Best way to steep?

[Jolly Boots Of Doom]

thanks for the info! I just bought about 30ml in different flavors and was getting more info from my local shop the guy there said he has been aging one flavor for 4 months and it just keeps getting better, however he said some flavors he steeped too long and they eventually hit a peak and started degrading. any thoughts?

 

[Blue Sage]

I've read that juices with high alcohol benefit from just leaving the top cap off overnight to allow the alcohol to evaporate. I usually put mine in a dark drawer for a couple of weeks and shake them up every day or so.

Does that actually evaporate it? Or is that dilluting it as the glycerin draws more water from the air?

(Actual question. I'm sure it is steeping it, just not sure on how it is doing it. I don't think the surface area presented or the temperature of the room does much as far as evaporation during the short term.)

 

[bkVolcom]

theres some bottles from my local shop in the convience store across town, but the bottles have dust on them. they dont seem to move them and i wouldnt trust them, so i assume between 4 months and probably a year they might get worse? i personally wouldnt want anything from last year, especially in the plastic bottles.

 

[Katya]

thanks for the info! I just bought about 30ml in different flavors and was getting more info from my local shop the guy there said he has been aging one flavor for 4 months and it just keeps getting better, however he said some flavors he steeped too long and they eventually hit a peak and started degrading. any thoughts?

Honestly, I believe that we are sometimes doing too much of all that steeping business.

1) Commercially available, factory made juices need no steeping at all; yes, flavors may change slightly with time tue to oxidation/deterioration of ingredients, but they are ready right out of the box.

2) DIY--the only instance I know of where steeping is absolutely critical--the flavorings need some time to properly distribute/diffuse/marry/meld with.in the medium. Period.

3) made to order juices from gourmet eliquid boutiques need some time too, but, in most cases, the week or so in transit is enough for the flavorings to properly diffuse.

4) NETs--those really need to steep and flavors change and develop, deepen and become more complex with time--sometimes for the beteer, often for the worse. But natural tobacco extracts really do steep and mature.

Anyway, that's been my experience with the eliquids I have used in the past 4 years. And let me add that I have never met an ejuice I couldn't vape out of the box--even the NETs. They may not have been at their best, but they were all vapeable--and many quite enjoyable even before they reached their peak (whatever that is).

So, my advice to new vapers is to keep it simple. If it tastes good, vape it. If it doesn't, throw it in a drawer and forget about it for a month--rinse and repeat, if necessary. It may get better--it may also get much worse.

YMMV

Happy vaping.

 

[Katya]

theres some bottles from my local shop in the convience store across town, but the bottles have dust on them. they dont seem to move them and i wouldnt trust them, so i assume between 4 months and probably a year they might get worse? i personally wouldnt want anything from last year, especially in the plastic bottles.

Nobody really tested any juices' shelf life, so we are all speculating. Usually vapers agree that 1-2 years is perfectly fine. If it still tastes OK and delivers the goods, vape it. If it doesn't, chuck it. That said, a dear friend of mine has a prized bottle of a certain famous but discontinued ejuice that he bought 4 years ago--he's still vaping it. He offered me a sample. In the spirit of full disclosure--I declined.

 

[Katya]

Does that actually evaporate it? Or is that dilluting it as the glycerin draws more water from the air?

(Actual question. I'm sure it is steeping it, just not sure on how it is doing it. I don't think the surface area presented or the temperature of the room does much as far as evaporation during the short term.)

IMO, the volatile compounds do indeed evaporate quickly. I hate boozy ejuices and I always leave them open the let the alcohol evaporate.

Haven't tested it in the lab, mind you--but I'm able to vape them afterwards.

 

[eazye99]

This helped me a lot. I bought a strawberry lemonade. I didn't like it at first. Mind u I tasted pretty much like the review and description said. Well sort of. They said u could taste the seeds. To me it was more of unripe strawberry. Or like one of my favorite drinks. A strawberry lemonade slushy from sonic. That was fresh out the mail. So after sitting with the top off. For 8 hours in a dark drawer. Then 3 weeks with the top on. I like it now. The strWbery was to strong at first. It has mellowed out. The strawberry now tastes like fresh strawberries. With just a hint of the green taste. I didn't think I would be trying it again. But I will now. Cinnamon roll was great out the mail. It tasted just like afresh cinnamon roll. U could taste every ingredient.

 

[Smokinstorm]

I went nuts purchasing from MBV (about 20 different juices-maybe more) and was just horrified by the taste of some of them when first opened... A few were great, most of them improved substantially after I opened the lids for a few hours,closed them back up and shook the heck out of them daily- hiding them away them in a dark, cool, drawer for a week or so. The only ones that are still not to my taste are the 555 and the east Coast tobacco.

 

[zoiDman]

Thanks all It has been interesting doing this, the liquids that I buy from my usual online store seem good to vape as I get them, but tried a new store and think that these liquids are newer and haven't had much shelf time to cure. it has been educational finding the best way to steep. I like the idea of the crazy ones, like the guy who put it in the hubcap of his car, but the more practical ones will probably work best anyway.

That first long deep vape of a liquid that just tastes like pure alcohol came as quite a surprise and would loved to have seen my facial expression

Just curious how your Steeping is going?

And what Method/Methods you decided on Cosmic Ray?

 

[HighEnergyProton]

Just curious how your Steeping is going?

And what Method/Methods you decided on Cosmic Ray?

I ended up just leaving the top off under the bed for 3 days, shook them up and now they are sitting in the drawer. I'm vaping one of them now, and it tastes good Success

 

[TrickL]

Awesome info! Nice to have an idea on why it may help to do each technique. Will be some interesting experiments going on in my house. Now to find a place to let them sit that my kids and my dog (who can open drawers) won't bother them. Somewhere high, very high.

 

[HighEnergyProton]

Awesome info! Nice to have an idea on why it may help to do each technique. Will be some interesting experiments going on in my house. Now to find a place to let them sit that my kids and my dog (who can open drawers) won't bother them. Somewhere high, very high.

This is why I put them under the bed, hahahaha. I'm really interested in trying the other ones just for fun. Putting it in your car's hubcap just so metal! ''I'm so hardcore I steep my liquid in the hubcap of me car''

 

[ThePaladin]

Mods - can we get this stickied, please????

I found this article a while back and it just made sense. I take my juice and set it on a lamp, on top of an energy efficient bulb. It gets very warm but not hot. I also shake it up different times throughout the day.5-6 hours and I'm ready to vape. I tried other methods and they didn't make any difference.

Guide to Steeping - The Why & How

A question often asked is “What is steeping?”, closely followed by “How long should I steep a Liquid”?

Essentially steeping (in the context that we are interested in, i.e. for e-liquids), is a process, or number of process, used to blend, age and mature an e-liquid, to the point where the best flavour can be obtained from vaping it.

Steeping can be observed in the manufacture of lots of things, for example, alcohol and the food industry. Anyone that’s made a Christmas pudding will know about allowing it time to mature and develop, or soaking the fruit in an alcohol overnight (steeping).

Steeping will provide the best possible flavour from our e-juice by rounding out any harsh flavours, blending multiple flavours together, developing, maturing or ageing flavours. Flavorings need to completely diffuse into the types of base liquids we use, these need time to bond molecularly with any single or combination of base liquids used in a mix (Nic base, PG, VG, etc).

In addition, air is required to interact with the liquid, this causes oxidation, replenishing the air in the bottle will help oxidation and in turn quicken steeping, leaving the cap off helps (but make sure it is in a safe position).

As a juice steeps it will normally darken, this can be an indication to when a liquid has matured (molecular interaction with nicotine causes this - I have noticed the higher nicotine content, the quicker a juice will mature and darker the liquid will become).

Steeping methods that have been tried and tested and proved (if not always scientifically) vary and some are listed below.

Steeping will nearly always improve a e-liquid, I don’t know of any that have worsened.

Various methods used to steep e-liquids

Time.

The first and most traditional method of steeping is “Time”. Leaving the top off the bottle (allowing air to get to it) will steep and improve a juice by itself, this is usually done by placing the opened bottle in a warm dark place for anything from a day or two up to a week, occasionally giving the bottle a squeeze to expel the air in it and replenish it with fresh air. Benefits are naturally steeped and matured juice, disadvantage, the length of time it takes.

Steeping however, in particular the time element, can be reduced by also employing a number of additional methods.

Agitation.

Vigourous shaking, stirring, etc will help, allow time for the air bubbles to rise to the surface and then repeat again (as many times as you can/want).

Water Bath Heating.

Putting the bottle of juice in a warm (not hot) water bath will shorten the time it takes to mature a juice, it firstly thins the liquid and allows interchange and fusion at a molecular level. However, Heat is an enemy of Nicotine, it will degrade the Nic content if too hot. Warm not Hot water is advised.

Microwave.

Another method of heating is a microwave. This acts like above, but also has another action thought to do with increased molecular particle fusion when juice is blasted with microwaves. Once again, Heat is an enemy of Nicotine, so use in short 1 sec bursts to get it warm, not hot. Oh, and take the cap off first.

Using any (or a combination) of the above methods and then allowing time in a warm dark place, will improve any e-liquid considerably.

Other agitation methods have been employed successfully, including placing bottles in a rotating polisher (for polishing gem stones etc), using a vibrating electrical orbital sander, one report of a person wrapping a bottle in cloth and putting it inside the hubcap of his car for the duration of his daily travel.

Ultrasonics.

This method combines Vibration from ultrasonic frequency or pulses of energy, with or without a warm water bath, reports have been very encouraging when using this method, some say reducing 2 weeks of steeping time to a single day.

Chemical additions. There are new developments all the time, and I am sure that development on this is ongoing, however at this time no successfully reported methods have been noted and anyway, I am not a lover of adding chemicals.

So I can see the next question is going to be….. How long do I let a juice steep?

The Answer is “As long as it takes”. No two juices are the same, or will taste the same to you or me…. I would suggest the only person that can answer that is you…. It may be as little as a day or two. But, you will have to experiment, one thing is definite, given time to mature and using some of the methods above, they will improve from the first opening of a bottle..

This is a recommendation for all shop purchased e-liquids not just ours, all will improve with some steeping, manufactures usually bottle as soon as a juice is made, this halts the steeping process to a degree, employing the "cap off and dark warm place method", will improve 99.9% of juices.

I am sure that many users do not obtain the full potential from purchased juices because they do not allow adequate time for it to mature and reach its optimum flavour.

Employing some of the above methods will hopefully reduce the “wait time”, and give you more pleasure from your chosen juice.

 

[invisibastard]

I just drop mine in my underwear and walk around for about 2 weeks before vaping. The heat plus agitation produces amazing results.

 

[zoiDman]

I ended up just leaving the top off under the bed for 3 days, shook them up and now they are sitting in the drawer. I'm vaping one of them now, and it tastes good Success

Cool... Sounds like things Turned Out Good.

 

[HighEnergyProton]

I just drop mine in my underwear and walk around for about 2 weeks before vaping. The heat plus agitation produces amazing results.

I think I laughed at this harder than I should have

 

[HighEnergyProton]

Cool... Sounds like things Turned Out Good.

Indeed, next time I will have a fantastic story to tell about my steeping adventures

 

[invisibastard]

That was a lie, but sometimes I do throw a bottle in my pocket for the day. I guess that is almost as weird.