Steeping Times and an Ultrasonic Cleaner Part III

[bobalex]

Just tested/tasted the Desert Ship and it's Just Fine.

So ... to recap:

I didn't have to wait 3 weeks for my tobacco flavored e-liquid to steep. It was ready in 2 days using an Ultrasonic Cleaner.

See my first post for procedure: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...s-ultrasonic-cleaner-part-ii.html#post7704086

vape On!

 

[DigiManTX]

ok, so all this does is heat the liquid? or what is the deal here?

 

[Hoosier]

So a bit of heat and alot of shaking cuts steep time down drastically. That makes sense. Glad to see someone put it to the test.

Thanks bobalex.

 

[bobalex]

ok, so all this does is heat the liquid? or what is the deal here?

Hey DigiManTX - An ultrasonic cleaner uses high frequency sound waves to agitate a liquid. The suggested strength of the tobacco flavoring I use is 1 - 2%. So if I make up 50mls of juice I only add .5 to 1ml of flavoring. It takes forever (three weeks) for the flavoring to infuse the PG/nic base.

I've read in the DIY threads that the bottles of juice should go through a warm/hot water bath after mixing. With the ultrasonic cleaner model I have I can heat the water surrounding the bottles as well as vibrate/agitate the juice.

It seems to do the trick.

The only irritating thing about the process is the 8 minute cycle. But it was even more irritating using the first cleaner I had that only had a 3 minute cycle. I'd like to be able to "set it and forget it" like my RONCO rotisserie but that's life. Taking steep time from 3 weeks to 2 days though ... I'm liking that a lot.

 

[graffinfected]

this is a fantastic idea... does it work??

i guess the best way to test this would be to steep the same juice you made for 3 weeks... we can call it juice #1

then grab another bottle and start steeping it using the ultrasonic cleaner 2 days prior to juice #1 finishing its 3 week steep and see if they tastes the same.


i guess theres two way to steep... method #1 being to just let the bottle sit in a dark area for a long time..

method #2 hot water bath

method #3 microwave the juice.. which i can assume its close to the same thing as hot water baths..

and this new method might seem to work.. i would like to test this myself. But if i did i would just buy a jewelry cleaner which does the same thing, i would just have to heat up some water and add it in the cleaner every once in a while.. it would be cheaper to buy the jewelry cleaner also.. i wonder if it would be the same thing..

 

[bobalex]

Hey graffinfected - The ultrasonic jewelry cleaner was about $25 ... the one I upgraded to was $75.

The very first e-liquid I made took 3 weeks to taste good enough to vape. This last batch was good to go after 2 days of ultrasonic -ing. That's 16 - 24 eight minute cycles.

The hot water bath I did for the first batch didn't seem to accelerate the steeping process.

I've never used a microwave ... didn't think that high of a temp was good for juice.

 

[DigiManTX]

now that i've thought about this for a while it makes total sense... the vibrations shake the bottle at a level that we could never do by hand, and the persistent heat keeps the molecules in the liquid moving at a greater speed... therefor giving it a greater chance of all melding together.

this is physics and chemistry 101 combined... if we believe that "steeping" is needed to "bond/meld" the substances together than this is essentially the only way to really "hurry" that process...

and for anyone with all clad stainless cookware, it would be similar to the water drop dance on a hot pan to prevent food from sticking... molecules in the pan move so fast so as to close the gaps and allow the food to essentially "float"...

 

[DigiManTX]

lol... not to mention that you can use it to clean your atty's, coins, gun parts, etc...

 

[graffinfected]

i wish i could test this out for myself.

 

[Vappa]

Yes, i bought one: This one! (It's a Dutch site...)

I'm curious whether i can also use it for cleaning my glass and plastic bottles, A-type EGO tanks, etc. I also searched this forum to find out whether people use it for cleaning cartomizers. Some do, but say that the results are not better or worse than cleaning by soaking in vodka. I wonder...

Enough things to experiment with when it arrives And off course the most important part is the extreme-short-steeping-time functionality that's build in.

 

[Plumes.91]

Sounds cool man. You should put the one you disliked with the 3 minute timer into the classies.

 

[bobalex]

Hey Vappa - I think you'll especially like the "30 minuten" cycle. Way more fun than 3 or 8 minuten. I "upgraded" cleaners for this completely un-e-cig reason:

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...s-ultrasonic-cleaner-part-ii.html#post7719272

Before I tried DIY juices ... I didn't know nuthin about steeping because all the juice I bought was already "there." After DYI I still wonder how e-liquid manufacturers make their tobacco flavored juices. I can't imagine they have big vats filled with Cowboy and Desert Ship sitting around for 3 weeks. Maybe they've adapted paint can shakers for e-liquid.

I dunno.

 

[Vappa]

Hey Bobalex, saw that one in the Part II thread.
I was thinking really hard what i could put in there other than juices-to-steep to come up with valid arguments to convince my GF. The vitamin C thing is an extra good one. But before i could hit her with all of these arguments, i decided to just buy one and explain afterwards

I think you've found the holy grail of steeping . And although i don't mix a lot of batches (approx. 30-50ml / week) i'm really exited thinking about making multi-mixes and trying them out after a 30 minutes steep, then adjusting them and repeat the process. That takes months off of coming up with a great mix.

 

[bobalex]

Vappa - When I first started vaping I tried a discontinued (ARRRGGHHH) version of RY4 that blew me away. Tasted like a great cigar. Haven't found a similar juice since.

But ...

Since I started DIY I found that fooling around with my finished e-liquids (Cowboy, Desert Ship, and just plain ol' Tobacco) I came up with a pretty good approximation. Happy Vaper Me. And all the other combinations I've made with those three flavors have all turned out tasty.

My e-cig world is kinda limited since I'm such a cheap guy. And since my family's on a pretty tight budget, all purchases get put through the budget torture test. Do we really need whatever it is we're thinking about buying. Retail juice is about $.50 a ml. Home-made ... about $.05. So DIY was a no-brainer.

I'm just very pleased and relieved that the stuff I make is waaaaaay beyond tolerable. I Like It! Otherwise I'd be stuck with a liter of 100mg nic, a gallon of PG, and a "Holy Grail" quest for decent over-the-counter flavorings.

 

[Plumes.91]

where do you get your flavorings bobalex? do you know where vendors get they'res?? I don't get the whole making juice thing. Do most of the vendors all share the same flavoring shops or what??

 

[bobalex]

where do you get your flavorings

I bought the PG, nic, and flavorings from http://www.ecigexpress.com/.

Do you know where vendors get they'res??

Two of the flavors were FlavourArt and the other one was from E-cig Express's "Signature" flavors.

I don't get the whole making juice thing.

55 cents a mil retail ... 5 cents for home-made. That was all the reason I needed.

Do most of the vendors all share the same flavoring shops or what??

A lot of folks sell FlavourArt and some like E-cig Express also carry their own stuff. I didn't shop around too much for flavors. I had to take shipping costs into account and since I needed PG, nic, and flavors ... E-cig Express was one stop shopping.

 

[Vappa]

Hi Bobalex,
Just got the device. One question about the steeping process. Do you put the bottles completely under water? Or do you set them straight up and just fill with water up to the level of the juice in the bottles?
I use some plastic bottles for my test batches and the only way i see now to use them in the ultrasonic is to just put them in the basket and let them freely float, or tie them together and set them up straight.
What's your method?

 

[DigiManTX]

pretty sure he tied them together so they would stand upright... don't want it vibrating the lids off... LOL

as far as what i've been doing... i have some smaller jars that i use when doing test batches... i just rubber band these together and let them float... leave them in there for 2 days... every time i think about it i go run it for the 8 min cycle... every now and then i'll check the water and if it's still warmer than "warm" i won't turn the heat cycle on... when it cools off a bit, i turn heat back on... a couple times a day i go in there grab them and give'em a good hand shake... don't think it's required, but that's just what ive been doing... other than that... 2 days of cycling then take them out... let them cool down overnight on a dark shelf somewhere, and presto voila... done...

 

[Vappa]

Ah thanks DigiMan. I'm going to make some new test batches this evening and use your suggestion of tying them with a rubber band.
I'll keep you guys posted about the results.

 

[bobalex]

Hi Bobalex,
Just got the device. One question about the steeping process. Do you put the bottles completely under water? Or do you set them straight up and just fill with water up to the level of the juice in the bottles? I use some plastic bottles for my test batches and the only way i see now to use them in the ultrasonic is to just put them in the basket and let them freely float, or tie them together and set them up straight.

What's your method?

The bottles I use hold about 100ml. I make 70ml of juice per bottle. The last batch I had 6 bottles with a rubber band around them so they'd stand up straight in the cleaner. I filled the tank to just under the "max" line on the inside of the tank. I tried putting just one bottle in the cleaner but it fell over and floated on its side. I thought there might be a problem with water leaking into the bottle so that's why I bundled the bottles together with a rubber band.

Now normally I don't make 420mls of juice at a time. But the Holidays are coming up and my sister and son-in-law really like the combo juice I make that's equal parts of the "finished" e-liquids - Cowboy, Desert Ship, and the generic Tobacco.

Maybe Just My Imagination Dept.

It seems to me that since I have gotten away from cartos (except for the Boge Leo DC/LR cartos) and mostly use these tanks:

TURBO EZ KIT
ELITE 808 CLEAR AND EASY TANKS 2.0
GO GO PREMIUM TANKS

... I've been going through juice a lot faster than I used to.

Anybody else notice this? Or am I delusional?

Shameless Self-promotion Dept.

I recently finished my second video:



I'm considering doing more reviews. What do y'all think?