A Lab on Wheels: The Short Answer First
The Acid Lab is a drug lab built inside the MTL Brickade 6×6 truck, and you get it by completing the six First Dose story missions, stealing a set of lab equipment, then paying Mutt GTA$750,000 at the Freakshop to install the lab in the truck.
Once it is running, buy supplies, let Mutt turn them into acid while you play other content, and sell the finished stock from inside the lab. A full batch is 160 units of product.
With the Equipment Upgrade installed and your product renamed, a full batch sells for GTA$351,840 at the time of writing, before any public lobby bonus. That is why this is widely treated as the best first business for a solo player.
Key Takeaways
- Finish all six First Dose missions to steal the Brickade 6×6, then complete the equipment setup run and pay GTA$750,000 to install the lab.
- Complete 10 Fooligan Jobs for Dax to unlock the Equipment Upgrade, then buy it for GTA$250,000 — it is not optional if you want real profit.
- Rename your product for a free 5% value boost, and use the daily production boost inside the lab every day you play.
- A full upgraded batch costs about GTA$96,000 in bought supplies and sells for GTA$335,200, or GTA$351,840 once renamed.
- Every sale, even a full one, uses a single Manchez Scout C delivery bike, and the lab is never raided.
- Production only advances while you are online in a session, so the lab rewards regular play, not logging off.
1. How to Get the Acid Lab: First Dose and the Brickade 6×6
The Acid Lab arrived with Los Santos Drug Wars, the GTA Online update released on 13 December 2022. Rockstar designed it as a story unlock first and a business second, so there is no property listing to buy at the start.
Log into GTA Online and wait for a call from Ron Jakowski. Head to the yellow R marker at Liquor Ace in Sandy Shores to start the first mission, Welcome to the Troupe, which introduces Dax and the Fooliganz.
The six First Dose missions run in order from the Freakshop, the crew’s base at the north end of the Mirror Park Railyard in East Los Santos. Work through them in sequence, because the story, the base and the truck all arrive one piece at a time.
The final mission, Off the Rails, has you steal the Brickade 6×6 from Merryweather’s crashed freight train and drive it back to the Freakshop. That heavy truck is the business: the lab lives in the back of it, and the included Manchez Scout C bike becomes your delivery vehicle.
There is a shortcut, but it is a poor deal. The Brickade 6×6 with the lab installed is also sold on Warstock Cache & Carry for GTA$1,450,000 at the time of writing, roughly GTA$700,000 more than the mission route, and Dax-related unlocks still wait behind story progress.
2. The Setup Run and Installing the Lab at the Freakshop
Finishing First Dose is not quite the end. A setup marker for the lab equipment then appears at one of three warehouse locations, and you head to whichever is closest.
Inside the warehouse, clear the enemies, then use the forklift to load three pallets of lab equipment onto the flatbed truck one at a time. More enemies can arrive if you take your time, so clear them and keep loading.
Drive the loaded truck back to the Freakshop, shaking off the pursuers on the way. Only then can you walk up to Mutt, who stands by the Brickade in the Freakshop vehicle workshop, and pay to convert the truck.
The installation costs GTA$750,000. Guides note that the fee has been waived for GTA+ members in some periods, so treat that perk as update-sensitive and check the current offer in game before you budget around it.
After payment you get a tour of the lab, and Mutt becomes your chemist. From then on, summon the truck anywhere through the Interaction Menu under Services and Acid Lab, where you can also enter the lab and set your product name.
3. The Equipment Upgrade Is the Business, Not an Extra
Do not judge this business by its unupgraded numbers. Without the upgrade, the lab uses two units of supplies for every unit of product, takes about six hours to fill, and a full batch sells for only GTA$237,600.
The Equipment Upgrade changes all three figures at once. Supply use halves to one unit per unit of product, the fill time drops to about four hours, and a full batch rises to GTA$335,200 — all base figures at the time of writing, before bonuses.
The upgrade costs GTA$250,000, but money alone does not unlock it. You must first complete 10 Fooligan Jobs, the short freemode tasks you request by phoning Dax and choosing Request Work.
There are five Fooligan Jobs, picked at random, including Crop Dustin’, Heavy Metal, Liquid Assets, Working Remotely and Write-Off. Each pays GTA$50,000 at standard rates, so the ten jobs return GTA$500,000 while you work toward the unlock.
The catch is pacing. A cooldown of about 48 minutes sits between completed Fooligan Jobs, so nobody finishes all ten in one sitting. Spread them across your normal sessions: call Dax whenever the cooldown expires and treat each job as paid progress.
Once the tenth job is done, buy the upgrade from Mutt at the Freakshop. Track your count in the pause menu under Stats, Awards and Los Santos Drug Wars if you lose track of how many jobs you have finished.
4. Supplies: Buy Them, Steal Them, and What a Full Batch Really Costs
Supplies are the lab’s raw material, and Mutt handles both routes. Buy them from him inside the lab or by phone from anywhere, at GTA$600 per unit, sold in blocks: GTA$12,000 for 20 units, up to GTA$60,000 for a full bar of 100 units.
The free route is a resupply mission started from the supplies corner inside the lab, which fills the bar by a quarter — 25 units — per run. Four clean runs fill a bar, but they cost you playing time instead of cash.
Here is the maths that trips players up. A full batch holds 160 units of product, more than one supply bar can make, so expect to top up partway through a batch rather than buying once and forgetting it.
With the Equipment Upgrade, a full batch needs 160 units of supplies, about GTA$96,000 bought. Without it, the same batch needs 320 units, about GTA$192,000, which is why unupgraded production on bought supplies barely profits.
For most players, buying is the right call once the upgrade is in. Your time earns more elsewhere in the game than the cash a resupply mission saves, and the lab keeps producing while you go and earn it.
5. Production: Timing, the Daily Boost and Naming Your Product
Production runs in the background while you are in a session, and only while you are in a session. Nothing is made while you are offline, so a batch is measured in hours of play, roughly four hours upgraded and six hours unupgraded at the time of writing.
Once a day, step inside the lab and use the chemistry table to trigger the production boost. It doubles production speed for the next 80 units of product, or until 24 hours pass, and it can pull an upgraded batch down toward roughly three hours of play.
The boost resets on the daily cycle, so make it a habit: summon the lab at the start of a session, trigger the boost, top up supplies, then go and do something else profitable while Mutt works.
Naming your product is the easiest money in this guide. Open the Interaction Menu, go to Services, then Acid Lab, then Product Name, and change it from the default — any new name adds about 5% to every sale.
The first naming is free, and changing the name again later costs GTA$5,000. On a full upgraded batch that 5% is the difference between GTA$335,200 and GTA$351,840, earned by typing a few characters.
6. Selling Acid: One Bike, Three Missions
Start a sale from the product corner inside the lab while registered as a CEO, VIP or MC President. However much stock you hold, a solo sale always puts you on one Manchez Scout C bike, which is the Acid Lab’s single biggest advantage.
There are three sell missions. In the stash job you hide acid at five locations inside a 20-minute timer; do not stash in front of watching NPCs, because getting seen can bring a wanted level that pauses your drops until you lose it.
In the paper boy job you throw newspaper-wrapped acid into baskets at ten locations shown one at a time. Missed throws cost nothing and your supply of papers is unlimited, so slow down, aim, and treat it as the free money it is.
The sting job is the awkward one: a single drop at a parking garage that turns out to be a police ambush. Guides recommend triggering the wanted level early, riding off to lose it — Lester cannot clear this one — then returning to complete the drop in peace.
Session choice is a risk decision. Selling in an invite-only session is calm and safe, while a busy public session adds a high-demand bonus of 2.5% per other player, up to 50%, which can lift a renamed full batch to GTA$527,760 at the maximum.
7. The Numbers: Profit, Payback and Honest Expectations
Add the setup costs together: GTA$750,000 to install the lab plus GTA$250,000 for the Equipment Upgrade is GTA$1,000,000 all in, and the ten Fooligan Jobs on the way pay back GTA$500,000 of that before you sell anything.
On bought supplies, a full upgraded and renamed batch returns about GTA$255,840 in profit: GTA$351,840 in sale value minus roughly GTA$96,000 of supplies. Community testing puts that near GTA$64,000 per production hour, or around GTA$85,000 on a boosted batch.
Those rates are update-sensitive, because Rockstar rebalances payouts and runs weekly bonus events. A week offering bonus money on Acid Lab sell missions is the week to clear full stock, so check the current event before you sell early at base value.
At base rates the lab pays for itself in roughly four full sales, then keeps earning in the background of every session. It will not out-earn a well-run Bunker or a fed Nightclub warehouse in raw size, and the Cayo Perico heist still pays more per focused hour, but nothing else this cheap runs this quietly.
One honest warning belongs in any money guide: there is no shortcut around this grind, which is exactly why our explainer on why there is no money cheat in GTA games matters — legitimate businesses like this one are the intended route, not glitches.
8. Common Mistakes That Shrink the Payout
The biggest mistake is running the lab unupgraded on bought supplies. You spend about GTA$192,000 to make a GTA$237,600 batch, a margin so thin that one spoiled sale nearly wipes it out. Get the upgrade before you produce seriously.
The second mistake is never renaming the product. Players leave 5% on every sale for months because the option sits in a menu they never open. Name it on day one, before your first batch finishes.
Third, players forget the daily boost, or forget supplies entirely and return to a lab that stopped producing hours ago. A batch only earns while the supply bar has something in it, so top up whenever you pass the truck.
Fourth, do not pay the Warstock price out of impatience unless you truly hate story missions. The First Dose route gives you the same truck for GTA$750,000 less, pays you along the way, and unlocks the Freakshop properly.
Finally, think before selling in a full public lobby just for the bonus. The high-demand money is real, but so are the players who hunt delivery vehicles for fun; a safe invite-only sale at base value beats a destroyed bike carrying a full batch.
9. Is the Acid Lab Still Worth Starting Now?
Yes, and it is usually the first business a new player should finish. It needs no separate property, it cannot be raided, its stock waits safely until you feel like selling, and the whole loop — buy, boost, play, sell — fits around any other activity, from Agency contracts to heist setups.
It also pairs well with everything you buy later. Run it in the background while you learn bigger earners, and its steady GTA$255,840 batches quietly fund the deposits on the properties that take longer to pay back.
Some players ask whether building an empire here is wasted effort with a new game coming. That future is still unconfirmed in the ways that matter, as our look at whether GTA Online progress will carry over to GTA 6 explains, and what GTA 6 Online actually is so far remains mostly unannounced.
The timing questions are just as open — when GTA 6 Online might release and whether GTA 6 Online will be free have no confirmed answers yet. Until Rockstar says otherwise, the game you can earn in today is this one, and the Acid Lab is its easiest earner to own.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you get the Acid Lab in GTA Online?
Complete the six First Dose missions, which start with Ron’s call and the Liquor Ace meeting, then finish the equipment setup run and pay Mutt GTA$750,000 at the Freakshop to install the lab in the Brickade 6×6.
How much does the Acid Lab cost in total?
GTA$1,000,000 covers the full working business: GTA$750,000 for installation and GTA$250,000 for the Equipment Upgrade. The truck itself is free through First Dose, or GTA$1,450,000 from Warstock if you buy it outright.
Is the Acid Lab free for GTA+ members?
Guides report that the GTA$750,000 installation fee has been waived for GTA+ members in some periods. Membership perks change, so check the current in-game offer rather than assuming the fee is covered.
How much does a full Acid Lab sell for?
A full batch of 160 units sells for GTA$237,600 unupgraded or GTA$335,200 with the Equipment Upgrade, at base rates at the time of writing. Renaming your product adds about 5%, taking the upgraded batch to GTA$351,840.
How long does a full Acid Lab batch take to produce?
About six hours of in-session play unupgraded, or about four hours with the Equipment Upgrade. The once-a-day production boost can bring an upgraded batch down toward roughly three hours.
How many Fooligan Jobs unlock the Equipment Upgrade?
Ten. Call Dax, choose Request Work, and complete ten jobs, each paying GTA$50,000 with a cooldown of about 48 minutes between them. Then buy the upgrade from Mutt for GTA$250,000.
Can you run the Acid Lab completely solo?
Yes. Resupply, production management and selling all work alone, sales work in invite-only sessions, and a full batch always sells on a single Manchez Scout C bike with no second player needed.
Does the Acid Lab produce while you are offline?
No. Production only advances while you are online in a session. Your stock and supplies stay exactly where you left them, so the lab rewards hours played, not hours logged off.
Can the Acid Lab be raided?
No. Unlike the MC businesses, the Acid Lab has no raids and therefore no security upgrade to buy. Your product sits safely in the truck until you choose to sell it.
How do you name your Acid Lab product?
Open the Interaction Menu, go to Services, then Acid Lab, then Product Name, and change it from the default. The first change is free and adds about 5% to every sale; later changes cost GTA$5,000.
Closing Thoughts
Get the truck through First Dose, pay for the installation, grind the ten Fooligan Jobs, and buy the Equipment Upgrade before you judge this business. Rename the product, buy your supplies, boost production daily, and sell full batches on one bike.
Do those few things in that order and the Acid Lab becomes what players praise it for being: a cheap, quiet, raid-proof earner that pays you for playing the rest of the game, one GTA$351,840 batch at a time.
