Mixing By Weight: Basics 101

[DaveP]

After all this time DIYing I finally decided to calibrate my LB-501 scale. I weighed the weights prior to starting and they weighed pretty accurate. They were +1mg above the rated 400mg when weighed together. After the calibration they weighed 200mg each and 400mg together.

It's way too easy not to do once in a while.

 

[IDJoel]

After all this time DIYing I finally decided to calibrate my LB-501 scale. I weighed the weights prior to starting and they weighed pretty accurate. They were +1mg above the rated 400mg when weighed together. After the calibration they weighed 200mg each and 400mg together.

You (prior to calibrating) weighed them on what scale? The one you calibrated; or a different one?

I would be curious what each of your two weights weigh on a certified scale; like at your local pharmacy, or coin and precious metals shop? If they are indeed 200mg each, then you have calibrated your scale. If they are +/- 5% (a common(?) "acceptable" tolerance for calibration weights; at least the ones I looked at)(which would mean anywhere between 190 to 210g possible each); then you could have actually moved the scale further out of calibration. Hummm...

 

[DaveP]

You (prior to calibrating) weighed them on what scale? The one you calibrated; or a different one?

I would be curious what each of your two weights weigh on a certified scale; like at your local pharmacy, or coin and precious metals shop? If they are indeed 200mg each, then you have calibrated your scale. If they are +/- 5% (a common(?) "acceptable" tolerance for calibration weights; at least the ones I looked at)(which would mean anywhere between 190 to 210g possible each); then you could have actually moved the scale further out of calibration. Hummm...

I used the weights that came with the scale and just weighed them on the LB-501 before the calibration. One weighed 200mg and the other weighed 201mg (half a % high?). I did the calibration routine that's built into the scale and the result afterwards was that they weighed 400mg together. From my perspective the calibration routine did its job. For all I know they could have weighed 199mg and 200mg and the scale bumped both up a MG. I agree that calibration weights could be closer. Someone has to grind, polish, re-weigh, and touch them up to specs before packaging. Might as well go the extra mile and be accurate when doing that. Maybe their attitude is "good enough for Cheap Chinese work".

I'm not particularly concerned about 1mg in 200mg. It might be interesting to take them somewhere and have them weighed for grins. I have a good relationship with the local Kroger pharmacy. I might see if they could weigh them for me. Kroger also has a much larger digital scale in the produce department next to the bags of grapes. That would be easy without having to bother an employee.

You did make me think about saving my small ingredients for the end of the mix. I usually add my nic first, then PG and VG, and finally the flavor. If the scale is more accurate when it's loaded I might be better adding the nic and flavor after adding PG and VG.

 

[Capt.shay]

My thoughts on mixing order:

I mix flavors, nic, pg, vg. The reason for my order is that I feel the flavors are the most important and if I screw up even a little, I will have to start over if I want an accurate mix. Equally as important for accuracy is Nic. If I'm off +.04 then I scrap it. Pg and vg is usually a larger number and less susceptible to small errors and having to start over so they go last.

Just my way. Aint saying its right or wrong, just what I find most efficient.

 

[ShamrockPat]

I mix flavors, nic, pg, vg.

Same here, every single time, but only because that's my workflow. Plus it allows me to free pour my VG at the end. Yes, I've measured to where the 30/60/120ml amount actually is.

I've calibrated my LB501 with the weights, and my cheap Chinese 1st scale, is still within .05g and is used for a quick mix. IMHO, it's all about consistency within a mix. If 1g, is accurate or not, as long as it's the same level of inaccuracy the %'s of the mix wll be accurate

 

[DaveP]

My thoughts on mixing order:

I mix flavors, nic, pg, vg. The reason for my order is that I feel the flavors are the most important and if I screw up even a little, I will have to start over if I want an accurate mix. Equally as important for accuracy is Nic. If I'm off +.04 then I scrap it. Pg and vg is usually a larger number and less susceptible to small errors and having to start over so they go last.

Just my way. Aint saying its right or wrong, just what I find most efficient.

Mostly I'm close on nic when I use a pipette. I've overshot several times by a few tenths on nic while using droppers and continued on. What the heck ... I've been thinking about upping my nic, anyway! Call it an experiment. I put a + sign on the label to let me know which one it was.

 

[Capt.shay]

Same here, every single time, but only because that's my workflow. Plus it allows me to free pour my VG at the end. Yes, I've measured to where the 30/60/120ml amount actually is.

I've calibrated my LB501 with the weights, and my cheap Chinese 1st scale, is still within .05g and is used for a quick mix. IMHO, it's all about consistency within a mix. If 1g, is accurate or not, as long as it's the same level of inaccuracy the %'s of the mix wll be accurate

Yup, like I wrote in the OP if you do the VG last you can just fill it up if you are using batch sized bottles which I almost always do. And I agree that repeatablity is more important than accuracy.

 

[tokarev]

My thoughts on mixing order:

I mix flavors, nic, pg, vg. The reason for my order is that I feel the flavors are the most important and if I screw up even a little, I will have to start over if I want an accurate mix. Equally as important for accuracy is Nic. If I'm off +.04 then I scrap it. Pg and vg is usually a larger number and less susceptible to small errors and having to start over so they go last.

Just my way. Aint saying its right or wrong, just what I find most efficient.

I mix in the same order, except I add PG last to clean out the funnel.

 

[ShowerHead]

I mix VG, PG, Nic, Flavors.

No particular reason, but the baby formula stirrer I use mixes quite well, I give a little extra attention to the bottom, so if a bit of VG isn't 100%, it's different than if the flavor or nic was not 100%.
Just by coincidence, that is also heaviest to lightest.
Again, no special/scientific reason. Just the way I mix.

 

[Alter]

My theory behind the way I mix using a magnetic mixer is PG then flavor(s) mix a few minutes then add the VG mix a hour or more. Next day add the nic then mix again. All the flavoring I use are PG based so scaling the PG and flavoring then mixing making sure the flavors are well mixed in the smaller amount of liquid(PG) before adding the larger amount of liquid(VG). The mix usually bubbles up with gazillions of micro bubbles after mixing(I don't know how they all get into the mix)so I think adding the nic with all those bubbles would give the oxidation of the nic a unnecessary kick start. The bubbles all dissipate after sitting usually overnight, then add the nic and mix slower not to add unneeded air into the mix.

 

[IDJoel]

Early in my DIY journey I was using a couple of ingredients that were making my mixes cloudy. Someone pointed me to one of Bill's Magic Vapor blogs (on the subject); where he suggests mixing all PG based ingredients first, followed by VG. It worked... no more cloudy mixes. It is just habit now and I still mix that way today. Flavors first, followed by PG, a quick vigorous mix, then add my VG based nic and another quick vigorous mix (my rationale is; that this is as thin as my VG dominant recipe is going to be, so start the nic dilution while it is easiest... though I have NO CLUE whether it does one iota of good!), and finally the VG followed by a thorough mix. Now it is all just habit, and I doubt it has any serious advantage over any other method. But, I like my results, and that is all that matters to me.

 

[MsLoud]

I mix flavors, nic then my VG (I don't add additional PG). I have my mls marked on my bottle so after I'm done with the flavors and nic on the scale - I pour the VG to the marked line and I'm done.
The reason I do this is because when I did my first mixing by weight, I knew something was wrong. I had waaay less total juice in the bottle than when I was mixing using syringes/beakers.
Figured out because VG weighs more - I admit I should have realized this or at least researched but I didn't. So now I mark the bottle for the total MLs I'm going for so I know I hit my target....lol
Whatever works, right?

Sent from my 5049W using Tapatalk

 

[DaveP]

I mix flavors, nic then my VG (I don't add additional PG). I have my mls marked on my bottle so after I'm done with the flavors and nic on the scale - I pour the VG to the marked line and I'm done.
The reason I do this is because when I did my first mixing by weight, I knew something was wrong. I had waaay less total juice in the bottle than when I was mixing using syringes/beakers.
Figured out because VG weighs more - I admit I should have realized this or at least researched but I didn't. So now I mark the bottle for the total MLs I'm going for so I know I hit my target....lol
Whatever works, right?

Sent from my 5049W using Tapatalk

I've always used a recipe calculator and filled in the baseline weights of the ingredients before first use. But, what the heck ... if it vapes well and tastes good it's good juice!

You could mark the ingredient levels on the bottle as you add using the calculator and create a calibrated bottle for any particular mix. Wrap the bottle with clear packaging tape and the markings are good as long as the tape remains intact. I do that with disposable syringes and the markings stay clean and clear.

 

[ShamrockPat]

You could mark the ingredient levels on the bottle as you add using the calculator and create a calibrated bottle for any particular mix

While I have done this on a 500ml bottle of unflavored for a neighbor, it would be impossible for most recipes. Heck, I've even seen a sub 2% concentrate recipe that had at least 4 different flavors.

 

[dobroeutro]

Shortly after starting to DIY my e-juice, I picked up a SF-400D2 scale. It didn't come with calibration weights. Sometime later, I decided to order the required weights. After receiving, I placed them on the scale to test, & both weights were right on target. Right or wrong, I didn't bother to go through the calibration process and have never calibrated my scale. I occasionally re-check by placing the weights on the scale. They have consistently registered the same. Although accuracy is important, for me, repeat-ability is my main concern. My results tell me, I have that. I vape lots of different things & I rarely make anything larger than 60ml @ a time. I mix 70/30 VG/PG so for me, it's nic, PG, flavors, shake then VG & shake again before storing away. As always, YRMV...

 

[DaveP]

While I have done this on a 500ml bottle of unflavored for a neighbor, it would be impossible for most recipes. Heck, I've even seen a sub 2% concentrate recipe that had at least 4 different flavors.

Yeah, the tape method would only be good for a particular recipe. That bottle would be dedicated to refilling for repeated mixing. Most of my recipes are single flavor tobaccos.

In my DIY box with all my ingredients I have printed recipes for flavor percentages and bottle sizes that I frequently use with EjuiceMeUp. I just grab the 5% or the 7% for Hangsen and go to work with the bottle on the scale. For my Flavourarts I grab the 1% or 2% mix sheet. That works well with flavors that I mix almost every time I DIY.

 

[MsLoud]

I've always used a recipe calculator and filled in the baseline weights of the ingredients before first use. But, what the heck ... if it vapes well and tastes good it's good juice!

You could mark the ingredient levels on the bottle as you add using the calculator and create a calibrated bottle for any particular mix. Wrap the bottle with clear packaging tape and the markings are good as long as the tape remains intact. I do that with disposable syringes and the markings stay clean and clear.

Oh. I only mark for the VG. Haha it did look confusing when I went back and re-read it.

Sent from my 5049W using Tapatalk

 

[DaveP]

I finally bottled my 2 liters of nic this morning after a year at room temp in the original LDPE bottles. It's oxidized, but I don't sense much throat hit at all at 3mg mix strength.

 

[sonicdsl]

Whoa... where'd everyone go??

Anyway, I finally got into mixing by weight, and had to thank @Capt.shay for his work here! I had seen this thread not long after he started it, but wasn't DIY-ing at the time, so I didn't recall it when I finally got into DIY Recently I came across a video on YT in the DIY or DIE channel about mixing by weight, and watching that rung a bell in my mind about this thread. After watching that video, and reading the first few pages of this thread, I ordered the SF-400D scale and a couple of bags of pipettes from Amazon, and have already mixed a few bottles. SOOOO much easier (for me)! So thanks Capt. and the others in here (I've read the entire thread now and enjoying DIY once again)!

Early in my DIY journey I was using a couple of ingredients that were making my mixes cloudy. Someone pointed me to one of Bill's Magic Vapor blogs (on the subject); where he suggests mixing all PG based ingredients first, followed by VG. It worked... no more cloudy mixes. It is just habit now and I still mix that way today. Flavors first, followed by PG, a quick vigorous mix, then add my VG based nic and another quick vigorous mix (my rationale is; that this is as thin as my VG dominant recipe is going to be, so start the nic dilution while it is easiest... though I have NO CLUE whether it does one iota of good!), and finally the VG followed by a thorough mix. Now it is all just habit, and I doubt it has any serious advantage over any other method. But, I like my results, and that is all that matters to me.

In the aforementioned video at DIY or DIE, Wayne mentioned this same method, flavors then PG, shake/swirl, then add the nic & VG, followed by the final shake, etc. Works just swell IMO!

 

[DaveP]

One of these is a great way to thoroughly mix new juices without shaking. The mixing wheel is 3/8" diameter if you want to check that it fits in your bottle neck. If you shake your mixes and like lots of bubbles it will do that in spades if you raise it up to the top of the liquid level and back and forth down into the mix. This thing can create a foamy mix of tiny bubbles that settles out to clear in a few minutes. If you don't want bubbles, keep it submerged 1/4" or more beneath the top of the liquid. $10.99 at Amazon.

Thanks to Fozzy71 for telling us about it.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BROV02/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1