Years ago I made my own herbal extracts using grain alcohol (ethanol) Same can be done with spices, ect. Has anyone done something like this to add to e-liquids? How much alcohol would be safe to put in DIY juice? It is flammable if not diluted. Can I concentrate it by heating in double boiler (most of the alcohol evaporates)? I also make homebrew beer and it's common to use extracts to flavor the beer, but vape juice is very different concept. Any better ways to make my own extracts?
I've been using Ethanol
(190 proof PGA) to extract flavor from various types of tobacco for years. I use the extracts to make NET
(Naturally Extracted Tobacco). The extract should be filtered and condensed
(reduced) before being used as a flavoring.
I currently use a 80/20 PGA/VG blended solvent for flavor extractions. I reduce my extracts by 70% before ever using them and after mixing I allow plenty of open air time to further reduce any alcohol presence. Low percentages of alcohol doesn't hurt anything
(many retail e-liquids and flavorings contain it) but I remove most of it as a matter of personal preference.
Using Ethanol as the
primary extraction solvent allows for "freeze filtering" a process where impurities such as waxes, resin, oils and etc can be precipitated out of solution and removed. After freeze filtering I store the purified extract in a sealed glass container for a week before filtering at 1 micron and reducing by 70%. When done properly, Ethanol based tobacco extracts make
exceptionally clean NETs, but I have no idea how well it would work for extracting flavor from other things.
NOTE: I spent years researching and experimenting the best ways to make NET, some of the information I came across
(like freeze filtering) came from forums that were focused on extracting the substance you're interested in.... That was years ago
(2012-2014) but I'd bet those forums are still around.
