DIY Steeping Questions

[smint777]

I just browsed through 10 pages and can't seem to find the answer that i want or probably never saw it.

I made 2 batches of single flavour DIY juice today and it still taste perfumey(not sure how to describe it but it just doesn't taste right). Flavour percentages are based on recommendations from this forum. Here's what i did.

Test 1:
6% 100mg/ml nicotine
30% pg
70% vg
15% tpa cotton candy

Test 2:
6% 100mg/ml nicotine
30% pg
70% vg
5% tpa watermelon

Method:
I am using the crock pot method. I prepared the crock pot till its 150 degreesF. Shake the samples that i made for about 1-2 minutes and let it breathe for about 2 hours with cap off in my cupboard. Once that is done i let it sit in the crock pot for 2 hours with cap on and shake it every hour. Then let it cool for an hour and vape. But the taste is just horrible.

The batches are done in 5ml and i'm using glass bottles and measurements are made using syringes.

Am i missing anything? I did use e-juice me up calculator though. Would appreciate some tips, help or feedbacks please. Thanks in advance.

 

[Alter]

All I can say is that the cotton candy at 15% will turn into syrup within a week or so. I mixed my wife's cotton candy (sig circus cotton candy) as a stand alone at 5% and it went to syrup and just didn't taste good. I now make her cotton candy with a blend of 5% Hangsen Desert Ship and 3/4% cotton candy and IMO its still sweet but she likes it.
I found a lot of flavors don't do as well as stand alones, just as examples some of my experiments with cola, grape, mint, spearmint, watermelon and cotton candy they are a bit flat by themselves but mix them with a mild tobacco the flavors seem to pop out. They also require a couple weeks steep time to mature nicely.
Especially using heat to steep the cotton candy, you might caramelize the sweetener and ruin your mix by having to go dark and it will begin to taste off. I don't heat steep at all since I ruined a few commercial juices a while back with the heat. I do warm up the base with hot water a bit before adding flavor or nic to incorporate the flavor(s) better.

 

[dannyv45]

15% is far to much. TPA has a tendency to get chemical tasting when over flavoring. I would cut that back to 2 - 3% and steep for 2 - 3 hours. At that percentage your going to go through attys very quickly. To much sweetener tends to burn and crust over coils.

 

[Hoosier]

I just want to know what they tasted like before the crockpot thing?

What was wrong with them that made you think steeping would help? And was that before or after you let them breathe?

I usually ask what your unflavored tasted like, but we'll skip that one right now.

 

[dannyv45]

Your very right EM or sweetener don't really need to steep. Taste will be very intense right after mixing that is until your coils crust over. Not sure why it would need to breath unless the sweetener was made from crystals desolved in PGA. But regular sweetener premixed from TPA is usually desolved in PG which needs no breathing. I Don't think breathing will help with the over flavored chemical taste. Maybe steeping will help with that.

 

[Hoosier]

Eh, I can kinda' see 15% EM when going for cotton candy. Never wanted a plain cotton candy flavor so never tried. Does seem high though knowing what I know about the abilities of EM though.

A friend offered me a"glazed donut" juice to try last weekend. Smelled like wet sugar and I made a face. He said it was like licking a sugar cube and he couldn't taste any donut. It was a premade he had purchased and wasn't happy with so obviously I should try it! I tell that silly story to say, I'm betting the first recipe isn't far off of my friend's glazed donut.

(Yes it was a coil clogger. Yes, vapers have do some weird things after a 5 hour board meeting discussing politics and plotting to save vaping in the state.)

 

[zoiDman]

...

Am i missing anything? I did use e-juice me up calculator though. Would appreciate some tips, help or feedbacks please. Thanks in advance.

Two things I would suggest.

One - For any New Recipe that you have Never Made before, taste it after you mix it to know what it taste like Before Steeping.

As Hoosier mentioned, you can't really tell what the Effect of steeping was if you Don't Know what it Taste like Before Steeping.

The Second - I would suggest doing a "Base Line" steeping of just putting a Freshly Mix batch in a Cool Dark place for 3 Days.

Heating up an e-Liquid can effect its taste. Especially if the Temperature of something like a Crock Pot is Off. Which would not be all that Uncommon.

If you compare the e-Liquid that has sat in a Cool Dark Place with the one that you put in the Crock Pot, and they Taste the Same, Cool. Then the Only thing that Happened was that the Crock Pot Method steeped it Faster.

But If they Taste Different, then the Heat is Effecting the Mix. So then you pick the One you like Better. Crock Potted. Or Cool Dark Place.

 

[smint777]

After reading all the inputs above, i am planning to make a base and have it tested (6% nicotine, 30%pg, 70%vg). Does this have to be steeped as well or I can just vape as it is?

Since watermelon is not a recommended flavour on its own, I have a TPA Blueberry Extra and will make 3 batches.

Batch 1:
1% TPA Blueberry Extra

Batch 2:
2% TPA Blueberry Extra

Batch 3:
3% TPA Blueberry Extra

Will try the storing in cool dark room method and let it steep. Hopefully i get things done right and find the right percentage for each flavours.

 

[Hoosier]

Steeping an unflavored base is like bottling tap water and letting it sit for a week before making Kool-Aid.

Not tasting a flavored mix before steeping is like starting a maze race with your eyes closed. You'll miss important information that could help you at the end.

One is completely free to do such things.

(I would go much higher on the blueberry extra for the last one. And a higher on the middle one too.)

 

[Hans Wermhat]

+1 on mixing TFA Watermallon with something else. I got some a couple of weeks back and it's not a stand-alone. If you mix it in equal parts with Ripe Strawberry you get a watermellon jolly rancher flavor that is pretty good. No steeping needed on that one. Just shake and vape.

 

[smint777]

Thanks Hoosier for the wise words. I tasted my batches before letting it steep and wrote down notes on how it tastes like. No blueberry taste at all. Will let it steep and taste again after 3 days. To my surprise, it taste the same like my first 2 test in my first post. I guess i need to steep it longer.

@Hans Wermhat
I have both flavours that you mentioned. Maybe i can try that when i got my steeping method correct. I was wondering what percentage did you mix it?

 

[satchvai]

I mix tfa watermelon with small percentage of honeydew,mango or raspberry to punch it up. After a lot of testing, 12% is my sweet spot. I usually mix 5,10 and 15% using a 40 drop method where I can go in 2.5% iterations.

 

[smint777]

I mix tfa watermelon with small percentage of honeydew,mango or raspberry to punch it up. After a lot of testing, 12% is my sweet spot. I usually mix 5,10 and 15% using a 40 drop method where I can go in 2.5% iterations.

How did you steep your juice?

I did a taste taste of my PG, VG and the my PG/VG with nicotine and the taste that I get after i tasted the PG/VG with nicotine was a bit harsh. I did cough and taste a bit perfumey. I am not sure how should it taste like. I wonder if my nicotine has gone bad. I wonder how should it taste like?

PS: it's a 30pg/70vg 6% nicotine mix

 

[satchvai]

How did you steep your juice?

I did a taste taste of my PG, VG and the my PG/VG with nicotine and the taste that I get after i tasted the PG/VG with nicotine was a bit harsh. I did cough and taste a bit perfumey. I am not sure how should it taste like. I wonder if my nicotine has gone bad. I wonder how should it taste like?

PS: it's a 30pg/70vg 6% nicotine mix

I usually test my mixes before adding nicotine and personally vape 3mg nic. I just had some 2 month old nic go peppery on me so that is a possibility.
I crock pot steep fruits for an hour then if it's perfumed, I'll uncap for 8-12 hours.

 

[smint777]

Thanks for the information. I've just mixed a new batch and lower my nicotine to 2mg. Now it's vapeable. Not sure what is wrong but my nicotine is a 100mg/ml PG based. Maybe 100mg/ml is just too strong or the nicotine has gone bad. Beats me.

 

[Alter]

My first nicotine purchase was 500ml 50/50 of 48mg and thats what I thought would be easiest to use. There is a bit of room for error if you over scale or under scale your nicotine using 48mg. When I ran out of the 48 nic I then being practiced handling the nicotine bought liter of 100mg nicotine with the same 50/50 ratio along with a liter of each PG and VG. I continue to cut the nic as I need it in 250ml portions and have had no accidents with scaling the nic wrong. I can definitely taste the nic in a juice compared to a un-nic juice so thats why I build my juice and steep it before I add the nic. My nic isn't peppery but sharp on the back of the throat but no peppery taste what so ever in my attys.
You could have very well bought "sale" nic that might be old, poorly stored by the vendor or just substandard product. I may live in Canada but I did do a lot of research on vendors nic quality here in Canada and ended up buying a good nicotine from a Canadian vendor and very pleased with my purchase and no customs anxiety in shipping.
I an imagine the minute amount of 100nic to have to put into a juice to make 3mg and that being a few drops out could make a big difference in taste. I would cut the nic to a easier to work with ratio then see if my nic is bad or I might of over scaled my nic into my juice.

 

[smint777]

I have to agree with you on that. Probably my nicotine is bad or might have been stored poorly by the vendor. It is not easy for me to find vendors that provide high quality nicotine in the country I'm in but i will do a research on how to properly store nicotine to make sure the quality doesnt run bad

I have just made a successful batch of Watermelon Peach but when i did a vape test, there's a slight itch at the back of my throat that is causing me to cough (just a slight mild cough). Do you think if i add TPA smooth, it will solve the problem?

Here's the recipe in case you guys are wondering.

TPA Peach 15%
TPA Watermelon 5%
100mg/ml nicotine 2%
PG 30%
VG 70%

 

[mhertz]

Edit: Sorry, I was wrong, disregard, please!

 

[dannyv45]

I have just made a successful batch of Watermelon Peach but when i did a vape test, there's a slight itch at the back of my throat that is causing me to cough (just a slight mild cough). Do you think if i add TPA smooth, it will solve the problem?

Here's the recipe in case you guys are wondering.

TPA Peach 15%
TPA Watermelon 5%
100mg/ml nicotine 2%
PG 30%
VG 70%

An itch in the back of the throat is quite common. I suffer from that myself expecially at night time. Try adding some saline to the mix at 4 - 8%, if the vaping device floods lower the saline percentage or go with a higher VG concentration of lets say 80 - 90 and saline. It does help but nothing I've done gets rid of it completely. It's caused by the drying effect that VG and PG has. VG and PG absorb moisture causing this effect. Drinking plenty of water also helps.

I've also found certain flavorings will cause this more then others and in that case I back off on the percentages or just stop using those flavorings.

 

[Hans Wermhat]

I was wondering what percentage did you mix it?

10% each in a Max VG mix. I like strong flavors though.