Steeping Times and an Ultrasonic Cleaner Part III

[Sl4gathor]

I use tap water, I have the hot water heater set pretty high, water comes out at 140°F( good for dishwasher), so it doesn't take long to get to 150, then set it to low and adjust the cover to maintain 150.....

Sent from Star Dock, on my HTC One

 

[Goompa]

Cannot see attachment. bad link. Is this me or the system?

Not you or the system - me not knowing how to attach pics to post - sorry bout that.

 

[buffaloguy]

Mike thank you for all the testing you are doing. Its a great resource. Its good to know Im not insane and that a crock pot can do just as well as a UC as I had thought for some time. I could never justify to myself spending alot of cash on a UC after using my crock and now aim glad I listened to my instincts and my results at home.

On the first batch of nic tests... we are all entitled to oopsies. Even the best laid plans... and all that... lol!

Still hoping the new tests show good info. Any idea when those might be done? No rush. Just curious.

The remaining Taste testers should be recieving their samples tomorrow....

In the meantime I am waiting on some equipment from WL.

I have cooked all of the various samples.

I did some preliminary testing today, and if my results are repeated with the new equipment I am going to be eating a heavy helping of Crow......

I will publish the results once I get the more accurate equipment from WL and retest, but so far it looks like no loss even at 194F for 24 hours. I did 3 tests on each of the Control, the 150F at 24 hours, and the 194F at 24 hours. All 9 samples consumed either 10.5ml or 10.6ml of HCL, and the .1ml HCL variance was evenly distributed between the 3 bottles. This equates to 34.07mg to 34.39mg in all 3, from uncooked to 194F at 24hours.

I did discover a really stupid mistake I made in my first round of testing. I did not look close enough at the Burette I was using. It is a 10ml Burette, and I mistakenly thought that if I emptied the burette completely it had dispensed 10ml. WRONG. There is some space below the 10ml mark, and you have to stop it at the 10ml mark and then refill, or you wont know the true value. During the first round of testing I allowed the burette to empty completely and then I refilled it, counting the first fill as 10ml. Bottom line, the first test I did in my blog is totally invalid!

I hang my head in shame, but I will post the results upon retesting, using my newly acquired knowledge, and the new burette that WL is sending.

 

[SeniorBoy]

Mike thank you for all the testing you are doing. Its a great resource. Its good to know Im not insane and that a crock pot can do just as well as a UC as I had thought for some time. I could never justify to myself spending alot of cash on a UC after using my crock and now aim glad I listened to my instincts and my results at home.

On the first batch of nic tests... we are all entitled to oopsies. Even the best laid plans... and all that... lol!

Still hoping the new tests show good info. Any idea when those might be done? No rush. Just curious.

Mike and the gang. Very interesting results and thank you all for your great work.

QUESTION: Although I have an UC, is their a thread around ECF dedicated to Crock Pot speed steeping? Maybe I missed it but is their a gadget or device to control the temp in a crock pot? Any special brand to get? I'm asking because it seems like a very economical way to speed steep plus cook dinner /lol and I would like to help other folks. Apologies in advance if I missed these issues.

 

[mikepetro]

Mike thank you for all the testing you are doing. Its a great resource. Its good to know Im not insane and that a crock pot can do just as well as a UC as I had thought for some time. I could never justify to myself spending alot of cash on a UC after using my crock and now aim glad I listened to my instincts and my results at home.

On the first batch of nic tests... we are all entitled to oopsies. Even the best laid plans... and all that... lol!

Still hoping the new tests show good info. Any idea when those might be done? No rush. Just curious.

Early next week. I am waiting on a burette from WL that is large enough to do these larger samples without having to refill the burrette.

On a side note, the folks at WL have been absolute Saints to me. They have flat out donated large amounts of lab glassware, reagents, and a ton of very useful advise. And they have asked for nothing in return. They deserve just as much kudos, if not more, than I do for pulling this off.

 

[mikepetro]

Mike and the gang. Very interesting results and thank you all for your great work.

QUESTION: Although I have an UC, is their a thread around ECF dedicated to Crock Pot speed steeping? Maybe I missed it but is their a gadget or device to control the temp in a crock pot? Any special brand to get? I'm asking because it seems like a very economical way to speed steep plus cook dinner /lol and I would like to help other folks. Apologies in advance if I missed these issues.

A crock controls temperature rather crudely, but I suspect it is good enough for our purposes. I wouldnt go out and buy an additional controller unless you had another use for that controller, or were getting very .... about your juice.

If I were to recommend a controller I would recommend an inexpensive "Sous Vide" controller. They are designed for cooking items in a hot water bath (very interesting method of cooking BTW). You plug your crock pot into the controller, stick the temp probe in the water, and set your temp. They generally control to within less than one degree.

Honestly though, I dont think its worth the extra money just for ejuice alone.

 

[AmandaD]

Mike and the gang. Very interesting results and thank you all for your great work.

QUESTION: Although I have an UC, is their a thread around ECF dedicated to Crock Pot speed steeping? Maybe I missed it but is their a gadget or device to control the temp in a crock pot? Any special brand to get? I'm asking because it seems like a very economical way to speed steep plus cook dinner /lol and I would like to help other folks. Apologies in advance if I missed these issues.

My crockpot isn't fancy - has just 'low' and 'high' settings. Once it gets to around 150 degrees, if I crack the lid about a half inch the temp stays at around 150 (I check with a candy thermometer). For tobacco I leave it around 4 hours! I have a pretty nice UC, but as it only has an 8 minute timer, it's a lot easier to stick things in the crockpot and leave it alone, except for giving things a quick shake every now and then if I'm around.

 

[RocketPuppy]

On a side note, the folks at WL have been absolute Saints to me. They have flat out donated large amounts of lab glassware, reagents, and a ton of very useful advise. And they have asked for nothing in return. They deserve just as much kudos, if not more, than I do for pulling this off.

Senior RP mentioned this. Sooo cool. Makes me very content to support them.

 

[RocketPuppy]

In terms of slow cooker temps, they do sell one with digital temp control. Mine, however, is the basic of the basic, but I find, like Amanda, that with a few tweaks of the lid, it's pretty simple to keep the temp steady at what I want.

 

[ratchet62]

Early next week. I am waiting on a burette from WL that is large enough to do these larger samples without having to refill the burrette.

On a side note, the folks at WL have been absolute Saints to me. They have flat out donated large amounts of lab glassware, reagents, and a ton of very useful advise. And they have asked for nothing in return. They deserve just as much kudos, if not more, than I do for pulling this off.

As a thanks to WL, perhaps write up a report, and allow them/ask them to share in their FAQ section of their site.

 

[mikepetro]

As a thanks to WL, perhaps write up a report, and allow them/ask them to share in their FAQ section of their site.

I have already offered to share my results with them, no strings attached.

 

[ratchet62]

I have already offered to share my results with them, no strings attached.

As I would have expected you to. You good people there Mike.

 

[SlickWilly]

I'll link my post from page 125 --> http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...asonic-cleaner-part-iii-125.html#post13149899

I posted a 25% off coupon from Harbor Freight you can print and a link to the UC, last month with the coupon you could have gotten it for $56.25, now with coupon $62.24

Bob, I have the same HF UC and with the heater on the water gets hot enough I can't keep my hand in it so it sounds like you got a bad heater. You can turn the heater on without any water in it and see if you feel it warming up, the heater is under the rectangular bump to the left on the bottom as you look down into it.

 

[bobalex]

... Bob, I have the same HF UC and with the heater on the water gets hot enough I can't keep my hand in it so it sounds like you got a bad heater. You can turn the heater on without any water in it and see if you feel it warming up, the heater is under the rectangular bump to the left on the bottom as you look down into it.

Hey SlickWilly,

Sounds like the defect in my UC is now a "feature." If I'm using the UC I'm either making juice or Liposomal Vitamin C. I don't use the heat function making the vitamin C and the water gets warmish enough making e-liquid. That said ... can't wait for it to die so I can get a 30 minute cycle UC. Getting up 8 times to reset it versus 37 -38 times would be great.

 

[dannyv45]

Hey SlickWilly,

Sounds like the defect in my UC is now a "feature." If I'm using the UC I'm either making juice or Liposomal Vitamin C. I don't use the heat function making the vitamin C and the water gets warmish enough making e-liquid. That said ... can't wait for it to die so I can get a 30 minute cycle UC. Getting up 8 times to reset it versus 37 -38 times would be great.

Bob,

I know you keep referring to my UC as the one you'll get next so I want to pass along some recent findings. I've been doing some close monitoring lately of the heating function. I find that if I fill with very hot tap water (Mine is 140F) and I use the heater on the very first cycle keeping the cover on the UC, by the end of the cycle it gets to 145F then I run the rest of the cycles with out heat and it gets to 150F and never goes above 153F. So I now only run the heat cycle if I have a laps between cycles to bring the heat back up to 150F. The heater is regulated to automatically shut itself off at 150F. So this UC seems to deliver the perfect combination of heat and vibration for steeping.

 

[bobalex]

Thanks Danny,

It just sounds better and better. I'm making up some juice for my neighbor as I type. Only 30 more quit-whatever-I'm-doing-and-start-another-cycle events left to go.

 

[AmandaD]

Thanks Danny,

It just sounds better and better. I'm making up some juice for my neighbor as I type. Only 30 more quit-whatever-I'm-doing-and-start-another-cycle events left to go.

I was kicking myself for spending so much on the Harbor Freight UC with an 8 min cycle, once I realized I already had a crockpot

The difference by the time I got the three samples was so negligible that the crockpot will be my go-to method from now on - simply because I can just pop juice in and get on with my life!

 

[Surly-Mac]

GRRReat stuff - thanks!

 

[SlickWilly]

Had a thought yesterday, I may have missed it being talked about in the last 150 pages, if this is a repeat question please forgive me. While steeping using either the heat or UC, would it be a faster steep time using either straight VG or PG? Then once that is steeped you would complete your VG/PG ratio mixing afterwords?

When I first moved from the little gas station e-cigs to a clearomizer a few years ago the availability of e-juice and shops selling it were limited and I could not find a juice that didn't have a solvent taste and was vapable so I went to vaping an unflavored mix of 75% PG - 25% VG. It wasn't until six months ago when I found a local shop that lets you sample juice that I started vaping flavors again and for me they are all too strong. I cut all my flavored juice with the unflavored mix at 1/3 flavored to 2/3 unflavored, shake it up and vap it right away, steeping my cuts does not improve the flavor at all. To my surprise, cutting the flavors by 2/3 doesn't really reduce the flavor drastically, maybe by 40-50%. I also get a lot more bang for my buck on the store bought flavors.

While I was cutting a new bottle of Uncle Junk's Jon Wayne last night the light bulb lit and I started to wonder if steeping in straight PG would be quicker because it's thinner.

 

[bobalex]

... I started to wonder if steeping in straight PG would be quicker because it's thinner.

When I first started DIY I was a 100% PG guy. My neighbor, who I had helped switch over to vaping, thought the juice I made was a little harsh so the next batch was a 70/30 blend of PG/VG. He liked it ... I liked it ... but it added another hour of UC time before the juice was ready. So yeah ... VG's thickness added an hour to the process.

I was talking to an e-cig reviewer over the weekend and he said he's a 100% VG guy. Not that he's a cloud chaser ... he is sensitive to PG. He also is a DIY guy and found diluting the VG by 7 - 8% with distilled water gave the juice the same viscosity of a 70/30 PG/VG mix.

So with that in mind I'm going to be making up a 100% VG batch sometime this week, thinned with distilled water, and report back with how long it took in the UC.

Made another video last week:



Y'know ... for anyone just starting out vaping ... it's pretty hard to make a bad choice in picking out vaping gear. Either I've been very very lucky lately, or across the board vape tech has gotten really really good.