Disclaimer: I'm not a chemist. If you follow this method, you're on your own. I'm not responsible if you hurt yourself.
I've worked out a nice method to get not one, but two potent 100% VG menthol drop solutions in one recipe. It's a little long to make but I think the results are worth it. Note that this is my first attempt at making juice flavoring, so please forgive me if the recipe is obvious to you experienced juice makers
1/ Things to know
- Pure menthol is a solid (crystal) under 100F / 38C and a liquid above that temperature.
- Menthol dissolves readily in alcohol (ethanol), but very little in glycerin.
- Alcohol/menthol solutions melt at a lower temperature than pure menthol.
- Liquid menthol is less dense than glycerin.
With that in mind, the recipe is about getting as much menthol to dissolve in glycering as possible, to get the strongest mentholated VG possible with nothing else added to it, and the highest concentration mentholated alcohol solution possible, to use sparingly with other ingredients.
2/ Things you need
- 3 clean 30 ml dropper bottles
- 5 g menthol crystals
- 15 ml glycerine
- rectified alcohol (Everclear)
- A kettle
- A small glass
3/ Recipe
- Pour some alcohol in a dropper bottle. You don't need much, but you do need to be able to deliver measured drops of alcohol.
- Put the 15 ml of glycerine in another dropper bottle and add the 5 g of menthol crystals to it. Nothing will happen at room temperature: the crystals will just sit in the glycerine.
- Put the dropper bottle in the glass, and pour boiling water in the glass to cover roughly half of the bottle. Don't let the boiling water touch the plastic cap, else it will soften the plastic! Let the menthol crystals melt.
- Once melted, you'll have two liquids stacked inside the bottle: the bottom liquid is glycerin, the top liquid is menthol.
- Remove the bottle from the hot water. Hold it between two fingers and shake it until the emulsion cools into a white crystaline mass. That takes a few minutes.
- Put the bottle back into boiling water to melt and separate the liquids again, remove, shake until it crystalized again. Do that 3 or 4 times. Yes, it's long an annoying.
- Melt and separate the liquids once more in hot water, open the bottle, add 20 drops of alcohol, close the bottle quickly, shake well for a minute, and let the emulsion sit for a while. This time the menthol will crystalize but it'll take a lot longer.
- Take the bottle in your hand and breathe on it to warm it up. This time it should be enough to melt the menthol back into a liquid. Add 5 drops of alcohol, shake, let it sit. The liquids should separate, and the bottle should go back to room temperature in 10/15 minutes.
- If the menthol still crystalizes at room temperature, warm up the bottle in your hands to remelt it, add another 5 drops of alcohol, shake and let it sit. Do that and slowly add drops of alcohol until the top part stays fully liquid at room temperature. Let it sit overnight to make sure no crystals reappear.
What you have at this point is highly concentrated mentholated alcohol solution, sitting on top of VG that's saturated in menthol (as much as it's able to dissolve), roughly half-and-half. To separate them:
- Screw the dropper onto the bottle, slowly tilt the bottle upside down, rest it against something so it stays upright and let it sit for 10/15 minutes
- Drain the bottom liquid with the dripper into a clean bottle. Stop 1 or 2 mmm before the VG/menthol interface. That's your pure mentholated VG.
- Drain the interface (into another bottle if you want to save it, down the sink otherwise) until none of it seems to remain, and then some. What remains in the bottle is the concentrated mentholated alcohol solution.
4/ Using the liquids
- The mentholated VG is very flavorful and quite strong, but not overly so. You can vape it as-is and it'll give you quite a kick in the face though. I tried using a few drops of it in an apple-flavored juice, and it really brightens it up without drowning the apple taste in menthol.
- The concentrated mentholated alcohol solution is, well, concentrated I smeared some on my finger, then touched my lips, and the burning sensation lasted for half an hour. I tried using one drop in 1 ml of slightly dead menthol-flavored juice and it resuscitated the juice alright. Holy moly! A little goes a long way.
I've worked out a nice method to get not one, but two potent 100% VG menthol drop solutions in one recipe. It's a little long to make but I think the results are worth it. Note that this is my first attempt at making juice flavoring, so please forgive me if the recipe is obvious to you experienced juice makers
1/ Things to know
- Pure menthol is a solid (crystal) under 100F / 38C and a liquid above that temperature.
- Menthol dissolves readily in alcohol (ethanol), but very little in glycerin.
- Alcohol/menthol solutions melt at a lower temperature than pure menthol.
- Liquid menthol is less dense than glycerin.
With that in mind, the recipe is about getting as much menthol to dissolve in glycering as possible, to get the strongest mentholated VG possible with nothing else added to it, and the highest concentration mentholated alcohol solution possible, to use sparingly with other ingredients.
2/ Things you need
- 3 clean 30 ml dropper bottles
- 5 g menthol crystals
- 15 ml glycerine
- rectified alcohol (Everclear)
- A kettle
- A small glass
3/ Recipe
- Pour some alcohol in a dropper bottle. You don't need much, but you do need to be able to deliver measured drops of alcohol.
- Put the 15 ml of glycerine in another dropper bottle and add the 5 g of menthol crystals to it. Nothing will happen at room temperature: the crystals will just sit in the glycerine.
- Put the dropper bottle in the glass, and pour boiling water in the glass to cover roughly half of the bottle. Don't let the boiling water touch the plastic cap, else it will soften the plastic! Let the menthol crystals melt.
- Once melted, you'll have two liquids stacked inside the bottle: the bottom liquid is glycerin, the top liquid is menthol.
- Remove the bottle from the hot water. Hold it between two fingers and shake it until the emulsion cools into a white crystaline mass. That takes a few minutes.
- Put the bottle back into boiling water to melt and separate the liquids again, remove, shake until it crystalized again. Do that 3 or 4 times. Yes, it's long an annoying.
- Melt and separate the liquids once more in hot water, open the bottle, add 20 drops of alcohol, close the bottle quickly, shake well for a minute, and let the emulsion sit for a while. This time the menthol will crystalize but it'll take a lot longer.
- Take the bottle in your hand and breathe on it to warm it up. This time it should be enough to melt the menthol back into a liquid. Add 5 drops of alcohol, shake, let it sit. The liquids should separate, and the bottle should go back to room temperature in 10/15 minutes.
- If the menthol still crystalizes at room temperature, warm up the bottle in your hands to remelt it, add another 5 drops of alcohol, shake and let it sit. Do that and slowly add drops of alcohol until the top part stays fully liquid at room temperature. Let it sit overnight to make sure no crystals reappear.
What you have at this point is highly concentrated mentholated alcohol solution, sitting on top of VG that's saturated in menthol (as much as it's able to dissolve), roughly half-and-half. To separate them:
- Screw the dropper onto the bottle, slowly tilt the bottle upside down, rest it against something so it stays upright and let it sit for 10/15 minutes
- Drain the bottom liquid with the dripper into a clean bottle. Stop 1 or 2 mmm before the VG/menthol interface. That's your pure mentholated VG.
- Drain the interface (into another bottle if you want to save it, down the sink otherwise) until none of it seems to remain, and then some. What remains in the bottle is the concentrated mentholated alcohol solution.
4/ Using the liquids
- The mentholated VG is very flavorful and quite strong, but not overly so. You can vape it as-is and it'll give you quite a kick in the face though. I tried using a few drops of it in an apple-flavored juice, and it really brightens it up without drowning the apple taste in menthol.
- The concentrated mentholated alcohol solution is, well, concentrated
I smeared some on my finger, then touched my lips, and the burning sensation lasted for half an hour. I tried using one drop in 1 ml of slightly dead menthol-flavored juice and it resuscitated the juice alright. Holy moly! A little goes a long way.
