For those who aren't so scientifically inclined...

[JBL-37]

Well, it's under way. I found a 60ml specimen container as I figured it would be easier to syringe the juice off and clean afterwards with the wide mouth. I put one scoop of coffee in, medium fine grind, and topped it up with PG. Put the lid on and shook it and found the PG level had dropped about 15%. Air in the ground coffee has been replaced with PG of course. Topped the PG up again and wrote the date & contents on the lid.

I'm not sure why I should be using decaf, as the whole batch only contains as much coffee as it will be possible to get in one cup of brewed coffee, doesn't it? I've also never actually used decaffeinated, especially after that scare about the chemicals they were using to decaffeinate the coffee being more dangerous than the caffeine itself.

Give me the caffeine, I say.

I'll try to follow up in about two weeks, after I figure out how to strain some of it... Lab grade filter paper I do not have.

I filtered a few times through coffee filters then used a syringe and lots of cotton to draw through. Seems clean enough... There was a thread about coffee extracting and some people noticed their heart palpitating from the caffeine in reg coffee. Decaf is not necessary, but a thought if your caffeine sensitive. I drink a ton of coffee so opted for the decaf myself. My heart jumps around from time to time as it is.

 

[fabricator4]

Update on the DIY coffee

I got curious and opened the lid on my coffee grounds in PG experiment tonight; it's been almost a week since it started.

Wow! I've got to say it smells like the nicest coffee vape evvvverrr!

I was going to get some of those really fine nylon mesh filters from the kitchen section of the supermarket but totally forgot. Even though it's only been a week I'm pretty keen to try this out. What does everyone think? Is one week long enough? Will it get even better if I leave it two weeks?

I was going to make a really small batch using the PG from the coffee experiment as the PG dilutant and no other flavourings. Going on the smell, it might even be too strong. I also tasted a bit - it doesn't taste much like PG but _does_ taste like coffee.

I filtered a few times through coffee filters then used a syringe and lots of cotton to draw through. Seems clean enough... There was a thread about coffee extracting and some people noticed their heart palpitating from the caffeine in reg coffee. Decaf is not necessary, but a thought if your caffeine sensitive. I drink a ton of coffee so opted for the decaf myself. My heart jumps around from time to time as it is.

I don't have problems from drinking lots of coffee but I'll be careful to start with until I know how it affects me. Maybe PG is a very effective extraction medium for coffee and caffeine.

 

[Cavediver]

Chimney34, you're awful quiet... How's the mixing coming along?
Fabricator 4, have you done anything with that coffee extract?

 

[psycheval]

I stick a syringe and sharp needle in a new clean analog filter with the paper stripped off and suck my TA up in that. Cheap hillbilly filter. I don't have sediment in my TA at all after. Don't know how much it's trapping but it's enough. Need to try some syringe filters. Depends how many times they can reuse before they clog. Anybody got a reuse count?

 

[Cavediver]

I stick a syringe and sharp needle in a new clean analog filter with the paper stripped off and suck my TA up in that. Cheap hillbilly filter. I don't have sediment in my TA at all after. Don't know how much it's trapping but it's enough. Need to try some syringe filters. Depends how many times they can reuse before they clog. Anybody got a reuse count?

TA?
I was told 3x by someone using a 45 micron filter for NET.

I recently realized the 500 Stainless mesh used for wicks falls somewhere near the 25 micron mark. Perhaps a DIY rebuildable filter will be in order later.

 

[fabricator4]

Chimney34, you're awful quiet... How's the mixing coming along?
Fabricator 4, have you done anything with that coffee extract?

I decided to leave the coffee for the full two weeks, and wouldn't you know it we're away for the weekend in the morning so I'm not going to get to it right now.

I did just pop the lid on the experiment though. Wow, the coffee flavour is even stronger, actually bitter strong so I think I need to do a first filtration to get it off the coffee grounds...

OK done. I used a microfibre cloth that has just been washed - made a mess of the cloth as I don't think the brown stain is coming out. My first idea of using the nylon mesh filter would have been much better if I'd managed to get one. The time in the PG was about 36 hours short of two weeks.

What I have left is about 25ml of very dark brown liquid that is bitter strong. The PG has certainly extracted whatever it could from the coffee. It's still quite cloudy so needs some further filtration but at least all of the grounds are basically gone so it should be simpler.

The smell of it is very much like freshly ground coffee. The taste is strong coffee.

It needs a very fine filtration to get rid of the particles still in suspension and the only thing I can think of is coffee filter paper at the moment. If I can get back in time before the weekend is over I'll have to give it a go as I really want to find out how this vapes.

 

[psycheval]

TA?
I was told 3x by someone using a 45 micron filter for NET.

I recently realized the 500 Stainless mesh used for wicks falls somewhere near the 25 micron mark. Perhaps a DIY rebuildable filter will be in order later.

Tobacco Absolute. I don't extract so it's the only sediment I deal with.
Can you back flush those syringe filters with PGA? 3 times is not too bad. Of course that is subjective as to how much trash your collecting. If they'll back flush or somebody has got a rebuildable filter that might be the way to go. I got to go by a parts store and take a look at some fuel filters. Some of those have plastic and teflon screens in them and are made to trap a whole lot of junk before they clog. Some have metal screen on the high end filter parts.

 

[Cavediver]

Can you back flush those syringe filters with PGA? 3 times is not too bad. Of course that is subjective as to how much trash your collecting.

I think he said that included back flushing.
FWIW, he also mentioned one of these: a Buchner Filter. That's a little over the top for me right now, so I'm sticking with a couple of runs through a coffee filter.
The fuel filter isn't a bad idea, but I'd be a bit concerned about oils and what-not left over from the manufacturing processes.

 

[psycheval]

Some denatured alch. then some ethyl alch. behind that will make anything residual leave. A whole lot of those filters are all plastic and are impervious to fuels. If you can get them cleaned out for our purposes they could be a cheap filter. Have to go take a look and see what I can come up with. They should also do a whole lot of juice before they clog. Just an idea. You got me thinking about it now. I've looked at the Buchners. I'm half-hillbilly so I got no issues looking about as far outside the box as you want to go. Cheaply.
Have you tried the wire coffee filters or a French Press coffee pot?

 

[Cavediver]

Have you tried the wire coffee filters or a French Press coffee pot?

Yup.
In fact I did a little experiment when I first tried the coffee extraction. I made two side-by-side batches of the same coffee; 6grams of coffee and 20ml PG. Nuked 'em and gave them both hot water baths for 45min. I drained one though a paper coffee filter and one though a metal screen filter. Turns out the paper coffee filter does a better job, so I strained the second batch back through a paper filter and wound up with a liquid that was darker than the single-paper version. The forum member I discussed this with felt that the large coffee grounds of the first batch helped add filtration to the sstem, and I think he's right. Anyhow, it could be that the metal screen just wasn't fine enough, so I'm going to try it again this weekend with some 500 mesh and see what happens.


Chimney34, sorry for dragging your thread off into the weeds, over the river, and through the woods.

 

[fjg123]

pretty sure this thread got hi jacked haha.

Sorry if anyone has already said this but Chimney, you should download a E-juice calculator. Theres apps available for smartphones and theyre really handy. That way if you wanna be cost effecient, like me, you just buy the 100mg/ml nicotine and then just use about 1-2mls or however much is needed to get the target nicotine level. Although be careful because 100mg/ml nicotine is very strong and will absorb through your skin as all the stickys in the beginning of this forum warn. Good luck!

 

[Mowgli]

pretty sure this thread got hi jacked haha.

Sorry if anyone has already said this but Chimney, you should download a E-juice calculator. Theres apps available for smartphones and theyre really handy. That way if you wanna be cost effecient, like me, you just buy the 100mg/ml nicotine and then just use about 1-2mls or however much is needed to get the target nicotine level. Although be careful because 100mg/ml nicotine is very strong and will absorb through your skin as all the stickys in the beginning of this forum warn. Good luck!

Love eJuice Me Up - Best eJuice Calculator

It sure simplifies the process.

I'm psyched today. I just mixed 4 50ml batches for $14.50 total
I quoted a possible seller (with storefront) $45 and he's happy for it.

200% profit is kinda sweet


That's using WL & FW/MBV @ 36mg 80/20 BTW

 

[fabricator4]

Coffee extraction - Final update

(Hey Chimney34, you still checking this thread?)

The coffee extraction is finished!

After two weeks I did a partial filter to get all the coffee grounds out of the PG. It was extremely dark and had a great fresh ground coffee smell, and it tasted pretty good too. I had nothing finer to strain it with at the time so I put it aside while I figured out what to do. In the end I bought some 400 S/S mesh which I was intending to do anyway. I thought about getting the finer 500 mesh but figured that 400 was probably more useful for rolling wicks anyway. The 500 probably would filter better.

I cut a square of the mesh and folded it cone-wise into a tiny funnel and filtered the coffee extract through it. It ran through quite nicely and I found that all of the sediment had settled to the bottom of the container in the intervening 2 weeks in any case, so there really wasn't much filtration required anyway.

I made a liquid with 5% of my extract and vaped it for a day. It's actually not too bad, and I think better than any of the coffee flavours I've bought. The nose is a little burnt on the exhale, but more like burnt coffee bean than burnt rubber you get with so many coffee concentrates. I found it a acceptable vape and I've started substituting my coffee extract in recipes that call for a coffee adjunct. My ADV is one of these and I've made 10ml to try it out. So far it's working out very well indeed at two drops/10ml, about the same as I was using the bought concentrate.

If anyone still wants to try the coffee extraction I can say that it's worthwhile, however be aware that time is the main ingredient here. Two weeks to steep, filter, and then two weeks to let the sediment settle before another filter. From the original 60ml (total including coffee) steep I got about 15 ml of coffee extract. It's enough to keep me going for a long while because I mainly use it as an adjunct flavouring.

 

[Tabber]

Hello To All Here.IHave Been Vaping Since Jan.11Th. And Want To DIY. I Have everything I need to start.I purchased a 215Ml bottle of premixed 18Mg/ML 50PG/50Vg Base. I have been reading and reading and reading and I am still confused.It does not look like the calculators will work with a premix nicotine.Could someone please give me a little help to get over this hump?I just want to be careful when it comes to nicotine. later I want to purchase everything separately so that I can have more room to work with this far is nicotine goes.I would really appreciate all the help anyone could provide.Thank You All very much!


Tabber

 

[fabricator4]

Hello To All Here.IHave Been Vaping Since Jan.11Th. And Want To DIY. I Have everything I need to start.I purchased a 215Ml bottle of premixed 18Mg/ML 50PG/50Vg Base. I have been reading and reading and reading and I am still confused.It does not look like the calculators will work with a premix nicotine.Could someone please give me a little help to get over this hump?I just want to be careful when it comes to nicotine. later I want to purchase everything separately so that I can have more room to work with this far is nicotine goes.I would really appreciate all the help anyone could provide.Thank You All very much!


Tabber

Hi Tabber, this thread hasn't been added to for some time but the information should all be relevant. You can vape 18mg/ml with no more dilution except for adding flavours if you want. What strength of nicotine do you currently vape?

This calculator allows you to enter the PG/VG content of the nicotine base: http://....................
Most of the other calculators work the same way, however because the nicotine content is already so low it may not be possible to do exactly what you want. It all depends on what you are trying to achieve and how far removed that is from the base that you bought. Most flavourings count as added PG so it may not be possible to achieve a 50/50 PG/VG in the final product, especially if the target nicotine strength is very close to 18mg/ml. Try a target ratio of 60/40 or 70/30 PG/VG. If the calculator reports an error of some kind, this is the most likely reason.

 

[Tommy Aces]

For those of us...me...who aren't so scientifically inclined how hard is it to start DIY? I guess I've reached that point where I'm starting to get interested in doing this myself. I'm not sure if its the natural progression of things but I'm wanting to give it a shot. Ive already discovered some good flavors & I've seen the flavorings for sale at the sites i normally buy them from. However, let me be clear...I was never that great at the chemistry so if there's a chance that ill injure myself or my four legged children in the process pleases tell me to back away now!

If you think I have a chance what are the basics that I need to purchase? I normally vape a 70/30 pg/vg mix with 18mg of nic. Any advice would be appreciated & as always thanks

In theory, buying nicotine base at your desired final mg/ml level and blend of pg/vg and just adding flavoring is the easiest.

However what makes the most sense financially and storage-wise is in your case just starting out to buy 36mg/ml nic base in all pg. use 50% of your 36mg base, and then using a DIY calculator, or just doing the simple math yourself, determine how much vg and additional pg you'll need to add in addition to your pg based nic base and pg based flavorings to get to your desired ratio (in your case 70/30).

36mg is pretty safe to work with, although as with any % nic base, gloves and eye protection are reccomended.

You'll also want to pick up syringes in different sizes and blunt needle tips. I find a 30ml oral syringe with cap to be of great use as it serves both it's intended purpose and can basically double as a 30ml measuring cylinder. Additionally, I'd suggest picking up a 100ml Low Beaker for if you end up making larger batches.

Once you get into the swing of DIY, you may continue to find it easier working with nicotine base that is easily halved to your desired nic level. However, in the interest of long term storage, stocking up for Vapocolypse, and saving $$$, buying your base n 100mg/ml makes the most sense. Once you get it, you can seasily cut some of it down to a safer and more manageable mg/ml % and put the rest in a nice, tinted cobalt or amber glass bottle and store it in your freezer (pg and vg do not freeze). For $60-70, you can buy 500ml of 100 mg/mg nicotine base. In your case, that's enough for about 2750ml of mixed, flavored juice @ 18mg.

I know what I said in this post sounds like a lot, but just take it step by step when you start. Get a bunch of small bottles of different flavors that you like/think you'll like and make small 5ml batches until you find a recipes you like. It'll be trial and error just like anything else and in some cases there'll be bottles that get dumped down the drain. But I promise you this, you'll end up saving a bunch of money, be better prepared for the future, and with enough experimenting probably make a couple recipes that you'll like more than anything you can buy premixed.

 

[AttyPops]

^^^^ I 2nd the "buy double strength base" thing. It the method I've used for years.

It gives you a lot of "wiggle room" when mixing and doesn't take any precise measuring. 1/2 a bottle of base and 1/2 of other stuff...PG, VG, flavoring, water, alcohol, etc.

I mix it by eye.

Since I'm vaping about 24 mg juice....I now buy my base in 100 mg bottles and when I open a bottle I cut it in 1/2 (so I have 50 mg base). I add an extra "pinch" of PG so it's closer to 48 mg base. Then I use that to mix...cutting it in half. So I make my own 48 mg base from 100 mg base...if that makes sense. But the rest is the same...1/2 bottle base, + cut.

Always shake/stir/mix well.

The other thing to think about is ...what PG/VG ratio is your base?
If you buy 100% PG base and cut it in 1/2 the MOST vg you could get would be 50/50 if using VG flavorings.
You can often buy base in 50/50 mix. However, then you can't get 100% VG or 100% PG. The most you could get with that would be 75/25 or 25/75. So you have to think about what your goal is.

 

[Tabber]

My Chemistry Experience Has Finally Come Back.It Took A While To Bring It Back To Full Memory.