need help from the vets please

[Kaedinsdad]

Ok all ive been only trying diy for a few days now and i know it takes awhile to get good at these things but i need help to start out. Im buying tfa flavors and vg/pg from wizlabs but i had to order nic from rts is that ok?
2nd wow im bad at mixing i have made about 5 different juices and one was ok but after a few days its losing its flavor fast anything to help with that.
3rd the ones that i have throw away as just plain bad. Im using 5% per flavor and only mixing 2 flavers to start with right now. Is flavoring a subject to taste thing add more if its not strong? Im also using the sample bottle of sweetener they gave me with my first order from wizlabs. Using 1 drop per 10ml not enough?
4th steeping How long to steep???? any way to speed it up?
5th carmel whys it not taste like carmel??
im sry for all the questions i just want to be able to DIY cause im over paying juice prices specially cause I vape 4 or 5 different flavors threw out the day

 

[ukeman]

tagging this thread to get some answers myself to your questions... new at DIY juice.

the TFA thread shows percentages for all the different juices...
but i'd think that if they lose flavor then maybe you should be doing 10-20% ?

This DIY takes time and gear; i mean i plan to try a bunch of different combinations and variety of brands of the same flavors, and figure i'll have to use like 5 -10 mil bottles to make samples....

i think steeping will be a few days for those that need it. those that do usually don't taste "like" what you want at first.

 

[SirSteve]

I have some RTS nic and it is fine, hard to get nic from Wizard Labs sometimes.

When juice sits it tends to blend together more, kind of like chili. You shouldn't be losing the flavor completely though. Also many people go through a phase when nothing taste good, or find that vaping a lot causes what they call vapers tongue, nothing has any flavor or tastes right. Drinking a lot of water when new can help this, as does switching flavors. I have heard that Altoid mints help too, but I haven't tried that.

10% total is what many of us aim for, or at least in that range. However it is subjective and many flavors need to sit for a week or more to reach their full potential. Some people use 15 to 20%, however too much flavor can strangely make a juice seem tasteless.

People have various ways to speed up steeping, from warm water to ultrasonic cleaners, I can't comment on this because I have never done this. But rest assured someone will come along who has.

Not sure about the caramel, WL has a few different types of caramel. I only use it at a low percentage with tobacco flavors. The sweetener you could probably try a little more, I just got mine Friday and haven't tried it yet. I have been using the Cotton Candy, (EM) at 1 to 2%, but the sweetener is supposed to be sweeter according to TFA's website.

Some of the others may want to know what flavors you have, and how you have been mixing them. I just recently started experiment with fruit and dessert flavors, I have been using mostly Tobaccos with a few other flavors to round them out.

I hope someone chimes in soon with better info than I have provided, and I know what you mean about juice prices. Best of luck.

 

[SouthernBliss]

Im buying tfa flavors and vg/pg from wizlabs but i had to order nic from rts is that ok?

People seem to like it from both places.

2nd wow im bad at mixing i have made about 5 different juices and one was ok but after a few days its losing its flavor fast anything to help with that.

There is a thread already active about flavor loss. You may want to read that and see what the current thinking is.

3rd the ones that i have throw away as just plain bad. Im using 5% per flavor and only mixing 2 flavers to start with right now.

Don't throw them away until l you have steeped them several weeks at least. Flavors change and meld. Even then you may be able to save them once you know more about what your doing.

Is flavoring a subject to taste thing add more if its not strong? Im also using the sample bottle of sweetener they gave me with my first order from wizlabs. Using 1 drop per 10ml not enough?

5% for some flavors is too high and for some flavors 15% may be too low. Did you look at the big TFA thread with all the percentages to see what others are doing with them? Take that as a general idea and start a teeny bit lower. If I am using sweetener it is because I want the mix to taste sweet. Generally I go 1-2% in a mix to start with sweetener and may add more if it still isn't sweet enough. That said not every flavoring needs an additional sweet component. It very much depends on the flavoring. For example espresso isn't sweet at all and I like sweet coffee so the espresso would get some sweetener. Strawberry ripe on the other hand is already sweet like a real strawberry so I don't add any sweetener or EM to that mix.

4th steeping How long to steep???? any way to speed it up?

It varies. Fruits and mints are often ready right away, some bakeries need only a day or two. Others may need a week or two and tobaccos can take a month or more.

5th carmel whys it not taste like carmel??

Caramels taste different. At its core caramel is really only cooked up sugar. But when you buy caramel they can be anything from a hard candy to creamy goo. Caramel on its own isn't wildly exciting as flavors go. It likes a little vanilla and something buttery or creamy to fill it out to what most people expect from a caramel.


Forgot speeding up steeping. There are scads of threads about it but the most common ways to speed things up are warm water baths and ulta sonic cleaners (because they vibrate the liquid).

 

[Kaedinsdad]

when you save 1-2% sweetner do you mean leave 1-2% of something out and keep it at 100% total. sorry thats seems like a stupid question

 

[boomerdude]

Perhaps if you told us which flavors of juice your trying to end up with we could point you to some recipes. Are you looking for fruit, bakery, tobacco?

 

[FinallyQuit]

Don't get too hung up on what the total flavor percentage is, just save a headache. I have one liquid that's 5% total flavor and there's 4 in the mix. I have a favorite that's over 33% flavoring.

Use each flavor at it's best percentage, ie you have 3 flavors in the mix and sweetener. 5% of flavor 1, 2% of flavor 2, and 12% of flavor 3 with 2% sweetener. That's 21% total flavoring.

What calculator are you using?

Oh, and how are you measuring your flavors? Using a 1ml syringe is the best for me.

 

[Kaedinsdad]

im looking for a barkery tobacco but haven't tried any yet.
Right now im doing fruit with some crust
I have only tried 5% each flavor and doing only 2 flavors cause im not wanting to mess with more then 2 yet

 

[SouthernBliss]

The 1-2% is out of the total mix.

With most TFA flavorings I start at 10% and then move up or down based on that. But before I do anything I check for suggested percentages. For example the suggested percent for pie crust is 12%. Now pie crust sounds tricky to me and I'd want to know just what that is really bringing to the table before I got started with it. I'd likely do a very small mix that was just pg/vg of the pie crust at 10% to see what it really tasted like before I tried to figure out how to mix it in. I'd do a similar small test with my fruit as well to see if it was sweet and how strong it was. If they both seemed nice at 10 percent then I'd do a test mix with them each at 7% each to see which flavor was coming out on top. That test I would do minor adjustments to with drops to add which ever component was to low. That is a bit sketchy but it will give me a general idea of where I need to be strength wise for a "real" test batch.

 

[SonHouse]

It's also not a bad idea to back off for a bit. A lot of times I'll be paying so much attention to a juice I'm mixing I think it's terrible. Come back to it a few days later when with a fresh palate and I'm not as focused on details and they can be surprisingly good or make new ideas pop up.

 

[boomerdude]

You might try this if you have the flavors. Heat, shake, let sit for 24 hrs. then give it a try.

For 6 mls.

Drop ratio is 36 drps per ml.

7 drps - Black & Mild
3 drps - EM
2 drps - Coconut
2 drp - Banana
1 drp - Graham Cracker
1 drp - Butterscotch

im looking for a barkery tobacco but haven't tried any yet.
Right now im doing fruit with some crust
I have only tried 5% each flavor and doing only 2 flavors cause im not wanting to mess with more then 2 yet

 

[Kaedinsdad]

You might try this if you have the flavors. Heat, shake, let sit for 24 hrs. then give it a try.

For 6 mls.

Drop ratio is 36 drps per ml.

7 drps - Black & Mild
3 drps - EM
2 drps - Coconut
2 drp - Banana
1 drp - Graham Cracker
1 drp - Butterscotch

ty for the info ill have to try that one