Shelf Life of Creams ?

[Fog n Vape]

Made a 180mls of my 3 fav recipes but had to dump it all as the creams had gone bad. V.B.I.C and Bavarian Cream, my go to creams. I store my flavours in the fridge.

Colour was a bit darker than when new and I did expect a bit of flavour drop as it was 10 months or so since I bought them. They tasted like deep chocolate, better than the chocolates I've tryed but the aftertaste was disgusting.

Remixed the recipes without creams to confirm and they tasted o.k. though not the same of course.

Will be buying just a 6 month supply of creams this time so hope this won't happen again.

How do you store your creams ?

 

[JCinFLA]

You don't say what brands you bought, but flavorings don't "go bad" as in spoil, or so I've always been told and have experienced for myself. They may lose alittle potency over a long period of a long time, but that's usually it. Maybe you didn't shake them very well before using them in those recipes?

I have several different TFA "cream" type flavorings (VBIC, Bavarian Cream, Sweet Cream, Whipped Cream, etc.) bought in 4oz. bottles probably 8-10 months ago...and they're still fine when I make recipes with them. No problem with them at all, and I don't even refrigerate any of mine.

ETA: Just had a thought that might have affected yours though - Were yours in plastic bottles or glass ones? Mine have all been in glass bottles.

 

[Fog n Vape]

You don't say what brands you bought, but flavorings don't "go bad" as in spoil, or so I've always been told and have experienced for myself. They may lose alittle potency over a long period of a long time, but that's usually it. Maybe you didn't shake them very well before using them in those recipes?

I have several different TFA "cream" type flavorings (VBIC, Bavarian Cream, Sweet Cream, Whipped Cream, etc.) bought in 4oz. bottles probably 8-10 months ago...and they're still fine when I make recipes with them. No problem with them at all, and I don't even refrigerate any of mine.

ETA: Just had a thought that might have affected yours though - Were yours in plastic bottles or glass ones? Mine have all been in glass bottles.

The V.B.I.C. was Capella, Bavarian Cream was TFA. Yes I did shake them quite a bit before use. They were stored in the original plastic bottles.

Will add some glass bottles to my flavour order. ty

 

[Jdurand]

I've had creams on the shelf for over a year ( I kinda over prepped ) and have had no issues with open or sealed bottles. Maybe you got some type of cross contamination or something? Flavors really don't go bad. Remember just the PG in the solution itself is an amazing preservative.

 

[Fog n Vape]

I've had creams on the shelf for over a year ( I kinda over prepped ) and have had no issues with open or sealed bottles. Maybe you got some type of cross contamination or something? Flavors really don't go bad. Remember just the PG in the solution itself is an amazing preservative.

That's why I posted to try to figure out the cause of the weird taste. I haven't had this issue before. I squeeze from the bottles into mixing bottles so don't know how I'd get cross contamination since I mix by weight and don't use syringes. I do store all my flavour concentrates in a tupperware type container. Maybe I should reconsider how I store all my concentrates.

Do you store in original bottles or glass ?

 

[jpasint]

Well, I have a lot of flavors (a whole lot) and some are approaching 2.5 years in age.
I immediately transfer all my flavors to glass when I get them.
I'd sure sleep a lot better if it was a fact that flavorings don't go bad.

Perhaps one of our forum chemists could provide a bit of wisdom on the topic?
Not that I don't believe what has already been said of course.

 

[SteveS45]

I have had a couple of bottles I forgot about get real dark and smell was better and taste was better than I remembered. Never saw any go bad except some that was heated and left in a tank for an extended period of time. Just my personal experience.

 

[IDJoel]

A couple of additional thoughts:

Some flavor manufacturers do not recommend storing concentrates in the fridge as this can lead to components separating out. You said you did shake them well before using; did you allow them to return to room temp (before use) as well? (Those same manufacturers also note that if separation does occur; a gentle warming and vigorous shake will usually restore the concentrate.)

Also, many prefer their creams and custards recipes to have a substantial (2 or more weeks) period to age. They find that a fresh, or "young" custard or cream can have an "off" taste until it has a chance to mature. How long dis you rest/age/steep your recipes once you mixed them?

ETA: I too have multiple cream and custard concentrates nearing the 2-year mark with little/no difference to when they were first bought.

 

[Fog n Vape]

A couple of additional thoughts:

"did you allow them to return to room temp (before use) as well?"

Yes I took my nic, pg, vg, and flavourings from the fridge the night before as that way don't have to fight the vg out of the bottle.


"Also, many prefer their creams and custards recipes to have a substantial (2 or more weeks) period to age. They find that a fresh, or "young" custard or cream can have an "off" taste until it has a chance to mature. How long dis you rest/age/steep your recipes once you mixed them?"

I don't enjoy custards so don't use them as they taste way too eggy for me, at least the Cap's did that I used in a few recipes.
I have flavour notes on every recipe I've mixed since Sept. 2015 and the creams I use no "off" notes, my first time mixing a new recipe I flavour check, on a rda, every day to better understand the steeping progress. I find about 10 days for creams to really start to shine. However I have used both V.B.I.C. and Bav. Cream in shake and vapes when low on juice and no weird or off notes to me or my lady friend. Example would be Caps V.I.B.C. 4% and T.F.A. Apricot 1.6%, just shake and vape and its a pretty good vape right away, DIY or DIE's Orange 'Sicle is another shake n vape using creams in which I used Cap V.B.I.C. and TFA Bav. Cream in as didn't have the brands Wayne used in the originals. Now I understand that everyone tastes differently and some may taste "off" notes early in a steep when I don't.
But to answer your question I gave up at 5 days and dumped them as they were getting worse. I also mixed some 5 ml testers using the same percentage as recipes. After a week I dumped them as totally unvapeable and disgusting taste. Also remixed recipes without the V.B.I.C. and Bav. Cream to double check and no "off" notes just no base for the fruits to really shine.

I started storing in the fridge during summer as from late June to late August I was out of town for medical treatments and only home on weekends, the heat in my apartment 30+ most days as no one home to open windows and no a.c. and just continued leaving them in the fridge as I wasn't mixing from June through November, buying juice, because of side effects from treatments I had no energy to mix or do anything really.

I'm leaning to the storage in the original plastic bottles maybe compounded by storeage in the fridge being the reason.

 

[IDJoel]

Just for clarification, you might want to go back and edit your previous post while the system will let you (it does have a time limit though I am not sure what that limit is). My quotes, as well as your replies, are all showing as my post. Others might not realize that you have actually answered my questions since it only appears as a partial quote due to the overall length.

In regard to your replies:

Yes I took my nic, pg, vg, and flavourings from the fridge the night before as that way don't have to fight the vg out of the bottle.

and

I don't enjoy custards so don't use them as they taste way too eggy for me, at least the Cap's did that I used in a few recipes.
I have flavour notes on every recipe I've mixed since Sept. 2015 and the creams I use no "off" notes, my first time mixing a new recipe I flavour check, on a rda, every day to better understand the steeping progress. I find about 10 days for creams to really start to shine. However I have used both V.B.I.C. and Bav. Cream in shake and vapes when low on juice and no weird or off notes to me or my lady friend. Example would be Caps V.I.B.C. 4% and T.F.A. Apricot 1.6%, just shake and vape and its a pretty good vape right away, DIY or DIE's Orange 'Sicle is another shake n vape using creams in which I used Cap V.B.I.C. and TFA Bav. Cream in as didn't have the brands Wayne used in the originals. Now I understand that everyone tastes differently and some may taste "off" notes early in a steep when I don't.
But to answer your question I gave up at 5 days and dumped them as they were getting worse. I also mixed some 5 ml testers using the same percentage as recipes. After a week I dumped them as totally unvapeable and disgusting taste. Also remixed recipes without the V.B.I.C. and Bav. Cream to double check and no "off" notes just no base for the fruits to really shine.

I started storing in the fridge during summer as from late June to late August I was out of town for medical treatments and only home on weekends, the heat in my apartment 30+ most days as no one home to open windows and no a.c. and just continued leaving them in the fridge as I wasn't mixing from June through November, buying juice, because of side effects from treatments I had no energy to mix or do anything really.

I'm leaning to the storage in the original plastic bottles maybe compounded by storeage in the fridge being the reason.

You pretty well ruled out my theories! Yours sound as good as any. I hope you don't have to go through it again. I'll be watching this thread to see if anyone else has had a similar experience.