Cheaper Steeper
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I would imagine styrofoam would insulate and keep the bottles from reaching temperature and besides styrofoam floats on top of the water. So I think it would be a no go for that.
The OP said he is not using water or heat only vibration if I read it correctly........
He replied later in the thread he wants to try it with heat (4 posts up). If he's going to replace the sand with water then styrofoam won't work it will float. If he wants to bury the styrofoam in sand it will act as an insulator restricting heat from reaching the bottles. That's all I was trying to get across.
Thanks for the "heat not required" advice guys! Certainly something to consider, particularly when it comes to finances!!!
Carry On!
Von vape
Cool Beans! I may just end up going this route!
Carry On!
Von vape OK. It takes me so long to formulate replies that I missed out on
TOO MUCH FUN!!!
Von Vape
(Geeze! I have GOT TO learn to type faster!) After having such good results just using the hot tap water, shake, hot tap water, shake, repeat, repeat, repeat method I did, I'm back to going with the U.C. W/HEAT. (I think??? HA, HA!!!)
TOO MUCH FUN!!!
Von Vape
You see I was responding to the OP and asking if he thought about what I suggested. You on the other hand decided you would start to debate with me how Styrofoam with float and how it would act as an insulator. By asking I was talking about replacing sand with foam or Styrofoam. Sure he stated he might use heat but why must I have to debate this with you? Styrofoam would be easier to work with for shaking than using sand. Simply my point.
Steve, I actually considered using foam beads when setting this up, but thought the best contact/agitation would be sand or water. I think there is merit in lining the outer walls of the vessel with foam to prevent some heat from dissipating. Good idea, thanks.
My thought on using the Styrofoam was easy of installing the bottles. From personal experience the heat is generated on the bottom which in theory would heat the bottles from below and actually insulate them keeping the heat in. So after thinking about it even more and the insulating properties it would actually transfer the heat to the bottles better and not impede the transfer of heat.
Disclaimer: This is theory or thinking out loud!
Might be worthwhile to insulate the sides of the vessel (outside the sand) with Styrofoam, to slow down heat loss and raise the maximum temperature a bit.
How about a $6.31 thermometer?
How about a $6.31 thermometer?
This is the beauty of a custom setup you can experiment and change mid stream!
Not to hijack you but rather than starting a new thread that is related to this anyway......
OK, seriously, first off, IDK if insulating the perimeter w/Styrofoam would hurt or help. Sand is a pretty good holder of heat in and of itself and the Styrofoam may impede the vibratory action. If worst came to worst, all you'd have to do is remove it if it doesn't work out though so no harm, no foul.
(Here's where my "hijack" comes in) I went ahead and ran off a 30 ml. batch of the three recipes I wanted to try after doing 5 ml. sample batches that I steeped for 5 days, using the cool, dark place method. The samples turned out pretty darned good and I made a couple of ratio tweaks to the flavor ingredients and boosted the total flavor ratio from 15% to 20%.
Since the heat (BELOW 150 F.) seemed to be a contributing factor in the reduction of steep time, I decided to go with heat on the "full batches". It makes sense, as a gear head, I know that heat reduces the viscosity of fluids. The hot tap water, shake, repeat method was too tedious though and not having a UC OR foot bath yet, I decided, we've got forced air heat, I'll just set the batches on the floor register and every time the heat comes on, it will warm them to what(?) 95 or 100 degrees at the most. I put a box over the whole set up to keep out the UV light (not sure that's such a big issue either) and some of the heat in between thermostat cycles. That didn't eliminate the agitation issue but since the vent I placed them over is right next to the TV, it was no big deal to get off the couch and shake them every so often. (They probably got shaken more that way over a 24 hour period than if I had to run back and forth to the sink and run the water until it was hot and shake them again.) Long hijack bearable, within 24 hours I had TWO great tasting juices and one that needed a little more time to "mature". Still, not bad though.
I'll be leaving the full batches over the vent for a couple more days, shaking them regularly and then just leave them on the counter, coffee table or in my pocket as I normally would with "store bought" stuff. I'm pretty happy with the results I achieved with this method, although I'm not done tweaking the recipes. I just wanted to report back that moderate heat seems to have more to do with speeding up steep time (Just as with drinkable tea) than anything. That raises another question but I'll start my own thread for that.
Carry On!
Von Vape
"I want 5 million dollars and all your juice!"
OK, seriously, first off, IDK if insulating the perimeter w/Styrofoam would hurt or help. Sand is a pretty good holder of heat in and of itself and the Styrofoam may impede the vibratory action. If worst came to worst, all you'd have to do is remove it if it doesn't work out though so no harm, no foul.
(Here's where my "hijack" comes in) I went ahead and ran off a 30 ml. batch of the three recipes I wanted to try after doing 5 ml. sample batches that I steeped for 5 days, using the cool, dark place method. The samples turned out pretty darned good and I made a couple of ratio tweaks to the flavor ingredients and boosted the total flavor ratio from 15% to 20%.
Since the heat (BELOW 150 F.) seemed to be a contributing factor in the reduction of steep time, I decided to go with heat on the "full batches". It makes sense, as a gear head, I know that heat reduces the viscosity of fluids. The hot tap water, shake, repeat method was too tedious though and not having a UC OR foot bath yet, I decided, we've got forced air heat, I'll just set the batches on the floor register and every time the heat comes on, it will warm them to what(?) 95 or 100 degrees at the most. I put a box over the whole set up to keep out the UV light (not sure that's such a big issue either) and some of the heat in between thermostat cycles. That didn't eliminate the agitation issue but since the vent I placed them over is right next to the TV, it was no big deal to get off the couch and shake them every so often. (They probably got shaken more that way over a 24 hour period than if I had to run back and forth to the sink and run the water until it was hot and shake them again.) Long hijack bearable, within 24 hours I had TWO great tasting juices and one that needed a little more time to "mature". Still, not bad though.
I'll be leaving the full batches over the vent for a couple more days, shaking them regularly and then just leave them on the counter, coffee table or in my pocket as I normally would with "store bought" stuff. I'm pretty happy with the results I achieved with this method, although I'm not done tweaking the recipes. I just wanted to report back that moderate heat seems to have more to do with speeding up steep time (Just as with drinkable tea) than anything. That raises another question but I'll start my own thread for that.
Carry On!
Von Vape - Status
