the most difficult of the three sell missions. Although you only have one drop off location, it will be at the top of a parking garage in the middle of a police ambush. Luckily we have some advice for making this go as smoothly as possible.
If you identify the under cover cop cars (grey or black cars with silhouetted windows), you can place sticky bombs on them before triggering the ambush. Then simply detonate them once the ambush is triggered. This should clear the way nicely, perhaps leaving a cop or two left for you to pick off manually.
You can also just fight off the cops the old fashioned way. If you get killed you'll respawn on a lower floor of the parking garage. Or leave them be, get back on your bike, and make a quick escape via the nearby rooftop ramp.
Remove the 3-star wanted level via your regular means (Lester can't do it for you this time). If you don't have a regular go-to, we recommend hiding out under some nearby bridges or, if you have plenty of time, making your way into the sewer tunnel next to the casino. Once that's done you'll have whatever remains of your initial 20 minutes to deliver the drugs to an alternate stash spot.
Is the Acid Lab Business Worth It?
As mentioned above, players are saying the Acid Lab business is one of the best businesses added to the game in recent years. You can make a profit of GTA$ 119,600 per hour in just two hours of gameplay, assuming you boost production each of those hours. This means you would boost production and play for at least an hour one day, then the next day boost production when it's available again and play for at least another hour.
Even with just one boost it's still more profitable per hour than most other businesses. If you were going to own just one business of this style, we recommend the Acid Lab business over any MC Club businesses or the Bunker.
