Mixing By Weight: Basics 101

[corn flakes]

Was it any where near? How was it different? Sweeter not sweet enough. VBIC has a bit of a sharp note in the background, almost a very light cinnamon or super light pepper. Is that present in the store bought.

The store bought was undoubtedly a mix of several flavors. The store description is weak at best (much like Vanilla Ice). Your going to have to give us some more direction in what you are trying to achieve here.

My first mixes were with TFA and Cap at 8% Didn't like the TFa. My taste buds are shot so it will be a trial, I have
Vanilla Bean Gelato Flavor by TFA / TPA
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream Flavor by FlavorWest
Vanilla Ice Cream Flavor By Liquid Barn
Vanilla Swirl Flavor by TFA / TPA

All steeping right now

 

[tokarev]

I use the LB-501 and I haven't seen any evidence that it auto-zeros. If I add one drop at a time and wait in between it doesn't "stay" at zero. I think it just needs a certain weight to "wake it up". After the first 2-3 drops it "wakes up" and registers normally from then on. Since everything I have measured (so far) requires more than 2-3 drops it hasn't been a problem. My only complaint (and not that big of a deal) is that it takes 15-30 seconds to "settle down" when I finish adding an ingredient. I don't have any other scales to compare it with though.

 

[Kenna]

Uhmmm...weighing ingredients individually? Y'all are making me want to send the scale back. This is sounding a lot more involved than originally described. What happened to turn on the scale, set a bottle on it, drip, & tare?

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[tokarev]

Uhmmm...weighing ingredients individually? Y'all are making me want to send the scale back. This is sounding a lot more involved than originally described. What happened to turn on the scale, set a bottle on it, drip, & tare?

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I don't do that. I don't have the time. Precision is good but consistency is the key. I found some references online and made some minor adjustments in my calculator to the weights for PG and VG and left the flavors at the default setting. My nic base is 100% PG so I just count it as pure PG. I figure there will be some variations but they will be consistent so it won't make any difference in the long run.

 

[ghola1was]

...consistency is the key.

I believe there was a term used earlier in this thread that may apply here, "bucket chemistry".

 

[Capt.shay]

My first mixes were with TFA and Cap at 8% Didn't like the TFa. My taste buds are shot so it will be a trial, I have
Vanilla Bean Gelato Flavor by TFA / TPA
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream Flavor by FlavorWest
Vanilla Ice Cream Flavor By Liquid Barn
Vanilla Swirl Flavor by TFA / TPA

All steeping right now

Mixed as stand alone they probably wont change a lot. You still haven't mentioned more on the flavor profile. We kind of need to know just what it is you are looking for.

Just off of what you have given so far and in that you don't like the sharp note in the TFA VBIC, I would try work with flavor west VBIC. I haven't had any of this in stock for a couple of years but from what I recall, I would try creaming it up and see what you get.

Try something like:

FW VBIC 12%
Cheese cake Regular 5%
Bavarian Cream 3%
Sweet Cream 3%
Vanilla Custard 2%

 

[MikeADore]

Uhmmm...weighing ingredients individually? Y'all are making me want to send the scale back. This is sounding a lot more involved than originally described. What happened to turn on the scale, set a bottle on it, drip, & tare?

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I do it exactly as you said. I'm tootling along happy as a lark.

 

[Capt.shay]

Uhmmm...weighing ingredients individually? Y'all are making me want to send the scale back. This is sounding a lot more involved than originally described. What happened to turn on the scale, set a bottle on it, drip, & tare?

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Well Yes, tare-drip (weigh). Naturally, you have to do it for each individual ingredient but we do it all in the same bottle.

 

[Kenna]

Well Yes, tare-drip (weigh). Naturally, you have to do it for each individual ingredient but we do it all in the same bottle.

Understood. So what about weighing each flavor & your pg & vg to see what they actually weigh? And drops not showing up until you've done several & then suddenly it reads 1 drop. Is it that essential to be that accurate? What is a drop or 2 to a mix anyway?

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[Mactavish]

Understood. So what about weighing each flavor & your pg & vg to see what they actually weigh? And drops not showing up until you've done several & then suddenly it reads 1 drop. Is it that essential to be that accurate? What is a drop or 2 to a mix anyway?

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I use the website that one can't mention here, I keep all my recipes there, and once you enter in the brand and flavor, as well as your PG and VG, and NIC, the proper adjusted weights of those liquids is done for you. VG obviously weighs more then water, and all those calculations are done for you, if you enter the info from the start. For our use, that's about as accurate as you are going to get at this level.

As far as the AWS 501 scale, for the CHEAP price, it works great. Mine registers drops, granted you sometimes have to wait a second or two for it to update, but again for the price, I don't expect lab grade. And it did come with an AC adapter, but I don't use it, since I made the simple good practice habit of hitting the tare button before my next measurement. So it doesn't matter if it goes to sleep or turns off.

 

[tokarev]

Understood. So what about weighing each flavor & your pg & vg to see what they actually weigh? And drops not showing up until you've done several & then suddenly it reads 1 drop. Is it that essential to be that accurate? What is a drop or 2 to a mix anyway?

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When I described the LB-501 scale as "waking up" I didn't mean that I thought it was ignoring the first few drops. I think it measures the first 2-4 drops accurately, it just doesn't show up on the display until some threshold is passed. When it does show up it is usually around 0.03 - 0.05 grams, which I believe would be correct for the 2-4 drops just added.

And no, I don't think it's essential to be that accurate. I think consistency is more important than precision here. Otherwise we'd all be shopping for $1000 lab scales.

 

[Kenna]

When I described the LB-501 scale as "waking up" I didn't mean that I thought it was ignoring the first few drops. I think it measures the first 2-4 drops accurately, it just doesn't show up on the display until some threshold is passed. When it does show up it is usually around 0.03 - 0.05 grams, which I believe would be correct for the 2-4 drops just added.

And no, I don't think it's essential to be that accurate. I think consistency is more important than precision here. Otherwise we'd all be shopping for $1000 lab scales.

Thanks for clarifying!

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[Capt.shay]

Thanks for clarifying!

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Oh Sweety, you'll do just fine. The pre-sets in your calculator should take care of the numbers after you enter the ingredients and set it to weight. I also have a lot of them posted in the second post of this thread. For a 60ml 6mg 70/30 of the Captains finest the numbers are 1.87 1.87 3.74 3.74nic. 7.49pg top off the bottle with VG.

Now go plug that scale in and mix a batch so you can tell us how much you like using a scale

 

[Kenna]

LOL! I'll be back home tonight & need to mix one of my adv's, so it will definately happen tomorrow!

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[DaveP]

I have no issues with the LB-501. Since the discussions here about single drop wakeup I've made sure to drop more than that at a time, which I usually do anyway since I'm using glass droppers for Nic, squeeze bottles for PG and VG, and the dropper bottles for flavorings.

Even if you were a drop off on each component added it probably wouldn't be detectable in the vape. I usually go over a fraction of a gram on my nic to make sure it's at least what I intended.

 

[mhertz]

I'm really happy about this thread btw I thought I haden't anything to learn about this, but now I have learned that my 2000g scale didn't was faulty and unusable, but just "suffered" from the auto-zeroing issue described here several times and with proper fixes I just retired it from the "just-in-case/later-speculation" box i've ditched it in and have to check it, but from the sounds of it i'm sure it's reminiscent. Thanks fellows!

I don't really have use for such big capacity though, as I have begun to just measure nic, DW and possible PG and flavoring(for others) and then just top off with VG, so I e.g. easily can make my ADV in a liter bottle with just a 500g scale, but nonetheless... (It was a very cheap scale with 0.05g precison for up to 1000g and 0.1g for from 1000 to 2000g, but in such big amounts, 0.05 - 0.1g precision is perfectly adequate imho.)

 

[Rule62]

I have a fairly quick system, which doesn't always even require a calculator, especially for one or two flavor mixes. It does involve weighing and writing down the weights of some of my ingredients. But this only has to be done once.
I make my unflavored nic base at 8mg/ml. 80VG/20PG. I make 250ml or so at a time.
I've recorded the weight of my base at 1.19g per ml.
Most flavors that I use weigh between 1.03g and 1.06g per ml. If they are PG based.
If the flavoring is more VG based, as are some of the OSDIY blends, they will be heavier. I've weighed the ones I use, and written them down. For example, OSDIY Blue Raspberry Slush is 67% VG. It weighs 1.15g per ml.
If I'm experimenting with a flavor I'm unfamiliar with, I'll weigh it, and write it down in my notebook.
I weigh flavors by using a 10ml graduated cylinder, filling it to 10ml, and dividing the weight by 10 (minus the tare weight of the cylinder of course).
It seems complicated, but it's not. It's just a matter of keeping records. I don't always even use a calculator. I just add up the weights.

 

[mhertz]

That's fine the above instructions, but personally I wouldn't go through the trouble of weighing individual ingredients. Not because it's hard job or anything, as it's obviously not, but it's just irrelevant imho what the exact weight is, since we're after repeatability not precision imho. Using a constant variable of 1 for flavoring for instance will make the exact same recipe with exact same amounts, no matter if using 1 or 1.15 per the example of ras-slush above(I mean when the recipe is perfected and amounts have been determined appropriate). Granted if following recipes online, then it can be relevant, but that first mix you make from instructions online is also just a tester imho, and then you adjust up/down in next mix untill you find your own preference with regards to potency of different flavorings. Anyways, that is the reason I wouldn't bother with it, though I respect others doing it obviously (Also, I personally prefer doing math instead of weighing ingredients, e.g. when I changed nicbase which included 20% DW in the 72mg/ml nic, which didn't have a predefined value to lookup. I didn't need to calculate it, per the above conclusion, but just did it anyways)

 

[Rule62]

That's fine the above instructions, but personally I wouldn't go through the trouble of weighing individual ingredients. Not because it's hard job or anything, as it's obviously not, but it's just irrelevant imho what the exact weight is, since we're after repeatability not precision imho. Using a constant variable of 1 for flavoring for instance will make the exact same recipe with exact same amounts, no matter if using 1 or 1.15 per the example of ras-slush above(I mean when the recipe is perfected and amounts have been determined appropriate). Granted if following recipes online, then it can be relevant, but that first mix you make from instructions online is also just a tester imho, and then you adjust up/down in next mix untill you find your own preference with regards to potency of different flavorings. Anyways, that is the reason I wouldn't bother with it, though I respect others doing it obviously

I agree with you. I just enjoy fooling around with that stuff, is the only reason I do it.
But, you're right. The whole idea of mixing by weight is repeatability; plus the added advantage of not having to do as much clean up.

 

[mhertz]

Cheers mate! I fully understand the fooling around part also... That's the reason I enjoy calculating things just for the hell of it.