What does steeping do exactly?

[Nrgaway]

So I have done some searches on steeping but most of them just come up and list how to steep and tell you your juice may taste better afterwards.

I have received 2 batches of juices which both needed to be steeped to get rid of a perfume taste / smell. One batch I was able to just take the cap off for a few days and it tasted better; the other batch (from a different vendor) I also had to leave in hot water for 2 hours to help and am continuing to steep with caps off.

So finally, here is my question(s):

What does steeping actually do and why does it work. Are there chemicals or alcohol or something in the juices that need to evaporate, or is it just they need time to blend. And why would the vendors not pre-steep if they need steeping?

 

[4Sho]

steeping is pretty much like producing alcohol like wine or scotch... it tastes better by age...
the ingredients have more time to merge and cook together over time...
its exactly like fermentation but not alcohol although some of the juice do contain alcohol instead of water or pg ....
just my 2 cents

i usually leave my juices for about a week before trying them properly... i usually try couple drops in my atty to see what does it kinda taste like... so if i like it then usually i end up liking it a week later and even better a month later

 

[Nrgaway]

Do you keep the caps off the juice for the whole month or just for the first week?

 

[r4nd0mCh40s]

Steeping is more like steeping tea, you dont just put water in to the teapot and toss in a tea bag and pour yourself a cup of tea now do you?, you have to let it sit, and let the tea soak into the water, much like steeping joose, pg and vg are thicker then water, so it takes more time for flavoring to diffuse into the pg-vg/nic within your joose, and yes depending on the joose in question it can vary in time, but if you can at least a week is good (one of the reasons why i like getting joose from the USA, by the time it reaches me its already steeped ) Ive been steeping since like day 1 of buying joose and have left them for a week at a time, or a couple days works if you have lots of joose to try by the time you make the next round of sampling it should add more time to the steeping process. And I hate to say this but i have a joose that did not taste better with age tasted worse so im stuck with like 27ml of unvapeable joose

 

[r4nd0mCh40s]

Do you keep the caps off the juice for the whole month or just for the first week?

from what I heard from a friend, for doing the cap, you take the cap off daily, squeeze out any "bad air" and suck back in "good air" back into the bottle, frankly its a waste of time to me but you asked and I explained it I myself leave the cap on for a week and its good to go

 

[Nrgaway]

Is so hard to wait being a noob; all of my juices just arrived within the last week I suffered through the first few days since I did not have much of a choice, but got nose bleeds in the morning. They have stopped now and I was not sure if it was related to steeping since the juice did smell better once it steeped for a few days; where it had a perfume smell when I first got it. Thats why I was wondering if stuff needed to evaporate in the process (the reason for taking off caps)?

I guess the tea analogy makes sense; maybe thats why people suggest heating up the juice for a few hours to; to help things dissolve properly.

 

[Nrgaway]

Oh, I currently have all my caps off (nozzles removed too)

 

[AzPlumber]

Steeping and letting a liquid air are two different things. Letting a liquid air will allow alcohol to evaporate from an alcohol based flavoring. Not all flavoring is alcohol based a lot of them are pg based. Letting a liquid air is a double edge sword as the nic also oxidizes while the cap is off. Steeping is putting your capped bottle of liquid in a cool dark place and let the solvents (pg & vg) continue to dissolve and break down the concentrated flavors that are used. This is why a hot water bath will help to facilitate the steeping. Some flavorings only need a few days to complete this process but some can take a few weeks.

 

[Switched]

from what I heard from a friend, for doing the cap, you take the cap off daily, squeeze out any "bad air" and suck back in "good air" back into the bottle, frankly its a waste of time to me but you asked and I explained it I myself leave the cap on for a week and its good to go

... and all your friend is doing there my friend is oxidize the nicotine.

 

[Nrgaway]

So I'm guessing I should be putting my caps back on. They been off for 4 days now. In the future if I decide to air (since I have mostly 100% VG), should I only air for a few days max, then put caps back on to continue steeping?

 

[Nrgaway]

... and all your friend is doing there my friend is oxidize the nicotine.

What does it mean when the nic is oxidized? Is that a bad thing?

 

[Nrgaway]

... and all your friend is doing there my friend is oxidize the nicotine.

What does it mean when the nic is oxidized? Is that a bad thing?

 

[Switched]

I do not steep my juices by making them stand on their head, do somersaults whatever. Sit them in a corner for a week caps on, them hide them from light. That's it no must, no fuss. When I make a fresh batch, it usually just sits on my desk for a wekk, before being placed in the desk drawer. By that time, the colour (on most) has changed to a pale amber. A month later it is a beautiful rich amber colour.

 

[hairball]

For me, I put all of mine away in a closet with the caps ON. If a juice has a chemical taste, I will remove everything and let it sit a day or so and see if it improves it but it's only after I let it steep 2 weeks in the closet. If the air doesn't help, I use it as ant killer. Works great!

 

[r4nd0mCh40s]

... and all your friend is doing there my friend is oxidize the nicotine.

I knew there was something fishy about that, hence why I myself have never done it

 

[4Sho]

Do you keep the caps off the juice for the whole month or just for the first week?

no, i just let them sit on top or under my table, both ways work fine...(for me at least)

 

[Nrgaway]

Ant Killer; great idea. I heard nic kills ants but never wanted to go though the mess of extracting it from ash tray butts.

 

[vise]

...If the air doesn't help, I use it as ant killer. Works great!

I learn something everyday on this forum!

 

[4Sho]

ok so if you wanna steep them there are basically 2 main ways of doing that....
1) let them sit in a dark place with caps on for at least a week, and in most cases they will change colour, sometimes a darker brown, like somebody already mentioned amber and rich amber colour. thats your clue towards knowing that the juice should be good to go and vape on.
2) the other method that someone mentioned in the 3rd comment (sorry can't remember name) was to let it sit in hot/warm water for a couple hours just like a teabag in the tea. now since the juice is a lot thicker than water or alcohol, after a few hours you can try it out and if it doesn't have enough flavour then you pour out the old and pour in some new hot water to let it steep some more. (imo the hot water is too much fuss for me since i have some juice that i can survive on until its been roughly about a week or more and then i'll try out the new flavours, but its a lot more hassle free. at least for me)
since you can't wait because this is your first batch of juice i'd go with the second method if i were you to get a quick start, and while you vape on it after a few hours of hot water steeping then at the end of the day just leave it in a drawer or closet anywhere dark and it'll steep while you go through it, and if its a 30ml bottle you won't go through it in like 2 days... i hope not cuz thats a lot of juice...
so have patience and you will be rewarded with some nice steeped hopefully delicious juice!

sorry for sooooo many commas and stuff, but i ain't good in english essays and such
happy waiting and vaping (soon i hope)

 

[Nrgaway]

I just put the lids back on for all my juices. I hope I did not ruin them having the cap off for a week (since I really do not know what effect the oxidized nic has on the juice).

Earlier today I places all of my juices (with caps on of course) in boiling water for 2 hours (places bottles in zip lock so labels would not disappear). Replace the hot water once. Just before I put the lid on all but 3 out of 14 or so seem to smell correct and nice now. I will let them steep with lids on for a few more days before I try them though.

Thanks to everyone so far; great info here!!!