Cleaning Supplies

[Zabolee]

I started making my own juice a few weeks ago. My initial supplies included about 10 3ml syringes, since I was told that you don't need to throw them out after each use (which is weird to me coming from a lab background).

As such, I have been rinsing all of my supplies in hot water. I fill each syringe with hot water 10 times and squeeze the water out, then force air out to get the last few drop of water. They then air dry. But I do seem to notice that the smell from my juices lingers. I haven't noticed any tastes being transferred, but I was wondering if there was a better way to clean my supplies

 

[KentA]

Your way is my way.

 

[Capt.shay]

My thinking:

If you can smell it then how can it not possibly transfer some to the next batch? It may be so little that you don't notice it in your final juice but still, it has to be transferring some of the residual material. Because of this, when I used syringes, I used dedicated syringes for each flavor. This was a huge hassle.

I have mentioned using a scale before and now maybe it will start to become a little more appealing. I have all my major flavors partially transferred in to squeeze bottles. I also keep disposable pipets that are super cheap for the lesser used flavors that I don't bother transfering. I never use a syringe. I drip my materials (flavor, nic, V/PG) directly in to the bottle by wight. Cap it and shake. For smaller bottles I use a glass funnel. For large batches I use a glass beaker. Both of which are designed to be cleaned easily and properly with no residue.

If you come from a science background then measuring materials by weight should seem appropriate to you. In the lab, we never used cylinders or syringes when accuracy mattered, it was done on a scale, often under a bell glass. In DIY it is not only more accurate but it is cleaner and easier. It took me almost a year to switch to weight based mixing because no one was talking about it then. Even now, it seems to intimidate many but in reality it is a much simpler method.

 

[Zabolee]

I have considered labeling every syringe, but like you said, that's a huge pain. Especially when I get my next shipment, I'll be adding a ton of flavors.

What kind of a lab did you work in where you didn't use graduated cylinders or pipets? Those tiny plastic ones aren't accurate, and I can't speak for the syringes we use, because I don't have a medical background. But in wet chemistry labs (both organic and inorganic) we use volume to measure accuracy, just as often as analytical balances.

That said, How do you go about measuring by weight? Are the percentages of your flavors the percentage of the total weight? That can't be accurate unless you spend a lot of time doing the stoichiometry for each VG/PG ratio you want. VG and PG have different molecular masses.

So how do you do it? I have a balance, and I'd be interested in giving it a try. I don't want to have to buy and label every a syringe for every flavor

 

[PilotNY]

Morning Zambolee. I used the weights listed in the following post.
Mixing by weight
The weight in post #9 is what I go by. All of the measurements I use are approximate. When making 150 ml batch of Tigers Blood, if I am off .5ml of Coconut, I doubt anyone would know. IMHO
The E Juice Me Up calculator will let you input flavors, nic, pg and vg then display the volume amount (cc's) and the weight (Grams).

 

[Zabolee]

That's true Pilot. I may have to give this method a try. I'll have to rearrange my work station for it, though. I don't really have room for a balance, right now

 

[sketchness]

The scale method is so much easier for me. I just bought some glass droppers on ebay for the flavors that don't come in a dropper bottle. It is so much easier than all the washing. I just use a beaker of warm water to rinse in, and done.

 

[Hans Wermhat]

Dawn dish soap. Cleans well and rinses easily.

 

[Capt.shay]

I have considered labeling every syringe, but like you said, that's a huge pain. Especially when I get my next shipment, I'll be adding a ton of flavors.

What kind of a lab did you work in where you didn't use graduated cylinders or pipets? Those tiny plastic ones aren't accurate, and I can't speak for the syringes we use, because I don't have a medical background. But in wet chemistry labs (both organic and inorganic) we use volume to measure accuracy, just as often as analytical balances.

That said, How do you go about measuring by weight? Are the percentages of your flavors the percentage of the total weight? That can't be accurate unless you spend a lot of time doing the stoichiometry for each VG/PG ratio you want. VG and PG have different molecular masses.

So how do you do it? I have a balance, and I'd be interested in giving it a try. I don't want to have to buy and label every a syringe for every flavor

I didn't say I worked somewhere that didn't use volume for measurement, I said when it really mattered we measured by weight and in most most commercial applications this is the norm. Your snarky attitude does not engender sympathy. Yes, the cheap plastic pipets are wildly inaccurate as are the cheap plastic syringes that you have been going by so far. With a scale your not using them to measure just to transfer.

Others have pointed you in the direction for the information you asked for. Best of luck with it.

 

[Zabolee]

I apologize for coming off snarky. I didn't mean anything by it. I just haven't heard of measuring e liquid by weight until your post. It's not an affront to you. I looked into it after you told me, and it does seem relatively easy. I'm used to volume, so it doesn't seem as easy for me. But it does look like it would be much more accurate, since a good balance is more accurate than cheap syringes.

I only have 30ml bottles, so I'm trying to figure out how many grams I'll need to fill one. I'd rather not end up with too much that I have to overflow into another bottle

 

[bwh79]

I only have 30ml bottles, so I'm trying to figure out how many grams I'll need to fill one. I'd rather not end up with too much that I have to overflow into another bottle

Distilled water: 0.999 972 g/ml (@4°C)
PG: 1.036 g/ml
VG: 1.261 g/ml
Nic (pure): 1.01 g/ml

--------------------

10% nic in VG: .1(1.01) + .9(1.036) = 1.0334 g/ml, etc.

 

[Capt.shay]

I apologize for coming off snarky. I didn't mean anything by it. I just haven't heard of measuring e liquid by weight until your post. It's not an affront to you. I looked into it after you told me, and it does seem relatively easy. I'm used to volume, so it doesn't seem as easy for me. But it does look like it would be much more accurate, since a good balance is more accurate than cheap syringes.

I only have 30ml bottles, so I'm trying to figure out how many grams I'll need to fill one. I'd rather not end up with too much that I have to overflow into another bottle

Just use one of the juice calculators. There is a good one at the top of this page. You enter say : 30 ml 60/40 3nic and ad your flavor percentages and it will spit you out the number of grams necessary for each ingredient to fill your 30ml bottle.

You are going to want a digital scale that goes to .00g. I use this one 500g x 0.01g High Precision Digital Scale SF-400D2 Counting w/ USB Wall Adapter