Hi all, I'm new to this forum and I'm quite excited to learn from others who DIY juice. As I'm not too adventurous with flavor mixing and pretty much find a recipe that works for me and stick to it i don't have recipes to share really but I do have a mixing and steeping process that works extremely well and thought was worth sharing. I make 250ml batches as that's how big my beaker is and to mix those batches I use an old Hamilton Beach malt mixer. This machine uses a small wavy disc spinning at a high RPM that not only mixes the ingredients thoroughly but incorporates air in the mix. I mean a lot of air, the juice gets whipped into a foam. I then use a rubber band to fasten a coffee filter over the top and set it to steep. I steep in a cabinet over my sink that has a florescent light fixture mounted to the bottom. With the light turned on the cabinet maintains about 95 degrees. I remix the juice with the malt machine once a day for two days and by the third day the juice is perfectly steeped and ready to enjoy. I hope somebody finds this useful and would invite any comments or questions.
Stirring tip from the new guy!
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Hi HP & welcome
I'm no steeping expert though on second thought maybe I am because I have the patience to simply wait the week or two or three required. I have read somewhere that the eliquids shouldn't be exposed to that much air/oxygen. I don't know if it is true or not, I think the comment arose in a discussion on steeping with lid off or on. I have though read that there is really no replacement for time. But hey if it works for you who am I to argue.
I'm no steeping expert though on second thought maybe I am because I have the patience to simply wait the week or two or three required. I have read somewhere that the eliquids shouldn't be exposed to that much air/oxygen. I don't know if it is true or not, I think the comment arose in a discussion on steeping with lid off or on. I have though read that there is really no replacement for time. But hey if it works for you who am I to argue.
I like the idea, although a lot of tobacco flavors I use don't need steeping I've run across some flavors that do need steeping. I've tried a black box I put in the sun but it's not that good at speeding up the process. A light bulb should do the trick.
Welcome to ECF! I admire your ingenuity I have a few mixers like that that I could probably use. Not sure about using heat to steep, but since we keep our AC at 81 degrees (I don't actually mind that temp....comparatively) I consider myself a heat steeper AS I am vaping my juices, LOL. That sounds like a really interesting method.
You are going to love the DIY forum.... It's a subcategory in the E-liquids forum. You will have any and every recipie your heart desires.
Anna
I have a few mixers like that that I could probably use. Not sure about using heat to steep, but since we keep our AC at 81 degrees (I don't actually mind that temp....comparatively) I consider myself a heat steeper AS I am vaping my juices, LOL. That sounds like a really interesting method.You are going to love the DIY forum.... It's a subcategory in the E-liquids forum. You will have any and every recipie your heart desires.
Anna
Welcome aboard! As a fellow DIY'er that has been at it for a while I wouldn't foam it up too much as you can lose flavor when the bubble rise, foaming it a bit isn't bad because it'll help dissipate any alcohols that may be in the flavoring but doing it too much could lead to a loss of 10%+ of the flavor which is why most use magnetic stirrers since they mix without incorporating air.
Welp I guess it's me, intentionally trying to burst your air bubbles to save you some $ on flavoring
Welp I guess it's me, intentionally trying to burst your air bubbles to save you some $ on flavoring
Well they do say patience is a virtue lol. That being said it took me several batches mixing by hand and steeping for extended periods of time before the old malt machine caught my eye on the way back of a kitchen cupboard I never look in and I thought "hey what the heck I'll try it". I had still planned to steep for my normal two weeks but after three days the juice was already getting it's normal two week tint so I sampled some. If there is a difference my palette isn't refined enough to notice.Hi HP & welcome
I'm no steeping expert though on second thought maybe I am because I have the patience to simply wait the week or two or three required. I have read somewhere that the eliquids shouldn't be exposed to that much air/oxygen. I don't know if it is true or not, I think the comment arose in a discussion on steeping with lid off or on. I have though read that there is really no replacement for time. But hey if it works for you who am I to argue.
A compact fluorescent does. I used to use them in the home-built hoods of my planted aquarium (something I've been meaning to do again now that baby girls are growing up to be young ladies).
A regular bulb produces more heat, most of the watts go towards heat, the florescent produces less heat per watt and is more efficient. Steepers use heat to speed up the process by putting bottles in warm water, I'd guess you don't want to go to warm. There was a very good vid on different methods to lessen the steeping time.
I found the vid
The warm water turned out to be the best.
Here is another vid to confuse things
The warm water turned out to be the best.
Here is another vid to confuse things
From what I know and have first hand experience with is that Air is what promotes the nicotine to degrade so turning the liquid into a foam is NOT good in my opinion. When I use my mixer I am careful to not get air into the liquid.
As for heat from a fluorescent fixture the ballast is what gets hot if you have ever changed one that has cooked they can really fry up good.
I use 2mm clear glass beads in my mixing bottle, helps with blending, much like a bb in fingernail polish. I steep mine in warm water.
I also use the Hot Tap water bath as my mixing station in right next to the oil burner and very hot water is available. But when I am not in a hurry I mix directly in the bottles like the 3 60ML I made this morning and they are under the desk lamp next to my desk at 96-97°F which speeds the infusion along. By the time I need them they will be ready.
A florescent lamp uses mercury vapor that emits ultra violet light, a phosphor coating inside the tube converts this to light we see. A ballast is used to regulate the current through the lamp. The ballast consist of a coil of copper wire and there is some resistance which causes the ballast to become warm. The heating element is used to keep the mercury vapor warm so electricity passes through the gas.
Back to the steeping process, it seems a water bath should be about 130 F, it seems nicotine will degrade if to warm or exposed to sunlight or air. Steeping is best at 2 to 3 weeks then begins to degrade on flavor and nicotine.
Back to the steeping process, it seems a water bath should be about 130 F, it seems nicotine will degrade if to warm or exposed to sunlight or air. Steeping is best at 2 to 3 weeks then begins to degrade on flavor and nicotine.
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