DIY Juice losing flavor / breaking down

[Weslocke]

I'm having a heck of a time with my flavors breaking down, sometimes VERY rapidly.

I first noticed it when I made a few different batches of 15ml at one time. They all tasted great, but by the time I got to the last bottle it was just nasty. Not muddy flavor nasty, but chemical nasty. One example was a cherry cola that I vaped half the bottle, set it down for a week, and had to pour the rest out when I came back a week later.

The other day I made a mix with Pineapple, Mango, and something else that was icky two days later.

And my tipping point is a batch of "brown sugar/peach/pear (+sour)" that I made night before last and have been vaping since. Last night a friend tried it and said he didn't taste the fruit, just the brown sugar, and this morning I can barely taste anything. Not nasty so much as just blah. (When I made it I just shook it and let it steep for an hour or so in hot water)

This recipe was 80%/20% PG/VG, 6mg nic, Peach 6%, Pear 6%, Brown Sugar 8%, Sour 1% (All TFA)


But this is driving me nuts. My friends keep asking me to make them stuff but I'm afraid to, to be honest.

 

[Steve K]

Maybe the bottles that are steeping or sitting need to have the caps off.

 

[BakuPeg]

Are you storing your juices in plastic bottles? IMO (some kinds of) Plastic has the potential to leach into your juices and make your mixes taste awful.

try glass bottles. Enjoy

 

[Iffy]

Try adding a bit of apple cider/white vinegar to 'bakky/bakery/savory recipes. Or lemon juice to fruit/berry/'lite' jooses. Start off with 1 drop per 3ml.

 

[SupplyDaddy]

I also suggest the Apple Cider Vinegar. Also, store your DIY juice in the fridge, see if that helps some for you.

 

[DeeDee1234]

OK, I feel the need to play devil's advacate here. If dyi juices need refrigeration, what are they putting in the juices we order and store fine in a dry,dark drawer?

 

[skoot]

Maybe they add lemon juice or ACV. Both function as preservatives.

 

[DancingHeretik]

Could it be that your over-flavoring?

Try cutting the flavoring in half for the bottles that are going to have time to steep before use.

 

[Weslocke]

I'm already using the brown glass dropper bottles, though in all honesty I really don't like the things. Very prone to leaking when the black rubber gasket gets bunched up by tightening.

I'll try the white vinegar and possibly lowering the percentages. But then should I mix to a bit of a weak initial taste?

As an fyi, I use almost purely food/fruit flavors that I've always heard were usually fine for shake and vape. (I didn't smoke for the taste, I wanted the nicotene... so why vape it now?)


But I'm guessing that my flavors going bad so quickly is a bit of an outlier then. Hmmm... definitely something I'm doing then.

Thanks!

 

[DeeDee1234]

I read on one of the threads that to much flavor will result in less flavor. I duno, but I read it on here.Maybe after steeping it was really too much ?

 

[Shilo]

Since its all TFA flavoring I would ask the people who post in this thread http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/diy-e-liquid/336110-flavor-apprentice-flavoring-thread.html if you haven't allready. There are flavor percentage recommendations there and discussions about the brand you are using.

My only personal observation is the recipes that you are using the brown sugar in it it sounds like you might be using too much of that if its overpowering the other flavors. EM or Sucralose can be used as a sweetener without altering the base flavors. Good luck.

 

[Hoosier]

To quote that weirdo "Hoosier" in his flavoring level blog's #7 "Kinda' Close, but the Perfumey/Chemically Kills It (Going into the too much realm here and may be due to ignoring the steep part of #4.)"

Sounds much like what happened to me. Maybe track down Hoosier and click on the number next to Blog Entries below his avatar? There might be some stuff of interest there? Take his writing with a grain of salt though, he's terribly odd and we are not sure he's completely sane.

 

[TamJeff]

You have to adjust your flavors for shelf life of even a few days and is likely the hardest part of DIY relative to consistency. I find this especially true of TFA flavors. Cherry, for example starts out perfumy on day 1 and settles down. The strong nose presence on day 1 will make you think you have too much flavor but you may not really be 'tasting' it as much as 'smelling.' I mix mine and each time I make it fresh, I swear I overdo it and I have to tell myself that it will settle down, and it does. Now I make my batches 3 days ahead of when I am about to run out.

I have one flavor I make with a 4 flavor combination of 3 TFA and 1 Capella. I use 3 drops of TFA merischino cherry as an accent in a 20ml recipe with a 15% total flavor ratio. Day one, all you can smell/taste is the cherry. By day 3, it has mellowed to the essence of cherry I am aiming for.

What I do when making a new recipe is start out low and as the days pass, add more of what I feel has gone away and keep track of the percentage and then add it in at the beginning of the next batch.

It's also necessary to mix your flavors according to what equipment you use to vape with. Cartos, I can get away with 5-15%, string tanks and such is more like 20%. I can switch a seemingly weak flavor from a Vivi tank to a carto and it's suddenly potent. With a string tank, all you're drawing is past the flavor that is on the wick inside the center tube that is sealed off from the rest of the tank. A carto, the stored flavor is exposed and adds some aromatic inclusion into your draw.