Experimental procedure for steeping my juice

[GPC2012]

I have always steeped my juices, then my son told me about ricing or heat steeping. Well I've gone a little bit past that. I bought a mini crockpot that is sold as a warmer, not a cooker. Here's how it has gone so far.

Day 1.
filled the unit with water and plugged it in. put in one of my meat thermometers. It took about 2.5 hours to reach 185 f. The unit held the temp for 4 hours. Put the lid on and the temp went up to 205 and held for an hour, I figured it was as high as it would go and stopped for the day.

Note:
Previously when I rice steeped I would heat my rice up to about 200 f. and put the bottles in till it returned to room temp.

Day 2.
filled the unit with a dry medium ( I used glass mini discs for flower arrangements) inserted thermometer and turned it on. It took about 3 hours to come up to 185 f. and sustained that temp all day with the lid off.

Day 3.
I made a batch of my own tigers blood (30 ml) and took a 30 ml bottle of previously unsteeped juice I had purchased, placed them both in the dry medium. removed the caps and drippers. put the top on and plugged it in. In an hour I checked and the temp was at 155. Replaced the lid. Checked it at hour 2 and had 202. I left the lid on and rechecked at hour 4 the temp was at 210. Removed the top and let it sit for 4 more hours. at the end of 8 hours I turned it off and let it return to room temp. Here are the results of my DIY juice.



Before After

I filled a tank last night and tried it. It is very smooth and nice. My recipe may need to add a little higher percentage of flavoring when steeping this way. The purchased bottle stayed the same color but seems to smell very nice. I'll report back on it when I vape some.

 

[lilpeach]

I'm interested in seeing how the purchased bottle tastes. I don't DIY but have a ton of juice on the way from several vendors and was milling over the idea of using my crockpot on the warm setting to quick steep. I'm tired (slightly impatient) of waiting weeks upon weeks for the juice to hit its prime. So it's either this method or my husbands idea of throwing all the ejuice in the car on a hot day lol..... keep us posted

 

[GPC2012]

I'm interested in seeing how the purchased bottle tastes. I don't DIY but have a ton of juice on the way from several vendors and was milling over the idea of using my crockpot on the warm setting to quick steep. I'm tired (slightly impatient) of waiting weeks upon weeks for the juice to hit its prime. So it's either this method or my husbands idea of throwing all the ejuice in the car on a hot day lol..... keep us posted

A common trait of all vapers it seems. As soon as I finish this and clean the tank I'll give it a vape and report back. I have to say that using the dry medium works very well as it takes a lot longer to cool off after steeping. I couldn't believe the color difference. Reminded me of doing a can of sweetened condensed milk in hot water to turn it into caramel.

 

[Thundernoggin]

I was amazed what a difference it makes when I put them in a ziploc bag for an hour in just warm water, then uncork them for another hour. Good to see the temp results over time GPC. I've been considering a more elaborate quick steeping method.

 

[Mo T]

Nice idea, let us know how the process compares to other steeping procedures, looking forward to your report.

 

[Rodeorat]

I've been using the mini crock pot method for quite some time now. It works best on complex eliquids like tobacco bases. I find it adds at least a week or two to the age flavor. Having said that, I rarely have to steep any more since I began ordering from vendors with clean flavors.

 

[john333]

Wouldn't that high a temp cook off the nicotine? I had heard when using my ultrasonic cleaner to steep, not let it get above 120 degrees F. I know nicotine free eliquid is a very smooth vape and that may be what you are experiencing. I DIY and place them in my UC for several 8 minute cycles on the 1st and 2nd day. I keep it stored on a dark shelf after that and shake them from time to time. By the 4th day they are ready to vape and continue to improve over the next few days. Its all about the flavor molecules connecting. When you leave the top off you are letting those molecules escape in my opinion. The only time I would let an eliquid set with the top off is win it has a alcohol smell. Leaving the top off will allow it to evaporate. Of course, this is just my method and experience and it works for me. Good luck

 

[GrandSam]

That's impressive. I've never had a juice steep that fast.

 

[GPC2012]

I steeped a bottle of 18mg that I won, (I don't usually vape above 6 now) I loaded one tank (aspire BDC) with the before, then steeped it in the warmer for 4 hours with the lid off. top temp was 185, but this temp was off a little, as I discovered my probe was touching the bottom. I used an infrared thermometer on it and the juice came up at 161 f. I removed it and shook it checked again and got a reading 163 f. I returned it to the warmer and turned the warmer off. When cool I loaded my other aspire BDC with the steeped juice. I vaped the steeped juice first and although very smooth good flavor and nice vapor production in a very short time I could tell that I was vaping stronger nic than I am used to. an hour later I vaped the un-steeped juice, it was a little purfumy, with a slightly harsh aftertaste that I hadn't noticed on the steeped juice. in about the same amount of time I could again tell I was vaping stronger nic than I was used to. I have 5 shipments of juice coming and will duplicate this test with some of them to see how it pans out.