My terrible diy ejuice

[SublimelyOblivious]

I recently purchased all the diy fluids I thought I needed. Mixed a batch up and OMG, it was putrid! I'm trying to trouble shoot/diagnose my mistakes.
My recipe (using a calculator tool) for 10ml @ 12mg nicotine:
.8 ml strawberry shortcake
.6 ml blueberry
4.4 ml VG
3 ml PG
1.2 ml nicotine [50/50 100mg/ml]

It was like a children's fruit scented perfume. Instant headache, terrible taste that doesn't wash of of my coil!
I added 1ml of PG, with no improvement. I have since decided that both the flavor and nicotine are much too strong for my liking. Initially I thought steeping would help but after reading a bit, I think I made a concentrate that could just be cut down with more pg/vg. It was 14% flavor, I think I'd be happy with much less!
Any suggestions appreciated. I was curious if sweeteners might help after cutting this back with my diluents?

 

[NealBJr]

Airing out is more needed than steeping. You have a lot of flavoring, And some of those flavorings might have a perfume taste. Shake it up, then take the nipple off the top and leave it open for a day or so. That should let some of the perfume taste evaporate. On some of the harsher perfume tasting liquids, I'd have to leave it off for a few days. After that, you may begin the steeping process if needed. I do think it would be a bit strong for my taste. I don't have an ejuice calculator, but that should be 12mg ejuice. I usually vape 4. Try the airing out first, then steep it and see.

Also, my guess is it ended up to be about 50/50 pg/vg depending on the flavorings. I prefer more VG.. but again, that is my own personal preference.

 

[Jstcriusen]

Neal beat me to it.........

Some flavors are good at very low percentages.
Some high....... Some have to steep......Set for a week or longer.
Hot water baths can be a quicker fix For some.
There are a lot of variables.
What brand flavorings would be a big help.
You may get your answers for easier with people knowing.

What sucks today can taste great in a week or two.
List flavor brands I'm sure you'll get better answers that way.
Experienced mixers may be able to % 's with a particular flavor for a starting point

 

[Sir2fyablyNutz]

Heat a cup of water in the microwave, not boiling! Place the closed juice bottle in this cup and leave it until it reaches room temp. Take the bottle out and shake the heck out of it. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Put the bottle "uncapped" in a cabinet over night to let it air out (should remove some of the perfume smell), close bottle and let it alone for a couple days. "Steeping" allows the molecules to "shake hands" and develop flavor.

There is a keyword activated search box in the upper right above your name and avatar. Try "steep or steeping" and you'll find lots of threads about what it does and the different methods to steep the juice or increase the speed of the steep.

 

[SublimelyOblivious]

They were totally wicked e liquid, gold standard. Way, way too strong. I have shaken them up, but haven't tried to dilute it down. I thought maybe more vg would mute it so it's not a loss, supply wise. I'm thinking about lowering the nicotine to 3-6 mg so I don't over do it, though I don't go through a lot in one day, yet.

 

[wheelie]

Best to test your single flavorings first before you mix them. Then you know how strong and their taste. If you like both flavoring then you know which one to add a touch more of to stand out a little in your juice. CHEERS!

 

[SublimelyOblivious]

Yep, I read that advise a bit late! I read a good post somewhere about trouble shooting. Working backwards is never the best way! Just because I've eaten a strawberry-blueberry shortcake doesn't mean I can mix an equivalent e liquid! I will still try to salvage the batch, if possible. But I might do as you suggest and mix each as individual flavors to see what it takes to taste good on its own. It was a gutsy move on my part to say the least! Probably should mix all of them on their own before preceding again.

 

[dom qp]

I find it helps to make a unflavoured base (in my case straight VG), and add flavouring to taste - one drop at a time.

It helps to have an RDA though, otherwise it's impractical to test.

 

[Troy Noh]

it's best that you start out with a 5ml base, and then add 5% flavoring. might want to add some sort of cream to see if it will mellow it down some

 

[SublimelyOblivious]

Agreed. Any self respecting shortcake has heavy cream! Don't have that flavor, yet.

 

[Bunnykiller]

at just a quick glance ... seems as if your flavorants are a bit on the heavy side... try 3-5% total next time or dilute the stuff you have now with 50% more VG/PG ( your choice)

 

[SublimelyOblivious]

That's what I was thinking @Bunnykiller. Might salvage it if cut, and not worried about making up for lack of nicotine as I am getting satisfaction at lower levels as well.

 

[Thrasher]

Agree with everyone else, fruits especially, if too high take on a cough syrup taste.
And many pastry/ custard/ cream take practically nothing

 

[Mad Scientist]

I recently purchased all the diy fluids I thought I needed. Mixed a batch up and OMG, it was putrid! I'm trying to trouble shoot/diagnose my mistakes.
My recipe (using a calculator tool) for 10ml @ 12mg nicotine:
.8 ml strawberry shortcake
.6 ml blueberry
4.4 ml VG
3 ml PG
1.2 ml nicotine [50/50 100mg/ml]

It was like a children's fruit scented perfume. Instant headache, terrible taste that doesn't wash of of my coil!
I added 1ml of PG, with no improvement. I have since decided that both the flavor and nicotine are much too strong for my liking. Initially I thought steeping would help but after reading a bit, I think I made a concentrate that could just be cut down with more pg/vg. It was 14% flavor, I think I'd be happy with much less!
Any suggestions appreciated. I was curious if sweeteners might help after cutting this back with my diluents?

I'm curious as to what tools you used to measure all of these ingredients with if you think the flavoring and the nic both were too strong. Flavors are one thing but nic is pretty much nic. Maybe there's an error in the measuring tools you used?

 

[skoony]

I recently purchased all the diy fluids I thought I needed. Mixed a batch up and OMG, it was putrid! I'm trying to trouble shoot/diagnose my mistakes.
My recipe (using a calculator tool) for 10ml @ 12mg nicotine:
.8 ml strawberry shortcake
.6 ml blueberry
4.4 ml VG
3 ml PG
1.2 ml nicotine [50/50 100mg/ml]

It was like a children's fruit scented perfume. Instant headache, terrible taste that doesn't wash of of my coil!
I added 1ml of PG, with no improvement. I have since decided that both the flavor and nicotine are much too strong for my liking. Initially I thought steeping would help but after reading a bit, I think I made a concentrate that could just be cut down with more pg/vg. It was 14% flavor, I think I'd be happy with much less!
Any suggestions appreciated. I was curious if sweeteners might help after cutting this back with my diluents?

your batch is to small.
try again at 20-30 ml until you develop
your technique.
mike

 

[SublimelyOblivious]

Syringe Medicine droppers. In the future, flavors (and perhaps nicotine) will be measured in drops.
As for strength, I think that my nicotine preference is changing. I have tried different strengths from the vape shop and I feel comfortable going as low as 3mg. Maybe none at all soon. But for now, I'd like it lower than the 12 I've started at (both diy or store liquid)

 

[SublimelyOblivious]

I tried another smaller batch after but a different recipe. I started without nic and added flavor by the drop. I'm not going to say it was "good", but it was less disgusting I think the flavor concentrates are stronger than expected and adding more seems easier than cutting it until it's right, as with this first batch.
I haven't tried a larger batch.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Syringe Medicine droppers. In the future, flavors (and perhaps nicotine) will be measured in drops.
As for strength, I think that my nicotine preference is changing. I have tried different strengths from the vape shop and I feel comfortable going as low as 3mg. Maybe none at all soon. But for now, I'd like it lower than the 12 I've started at (both diy or store liquid)

Please don't measure in drops. That's almost like not measuring. What I'm driving at with the mention of tools is that some of the quantities involved were relatively small. I was wondering if the resolution of the measuring tools used was fine enough to accurately measure those smaller amounts. For example, to measure to within a tenth of a ml accurately, a 1 ml or even 0.5 ml syringe is better, etc.

 

[SublimelyOblivious]

Oh, I see. It was a 1ml medicine dropper. It measures quite finely. At least. It did. I seem to have wiped a few numbers off between .6 & .7 but that was after the fact

 

[SublimelyOblivious]

Medicine dropper was quite generic I suppose. ..