I quit using the UC. If I heat steep at all I use a croc pot - this issue doesn't occur in the croc pot, but I've been lazy, and mostly vaping unflavored and/or aged stash lately.
Steeping Times and an Ultrasonic Cleaner Part III
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http://www.amazon.com/iSonic-P4810-...&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00
Just bought the unit above. After reading how ultrasonics work, it's only logical it will help in mixing and steeping, along with the heated water. I'm sure the heat only crock pots work, but the added action with an ultrasonic seems like it could only help meld the ingredients. Best thing is can also be used for its original purpose, cleaning.
I looked at what appeared to be more industrial/commercial ultrasonic units. The ones you see on almost every search, SS cases and lids, some with dual transducers, with simple touch panel controls, but after careful reading of buyers comments it seemed most of these in the $60-$100 range were more like clones of the real ones, lots of complaints, and failures. The real ones cost 2-3 times as much, and more then I wanted to spend.
I read the whole thread, and therefore want to thank all those that offered their advise and experience!
Just bought the unit above. After reading how ultrasonics work, it's only logical it will help in mixing and steeping, along with the heated water. I'm sure the heat only crock pots work, but the added action with an ultrasonic seems like it could only help meld the ingredients. Best thing is can also be used for its original purpose, cleaning.
I looked at what appeared to be more industrial/commercial ultrasonic units. The ones you see on almost every search, SS cases and lids, some with dual transducers, with simple touch panel controls, but after careful reading of buyers comments it seemed most of these in the $60-$100 range were more like clones of the real ones, lots of complaints, and failures. The real ones cost 2-3 times as much, and more then I wanted to spend.
I read the whole thread, and therefore want to thank all those that offered their advise and experience!
Wanted to UPDATE, since my last post.
The iSonic unit I bought (you'll see that tank rebranded all over the web), was RETURNED to Amazon. Worked at first, then after only a few days, when first plugged in, the HEATER would go ON by itself! I smelled some burnt electronic type odor. If I were not monitoring the unit, could have been a fire. The unit did not have water in it, BUT I had not turned on the heater button, write iSonic, they agreed, the heater should only activate when the user turns it on. I know there are tons of these out there, I'm sure most work properly, but I was not willing to risk a fire, so be CAREFUL!
After more research, I bought one made in the USA. Sure it cost 3x as much, cheap insurance IMO. You can check it out here:
SharperTek Heated Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaner 6" x 5.25" x 6" (L x W x H) XPS120-2.5L Made in The USA/ Great Christmas Gift Item.
The iSonic unit I bought (you'll see that tank rebranded all over the web), was RETURNED to Amazon. Worked at first, then after only a few days, when first plugged in, the HEATER would go ON by itself! I smelled some burnt electronic type odor. If I were not monitoring the unit, could have been a fire. The unit did not have water in it, BUT I had not turned on the heater button, write iSonic, they agreed, the heater should only activate when the user turns it on. I know there are tons of these out there, I'm sure most work properly, but I was not willing to risk a fire, so be CAREFUL!
After more research, I bought one made in the USA. Sure it cost 3x as much, cheap insurance IMO. You can check it out here:
SharperTek Heated Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaner 6" x 5.25" x 6" (L x W x H) XPS120-2.5L Made in The USA/ Great Christmas Gift Item.
Sorry to here you had these issues with it. I've had mine a little over 2 years now and have not had any issues with it. I guess you just had the bad luck of the draw with that one. Hope you have better luck with your new one.
Hi GUCE-ers,
No ... my UC hasn't died yet. Day-um ... for something that doesn't work all that well ... it sure keeps on working. How I yearn for the day when I don't have to hop up every eight @#$%! minutes. In Other News ... I finished another video:
I am truly amazed at this gear. I thought my DIY juice was pretty good. Used with this combo ... It's Amazing.
Bob
No ... my UC hasn't died yet. Day-um ... for something that doesn't work all that well ... it sure keeps on working. How I yearn for the day when I don't have to hop up every eight @#$%! minutes. In Other News ... I finished another video:
I am truly amazed at this gear. I thought my DIY juice was pretty good. Used with this combo ... It's Amazing.
Bob
Another outstanding review Bob 
Picture taken June 21, 2013
Same $30 Harbor Freight POS works it's azz off for hours at a time every week
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was, same as it ever was, same as i....
Picture taken June 21, 2013
Same $30 Harbor Freight POS works it's azz off for hours at a time every week
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was, same as it ever was, same as i....
Still getting your exercise with the 8 minute timer!
The SharperTek is obviously a more industrial unit, timer can be set for 60 minutes, separate heat control, sweep and degas features. Since I'm going to use it for more then just steeping, I felt it was worth the investment.
If you guys have the bigger harbor freight model, I posted how to hook up an on-off switch to bypass the timer a page, two or three back. If you want some help just give me a shout.
This one
This one
I have a GT SONIC that you can set for 99mins, have had it for maybe a year and a half and have had no problems
If you guys have the bigger harbor freight model, I posted how to hook up an on-off switch to bypass the timer a page, two or three back. If you want some help just give me a shout.
That post was one of those "priceless" ones. I modded mine and this works flawlessly. Let this thing run 4 hours straight last weekend. No issues whatsoever.
Every 8 minutes I waved at that bugger in the general direction out on the patio...
Many, many thanks!!!
Cheers.
That post was one of those "priceless" ones. I modded mine and this works flawlessly. Let this thing run 4 hours straight last weekend. No issues whatsoever.
Every 8 minutes I waved at that bugger in the general direction out on the patio...
Many, many thanks!!!
Cheers.
"Every 8 minutes I waved at that bugger in the general direction out on the patio..." LoL!!
Nice not to have to chase it every eight mins isn't it! Very good idea running it out on the patio, I would advise anyone who does this mod, don't turn it on and leave it unattended. Even though mine has never shown any signs of over heating or getting any hotter then running with the timer, be smart and careful! This is a hack and we are bypassing a safety feature.
Yes that mod was well welcome when I finally found it. I had been looking for a long, long time on how to bypass that timer. Some months ago I did yet another search and found a post in obscure forum, it made my day! Happy to share it and happy to hear it's working for you.
Feel free to share. I have gone back and read from page 55 a few times now. I believe MikeP's original "Nicotine Degradation Heat Tests", were admittedly, slightly flawed, but when he posted his last update, long a go, he wrote the mistake he made did NOT effect the final results. I'm going to message him today in case he wants to clarify, for newcomers to this thread.
What I gleaned from his extensive tests, was that the temperature of 125f, the nic loss was minimal, but increased above that. What I find odd, is there are many posts in this thread, after his tests, that keep saying the accepted temperture for ultrasonic heat steeping is 150f. Just looking to clarify this for myself, others, and for the record.
What I gleaned from his extensive tests, was that the temperature of 125f, the nic loss was minimal, but increased above that. What I find odd, is there are many posts in this thread, after his tests, that keep saying the accepted temperture for ultrasonic heat steeping is 150f. Just looking to clarify this for myself, others, and for the record.
What I found was that as temperature (and time) increased, so did nic loss. The loss at 125F was negligible, but increased as temp increased. The loss at 150F was in the range of 8% nic strength.
However, knowing this, an ultrasonic bath (quicker) or crockpot bath (just as effective) is still of value for recipes that benefit from steeping. Just compensate for the loss when you mix. Or dont bother, as it isnt all that much of a loss. Think about it, if you are mixing 18mgl and you have a 8% loss you are now at 16.5mgl, which might not be enough to even notice.
Not all recipes benefit from steeping though. I found tobaccos, strawberry, caramel, & peanut-butter mixes definitely do. My favorite all day vape of peach doesnt benefit at all. As a general rule, if you find your recipe changes color with age, then speed steeping will probably help.
Thanks Mike! I hope everyone from now on will stop quoting 150f as the best UC steeping temp to adhere to. No one on the Internet to my knowledge has bothered to spend the time and money to do as comprehensive a test as Mike did for all of us. Personally I'm going to stick to, at or below 125f for my 1-3 hour UC steeping of my homemade ejuices. If you click on Mikes avatar, you can find his blog, scroll down and see the efforts he made for testings nic and heat degradation. Thanks again Mike for all you have done!
Problem with UC's is it's harder to control the heat, the water gains heat as it runs and if you have one with a heater..... A crock pot is easier to control the temp.
Correct me if I'm wrong Mike, it's been a long time since the blind taste test was done. Between speed steeping in a UC vs crock pot, but didn't the test show negligible results between the two?
As far as loosing a little nic, who of use vapes the same amount of nic or smoked the same number of cigarettes each day?
Correct me if I'm wrong Mike, it's been a long time since the blind taste test was done. Between speed steeping in a UC vs crock pot, but didn't the test show negligible results between the two?
As far as loosing a little nic, who of use vapes the same amount of nic or smoked the same number of cigarettes each day?
Oh, I forgot to add, this thread is where I first meet Mike, I followed it closely during the tests. Your right, Mike put a ton of effort into these test and gave us all some great info. Thanks Mike! 
If you go back a few pages, I originally bought a cheap Chinese UC. for about $80. It was an electrical hazard, meaning easily could have started a fire. Having had a close call before with those old Chinese radio shack X-10 remotes, I sent it back.
Educated myself on real UC units and paid 3-4x as much in getting a USA made SharperTek model. Not just for ecig juice steeping. It has a heater function that in this model goes to 130f. I use a digital thermometer, and monitor it for the hours in use and it's pretty accurate. You are right in that the UC action does generate heat on its own, but that's a slow process, especially in cheaper units. A crock pot seems like a decent alternative, but since I don't cook, the UC has become much more useful to me.
Speed Steeping - Ultrasonic vs Crock Pot Test | E-Cigarette Forum
3 hours in either method yielded very little difference between the two. The Ultrasonic won by nose, but it was very marginal. Note though, I used a 220W Ultrasonic, a smaller home jewelry type unit probably wouldnt have done as well.
Ultrasonic Cleaners (in the context of speed steeping ejuice) | E-Cigarette Forum
A crockpot is cheaper than a good ultrasonic. Unless you have other uses for a Ultrasonic you can save some bucks with a crockpot.
All 3 bottles were from the same batch of Strawberry:
After reading all pages (took me 4days to nailed it down), i gotta ask and hoping i can get the answer from the master in here...
Does different nicotine gave you different result?
Ive been GUCE'ng for 2month and i am stuck with my experiment for couple weeks now..
Lets say for my 1st experiment, im using dragon fruit tfa 3%, vanilla bean ice cream capella 7%, whipped cream 3%, and 3mg nicotine (NicVape), without using UC i kept it on my cabinet for 2weeks and color is darken quite a lot, taste great after that 2weeks..
After changing my nicotine (im using RTS) now, but still with same recipe, nothing has changed.. the color is still the same, only a bit yellow dark but not as good as my previous one, and didnt taste as god as my previous one... it happened with all other my recipes, i am starting to wonder if my RTS nicotine is the one should be blame, is it??
Color changes aint necessary i guess.. but lets take bavarian cream, cake butter, caramel, vanilla bean ice cream, sugar cookies and mix it all together and steep it for weeks, the color sure darken, isnt it?
I've read others havin the same problem regarding the color changes on previous post before, but mine maybe a bit different.. if you mix all those flavor i said and still get the same color after 2weeks steeping, isnt it a problem?? It will be different if you put blueberry wild with orange mandarin and pineapple together, sure the color wont change too much...
From what i've read, ejuice that contain nicotine will steep faster than the one without nicotine, isnt it? I meant "the cooking process will go faster than the one without nicotine" isnt it?
Please help me,, its been goin on for weeks and i keep blaming my nicotine without knowing whats going on..
Does different nicotine gave you different result?
Ive been GUCE'ng for 2month and i am stuck with my experiment for couple weeks now..
Lets say for my 1st experiment, im using dragon fruit tfa 3%, vanilla bean ice cream capella 7%, whipped cream 3%, and 3mg nicotine (NicVape), without using UC i kept it on my cabinet for 2weeks and color is darken quite a lot, taste great after that 2weeks..
After changing my nicotine (im using RTS) now, but still with same recipe, nothing has changed.. the color is still the same, only a bit yellow dark but not as good as my previous one, and didnt taste as god as my previous one... it happened with all other my recipes, i am starting to wonder if my RTS nicotine is the one should be blame, is it??
Color changes aint necessary i guess.. but lets take bavarian cream, cake butter, caramel, vanilla bean ice cream, sugar cookies and mix it all together and steep it for weeks, the color sure darken, isnt it?
I've read others havin the same problem regarding the color changes on previous post before, but mine maybe a bit different.. if you mix all those flavor i said and still get the same color after 2weeks steeping, isnt it a problem?? It will be different if you put blueberry wild with orange mandarin and pineapple together, sure the color wont change too much...
From what i've read, ejuice that contain nicotine will steep faster than the one without nicotine, isnt it? I meant "the cooking process will go faster than the one without nicotine" isnt it?
Please help me,, its been goin on for weeks and i keep blaming my nicotine without knowing whats going on..
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