Can I microwave my ejuice to speed up steeping?
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I have tried all types of speed steeping methods and abandoned them all , only thing i do now is use a Sawzall to foam them after the recipe is complete and then i put them in a dark cool place.
I would say 99% of them turn from a very light amber to a very dark red over time.
I would say 99% of them turn from a very light amber to a very dark red over time.
Most people only heat to thin the VG and aid in blending. I (and several folks I know) took the direct approach. I buy my VG by the gallon and nic separate as many do. I transfer my VG to 120/240ml bottles for ease.
When I know I'm gonna do some mixing I place my smaller bottles of VG in hot water as mentioned. Since I still mix with syringes the difference is very noticeable when drawn from the bottle. Other than doing this, I shake and age when necessary depending on the mix.
There is no risk to damaging nic or muting flavors this way. Could be my imagination but many mixes seem to mature quicker.
When I know I'm gonna do some mixing I place my smaller bottles of VG in hot water as mentioned. Since I still mix with syringes the difference is very noticeable when drawn from the bottle. Other than doing this, I shake and age when necessary depending on the mix.
There is no risk to damaging nic or muting flavors this way. Could be my imagination but many mixes seem to mature quicker.
Thank you....... I think.
Happy to. I'm not sure how much it will ever help anyone but I am always happy to try.
I won't say it is "bad;" just that it is not right for me. There very well could be those who find this useful and I would not argue it. I have just chosen not to do it myself.
I find myself in agreement with @herb and @Hightech Redneck in that I try to let time do its thing whenever possible. If I am in a real pinch. and need something right now, I will use a small pan of warm water and give a fresh mix a bit of controlled gentle heat (+/- 120-130F). But even that is more of a "last resort."
Thank you....... I think.
Happy to. I'm not sure how much it will ever help anyone but I am always happy to try.
I won't say it is "bad;" just that it is not right for me. There very well could be those who find this useful and I would not argue it. I have just chosen not to do it myself.
I find myself in agreement with @herb and @Hightech Redneck in that I try to let time do its thing whenever possible. If I am in a real pinch. and need something right now, I will use a small pan of warm water and give a fresh mix a bit of controlled gentle heat (+/- 120-130F). But even that is more of a "last resort."
Sorry, yes that was a compliment!
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Nothing to be sorry about. I took it as such for sure. I was just teasing you.
I also warm my VG in a hot water bath and likewise found that the steeping process is considerably reduced. As to microwave, hmm... I do not think I would. I use a duel type convection and microwave oven and even when cooking food in it I opt out for multi cook, i.e. using both modes. I am somewhat old fashioned and not that keen at radiating my food with microwaves alone. I try to keep microwave radiation to a minimum.Most people only heat to thin the VG and aid in blending. I (and several folks I know) took the direct approach. I buy my VG by the gallon and nic separate as many do. I transfer my VG to 120/240ml bottles for ease.
When I know I'm gonna do some mixing I place my smaller bottles of VG in hot water as mentioned. Since I still mix with syringes the difference is very noticeable when drawn from the bottle. Other than doing this, I shake and age when necessary depending on the mix.
There is no risk to damaging nic or muting flavors this way. Could be my imagination but many mixes seem to mature quicker.
I agree 100% with every single word @IDJoel. You're absolutely right about the inability to control the heat to be evenly distributed across the whole bottle of juice, regardless of its size. And in fact, I'm exactly like you when it comes to the bond between my smell and taste senses. Let me ask you this, using an RTA, have you ever noticed the difference in flavor, whether great or little difference, in some of the different juices you that you vape, when you exhale instantly the moment your mouth lets go of the RTA's tip, versus when you inhale the vapor first then exhale?
Both you and IDJoel are extremely helpful and really cool guys. Many thanks for sharing your experience. It adds a lot to the learning curve of many of us in this lovely ECF community
When saying "turn from a very light amber to a very dark red over time", how long is that period of time? What was the color of your juice the next day right after foaming it and placing it in a dark cool place?
I used a frother before microwave steeping and had the feeling that the flavor was muted as well. I ended up using a bit of both methods, frother and Microwave, to heat and a give a really good shake until so many bubbles are in the juice and on the verge of getting foamy.
IDJoel's thoughts and explanation about "volatile compounds" make so much sense to me as I think they're strongly related to why the outcome is muted flavors. What I don't seem to get clearly just yet is how much bubbles that need to get into the juice is enough bubbles? In my L&D journey I also stumbled across a thread with feedback by one of the cool guys around here confirming that using the frother with the cap off (hence the guarantee of using fresh air with oxygen all the time during the process of getting air bubbles into the liquid) is definitely more effective than whizzing the juice with the cap off (however that is accomplished.)
Here's a thread (ECF) that seemed very promising about Microwave Steeping:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/diy-e-liquid/605436-hot-ejuice-diy-mixing-tutorial.html#post14181522
Not sure whether @Visus is still around though - latest content from the profile is dated Nov 21, 2015.
Let me know your thoughts on Visus' thread above!
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/diy-e-liquid/605436-hot-ejuice-diy-mixing-tutorial.html#post14181522
Not sure whether @Visus is still around though - latest content from the profile is dated Nov 21, 2015.
Let me know your thoughts on Visus' thread above!
I agree 100% with every single word @IDJoel. You're absolutely right about the inability to control the heat to be evenly distributed across the whole bottle of juice, regardless of its size. And in fact, I'm exactly like you when it comes to the bond between my smell and taste senses. Let me ask you this, using an RTA, have you ever noticed the difference in flavor, whether great or little difference, in some of the different juices you that you vape, when you exhale instantly the moment your mouth lets go of the RTA's tip, versus when you inhale the vapor first then exhale?
Both you and IDJoel are extremely helpful and really cool guys. Many thanks for sharing your experience. It adds a lot to the learning curve of many of us in this lovely ECF community
When saying "turn from a very light amber to a very dark red over time", how long is that period of time? What was the color of your juice the next day right after foaming it and placing it in a dark cool place?
I used a frother before microwave steeping and had the feeling that the flavor was muted as well. I ended up using a bit of both methods, frother and Microwave, to heat and a give a really good shake until so many bubbles are in the juice and on the verge of getting foamy.
IDJoel's thoughts and explanation about "volatile compounds" make so much sense to me as I think they're strongly related to why the outcome is muted flavors. What I don't seem to get clearly just yet is how much bubbles that need to get into the juice is enough bubbles? In my L&D journey I also stumbled across a thread with feedback by one of the cool guys around here confirming that using the frother with the cap off (hence the guarantee of using fresh air with oxygen all the time during the process of getting air bubbles into the liquid) is definitely more effective than whizzing the juice with the cap off (however that is accomplished.)
I don't think the amount of bubbles is the issue , i have tested juices with just a thorough shaking and have tested them by a complete foaming of the ingredients and i stick to an initial foaming of the ingredients and thats the extent of it before it sits in a cool dark place .
The thing that i stay away from is adding any sort of heat to the juice. As far as time it takes to go from a light amber to a dark red , 2 to 3 months typically & the juices will continue to darken after that .
All mixes are different and some just settle and stay a dark amber or even a light amber without a lot of visual change.
Have you tried tasting it after whizzing and 1 day of steeping in a cool dark place? If yes, how was the taste on a scale from 1 to 10?
Thanks for that link, excellent information! I'm now concerned about reaching over 150 degrees and having the sugars crystallize, as I vape sweet juice
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No, i avoid whizzing on or in my juice , i foam it with a Sawzall , no whizzing . If you are wondering if foaming a juice reduces the time for it to develop & taste it's best the answer is no .
There are some recipes that taste very good after mixing but the majority do not and need time. I was reading HIC's website where he sells his recipes for a few bucks and he knows instantly if a juice is going to be great right away or not .
Some are ready to go right away but most need time to become the best they can be.
One clone that tastes great right away is Adirondack's Placid clone :
Honeysuckle 4%
Lime 1%
Strawberry 4%
Pear 4%
I just tested a modified version of Visus' modified version (yes, I modified the process for the 2nd time - see Visus' 1st modification to his thread stated in one of my earlier posts, which can be found in the 2nd page of the thread and posted by Visus himself obviously ), and I believe it's important to document this over here and share the outcome of my test results. This is probably a beginning of a series of posts with updates along the next 3-4 days (as I'll probably still vape the juice regardless of a particular concern that I'll mention later in this post).
Input:-
- Microwave Power:- 1400W.
- Microwave Power Adjustment:- Down to 60% ~ 840W.
- Bottle:- 30ml Glass, with the plastic ring right underneath the bottle neck/cap included, and a glossy label glued on the bottle (important to remember - you might have probably figured out why already).
- Juice Blend:- 60VG/40PG - 6.15% flavor (4 flavors - all PG based - 3 of which are FlavourArt flavors with one of them a tobacco flavor, and the 4th also another tobacco flavor) - 4.5mg PG based nicotine.
Process:-
1. Mixed the juice by placing the layers of liquid over each other. Took note of the order of liquid added:
1.a. Added Nicotine.
1.b. Added VG --> this could be my first mistake. Explanation will follow after the process.
1.c. Added Flavor.
1.d. Added PG, which started blending with the color of the flavor already --> again related to potentially my first mistake mentioned above.
2. Starter using the Microwave with my 2nd adjustment to the process, with the bottle cap off:
2.a. Adjusted the power as described above ~ 840W.
2.b. Used 20 second bursts for 6 times.
2.c. Left it rest for 3 minutes between bursts.
Observations on Step 2, repeating sub-steps 2.b. and 2.c. [CAUTION: EXTREMELY HOT BOTTLE. USE AN OVEN GLOVE OR FOLD A TOWEL AND USE IT TO BE ABLE TO GRIP THE BOTTLE]:-
1. Bottle heats up above warm levels ~ warm-hot. Left to rest for 3 minutes.
2. Bottle now on the hot side as far as temperature is concerned. Liquid reaches high closer to the bottle neck than its height when first layered in the bottle. Left to rest for 3 minutes.
3. Liquid pops once within the last 3-5 seconds of this Burt. Bottle now extremely hot with smoke starting to form - bottle label and plastic ring underneath the bottle neck deforming, leaving me under the impression that the formed smoke may not be just the liquid's smoke. Left to rest for 3 minutes.
4. The rest of the label (or what's left of it) fell off the bottle and started burning! And the plastic ring underneath the bottle neck completely soft. Had too much smoke with unpleasant odor inside the microwave. Left microwave door open, brought the bottle out of the microwave, forced airing the inside of the microwave to get the smoke out using my hand, took off the rest of the really soft plastic ring using a knife, and placed the bottle back inside the microwave. Left to rest for 3 minutes.
5. Burst and rest for 3 minutes.
6. Burst for 13 seconds - 3 second check - burst for another 7 seconds. Left to rest for 10 minutes.
7. Brought bottle out and put the cap on - liquid still not all mixed as VG seems to be too heavy to blend with whatever's on top of it, hence the 1st mistake I mentioned above. Here's a photo (p.s. Blurriness on the bottle in the picture is from the remaining glue after the label melted (generating smoke)/fell off/burned (also generating smoke)).
8. Left to rest for 30 minutes to become warm (checked after 20 minutes and decided to leave it for 10 more minutes).
9. Gave the liquid a decent shake (not light, but not hard).
10. Loosened the cap and placed the bottle in a dark cool place (for almost an hour now).
Will taste tomorrow and let you know my thoughts. What's worth mentioning though is that I've changed the juice's recipe a bit this time but can already imagine what the juice should taste like, as I've only inscreased the percentages of a couple of flavors just a little bit.
), and I believe it's important to document this over here and share the outcome of my test results. This is probably a beginning of a series of posts with updates along the next 3-4 days (as I'll probably still vape the juice regardless of a particular concern that I'll mention later in this post).Input:-
- Microwave Power:- 1400W.
- Microwave Power Adjustment:- Down to 60% ~ 840W.
- Bottle:- 30ml Glass, with the plastic ring right underneath the bottle neck/cap included, and a glossy label glued on the bottle (important to remember - you might have probably figured out why already
).- Juice Blend:- 60VG/40PG - 6.15% flavor (4 flavors - all PG based - 3 of which are FlavourArt flavors with one of them a tobacco flavor, and the 4th also another tobacco flavor) - 4.5mg PG based nicotine.
Process:-
1. Mixed the juice by placing the layers of liquid over each other. Took note of the order of liquid added:
1.a. Added Nicotine.
1.b. Added VG --> this could be my first mistake. Explanation will follow after the process.
1.c. Added Flavor.
1.d. Added PG, which started blending with the color of the flavor already --> again related to potentially my first mistake mentioned above.
2. Starter using the Microwave with my 2nd adjustment to the process, with the bottle cap off:
2.a. Adjusted the power as described above ~ 840W.
2.b. Used 20 second bursts for 6 times.
2.c. Left it rest for 3 minutes between bursts.
Observations on Step 2, repeating sub-steps 2.b. and 2.c. [CAUTION: EXTREMELY HOT BOTTLE. USE AN OVEN GLOVE OR FOLD A TOWEL AND USE IT TO BE ABLE TO GRIP THE BOTTLE]:-
1. Bottle heats up above warm levels ~ warm-hot. Left to rest for 3 minutes.
2. Bottle now on the hot side as far as temperature is concerned. Liquid reaches high closer to the bottle neck than its height when first layered in the bottle. Left to rest for 3 minutes.
3. Liquid pops once within the last 3-5 seconds of this Burt. Bottle now extremely hot with smoke starting to form - bottle label and plastic ring underneath the bottle neck deforming, leaving me under the impression that the formed smoke may not be just the liquid's smoke. Left to rest for 3 minutes.
4. The rest of the label (or what's left of it) fell off the bottle and started burning! And the plastic ring underneath the bottle neck completely soft. Had too much smoke with unpleasant odor inside the microwave. Left microwave door open, brought the bottle out of the microwave, forced airing the inside of the microwave to get the smoke out using my hand, took off the rest of the really soft plastic ring using a knife, and placed the bottle back inside the microwave. Left to rest for 3 minutes.
5. Burst and rest for 3 minutes.
6. Burst for 13 seconds - 3 second check - burst for another 7 seconds. Left to rest for 10 minutes.
7. Brought bottle out and put the cap on - liquid still not all mixed as VG seems to be too heavy to blend with whatever's on top of it, hence the 1st mistake I mentioned above. Here's a photo (p.s. Blurriness on the bottle in the picture is from the remaining glue after the label melted (generating smoke)/fell off/burned (also generating smoke)).
8. Left to rest for 30 minutes to become warm (checked after 20 minutes and decided to leave it for 10 more minutes).
9. Gave the liquid a decent shake (not light, but not hard).
10. Loosened the cap and placed the bottle in a dark cool place (for almost an hour now).
Will taste tomorrow and let you know my thoughts. What's worth mentioning though is that I've changed the juice's recipe a bit this time but can already imagine what the juice should taste like, as I've only inscreased the percentages of a couple of flavors just a little bit.
Last edited:
Many thanks for sharing the recipe. Are all of those FlavourArt flavors? I'm more into tobacco flavors, and recently trying to create/find a recipe that mimics the analogs with the ashy and smoke flavors and all, and also wondering if that can be achieved by using FlavourArt flavors only.
Hi all!I just tested a modified version of Visus' modified version (yes, I modified the process for the 2nd time - see Visus' 1st modification to his thread stated in one of my earlier posts, which can be found in the 2nd page of the thread and posted by Visus himself obviously
Input:-
- Microwave Power:- 1400W.
- Microwave Power Adjustment:- Down to 60% ~ 840W.
- Bottle:- 30ml Glass, with the plastic ring right underneath the bottle neck/cap included, and a glossy label glued on the bottle (important to remember - you might have probably figured out why already
- Juice Blend:- 60VG/40PG - 6.15% flavor (4 flavors - all PG based - 3 of which are FlavourArt flavors with one of them a tobacco flavor, and the 4th also another tobacco flavor) - 4.5mg PG based nicotine.
Process:-
1. Mixed the juice by placing the layers of liquid over each other. Took note of the order of liquid added:
1.a. Added Nicotine.
1.b. Added VG --> this could be my first mistake. Explanation will follow after the process.
1.c. Added Flavor.
1.d. Added PG, which started blending with the color of the flavor already --> again related to potentially my first mistake mentioned above.
2. Starter using the Microwave with my 2nd adjustment to the process, with the bottle cap off:
2.a. Adjusted the power as described above ~ 840W.
2.b. Used 20 second bursts for 6 times.
2.c. Left it rest for 3 minutes between bursts.
Observations on Step 2, repeating sub-steps 2.b. and 2.c. [CAUTION: EXTREMELY HOT BOTTLE. USE AN OVEN GLOVE OR FOLD A TOWEL AND USE IT TO BE ABLE TO GRIP THE BOTTLE]:-
1. Bottle heats up above warm levels ~ warm-hot. Left to rest for 3 minutes.
2. Bottle now on the hot side as far as temperature is concerned. Liquid reaches high closer to the bottle neck than its height when first layered in the bottle. Left to rest for 3 minutes.
3. Liquid pops once within the last 3-5 seconds of this Burt. Bottle now extremely hot with smoke starting to form - bottle label and plastic ring underneath the bottle neck deforming, leaving me under the impression that the formed smoke may not be just the liquid's smoke. Left to rest for 3 minutes.
4. The rest of the label (or what's left of it) fell off the bottle and started burning! And the plastic ring underneath the bottle neck completely soft. Had too much smoke with unpleasant odor inside the microwave. Left microwave door open, brought the bottle out of the microwave, forced airing the inside of the microwave to get the smoke out using my hand, took off the rest of the really soft plastic ring using a knife, and placed the bottle back inside the microwave. Left to rest for 3 minutes.
5. Burst and rest for 3 minutes.
6. Burst for 13 seconds - 3 second check - burst for another 7 seconds. Left to rest for 10 minutes.
7. Brought bottle out and put the cap on - liquid still not all mixed as VG seems to be too heavy to blend with whatever's on top of it, hence the 1st mistake I mentioned above. Here's a photo (p.s. Blurriness on the bottle in the picture is from the remaining glue after the label melted (generating smoke)/fell off/burned (also generating smoke)).
View attachment 649653
8. Left to rest for 30 minutes to become warm (checked after 20 minutes and decided to leave it for 10 more minutes).
9. Gave the liquid a decent shake (not light, but not hard).
10. Loosened the cap and placed the bottle in a dark cool place (for almost an hour now).
Will taste tomorrow and let you know my thoughts. What's worth mentioning though is that I've changed the juice's recipe a bit this time but can already imagine what the juice should taste like, as I've only inscreased the percentages of a couple of flavors just a little bit.
Update 1: After approx. 8:35 hours of leaving the cap loosened and the bottle kept in a cool dark place, I tasted a sample and capped the bottle tightly to have it on me while at work, and I must say, I'm surprisingly very impressed with the taste so far. Apart from the modification in the recipe which I previously mentioned and can tell that turned out exactly as expected, there's another element in the taste that's new to me, which is perhaps related to steeping with nicotine this time instead of without the nicotine and adding (together with shaking) the nicotine after the steeping process. That additional element of the overall taste isn't very odd though and the juice is still enjoyably vapable.
As for nicotine strength, I feel it's still the same, although to me it also feels like the throat hit got a bit mellowed out, but of course this can all be my own mind playing tricks at me just to feel convinced that there was no impact on the nicotine. There is a more accurate way of measuring the nicotine strength in the juice after this process using medical lab equipment, however I don't have access to such equipment or know anyone who does over here in Egypt.
Will keep tasting the difference in flavor over the course of the next 2 days and let you know. My only concern at this point would be the following (thanks for sharing, VapeLuvr):-
And on the other forum (VUG), I found a thread that points back to Visus' original thread about this over here, and a nice lady also shared the same concern as follows:-
"dont let the temp get near 500*,,,,,,,,,,you end up with formaldehyde. (i have no idea how high a m/w would raise the temp).
i was playing around with m/w when i first started,,, i then read some chemical website about temp affect,,,,,,,,and tossed those batches just to be safe.
below is the first remarks mikepetro made on a recent study. (ecf)
OK, they published this data publicly now about the spike of formaldehyde and Acetaldehyde (both carcinogens) spiking way up past safe levels starting around 470F-480F."
Let me know your thoughts. Thanks!
No; I have never tried vaping this way. I am normally a "direct-to-lung" vaper so this is an unnatural way to vape for me. After reading your question I did give it a try. Doing the immediate exhale left me with no perceived taste at all.
Are you sure about this? As @Rickajho mentioned in the "Hot ejuice" thread you linked; a magnetron is an "on/off" devise. There is no power adjustment (that I am aware of). When you select a "lower" setting on your microwave, you are not lowering the wattage, you are creating on/off breaks withing the set time. That is why you hear the microwave cycle up and down when you do this.
You are referring to pulse width modulation? I had no idea what that is and had to look it up. This training manual from Panasonic (esp. pages 2 & 3) gave me a bit of understanding (though still mostly over my headPWM ?
). It does appear that some microwave ovens can regulate output to some degree. I stand corrected.
Hi IDJoel. Thanks for your feedback. I'm not sure about whether my microwave is designed with PWM, but however lowering the power down to 60% works, it actually worked effectively eventually.
And on direct to lung vaping, that's actually how I vape as well. What I meant was instead of the usual DTL method of vaping, try inhaling a bit of air right after having the Vape (just like with MTL vaping however on a DTL) and let me know whether you notice any difference in flavor with the same juice being used.
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