Mixing By Weight: Basics 101

[Fozzy71]

I'm just curious if most of you have 30ml or small bottles of flavorings?

I assume that after watching Scott's video. Yes it looks extremely easy and worth it. But most of my flavor bottles are 120ml or big bottles. So for me washing it a pipette or syringe seems like the same to me. I would imagine it being hard to control the liquid flow from a big flavor bottle.

Maybe I'm crazy though I dunno


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Get some 30ml unicorn droppers to use for working by weight imo. Dropper bottles are much easier than using pipettes.

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

I'm just curious if most of you have 30ml or small bottles of flavorings?

I assume that after watching Scott's video. Yes it looks extremely easy and worth it. But most of my flavor bottles are 120ml or big bottles. So for me washing it a pipette or syringe seems like the same to me. I would imagine it being hard to control the liquid flow from a big flavor bottle.

Maybe I'm crazy though I dunno


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These are 4 oz bottles with caps
Maybe you could use something like these to help with the flow?
Natural LDPE Boston Round Bottle with Twist Top Cap

Or just the caps. Depends on the neck size of your current bottle if these fit or not.
Twist Top Caps 24/410 Neck

Just a thought.

 

[ghola1was]

I know some people just dispose of the disposable pipettes, but I just wipe them off and secure them with rubber bands to their bottles. Bulb end down, so they don't leak.

 

[Fozzy71]

I know some people just dispose of the disposable pipettes, but I just wipe them off and secure them with rubber bands to their bottles. Bulb end down, so they don't leak.

i some times reuse them but the ones I have give out/crack after a couple uses. I only use them for a few flavors I have with no droppers.

 

[Capt.shay]

Bulb end down, so they don't leak.

I use to do the rubber band thing and reuse but eventually it got messy. Then I China ordered a pile of inexpensive ones and just consider the .8 cents part of the price of doing things.

 

[ShowerHead]

But most of my flavor bottles are 120ml or big bottles. So for me washing it a pipette or syringe seems like the same to me.

No, I have 4 oz bottles.
I use disposable plastic pipettes for flavor and toss them in the trash after using them. Still nothing to clean up.

 

[Capt.shay]

For a few of my highly used flavors that don't have dripper caps, I transfer some in to 60ml plastic bottles with yorker caps. I just put in enough for what I'll go through in a few weeks and not for long term storage. It is an extra step but I can free hand the pour so no washing of funnel needed.

 

[Jdurand]

For a few of my highly used flavors that don't have dripper caps, I transfer some in to 60ml plastic bottles with yorker caps. I just put in enough for what I'll go through in a few weeks and not for long term storage. It is an extra step but I can free hand the pour so no washing of funnel needed.

The Yorker tops will fit most of the 4 oz and larger bottles of flavoring. I use them on all the big bottles of flavors I use regularly. The smaller bottles all come in dripper bottles anyway so no issue with those. I find two drops out of the Yorker top is about .01 grams.

 

[OlderNDirt]

Got my new order of flavorings and entering into Hotrod's calculator and have a couple questions since branching out into other manufacturers.

Bottle sizes for the flavorings range from 9ml to 4oz. Am I correct that strength of flavorings are at least reasonably consistent between brands regardless of size of bottle?

Entering the flavorings/ingredients into the calculator, there is a section to enter the grams per ml for each flavor which defaults to 1g per ml. This is then used in the calculation of how many grams of flavoring to add for each recipe making it seem to be rather important in the calculation. Is it really that important, does anybody really adjust this for each flavor, and where would one get the information to make an adjustment? If not changing it for each flavor, is the 1mg per ml the reasonable entry?

Or am I just making this harder then necessary? Just leave the default settings as they are, add the flavorings to inventory, then start each test batch at say 5% flavorings and adjust from there until it tastes good?

 

[Fozzy71]

Got my new order of flavorings and entering into Hotrod's calculator and have a couple questions since branching out into other manufacturers.

Bottle sizes for the flavorings range from 9ml to 4oz. Am I correct that strength of flavorings are at least reasonably consistent between brands regardless of size of bottle?

Each manufacturer has suggested percentages for standalone or in a recipe. I also check that popular recipe site I can't mention for median/average percentages people use.

Entering the flavorings/ingredients into the calculator, there is a section to enter the grams per ml for each flavor which defaults to 1g per ml. This is then used in the calculation of how many grams of flavoring to add for each recipe making it seem to be rather important in the calculation. Is it really that important, does anybody really adjust this for each flavor, and where would one get the information to make an adjustment? If not changing it for each flavor, is the 1mg per ml the reasonable entry?

Or am I just making this harder then necessary? Just leave the default settings as they are, add the flavorings to inventory, then start each test batch at say 5% flavorings and adjust from there until it tastes good?

If I can't find the g/ml on the mfg's site I check the recipe site to see if it is specified there. Otherwise I leave it at 1 g/ml. Most of the ones I found aren't much heavier than 1 g/ml so I doubt it makes a big difference.

 

[tokarev]

Disposable pipettes are cheap. I used to try to clean them, but finally just gave up and bought a sack full on Amazon. You can buy 100 of them for around $5 if you shop around. Cost per unit would be even cheaper in larger quantities.

In my calculator I set the g/ml on PG and VG, but I just leave it at 1.00 for my flavorings. There are too many flavorings to try and keep up with density for each one. I use such small amounts (less than 5% usually, never more than 10%) that I figure it doesn't matter anyway. As long as it is consistent it doesn't really need to be precise. You can always make adjustments to the flavoring if it doesn't taste right. You will need to adjust most recipes anyway so that it tastes right for you.

 

[oplholik]

In ejuice me up I have 1.03g per ml entered. If i need to adjust, I change the %'s.

 

[Capt.shay]

I just use 1.03 for all flavors. We figured it out once and that was really close to most flavors. But the thing is, since we work in percentages, as long as we use the same weight each time, the mix will come out consistent.

 

[dobroeutro]

I just use the default 1.0 for flavorings. For PG, VG & Nic Base, I use the values listed in Post #2 of this thread...

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

Got my new order of flavorings and entering into Hotrod's calculator and have a couple questions since branching out into other manufacturers.

Bottle sizes for the flavorings range from 9ml to 4oz. Am I correct that strength of flavorings are at least reasonably consistent between brands regardless of size of bottle?



Or am I just making this harder then necessary? Just leave the default settings as they are, add the flavorings to inventory, then start each test batch at say 5% flavorings and adjust from there until it tastes good?

Bottles sizes are not going to make differences in flavors. However, the strength of the flavoring is actually different and it depends on the manufacturer. I.e. FlavorArt(FA) flavorings are much more concentrated than FlavorWest(FW). So when using a % of flavor for a mix, it is always good to know how much to use and why a lot of us stipulate which manufacturer when we have a recipe on these forums. So if a recipe calls for 5% without any flavor manufacturer and you have lets say both the FA and FW versions of that same flavor, mixing both at 5% will not taste the same. FW's will more than likely be very weak(depends on the flavor itself) and FA will more than likely to be way too much and ruin the recipe.
This is why it is always good to check directly with what the manufacturer says to start with. FA may suggest to start as low as 2% and FW may suggest to start their flavorings @ 15%.
Hope this helps some.

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

Got my new order of flavorings and entering into Hotrod's calculator and have a couple questions since branching out into other manufacturers.

Entering the flavorings/ingredients into the calculator, there is a section to enter the grams per ml for each flavor which defaults to 1g per ml. This is then used in the calculation of how many grams of flavoring to add for each recipe making it seem to be rather important in the calculation. Is it really that important, does anybody really adjust this for each flavor, and where would one get the information to make an adjustment? If not changing it for each flavor, is the 1mg per ml the reasonable entry?

Or am I just making this harder then necessary? Just leave the default settings as they are, add the flavorings to inventory, then start each test batch at say 5% flavorings and adjust from there until it tastes good?

Most of accept the default of 1.0 for weight.

 

[OlderNDirt]

This is why it is always good to check directly with what the manufacturer says to start with. FA may suggest to start as low as 2% and FW may suggest to start their flavorings @ 15%.
Hope this helps some.

Given the wide range of flavoring percent, I would say that helps tremendously!

 

[IDJoel]

Nice post Sugar! Well said. I would only add:

However, the strength of the flavoring is actually different and it depends on the manufacturer.

Not only the strength but the actual taste too. Just like McDonald's, Denny's, and Starbucks all sell "Coffee;" they taste NOTHING alike.
For example; TFA, FA, FW, and CAP all make a flavor called "Vanilla Custard" (Cap actually has a V1 and a V2). Yet none of them taste the same as any of the others. And still other manufacturers make flavors that taste similar to a vanilla custard yet they choose to give them a different name.

and why a lot of us stipulate which manufacturer when we have a recipe on these forums.

Absolutely! Knowing the correct flavor name AND manufacturer helps us to get a better understanding of the intended strength AND flavor profile of that ingredient in relationship to the rest of the recipe and the intention of the creator.
Now whether you choose to leave it as is, or adapt it to your own liking, is a whole other matter.

This is why it is always good to check directly with what the manufacturer says to start with.

I would add the following caveat; that some of the more common flavor manufacturers like TFA, CAP, LA, FW, FLV, and others, cater as much (if not more) to the food and beverage markets, as they do to e-liquid makers. So their "recommended" starting percentages may be relative to food and drink and not e-liquid use. Clarify if you can.

 

[Fozzy71]

.....
I would add the following caveat; that some of the more common flavor manufacturers like TFA, CAP, LA, FW, FLV, and others, cater as much (if not more) to the food and beverage markets, as they do to e-liquid makers. So their "recommended" starting percentages may be relative to food and drink and not e-liquid use. Clarify if you can.

Yes, this is why I usually check the recipe site for any new flavor and see what the average and median percentages are for single flavor and recipes and use that as a baseline when creating a recipe from scratch.

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

Nice post Sugar! Well said. I would only add:

Not only the strength but the actual taste too. Just like McDonald's, Denny's, and Starbucks all sell "Coffee;" they taste NOTHING alike.
For example; TFA, FA, FW, and CAP all make a flavor called "Vanilla Custard" (Cap actually has a V1 and a V2). Yet none of them taste the same as any of the others. And still other manufacturers make flavors that taste similar to a vanilla custard yet they choose to give them a different name.

Absolutely! Knowing the correct flavor name AND manufacturer helps us to get a better understanding of the intended strength AND flavor profile of that ingredient in relationship to the rest of the recipe and the intention of the creator.
Now whether you choose to leave it as is, or adapt it to your own liking, is a whole other matter.

I would add the following caveat; that some of the more common flavor manufacturers like TFA, CAP, LA, FW, FLV, and others, cater as much (if not more) to the food and beverage markets, as they do to e-liquid makers. So their "recommended" starting percentages may be relative to food and drink and not e-liquid use. Clarify if you can.

Thank you for the clarification on the rest of the post. Taste is so subjective and why you may favor Cap flavors over another's same flavor.(just an example) Variations are why there are so many different types.
While it can be fun to find the ones you like more than others, it can and does get expensive. I have tried so many different vanilla's and still can't find the 'one'. I am looking for a vanilla that is light, smooth and not too sweet. Most of the ones I have found are very heavy and tend to take over the recipe. But that is just me.....