Mixing by Weight - Are You ??

[Capt.shay]

Today I officially removed all my syringes and graduated cylinders from my mixing area. All I have left out for lab wear is a few beakers, a couple of funnels, a glass stirring rod and my scale. After a month or two of mixing by weight, it will never go back! Wondering how some of the other new converts were feeling about this method?

 

[froginblender]

you just drip it directly into beaker...man.....no nothing !
the scale will tell you when you have say 1.3 ml's of tobacco or whatever.

I like the idea of mixing this way. Just one thing I can't get my head around... For instance the bottles of flavoring that doesn't come with a dropper top, what are you guys using?? Not a syringe I hope?

 

[froginblender]

If you want a scale....perhaps you'd want this too to mix your concoctions up....
works like a Boss !
lol.

Ok.. I'm sold. Ordering a scale tonight. Thanks to everyone that quickly helped me sort this out.

 

[Zurd]

I just started recently, got myself a "My Weigh iM01" balance, bit expensive, goes to 1000g maximum, precision of 0.01g, I like it! I haven't done much bottles up to now but I love doing it, no more syringes! All my flavors, pg, vg & nic is in eye dropper bottles, works like a charm.

Question now is what do I do with all my syringes, I have quite a lot!

 

[bwh79]

I like the idea of mixing this way. Just one thing I can't get my head around... For instance the bottles of flavoring that doesn't come with a dropper top, what are you guys using?? Not a syringe I hope?

Disposable pipettes are pretty cheap...

 

[zoiDman]

Today I officially removed all my syringes and graduated cylinders from my mixing area. All I have left out for lab wear is a few beakers, a couple of funnels, a glass stirring rod and my scale. After a month or two of mixing by weight, it will never go back! Wondering how some of the other new converts were feeling about this method?

I still pull out All my Lab Glassware when I Mix. It lends a Very Cool Mad Scientist Ambience.

The Difference though is I Don't have to Wash it when I'm Done Mixing.

 

[JulesXsmokr]

Hey, JulesXsmokr!

I think you were talking to me. I bought the 500g x .01g scale off ebay.

I thought about trying to measure the accuracy. So I priced calibration weights, the real ones are very expensive. But how do I check the accuracy of the weight itself? By finding an accurate and calibrated scale. Don't know where one of them is.

There are cheaper calibration weights where the inaccuracies are known and reported by people who have checked their weights on accurate and calibrated scales...

I spent an hour or so looking into all this but just for curiosity sake... because there's no way to calibrate this scale.

So my conclusion was the same as those who commented above. It doesn't really matter as long as the inaccuracy is relatively consistent.

And I've been using this scale and have been making some nice juice, Easily with NO Cleanup! It takes less than 10 minutes to take the scale out of the box, do a 30ml batch and put the scale back in the box. Done!

Try that you volume measurers!

btw, I love your avatar. Dean Martin was cooler than Steve McQueen!

I know this response is to an old post, but anyway, The answer would be: check the calibration weight on a balance beam scale or simpler yet, go to any pharmacy and politely ask them to weigh it for you. Their scales have to be perfect by law..

 

[JulesXsmokr]

I just got an inexpensive scale from amazon that was mentioned earlier in this thread. It is accurate to .01 and most of the drops from my droppers are between .03-.04. Going to .001 would basically be overkill (for me) because I don't have any way to add or subtract such a small amount. I checked the scale I have against some scientific weights I have around and it was accurate right down to the .01g ingot. It wold not weigh .01 but when I put a .05 on it and then added the .01 it read .06 so that is as accurate a weigh as I can dispense. Plug in would be nice but unless you are borderline commercial, this one does every thing you need it to do Electronic Pocket Digital Scale 0 01g 300g Weight Precision Jewelry Scale US | eBay

Make sure you have some easy to clean glass funnels around that fit in the neck of your bottles. Put bottle with funnel on scale, add first ingredient and tare, add second tare, etc. and then all you do is rinse the funnel.

I've seen this my scale, but not very often where you put a half a drop in your bottle and it doesn't register for you after you tare it. What i do then is just nudge the bottle activating the display measurement and then it would just settle down with your true weight reading. Some low vol. mixes may need just that tiny little bit of one particular flavor.
-just my weigh of doing things-

 

[VHRB2014]

LOL.

So far I wipe my brow any time I`m done mixing and the 30ml bottle looks right to me. For me, a few percentage points one way or the other in one of the ingredients is of no real concern. For me, that would be way too .... to deal with right now. Of course I add flavors last and make sure the wife is not talking to me when I`m a counting, and so far have been conservative but have bumped a few up after a day or two of sitting. I trust my hash marks, and my eyes, and double check everything.

But that`s me.

 

[Jimmyof76]

I started using the scale about 2weeks ago. I have a myweigh i201 0.01g. I hated it at first because I totally blanked out that the VG would be heavier then water, and even pg for that matter, but thats a different story. When it clicked, I stated weighing water, and oh man was I surprised to see that my cheepy graduated cylinder was a bit off. With my own experimenting before I got on the internet. I figured that 1ml of vg was 1.25g. When I got on this forum I was happy to see I nailed it lol. It made me feel good hahahaha. So yeah, Im using the scale now. Its much more accurate then my graduated cylinder. A good cylinder may be very accurate, but the cheep plastic one I have is for the birds. It off by different percentages at different heights in the cylinder lol, by as much as .2ml in some places. So yeah, im using the scale now hahahah.

The scale also helped me to find that my pipets are dead on accurate too. My pipets have small measuring lines on them, and they are accurate. Which is awesome. When I pull out flavor concentrates eith my pipets from non drip bottles and then add them to the mix. Its usually dead on or only of by 0.02 of a gram. basically within a drop. sometimes within a fraction of a drop. The scale owns.

 

[krwynn]

Disposable pipettes are pretty cheap...

I get 3ml plastic pipettes on ebay for around $5.50 per 100. You can get them cheaper if shipped from China. I don't have the patience to wait 2 weeks to save a buck or 2.

 

[krwynn]

Both Capella and The Flavor Apprentice have MSDS sheets available for their flavors. Not all of them but most. You can get the Specific Gravity from the MSDS sheet and plug it in to eJuice Calculator.

 

[CajunCloud]

I've got an assortment of flavorings and base nic, pg, vg on the way to get myself into DIY juice making.

IMO weighing is the only way to go for repeatability and for transfer of the process to another DIYer.

I plan to make 5ml test batches using nothing but a scale and taring the weights as I go as a % of the total volume. I will be using the Grain setting for weighing and not grams. Much more accuracy on such a small scale using 1/70000th of a pound increments. When I go to make larger batches I will use gram measurements most likely.

Right now I am looking at making a DIY stirring plate for quick mixing the DIY juice. Then I just need to make a DIY Mod and I am all set! LOL

CC

 

[bwh79]

taring the weights as I go as a % of the total volume.

Since the ingredients we use have different densities, % by weight and % by volume will not yield the same results. For example:

PG: 1.036g/ml
VG: 1.261g/ml

10ml PG + 10ml VG

PG makes up 10ml of 20ml total: 50% PG by volume.
PG makes up 10.36g of 22.97g total: 45.1% PG by weight.

Note that these are the same mixture. The %PG is either 50% or 45.1%, depending on whether you mean % by weight or % by volume.

 

[HotRod19579]

Since the ingredients we use have different densities, % by weight and % by volume will not yield the same results. For example:

PG: 1.036g/ml
VG: 1.261g/ml

10ml PG + 10ml VG

PG makes up 10ml of 20ml total: 50% PG by volume.
PG makes up 10.36g of 22.97g total: 45.1% PG by weight.

Note that these are the same mixture. The %PG is either 50% or 45.1%, depending on whether you mean % by weight or % by volume.

Most calculators, including JuiceCalculator, calculate the recipe by volume and then convert the amount of each ingredient to add into weight. This makes the resulting recipe the same when mixing by weight or by volume.

 

[bwh79]

Most calculators, including JuiceCalculator, calculate the recipe by volume and then convert the amount of each ingredient to add into weight. This makes the resulting recipe the same when mixing by weight or by volume.

Ah, I must have misunderstood, then. It almost sounded like he was going to, for example, put in 10g each of PG and VG and call them "equal parts by volume" or something like that.

 

[Capt.shay]

I've got an assortment of flavorings and base nic, pg, vg on the way to get myself into DIY juice making.

IMO weighing is the only way to go for repeatability and for transfer of the process to another DIYer.

I plan to make 5ml test batches using nothing but a scale and taring the weights as I go as a % of the total volume. I will be using the Grain setting for weighing and not grams. Much more accuracy on such a small scale using 1/70000th of a pound increments. When I go to make larger batches I will use gram measurements most likely.

Right now I am looking at making a DIY stirring plate for quick mixing the DIY juice. Then I just need to make a DIY Mod and I am all set! LOL

CC

Scales have come a long way and prices have dropped dramatically for an accurate scale. I found a similar link to a scale earlier in this thread and from that purchased this Electronic Pocket Digital Scale 0 01g 300g Weight Precision Jewelry Scale US | eBay scale for $9.00 delivered. It is accurate to .01grams. One drop from my dropper is ~.03 so it can measure smaller than a drop. One really can't dispense a much smaller amount so I think you will find an inexpensive scale like this worth the $9 investment.

Best of luck in welcome to the weight room.

 

[trueagle]

Loving every minute of it. Recipes are exactly the same. Just watch out for moving to fast or like me you'll have to double recipe minis mistake hahaha but even that's exact

 

[Zurd]

I find that I'm now spending almost more time preparing and cleaning up than actually mixing!

 

[Mr.Mann]

Scales have come a long way and prices have dropped dramatically for an accurate scale. I found a similar link to a scale earlier in this thread and from that purchased this Electronic Pocket Digital Scale 0 01g 300g Weight Precision Jewelry Scale US | eBay scale for $9.00 delivered. It is accurate to .01grams. One drop from my dropper is ~.03 so it can measure smaller than a drop. One really can't dispense a much smaller amount so I think you will find an inexpensive scale like this worth the $9 investment.

Best of luck in welcome to the weight room.

I bought this scale with no luck. My ambient temperature is fine and my surface is level, but this thing would not give me consistent measurements nor would it stay on one measurement long enough to even tell what it was even supposed to be -- it continually jumped around. I calibrated it, or at least I tried several times, but it is still wonky as all get out. I was refunded for the purchase, so it's no biggie.

I will likely just spend the money on a semi-professional precision balance instead of trying to save a buck (or several bucks! LOL). In the end, the process should be more simple and reliable, not more frustrating and more inconsistent.

Note: This may have been particular to me, so I am not pooing on that scale, just sharing my experience in case anyone else finds they don't get a good one.