First Attempt at Making Juice

[Soonerfan]

This weekend I mixed my first juice. I mixed some green monster using Decadent Vapors for my son as well as fruit striped gum using Flavor West and cinammon redhots using Capellas. I got a thumbs up on all of them. It was fun and I tried to keep it simple since it was my first attempt. I also mixed some thin mint and it turned out good he said. The only problem I found was in tasting the stuff and adjusting the flavors. I was dripping using a 510 atty with a delrin drip tip. I did put nic in so I think on my next try I won't add the nic until I get the mixture correct. Is there a better method to taste the juice as you are mixing? I would drip a couple of drops on the atty and I almost got high from vaping so that I could get the flavor out before tasting again. I don't know if I'm making myself clear but hope you get the jest of what I'm trying to say. It's early and I'm not a morning person. I enjoyed the process very much. It was fun and rewarding when I got it right. I also did a french toast which was okay but not excellent. I told him to let it sit a few days to see if it gets better and if not I'll give it another go.

 

[Zal42]

I did put nic in so I think on my next try I won't add the nic until I get the mixture correct.

This is a tip I picked up here, and I highly recommend it. The nic base is the most expensive ingredient, so why waste it on flavor experiments? Nic does have a peppery taste, and so it does change the flavor a bit, but mostly I've found that it doesn't matter, and when it does, it's easy to adjust.

Is there a better method to taste the juice as you are mixing?

I don't taste as I am mixing. I've found that the juice is very harsh on the first mix. So I mix, then put the bottle in a hot water bath for 15 mins or so, then let it sit a day before trying it. I mix 3 ml at a time no-nic, so I don't mind dumping a batch when I've got it wrong.

However, I've found that I can clear an atty quickly, for most flavors, by vlowing it out then vaping (drip method) pure pg until I can't taste the old flavor anymore.

 

[Soonerfan]

Zal, thanks for the tips. I plan on using them. I think that what might have been a little off with the french toast I mixed. We will know in a couple of days. The pg is a good idea to clear the atty.

 

[Zal42]

Oh, and another tip I found here on flavoring amounts. The potency of flavoring can vary wildly depending on the flavor and manufacturer, so when i get a new flavoring, the very first thing that I do is mix up a no-nic juice that is 10% flavoring, and the rest my preferred pg/vg mix (80/20). Then I taste that, and adjust the amount of flavoring until the intensity is right.

"Right" is subjective, but I try make the amounts such that if I use the percentage I've determined then the intensity is about that same as all the other flavors I have. It also gives me a chance to see if sweetener improves the flavor (often, a little sweetener really makes it better.) I keep records of all this in a spreadsheet for easy reference when mixing new recipes.

This way, for example, if I know I want a strawberry-banana that's heavy on the banana, I know what ratio to use by comparing the baseline percentages.

 

[Soonerfan]

GREAT idea! Thanks so much. I suppose you keep notes. I know I won't remember from flavor to flavor. That is the one thing I did not do this weekend because quite honestly I did not expect it to be good. Now, I wish I had kept notes but since it was just one flavor I don't think it will be much of a problem.

 

[breaktru]

Good tips Zal. Way to go.

 

[Zal42]

I suppose you keep notes.

Always keep notes, and always measure as accurately as possible. Every single thing I mix or adjust, I make a note for. Include dates, because aging can matter.

Part of my notes is a detailed review (what exactly it tasted like, not just whether it was good or not.) For both the good & bad mixes, having a record of the taste (and why it was good or bad) can be very useful for finding patterns that can guide future mixes.

 

[breaktru]

Note: eJuice Me Up has a Note feature to save w/ your recipe.

 

[Soonerfan]

I used your calculator. It's so simple and makes mixing so much easier. I had not thought to use the notes feature. Believe me, I certainly learned a lesson on note taking.

 

[oldsoldier]

Note: eJuice Me Up has a Note feature to save w/ your recipe.

I used your calculator. It's so simple and makes mixing so much easier. I had not thought to use the notes feature. Believe me, I certainly learned a lesson on note taking.

The calculator rocks. I really enjoyed using it a lot. I'm currently playing around with Mono so that I can get it to run on Linux...

 

[Zal42]

I wish I could use eJuice Me Up, but I run Linux and can't make it work under Wine.

 

[oldsoldier]

I wish I could use eJuice Me Up, but I run Linux and can't make it work under Wine.

You need mono to make it work. wine wont run it because it is a .NET executable. I've been trying to get it to work under Mono but I got a bit frustrated and let it go for awhile, I'll revisit it again later and see if I can make it work.

 

[Zal42]

You need mono to make it work.

I know, but you need the windows version of Mono running under wine as well, and I can't get that to even install, let alone work. Maybe if I put a weekend into it, but it's not really worth that level of effort. Have I mentioned how much I hate .net?

But we're hijacking the thread now, sorry! I'll stop.