Electric shaking

[HipGnosis]

I'm preparing to get into DIY e-liquid(ing).
I'm near an American Science and Surplus store that has all kinds of electric motors for cheap, so it'd be easy for me to make an electric shaker for my juice.
I already have a flat box with soft foam in it to hold the bottles and a digital timer.

How much should I shake the juice? A minute or 5? Just after mixing it or every day for a few days? Or every X days?

 

[kas122461]

I just do the manual shaking thing everyday for a few days, but I saved the link for this thing I got from here somewhere. Maybe it will give you some ideas.

Paint Shaker, 120v AC

KAS

 

[Letitia]

I use a hand mixer. If you are going to build a shaker you may as well just build a magnetic stirrer instead.

 

[stols001]

Automation at its finest, I guess. Um, have fun.

I just use my hands and I'm fairly sure that I could get the husband to build me some sort of shaking device but 1)whhhhyyy and 2) It's kind of helpful for me to shake after hunching over and making my mixes for hours and I can use the exercise. LOL.

I mean, I guess if ingenuity is your thing well, the question is also "Why not?" and as far as amount of time, well I think you are in uncharted waters. Etc. You could shake for hours and have it be like, awesome, I guess, or not so awesome. I'm afraid you may need to test shake.

Also isn't it just as much work installing each mix and shaking it as it also just would be to just shake it by hand.

I do about 30--60 seconds whenever I remember to, which isn't even every day anymore but I also do a fairly long steep.

Whatever you do or don't do report back though! I'm kinda curious and whatnot, now. And good luck.

Anna

 

[madstabber]

I just shake mine once a day or try to. My mixes sit on the table next to my tv watching chair so when I happen to look over and see my mixes and feel like it I shake them up a bit. Like Anna said it’s good exercise, lol. But I usually steep for a couple weeks at least so a shake here and there is plenty for me. With a setup like your talking I’d set it up for maybe a five minute shake once a day should be plenty as long as you give it some steep time. If your in a rush just do a 24 your shake. The let it steep for a few weeks, lol. As you can tell it’s not very scientific and most of us have no real idea it’s more of a trial and error thing. But no real errors just a feeling you may want to steep it longer. Well I’ve rambled long enough good luck and let us know if you make any breakthroughs into the art of the steep.

 

[HipGnosis]

Automation at its finest, I guess. Um, have fun.
I mean, I guess if ingenuity is your thing well, the question is also "Why not?"

Not much ingenuity, but it kinda is my thing. Just gonna put a disk on a motor, mounted off-center so it's a cam. I'll put my box on top of it and connect the motor to the timer.

Also isn't it just as much work installing each mix and shaking it as it also just would be to just shake it by hand.

No installing, so no work. My box has egg-create foam in the bottom and top. Just gonna put the juice in the box.

 

[Zaryk]

I use a paint shaker, ironically the same one that is linked above. I shake my mix for a minute or two depending on the bottle size (bigger the bottle the slower it shakes them). I do this once for mixes that steep fast (less than a week) and every other day or so for the ones that take longer for the first week and then once a week or so after that until ready. I also shake all my mixes right before I use them for the first time. I also shake them by hand before every use.

 

[Letitia]

Some strap the bottle on their jigsaw. Seems to work very well.

 

[DaveP]

Battery operated stirrer works for me. 30 seconds fills the mix with tiny bubbles that rise and create a mixing effect. A few minutes later it's clear again.

https://www.amazon.com/Fit-Fresh-Po...=8-4&keywords=drink+stirrers+battery+operated

 

[Myk]

I use a hand mixer. If you are going to build a shaker you may as well just build a magnetic stirrer instead.

CD drive + computer fan + harddrive magnets + rheostat + transformer (I think I used a volume knob from an old car radio and a phone transformer).
I tried mixing 100mg 100% VG to 50mg 100% VG, too thick. I never thought to try my mixing magnets in an eliquid bottle to see if they fit. It might be hard to spin it slow enough for that small of an amount.
I definitely have some flasks they would fit in for larger batches. Now where are my mixing magnets?

 

[HipGnosis]

I use a paint shaker, ironically the same one that is linked above. I shake my mix for a minute or two depending on the bottle size (bigger the bottle the slower it shakes them). I do this once for mixes that steep fast (less than a week) and every other day or so for the ones that take longer for the first week and then once a week or so after that until ready. I also shake all my mixes right before I use them for the first time. I also shake them by hand before every use.

Thanks. I'll use this for my shaking schedule.
To be clear; my shaking right before use will still be by hand - as I'm already doing for my non-diy juices.

 

[Zaryk]

Thanks. I'll use this for my shaking schedule.
To be clear; my shaking right before use will still be by hand - as I'm already doing for my non-diy juices.

Yeah, I have the habit of shaking every time I use too.

I should also mention the shaker I bought was at my local shop and costed less than half of the one in the link above, so if anyone is interested in one I'm sure you could find them for a better price if you look around.

 

[oplholik]

I use a paint shaker, ironically the same one that is linked above. I shake my mix for a minute or two depending on the bottle size (bigger the bottle the slower it shakes them). I do this once for mixes that steep fast (less than a week) and every other day or so for the ones that take longer for the first week and then once a week or so after that until ready. I also shake all my mixes right before I use them for the first time. I also shake them by hand before every use.

How noisy are those shakers?

 

[oplholik]

MixKwik paint can / foam can shaker / sawzall attachment | eBay

 

[Zaryk]

How noisy are those shakers?

Not very noisy. I have used it in the same room as a sleeping person and it didn't disturb them at all. It makes more noise from vibrating if you put it on a hard surface.

 

[bwh79]

I shake my mixes, by hand, for 2 minutes, immediately after mixing. They come out of it all opaque and frothy-looking from the millions of microscopic bubbles which become infused into the liquid. I may be wrong, but I view this as evidence of sufficient mixing. Sometimes I'll shake them again, briefly, prior to the first fill from my 120ml "mixer" bottle to the 30ml that I actually fill devices from, but then that's it. Maybe one of these days I'll mix up two batches of the same recipe, and see if there's any difference between one that's shaken often and one that's not.

 

[Zaryk]

I only noticed a difference in mixes that take a long time to steep, it seemed to help them steep faster if I shook it up a few times (I assume it has to do with the bubbles, maybe from the air or maybe from the slow motion of the bubbles rising). I never noticed a taste difference though.

Shaking before use is more of a habit and nothing to do with making it better.

 

[Snicks]

I use a magnetic stirrer. I run it for about 20 minutes followed closely with a sonic bath for 30-40 minutes.