e-liquid storage temp, recommend wine chiller and where to get?

[siouxsie]

Hello and thanks in advance for your help.

Originally, when I started, I stored liquid at room temp. Then my favorite supplier recommend refrigeration if not using a liquid that day and allowing an hour before vaping to return to room temp.

Then another supplier suggests lower temp than room temp, but not refrigeration low, which would require a cool space, which I don't have while apartment dwelling. In winter, I'm about 70 but in summer it can get 80+F.

What are your thoughts in this matter...ie the consensus? Most of my liquids are between pg-vg 80/20 to 50/50 low to medium nic.

Can you recommend an inexpensive wine chiller that is the best for storage of significant amounts of liquids and hopefully has an adjustable range and digital temp readings and adjustment readings and where to get it? I don't want to buy a dud or something that I can't fit everything in or remove one or all the shelves/racks. I have probably 100 bottles to store, ranging from 30mL to 5 mL.

Thanks a bunch!

 

[The Big Chief]

I cant recommend a unit to store in, but I can give my experience...
Ive never refrigerated liquid, and theyve been in 30 degree cold, and 120 degree heat locked in a truck for the whole summer. I have yet to have a single bottle spoil. BUT, the bottling CAN have effects. The plastic bottles you see, namely those that are sort of cloudy, can possibly leech. This can happen with little heat, even being in pocket. I noticed this by tasting a waxy taste in my liquid. It happened to 2 separate flavors, 2 vendors, but were in 2 bottles from the same manufacturer, same size etc, I had ordered myself. This is 2 out of 2-300 bottles in my 1+ year of vaping, trading, swaping, buying liquids. Could be a fluke, not sure. All I know is I lost 20 ml of liquid that didnt taste right to me. By my understanding, the CLEAR plastic bottles are good, as they are denser(ones used in china, and U.S with child safety caps on em.). Some vendors use glass for this reason also in the states.
Liquid has up to 2 year shelf life, short of severe exposure, the worste being direct sunlight. Otherwise 50-70 degree is typical storage, and no known issues with such. Mine stays in a garage with no heat and no a/c. My concern isnt with the liquid itself, but the container its stored in.
This is my PERSONAL experience, and I can't show a single thread of issues arising from any bottles from any vendors, nor am I scientist, chemist, or even a high paid politician. Im simply a consumer like yourself attempting to pass down my PERSONAL experience. So don't panic, just use your judgment, and seek more answers/ask more questions if required.

 

[Kurt]

There have been a few stories from well over a year ago where one of the moderators here had some sealed, unopened fruit flavored juices that went bad after about 6 months of fridge storage. This is rare, but can happen. The general reaction to this was something like "I will never store in the fridge again...it spoils juices!!" No. The reaction should have been "I will never buy from that juice vendor again because he uses unstable flavors and/or there is too much water in with the fruit esters and they react over time."

Chief is very correct about the plastic bottles leaching. Long term storage should be in glass. I personally DIY only, do not buy commercially made flavored juices, and I store my unflavored high-nic liquids in the freezer in brown amber glass 50 mL bottles. For this liquid, the freezer is probably overkill, but it doesn't hurt. Nic over time will react with O2 trapped in the original PG or VG...can't get around that, but it is a very small amount that does react. Light also makes nic react, so the dark colored bottles.

The flavored juices I vape I make in small quantities, like enough to vape for a couple weeks or so, and these are in plastic bottles, and I don't do anything special with them. Flavor compounds are the most unstable components, and most are extremely stable. Fruits with water present are the least stable. In my experience, with 3 - 10 mL bottles of flavored juice just sitting around for a few months, the flavor fades in general. Never had one go "bad" on me, but then I don't vape much fruit flavors. Mostly caramel/toffee/vanilla types. If someone sent me a large amount of a flavored juice, I would probably transfer it to glass bottles and store in the fridge, and take small amounts little by little to vape.

Letting a very cold bottle of juice come to room temp is not a bad idea, since cold juice is much thicker than room temp, especially VG juices, like mine, when trying to syringe-dispense. Opening a very cold bottle of juice to room temps can make ambient water vapor in the room condense into the juice, much like a cold glass of drink condenses water onto it.

As a professional chemist, I can say that exact temperature control, like with a unit you are thinking about, is complete overkill, and will do nothing for or against the juice. Very little can possibly grow in juices, between the PG and the nic, whereas a wine is truly a biological solution, and correct temp is important for storing without the wrong bio reactions to occur. Not at all so with nic juice.

Most of my reasoning, actually, with only making small amounts of a handful of flavors is that my tastes change, as does the amount of nic I might want to vape. Early on I made a big bottle of some flavor and nic level I liked, got sick of it over time, and spent the next several weeks trying to use it as a base to make other flavors. 1.5 years in, I still have some of it, as well as lots of other trial amounts of flavors I can't stand now.

These are just my own experience with juices, which I have honed over the months based on my tastes, and the reality of the chemistry involved.

 

[Kent C]

Cool, dry, dark is what the companies that make PG and VG (DOW eg.) put out, and good for 24 months. If you DIY, keep the stuff unmixed until use. Mixing nic base into the PG and VG will decrease storage value of the PG/VG. The problem with almost any storage is that the more constant the temperature the better - extreme changes produce moisture - which will kill longevity. Also if you have bottles with rubber stoppers, I recommend using other caps for storage and then only use the rubber stoppers when you use them.