Steeping Times and an Ultrasonic Cleaner Part III

[bobalex]

... Can you oversteep? On the bottles of my premixed juice it says that they can be used up to a year after purchase. Will the taste continue to change during that time or will it eventually stay the same after a given time?

I make three 70 ml bottles (Cowboy, Generic tobacco, and Desert Ship) at a time. And as soon as each bottle is down to 5 - 10 mls I make some more. So how long does it take me to vape through 210 mls? About a month and a half - two months. The flavor stays rock steady until the juice is all gone. It's very possible that if for some reason I didn't vape it all up after a year the flavors might change. I'll never know.

I received 20 mls of 555 for Christmas and vaped it exclusively until it was gone. I'm looking for 555 recipes and as soon as I find one that does the trick ... I'll be make four 70ml bottles at a time.

 

[adeline]

I make three 70 ml bottles (Cowboy, Generic Tobacco, and Desert Ship) at a time.

Have you tried putting the cowboy and the desert ship in a mix together? That's my "Cowship Trooper" (1.5% cowboy, .5% desert ship in TA blend+SM base), and I really enjoy it! I might try playing around with the percentages a bit.. just for fun.

 

[adeline]

@adeline,
I don't know about your other tobacco flavors, but you andI totally agree about the M-type Tobacco. It absolutely needs at least four weeks of steeping before it is vapable. Then, it is my favorite tobacco juice. And my findings are the same when using the US.

Yeah, this stuff is addictive. I can barely put it down.

 

[bobalex]

Have you tried putting the cowboy and the desert ship in a mix together? That's my "Cowship Trooper" (1.5% cowboy, .5% desert ship in TA blend+SM base), and I really enjoy it! I might try playing around with the percentages a bit.. just for fun.

The Desert Ship that I got from e-cig express is no fun all by itself. It bears no relation to other Desert Ships I've tried over the last almost 3 years. But ... mixed with the generic tobacco or the cowboy ... very interesting. Once I've got my 3 flavors made I've fooled around with all sorts of combinations. A straight mix of 1/3-1/3-1/3 is a very nice vape. In fact any combo I've made is pretty good as long as the Desert Ship isn't the dominant flavor.

Now if I could just whip up some 555 like the 555 I got Christmas ...

 

[bobalex]

I have an ultrasonic cleaner I use for cleaning atomizers and making liposomal vitamin C.

How's the Vitamin C workin' out for ya? I take an ounce 3 times a day and I swore by the stuff until I got weirdly sick at the end of December. A cold/flu from hell. But still I keep taking it because maybe if I didn't take it at all ... the plague I got at the end of December might have been waaaaaaaay worse.

That's the sort of logic my cat used. Not overly weighted towards the scientific method.

But if it weren't for liposomal vitamin C ... I'd still be waiting weeks to vape my DIY juices.

 

[bleev]

How's the Vitamin C workin' out for ya? I take an ounce 3 times a day...*snip*

I've been using and making liposomal vitamin C for about 3 weeks. It seems to give me energy and no doubt some other health benefits. Tastes like soured milk but you get used to it. I take one oz twice daily...morning and afternoon. I need to up it to the recommended dosage by Cardiologist and orthomolecular specialist Dr. Thomas Levy.

On another note can you tell me if you keep your juice in the ultrasonic with the lid on or off? Or does it matter and it's just combining the elements on what I guess would be molecular scale?

 

[bobalex]

... I need to up it to the recommended dosage by Cardiologist and orthomolecular specialist Dr. Thomas Levy.

What's the dosage he recommends?

On another note can you tell me if you keep your juice in the ultrasonic with the lid on or off? Or does it matter and it's just combining the elements on what I guess would be molecular scale?

You mean lid on the juice bottles or the US? Cap screwed tight on the bottles and lid off the cleaner.

 

[bleev]

What's the dosage he recommends?

I apologize, it was the two time Nobel prize winner in chemistry that recommended a dosage of 2,000 mg - 3,000 mg a day. If you are mixing one tablespoon of 100% pure Ascorbic Acid (vit C crystals) with 1/2 cup distilled water and three tablespoons of Lecithin in one cup distilled water then ultrasonic for 30 min stirring with wooden or plastic spoon as I do. Then you receive about 750 mg of absorbed Vitamin C with each ounce consumed on an empty stomach (no eating for an hour after). If you take three oz a day you are in the sweet zone.

You mean lid on the juice bottles or the US? Cap screwed tight on the bottles and lid off the cleaner.

I am not using a cap and standing them up in my UC......not good?

 

[bobalex]

I am not using a cap and standing them up in my UC......not good?

As long as they won't fall over. I always assume the worst can happen so I keep the caps on.

Some people say the glass is half full. I say it's half empty and we're all gonna die.

 

[Vappa]

How long do you prefer to run your batches?

I usually do 2 runs of 30 minutes. Equals 2 weeks of 'normal' steeping.

 

[Vappa]

I received a PM from a guy who tried the ultrasonic method for two hours with no improvement in the juice. Anybody have any ideas why/how that might happen? It's certainly not been my experience.?

How did he do it exactly?

 

[Vappa]

So last night I am pretty sure my mixes went through 4 hours. I lost count at the end... It was either 3.5 or 4, but I'm pretty sure it was 4.

Decided to dive right into the M-Type (needs more steeping than anything else). This is a 2% mix that will be two weeks old on Saturday. In my experience, it usually tastes horrible until it's steeped for 4 whole weeks. Let me tell you what .. it's vapeable! What a miracle. The taste has developed into that strange, intriguing flavor that makes the M-Type so unique. I'm impressed!

My Cowboy mix (same age) was lacking before a trip in the ultrasonic. It's a little darker now, and pretty well blended. I am tasting a strange vegetable note though... Green beans? Very weird.

My Signature Sweet n Smoky 'Bacco is SO well blended that the smoke note is pretty much gone. I will have to play around with the Black Fire in different juices and percentages now. I was never really good at steeping (patience), so I don't know how long I used to let most juices sit. A week or two, maybe!

My Cowship Trooper (tobacco) is a beautiful, dark and rich color, and the nuances of the juice that I love so much are definitely present.

My Purecig clone, mixed just 5 days ago, is pretty tasty. The "dryness" is gone, and I'm considering trying to mix this .5 - 1% higher flavoring. Could be my tastebuds though, so I'll have to taste again later.

There's more to taste, and I definitely need to throw more juices in the US to test them out as well. But so far -- I must say, this is a WIN!

Told you so

 

[bleev]

Not sure what he was using but on the market they sell sonic cleaners for which don't have much power. The ultrasonic cleaners usually put out 42,000+ Hz frequency which are much more powerful.

 

[bobbybilly]

I think it was in this thread that somebody asked if you could just safely float your bottle of juice in the water inside the ultrasonic cleaner's tank or if you had to rubberband several bottles together to keep them upright to keep water from getting in the juice. I'm very new to this and just used the ultrasonic cleaner to speed steep 2 bottles and I let both float loose in the water and there was no water seepage inside and yes this method of speed steeping did work. The only thing I would stipulate is that I used plastic bottles with screw on type lids that I could tighten down very tight. I don't know if it would work as good with letting a glass bottle lay down or not?

 

[Gorvi]

The only risk you run is pressure from heating the liquid and container loosening the cap. Sounds odd, but its true.

 

[bobbybilly]

The only risk you run is pressure from heating the liquid and container loosening the cap. Sounds odd, but its true.

That's certainly a consideration I need to think about. It's too late right now for that much thinking on my part, but I'll certainly consider it next time since what you say sounds like a possibility. Thanks for bringing it up!

 

[bobalex]

My motto is, "If something can go wrong ... it will." And I only apply it to important stuff. Like vaping. And probably a couple of other things too but right now I can't offhand think of what they are.

Because handling 100mg nic is fraught with peril (hence the gloves, fan, apron etc.), the anxiety level is a lot higher than say ... making a tuna fish casserole. When I make e-liquid I make three - 70ml bottles at a time. If, for any reason, the batch became contaminated, I'd have to start the whole process all over again. I don't want to do that for at least two reasons. The primary one is I'm cheap. I don't want to dump 210 mls down the drain. The other is the "hassle factor" of being Mr. Psycho-Safety Man.

So ... the bottles are rubber-banded together and the possibility of tipping over and maybe getting water in the juice just ain't gonna happen.

 

[bobbybilly]

I can understand the reluctance to allow a bottle to be laying down in the water, but I've just finished steeping 4 more bottles with no leakage at all in any of the bottles. I guess since so far it has not been a problem I'll continue to allow them to just free float in the water. So far I have not seen any loosening of the bottle lids. At this early stage I can't say with great confidence that doing it this way is without any risk, but without some experimentation I'll never know so until I experience a problem I'll continue with doing it this way. I realize it's not a lot of extra work to rubberband bottles together, but I'm all for eliminating any non-necessary steps I can and also it seems logical that individual bottles would get vibrated more than a few bottles rubberbanded together. If at some point I do end up having an issue with leakage then I'll update so others can learn from my mistake. I realize that with only 6 bottles done in this fashion that it is not exactly a long pattern of success, but until I lose a bottle I'll continue using this method. I do appreciate the food for thought though. Happy vaping!

P.S. Any liquids I put in the ultrasonic cleaner are mixed ejuices with greatly reduced nicotine so it's not a health hazard if there were to be a little leakage. While I am in favor of eliminating unnecessary steps I am not referring to eliminating any safety steps when mixing of ejuices is concerned. I just wanted to clarify that in case anybody interpretted that as me being in favor of unsafe handling of undiluted nicotine.

 

[glassmanoak]

I quess I have just always been overly cautious or .... or whatever, but I figure why not not take 5 extra seconds and rubberband some things together rather than risk ruining X dollars worth of juice and Y amount of mixing time by not spending that 5 seconds. Penny wise.. pound foolish, IMO.
I'm lazy, but not terminally lazy.

 

[godspeed1208]

YAY!!! Thank you!



What kind of juice? If it's a flavor (say, a fruit) that doesn't really need steeping, and it's under-flavored.. I could see the GUCE method not working. If it's the person I'm thinking about anyway. Shrug.

was it me you were thinking off?