Steeping Times and an Ultrasonic Cleaner Part III

[logun]

I'm lucky enough to have one of these in my lab

I used to have Branson 200 what a joke 16 watts of power.
After, some research I purchased a 380 watt 1/2 gallon Sharpertek. The difference is like night a day. Love my new baby.
Sharpertek All Digital Heated Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaner 2 Lt SH80-2L

 

[logun]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BlueWave-T-...74?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a3a6d2256' I've got very lucky. I snatched the best ultrasonic cleaner money can buy. With much more advanced generator, magnetostrictive transducers, and a life time warranty. Also, my boss agreed to buy my Sharpertek.

 

[Rumrunner64]

I have one of these.
New 2 5L 1 2 Gallon Stainless Steel Ultrasonic Jewelry Parts Cleaner Machine | eBay
Bought it a few years ago for cleaning gun parts, work awsome on them.

I want to try to use it for steeping, but have never done it, I understand that you are using glass bottles because it radiates the sound wave better. Are you putting the caps on the bottles? If so how is it steeping? I was under the impression to properly steep the it needs to vent.

 

[logun]

I have one of these. New 2 5L 1 2 Gallon Stainless Steel Ultrasonic Jewelry Parts Cleaner Machine | eBayBought it a few years ago for cleaning gun parts, work awsome on them.I want to try to use it for steeping, but have never done it, I understand that you are using glass bottles because it radiates the sound wave better. Are you putting the caps on the bottles? If so how is it steeping? I was under the impression to properly steep the it needs to vent.

The sonic waves penetrate plastic almost as good as glass.

Restricting air during steeping reduces byproducts created during the chemical reaction. Unless your juice tastes chemical and you want to get rid the chemical taste then you can keep your bottles open for up to a day.

Steeping also means a chemical reaction. In ultrasonic cleaner the chemical reaction speeds up from days to hours. With your cleaner even less than hours but for the reaction to be completed you still need one or two more days after the sonic bath.

Nobody made any scientific research about steeping juices, we all can sit a guess of how healthy fresh juices compare to steeped ones. I personally don't like to steep my juices but I give them a few minutes cold sonic bath to make sure they well mixed.

 

[bobalex]

I make up 4 bottles (70ml) at a time so between batches the UC is idle for quite awhile. Before replaceable coils showed up I threw a clearo in the tank to see what would happen. Well ... the almost invisible cracks in the tank became visible and lo and behold ... leaked. Learned that lesson. But a couple of days ago I threw in a couple of coils from a Mini ViviNova BCC. After a couple of 8 minute cycles (with heat) I rinsed them and let 'em dry overnight. Result? Resuscitated coils. I then put in the rest of my coils from various tanks and they all cleaned up great. I love it when vaping gets cheaper but performance stays the same.

I know ... I know ... I could even bring down my vaping costs even further by making my own coils but that's not going to happen. I've been using bottom coil tanks for months and only one of them has blown. Not bad for a $2 item.

 

[JohnDaddyo]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BlueWave-T-...74?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a3a6d2256' I've got very lucky. I snatched the best ultrasonic cleaner money can buy. With much more advanced generator, magnetostrictive transducers, and a life time warranty. Also, my boss agreed to buy my Sharpertek.

I looked at your cleaner awhile back but waited and got the upgraded BlueWave T-920 Ultrasonic Cleaner. Now I've got the best UC.

 

[logun]

I looked at your cleaner awhile back but waited and got the upgraded BlueWave T-920 Ultrasonic Cleaner. Now I've got the best UC.

You got me on that.
T-920 doesn't exist even T-915 doesn't exist. The merchant made a mistake calling it T-915.
Anyway, we don't need a 3+k cleaner for steeping, even a $100 one is an overkill.

 

[tw33k]

Had mine for about 4 months now and it was worth every penny 2L Digital Ultrasonic Cleaner Stainless Steel Heater Mechanical Industrial Grade | eBay My DYI juices never tasted better

 

[Dr Shakamoto]

Just got some lovely green glass 30ml bottles. Very apothecary like. Started seeing what I thought were shards of glass coming off the bottles. Turns out my green glass isn't green glass at all, some kind of coating which the cleaner is taking off. It's too flippin good! Now I've got to check the inside of the bottle. That could be a real bugger if it's flaking off on the inside! So far so good, bar of course the now scabby looking outside of the bottles!

 

[DejayRezme]

Thanks for this thread. Thinking of buying this one: PROFI Ultraschallreiniger Ultraschallbad Ultraschall | eBay
Still rather cheap, but it supposedly uses an "industrial grade" 70 watts ultra sonic unit. Anyone got experiences with that model?
It's still twice as expensive as the usual cheap 50watt ultra sonic cleaners.

 

[MacDiver]

I'm going to get back into DIY after about four years. I have a Branson UC that my wife used at her salon and spa to clean stuff including jewelry. I cleaned some attys in it yesterday. Left them in for about an hour total, rinsing them with a tube and 6ml syringe I rigged up between 10-15 min runs.

The unit has no heater but keeps the water at about 120 deg due to the cavitation action. That'll work just fine. I'll just let the bottles float in the water when I use it at least until I figure out a way to get a glass bottle that I can rubber band them to. I'm thinking about an hour for 3 to 15 ml bottles should do it based on what I'm reading here for 50/50 PG/VG and sweet and fruity flavors at about 15 - 20% flavor. I'll shake and move them around every 15 min or so.

This is a great idea!

 

[GMayberry]

I'm going to get back into DIY after about four years. I have a Branson UC that my wife used at her salon and spa to clean stuff including jewelry. I cleaned some attys in it yesterday. Left them in for about an hour total, rinsing them with a tube and 6ml syringe I rigged up between 10-15 min runs.

The unit has no heater but keeps the water at about 120 deg due to the cavitation action. That'll work just fine. I'll just let the bottles float in the water when I use it at least until I figure out a way to get a glass bottle that I can rubber band them to. I'm thinking about an hour for 3 to 15 ml bottles should do it based on what I'm reading here for 50/50 PG/VG and sweet and fruity flavors at about 15 - 20% flavor. I'll shake and move them around every 15 min or so.

This is a great idea!

Just a suggestion for plastic bottles... go to Lowe's or Home Depot and pick up a large steel nut for around 39 cents and rubber band it to the bottles. The weight will hold the bottles down in the water as long as they are mostly full. Half filled bottles may need more weight.

 

[disco180]

Deleted because it made no since to post the message....A good UC goes a long way

 

[DejayRezme]

Non heated UC's are a waste of time (I said it)....I have never had a juice change color in my non heated UC no matter how hot it gets or how many hours its in there. It just does a really good job of shaking the mix up. Now a UC w/heat or a Crockpot are a totally different story.....You have to cook your juice as I like to call it.

So a ultrasonic cleaner without a heating element is useless? I thought UC alone was enough after reading this thread.
To what temperature and how long do people heat up their liquids and how often?

Thanks for any info.

 

[mikepetro]

I disagree. The heater on mine is useless for the purpose of steeping juice.

Good ultrasonics will generate heat through cavitation alone, plenty hot enough for juice, without the need of an extra heater. Mine easily reaches 50C without ever turning the heat on. I never use the heat for juice, I only use it for cleaning stuff.

If you have a less powerful one that doesnt generate much heat (evidence that is also doesnt have much ultrasonic action) then you can start out with hot water to begin with.

 

[DejayRezme]

Thanks for the info!

 

[mikepetro]

Thanks for the info!

See my blog for a good primer on Ultrasonics:
www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/blo...c-cleaners-context-speed-steeping-ejuice.html

 

[disco180]

From my experience and what goes around here on the forum is that 60 C to 65 C is optimal or translated 140f to 150f, for 4hrs. That is not to say anything less then that doesn't work it just takes longer. Like i posted in the crockpot thread this juice started out white and 4 hours;



This is after 4 hours and it had to be close to 150 F or 60 C...Just my 2 cents

 

[mikepetro]

From my experience and what goes around here on the forum is that 60 C to 65 C is optimal or translated 140f to 150f, for 4hrs. That is not to say anything less then that doesn't work it just takes longer. Like i posted in the crockpot thread this juice started out white and 4 hours;

View attachment 331949

This is after 4 hours and it had to be close to 150 F or 60 C...Just my 2 cents

There are many ways to skin a cat my friend.

What has been circulated in this Thread is that above 120(ish)F degrees Nicotine will start to oxidize. This came from a professional Chemist. He cautions about cooking the nicotine too hot. Is he right, I dont know, I wish I could find a corroborating reference.

What I do know is that I can get similar visual results to what you have shown in about 3 hours (usually I do two 99 minute cycles) using my Ultrasonic without any supplemental heat. If I start with cold water it will hit 50-55C after about 30 minutes, if I start with hot water it will hit 60C+.

Of course it also depends on the flavorings/recipe involved as to how much color change you get, just looking at color really doesnt prove much. I.e. strawberry darkens more than Worcestershire.

I have read the crock-pot thread, and I do find it interesting. I have a pretty good ultrasonic though and this method is unquestionably working for me. Which method is better, I dunno, maybe I will do a properly controlled trial someday. I have a Sous-vide controller to precisely control a crock-pot. Same batch of juice split into two identical glass bottles, and both processed for an identical time period. Then observe and taste the results, It might be interesting.

 

[disco180]

I think a controlled test would be great!! This is the kind of things that need to be done so that we can start coming to a consensus on methods. There have been a couple people in the threads who have checked Nicotine levels above 120f and have found no degradation of nicotine strength.

I don't know, at the end of the day we all have to do what works best for us to stay off the CIGS!