Steeping Times and an Ultrasonic Cleaner Part III
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Someday ...
Someday my 8 minute timer UC will croak. It's making "funny" noises, is not quite as powerful as it once was (4 1/2 - 5 hours to do what it used to do in 3) and the heating element died months ago. But ... today it finished off 420 mls of juice (3 tobacco flavors) and I'm set until next time. Interesting Trivia Dept. The first liter of 100mg nic I bought from e-cigexpress nic cost $160 (back in 2012). In 2015 I bought TWO liters from e-cigexpress for $79.98. Rarely does the price of something I like ... go down Waaaaaaaay down.
Someday my 8 minute timer UC will croak. It's making "funny" noises, is not quite as powerful as it once was (4 1/2 - 5 hours to do what it used to do in 3) and the heating element died months ago. But ... today it finished off 420 mls of juice (3 tobacco flavors) and I'm set until next time. Interesting Trivia Dept. The first liter of 100mg nic I bought from e-cigexpress nic cost $160 (back in 2012). In 2015 I bought TWO liters from e-cigexpress for $79.98. Rarely does the price of something I like ... go down Waaaaaaaay down.
Never thought about cleaning rayon wicks! Rayon is so cheap, why would you want to clean them?
Bobalex I'm suprised you haven't upgraded that old clunker yet. What ever happened to "getting one just like mine"
Danny - I've got to wait until it completely and utterly and absolutely dies. Then I'll get myself a brand new Danny recommended UC. I think its demise is at hand. The noise it makes (intermittently) sounds like something Very Important has broken. But if I turn it off - turn it back on a couple of times the noise Goes Away. It still does the UC thing pretty well. Foil is riddled with holes etc. Though its power has lessened I can wait another hour for steepage maturity.
Since it has other uses other than e-liquid my wife is on board for a new one ... once this one gasps its last.
Since it has other uses other than e-liquid my wife is on board for a new one ... once this one gasps its last.
This is a great thread. I just finished reading the whole thing. So much information...you are all awesome
I mostly seem to be getting good results with the UC but there is always a strange smell and sometimes an associated taste to my juices after about an hour. It smells rubbery almost, or partially burnt. This happens with and without the heating element of the UC turned on and I've kept my water below 120 degrees (that was before reading the whole thread and I will do just at or below 150 from now on). I noticed someone else mentioned this recently but have otherwise seen no mention.
It could just be how eliquid smells when it is warmed for a while. But do any of you who have been doing this for some time ever noticed that? Doesn't matter the flavor - tobacco, cream, waffle, fruit - same smell. I use quality amber glass bottles, caps on, rests in between 30 minute cycles, and on average do 2-5 hours in total for a juice. The juices do not exhibit this smell until about an hour of UC.
Ive been uncapping the bottles immediately after the UC and letting them breathe until cool, which sometimes gets rid of the smell and other times not. A few juices, I sort of taste it. One in particular I'd call unvapable (though to be fair that could be the recipe since I've never tried it otherwise, but - the taste is similar to the smell). That bottle, I had not uncapped after UC, and the next day the smell was horrid. Never went away. The flavorings in that recipe are not alcohol based, and do not need to breathe if not UC'd.
BTW my UC works great. It passes the foil test with flying colors.
Overall I like it and it's done wonders for some tobaccos in particular. I may try the croc pot method soon to see if I still get that smell.
I mostly seem to be getting good results with the UC but there is always a strange smell and sometimes an associated taste to my juices after about an hour. It smells rubbery almost, or partially burnt. This happens with and without the heating element of the UC turned on and I've kept my water below 120 degrees (that was before reading the whole thread and I will do just at or below 150 from now on). I noticed someone else mentioned this recently but have otherwise seen no mention.
It could just be how eliquid smells when it is warmed for a while. But do any of you who have been doing this for some time ever noticed that? Doesn't matter the flavor - tobacco, cream, waffle, fruit - same smell. I use quality amber glass bottles, caps on, rests in between 30 minute cycles, and on average do 2-5 hours in total for a juice. The juices do not exhibit this smell until about an hour of UC.
Ive been uncapping the bottles immediately after the UC and letting them breathe until cool, which sometimes gets rid of the smell and other times not. A few juices, I sort of taste it. One in particular I'd call unvapable (though to be fair that could be the recipe since I've never tried it otherwise, but - the taste is similar to the smell). That bottle, I had not uncapped after UC, and the next day the smell was horrid. Never went away. The flavorings in that recipe are not alcohol based, and do not need to breathe if not UC'd.
BTW my UC works great. It passes the foil test with flying colors.
Overall I like it and it's done wonders for some tobaccos in particular. I may try the croc pot method soon to see if I still get that smell.
Are you using glass bottles or plastic? If plastic that could be your problem. Cheap plastic bottle I would assume may leech unwanted plastic byproduct into the mix that may cause that taste. Also try to keep the heat below 150F.
Also have you tasted you mix before steeping? If not mix a small 10ml batch and see if that taste rubbery if so then you have your answer.
Also have you tasted you mix before steeping? If not mix a small 10ml batch and see if that taste rubbery if so then you have your answer.
Amber glass bottles from BCV. Unless something may be leeching from the caps of these bottles?
mix a small 10ml batch and don't steep just taste see if that taste rubbery if so then you have your answer.
So in other words you never smell anything off when the liquids are hot, fresh out of the UC? I've never smelled or tasted anything funky prior to heat steeping. Thus I'm gathering it must be the cap of my bottles...I've only used the glass bottles from BCV, never tried any others to know differences in caps.
Either that or I'm sensitive to heated eliquid for some reason.
You should always taste before you steep. It creates a baseline to compare maturity progress and can even let you know if you have to steep at all. It turns up issues with the mix that you can fix before wasting so much time steeping only to have to fix later. Smell never did a thing for me it's the taste that counts and not so much the smell.
Yeah 
great advice, can't say I've followed it on every flavor. I'm still in single flavor testing mode for the most part, and should really follow that each time. But I'm fairly convinced something's not going right with the heat steeping in these bottles. I may put a stop to the UC until I either get different bottles, or have a better feel for the flavors without speed steeping them along. It's just hard, being that my mixes are usually extremely high in VG (I don't like the taste of PG) - they're tough to mix without the heat 
great advice, can't say I've followed it on every flavor. I'm still in single flavor testing mode for the most part, and should really follow that each time. But I'm fairly convinced something's not going right with the heat steeping in these bottles. I may put a stop to the UC until I either get different bottles, or have a better feel for the flavors without speed steeping them along. It's just hard, being that my mixes are usually extremely high in VG (I don't like the taste of PG) - they're tough to mix without the heat
Complete and Utter Thread Drift
Hi All,
Nothing's changed. My UC still hasn't croaked. It's wheezing though. It now takes 5 hours to do what it used to do in 4. I can't complain because 5 UC hours beats 4 weeks of steeping. I just stepped in to show off my new video:
I thought my DIY e-liquids were pretty tasty ... but sub ohm vaping clarified the flavors more than I thought possible. I'm having fun.
Hi All,
Nothing's changed. My UC still hasn't croaked. It's wheezing though. It now takes 5 hours to do what it used to do in 4. I can't complain because 5 UC hours beats 4 weeks of steeping. I just stepped in to show off my new video:
I thought my DIY e-liquids were pretty tasty ... but sub ohm vaping clarified the flavors more than I thought possible. I'm having fun.
Hi Bob!
Good to see you post, how you been? I see this thread still has legs. Thought I'd share something I learned a while back, how to bypass the timer on the Harbor Freight 2.5 liter Ultra Sonic cleaner, this one
I found this tip on a forum somewhere some time ago, couldn't find the link but I dug around and found a photo I saved showing where to solder in a couple wires to the timer board and install a On-Off switch. This worked great, been running my cleaner with the switch for six months without any problems, sometimes for up to four hours straight and no hints of over heating the cleaner. It keep the timer function intact while allowing you to just turn the unit on and leave it running. Sure is better then having to keep hitting the timer button over and over.....
Good to see you post, how you been? I see this thread still has legs. Thought I'd share something I learned a while back, how to bypass the timer on the Harbor Freight 2.5 liter Ultra Sonic cleaner, this one
I found this tip on a forum somewhere some time ago, couldn't find the link but I dug around and found a photo I saved showing where to solder in a couple wires to the timer board and install a On-Off switch. This worked great, been running my cleaner with the switch for six months without any problems, sometimes for up to four hours straight and no hints of over heating the cleaner. It keep the timer function intact while allowing you to just turn the unit on and leave it running. Sure is better then having to keep hitting the timer button over and over.....
Hey Slick - That is the Best News I've had all day/week/month! I love my UC ... but boy ... do I hate leaping up every eight @!#&*%@ minutes for 5 hours. I'm going to have to show my wife this post so she knows I'm not ripping apart the UC just so we can get a new one.
Those are the caps with the white plastic inserts correct? Perhaps as you suspect it's leaching, no other suspects it would seem. Let us know when you get a chance to test a different brand or type of bottle with the same juice runs.
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