Concentrate Levels

[OpenUpShop]

Hello Everyone..

Hope everyone had a healthy and happy Thanksgiving! So I wanted to get some opinions on what percentage concentrate you guys/gals use for DIY mixes. What throws me off a little is the item pages state the following"

"Recommended to start testing at 1% and adjust to taste."

They are all recommended to start somewhere between 1 and 5 %. Is that not too low as I thought flavoring is supposed to be about 15 to 20% of your mix.

Anyone used concentrates from this site? Any thoughts?
Thanks everyone...Best Wishes,


My Bull City Order:
1. Cola Syrup TFA
2. Mojito FW
3. Vanilla INW
4. Toasted Almond TFA
5. Cocoa- FA
6. Cuban Supreme FA
7. Jamaica Rum FA
8. Liquid Amber FA
9. Watermelon FA
10. Virginia FA
11. Walnut FA

Along with enhancers, Ethyl Maltol, MTS, Flash and Flavor Toner.

 

[Sir2fyablyNutz]

I've used Bull City often.

Flavor Percentage Recommendations TFA

The "FA" expert :HIC's "My notes on"

Inawera- a few reviews

Flavor West DIY flavor review

I am splitting this link up...take out the space and squeeze it in a browser, has many manufacturers % listed :
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d

/1yGdVTLX5apdT8rzfP3blivkULOYgYFmALvbtcKGJdfY/edit?pli=1#gid=0

I'd also recommend bookmarking them. Good luck.

 

[Dixie1954]

Yeah that info is all great Thank You Sir for posting it all.

 

[OpenUpShop]

Thank you Sir2fyablyNutz for the great info.. That makes it really easy... Im gonna read, then get to mixing...

Best Wishes...

ps. for someone who is sir2fyablynutz, you make a lot of sense....lol...

Best Wishes..

 

[Str8vision]

Hello Everyone..

Hope everyone had a healthy and happy Thanksgiving! So I wanted to get some opinions on what percentage concentrate you guys/gals use for DIY mixes. What throws me off a little is the item pages state the following"

"Recommended to start testing at 1% and adjust to taste."

They are all recommended to start somewhere between 1 and 5 %. Is that not too low as I thought flavoring is supposed to be about 15 to 20% of your mix.

Anyone used concentrates from this site? Any thoughts?
Thanks everyone...Best Wishes,


My Bull City Order:
1. Cola Syrup TFA
2. Mojito FW
3. Vanilla INW
4. Toasted Almond TFA
5. Cocoa- FA
6. Cuban Supreme FA
7. Jamaica Rum FA
8. Liquid Amber FA
9. Watermelon FA
10. Virginia FA
11. Walnut FA

Along with enhancers, Ethyl Maltol, MTS, Flash and Flavor Toner.

Flavor manufacturers offer "concentrated" flavorings but one the differences between the various manufacturers is the level of concentration of those flavorings. Inawera flavors are very concentrated and most are used between 1 - 5% whereas Capella flavors are relatively weak requiring 7 - 20%. Some like TFA are all over the place with some flavorings that are highly concentrated while others are quite weak. It's a really good idea to start mixing at the recommended percentages for each flavor and adjust to taste from there, it's easy to add more but quite difficult to subtract. There are threads that discuss individual flavoring percentages by manufacturer, very handy information. I saved the ones I found for TFA, FA and Capella in notepad format but they're from years ago when I was learning to DIY, there's likely better data available in current threads.

When mixing a single flavor juice (like Peach), where no other flavorings will be added you use a higher percentage of that single flavor like "10% Peach". When mixing a juice containing multiple flavorings (like Peach, Graham cracker and Crème), the flavoring percentages are smaller for each individual flavor, like "5% Peach, 3% Graham cracker and 2% Crème". The more individual flavorings used to mix a juice the lower the percentage of each. The generally accepted rule of thumb is the total flavorings should not exceed 20% of the juice no matter how many there are. Personally, I would rather use highly concentrated flavorings and not exceed 12% of the total.

Another difference between the flavoring manufacturers is how accurate/good each individual concentrated flavoring is. Most flavor manufacturers are good at some flavorings and bad at others the -trick- is to figure out which offers the one you'll like. For "real" tasting fruit flavors I like Inawera, for candy tasting fruit flavors I like TFA and LorAnn, for any style of Crème I like FA, for Vanilla I like DIYflavorshack and Hangsen, for chocolate I like both Inawera and TFA. Some flavor manufacturers are one hit wonders like FW, I like their Candy Caramel.

Bull City is an excellent vendor, I've done business with them since they first appeared on-line and they remain one of my favorites to this day.

 

[OpenUpShop]

Thank you so much Stra8vision...
The was very thorough and great information. I did look at tables and spreadsheets provided by sir2fyablynutz. But its always great to get an individual take on things just like your information.

I am at the beginning of my training...lol.. had ordered a bunch of flavors from bull city and decided to try out the "cola" flavor first....OMG bad idea.. the mix itself did not come out that bad, I just didn't realize how much I would not like "cola" flavor and its scent.

Now I mixed Virginia tobacco with Jamaica Special, though I am waiting for coils to come in so I emptied the cola flavor, put in the Virginia and Jamaica special...but I know the coil keeps the original flavor for a while so I am tasting a mix right now until the cola flavor is all gone and then I can judge the virginia mix objectively.

Wow I need those coils to come in...lol.

Thank you again Str8vision... great info.
Best Wishes...