what is the correct method for steeping new ejuice?and what benefits are achieved by doing so?
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I'm sure that there are others that will chime in as well but here's my take. If your juice has been recently made, then it may be a good idea to just let it sit for a while, to age, so to speak. I don't think steeping is even the right word, it's more like letting wine sit to allow for the flavor to come out more. I've also found that shaking helps accelerate this process. What you are looking for is for your juice to become more flavorful over time. Some people remove the tops to speed this up and I guess that probably does work but it's nothing I bother with. It will "steep" just fine with the cap on.
Ideally, you want to have a pretty large assortment of juice like many of us do and then there's no need to worry about letting some sit for a while and age
Ideally, you want to have a pretty large assortment of juice like many of us do and then there's no need to worry about letting some sit for a while and age
Yeah, "steeping" is one of the more persistent misnomers in the world of e-cigs. I think "aging" more accurately describes the process. The flavors mingle and mellow out over time, and I've had some juices that were downright repulsive out of the mail, but turned into great flavors with time. The method I use is to shake it up when I first get it, and then take off the cap to let it breathe for an hour or two. Then I put the cap back on for a day or two and repeat. This is really just a ritual, and everybody who steeps probably has their own method, but I wouldn't leave the cap off for days like some people do because it seems like you're asking bacteria to join the party at that point. And to make matters more complicated, some juices take longer to steep than others, and some juices do not appear to need steeping at all. The color will change as it steeps, and from what I understand, this is the nicotine oxidizing.
The method I use is to take the cap off for a day and let sit. Then put cap on, shake like crazy and let sit for another day. Then take cap off for an hour or so...put cap back on and shake again then basically repeat this step for about a week to two weeks. Although it seems tedious it works out well for me. There are lots of methods though. You'll have to find what best works for you. Hope that helps.
For what it's worth, I saw on Vaperite.com that they will be selling pre-steeped juices soon.
For what it's worth, I saw on Vaperite.com that they will be selling pre-steeped juices soon.
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My method is to try it right out of the mailbox. If it's good, I vape it. If it's not, I throw it in a drawer and try it a week later. If you take the top off, some of the nicotine will slowly evaporate. If it's not any better, it probably won't ever be. Give it another week if you insist.
I mix my new juice and need too steep the two flavors together for it too taste right , i did the hot water steep as suggested on here, and the smell from the bottle was twice it was before hand , and the taste was just right , only after an hour of hot water bath .. i geuss you could call it speed aging ..lol
Basically, you take the juice from your mailbox that you want to 'steep', and you let it sit in a cool, dark space like a closet (I have a special closet that houses *only* my juice) for a couple of weeks. Every day at some point you go in and you vigorously shake your juice bottles, and that's it. Some people take the tops off, but I don't believe in letting air in them. I want the molecules in the juice alone to mix, not oxygenate them.
I think that's a bit backwards, the Nic isnt going to get hurt or evaporate so much, but if the flavoring is an alcohol base some of the alcohol will evaporate, this will help your juice steep some leaving the cap off so that alcohol evaporates out of the bottle some.
I mix and actually heat all my components together accept for the Nic, once I have everything done and the juice is back to room temp then I add my Nic, shake, shake, and shake some more, and let it steep. Works very well for me
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Actually a vendor (as soon as I find it, I'll post it) is doing an experiment with nicotine evaporation. It does evaporate.
I'm sure that there are others that will chime in as well but here's my take. If your juice has been recently made, then it may be a good idea to just let it sit for a while, to age, so to speak. I don't think steeping is even the right word, it's more like letting wine sit to allow for the flavor to come out more. I've also found that shaking helps accelerate this process. What you are looking for is for your juice to become more flavorful over time. Some people remove the tops to speed this up and I guess that probably does work but it's nothing I bother with. It will "steep" just fine with the cap on.
Ideally, you want to have a pretty large assortment of juice like many of us do and then there's no need to worry about letting some sit for a while and age
Yea, I try to order at least a week ahead of time rather I need the juice or not so not only do I run out, but it gets about a week to just sit around. I have heard all the stuff about people putting it in their closet with no cap for a week, then with a cap another week, so on and so on. Personally I usually have juice I have never tried that I want to and I can't wait that damn long to try it! Lol. And sometimes I hit it right out of the bottle and it's fine. Other times I have noticed that I didn't like something right away, but after it sat it tasted real good. But then recently I had a juice (Mt. Dew) that was amazing right out of the gate, but seemed to get so bad as it sat rather I vaped it regularly or not that I eventually threw it away. Don't know if I got a bad or old batch, but I think most "shelf lives" on this stuff should be like 2 years. But maybe not.
-CC-my avatar is Uranus
CC, if someone has a juice that's older than six months, they obviously don't like it. Could be time for them to go to the PIF section of this forum and give it to someone who might really like it.
Water will evaporate, anything will evaporate base234, but leaving the cap off for a day or so will NOT change the MG of the Nic, or hurt it,, or the juice, that was my point, they can do any experiment they want, though you may be referring to the madvapes experiment I'm not sure, but in my almost 3yrs of vaping, I think I've done enough steeping in my days and experiments. Steeping brings everything together, that's that, leaving the bottle top off will also allow an alcohol flavoring base to evaporate some of the alcohol. not much more to the story I think, it is what it is, let me know how Nicotine evaporates please to when ya find out please,,, I have Nic that is almost 3yrs old, some that is 2 yrs old, and some that is 1yr old Nic MG is Nic MG, ya if you left the lid off for 2-3 yrs or a very long long time it will lower just a tad, but not leaving the bottle top of for a day or two, just no way, and storing it in the freezer it stays the same MG as well
2yrs is a long time, I wouldnt be vaping any juice thats that old myself,,, once any of my juice hits over that 6-7 month mark it gets drained, the flavoring and additives just do things to it that make it not so good at some point, also depends whats in the juice, some last longer then others but after that 6-7 month mark mine goes bye bye, I have seen some last a little longer, but not much, I just dont buy into that 2yr thing I've tried some that was 1-yr and it was Gross, especially if it is stored in a plastic bottle it will go bad before a glass bottle too, Glass is where its at to store juice in every way as well.
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I think the best term for this would be to let it "Ferment". This is commonly used when you allow for wine to in other words cook, with added ingredients like sugar, grape juice and yeast. there is also a top cap that "Peculates" allowing for the air to escape from the jar or barrel.
Ok, first let me play mum a moment. DIY Juice making is not what I would recommend for a beginner, nic liquid is a dangerous chemical and care should be taken (There is a section on here with advice).
But to answer your question, there is no absolute way, everyone finds there own method that works for them. New, premixed juices I have found are already steeped/aged but if the taste off I will leave them in a drawer for a few weeks and try them again, shaking them say every evening for a good 2 minutes.
When DIYing you need to let the flacours mix fully with the nic juice and base (either PG or VG you are using to dilute the nic juice), even mixing premade juices to create a new flavour will need to steep before vaping to allow everything to mix properly. The method I use is body heat, may sound a little daft but it works for me, putting the bottle in a pocket or somewhere (don't laugh but I use my bra) and then the natural movement of your body while you are getting on with you day takes care of the shaking aspect. Juice that I've made that day are then vapable in a few hours. If I'm not in a rush then the drawer trick for a week or so will suffice.
As I said at the beginning of this post, DIYing is not recommended for beginners.
But to answer your question, there is no absolute way, everyone finds there own method that works for them. New, premixed juices I have found are already steeped/aged but if the taste off I will leave them in a drawer for a few weeks and try them again, shaking them say every evening for a good 2 minutes.
When DIYing you need to let the flacours mix fully with the nic juice and base (either PG or VG you are using to dilute the nic juice), even mixing premade juices to create a new flavour will need to steep before vaping to allow everything to mix properly. The method I use is body heat, may sound a little daft but it works for me, putting the bottle in a pocket or somewhere (don't laugh but I use my bra) and then the natural movement of your body while you are getting on with you day takes care of the shaking aspect. Juice that I've made that day are then vapable in a few hours. If I'm not in a rush then the drawer trick for a week or so will suffice.
As I said at the beginning of this post, DIYing is not recommended for beginners.
I'm not very experienced with this but from what I've seen it depends upon the flavoring content of the juice. I've been mixing my own for a little while now & have found the stuff I mix with only 1 flavor is usually ready to go with little or no steeping. The more complex the flavor combo, the more steeping/blending the flavors require. I think a lot of this stuff compares well with cooking. A pot of tomato soup is about at its peak IMO as soon as it's finished cooking; any leftover *might* improve a little the next day, but if so that improvement is pretty much lost on me. OTOH, a pot of good homemade beef stew or fresh vegetable soup just keeps getting better until the day before it spoils. In soups, stews, sauces & such this is called allowing the flavors to "marry", though in truth I'm not sure they're actually graced with the presence of clergy. Anyway, the more participant flavors there are in this dubious "marriage", the longer the celebration (honeymoon? orgy?) may tend to take... at least in the case of e-liquid.
So, indulging a rare bout of impatience, lately I mix my small batches in a tall shot glass, then sit it in an almost-boiling Pyrex cup of water & using a large pipette, draw it up & shoot it down the inside of the glass. This seems to provide a fairly serviceable quick-steeping for testing the juice to see if it merits making a full batch. As an added plus, it keeps me off the streets & outta trouble for a few minutes too, so I highly recommend it.
Best of luck, & Happy Vaping!
So, indulging a rare bout of impatience, lately I mix my small batches in a tall shot glass, then sit it in an almost-boiling Pyrex cup of water & using a large pipette, draw it up & shoot it down the inside of the glass. This seems to provide a fairly serviceable quick-steeping for testing the juice to see if it merits making a full batch. As an added plus, it keeps me off the streets & outta trouble for a few minutes too, so I highly recommend it.
Best of luck, & Happy Vaping!
Steeping is a well known word and has been used for E-Liquid for a long time, I believe it is a proper term and should continue to be used, no need in trying to change the wheel here, the term is used in wine making and other mixing and for letting things come together better for a while letting the flavorings infuse. For those that havent looked it up or want to change the word Steep or steeping maybe Google it or look at Wikipedia, it seems very fitting to me and is a well fitting word for letting all the juice molecules come together, its not going away in my opinion or going to change = Steeping - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I'm not very experienced with this but from what I've seen it depends upon the flavoring content of the juice. I've been mixing my own for a little while now & have found the stuff I mix with only 1 flavor is usually ready to go with little or no steeping. The more complex the flavor combo, the more steeping/blending the flavors require. I think a lot of this stuff compares well with cooking. A pot of tomato soup is about at its peak IMO as soon as it's finished cooking; any leftover *might* improve a little the next day, but if so that improvement is pretty much lost on me. OTOH, a pot of good homemade beef stew or fresh vegetable soup just keeps getting better until the day before it spoils. In soups, stews, sauces & such this is called allowing the flavors to "marry", though in truth I'm not sure they're actually graced with the presence of clergy. Anyway, the more participant flavors there are in this dubious "marriage", the longer the celebration (honeymoon? orgy?) may tend to take... at least in the case of e-liquid.
So, indulging a rare bout of impatience, lately I mix my small batches in a tall shot glass, then sit it in an almost-boiling Pyrex cup of water & using a large pipette, draw it up & shoot it down the inside of the glass. This seems to provide a fairly serviceable quick-steeping for testing the juice to see if it merits making a full batch. As an added plus, it keeps me off the streets & outta trouble for a few minutes too, so I highly recommend it.
Best of luck, & Happy Vaping!
Similar to what I said earlier, and yup works well,,,, I actually Brew my mixes to a certain temp every mix I make, and stir stir and stir some more while brewing it.
I'm new to vaping so I haven't really had the chance to steep any juice. It comes in the mail and I vape it...either that or go buy a pack of smokes. However the time will come when I'm buying more juice than I vape. I like your method. It's simple...and I can do simple.
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