STeeping your DIY Juice

[RedneckHippy]

Thought I'd post my discovery for others.......

I have read that the flavor seems to "come alive" if you leave your newly mixed juice open for a few days. Thats what I usually do and it seemed to work. But I am a very impatient man and last night after mixing up some RY4 and Turkish menthol for the wife, I noticed that even after shaking the mix the VG just seemed to swirl inbetween the PG and Nic juice without really mixing.

So I says to myself, "Self, maybe this is why we let it steep. so that the flavors have time to blend with the pg and vg." Did I mention that I'm impatient? So to speed the process along I got one of those little cups that you get at restaurants with dipping sauce in them, put some water in it, popped it into microwave for about 20 sec to warm it up, then put my little 5ml bottle of DIY juice in it for about 5min to heat it up.

Removed the bottle from its warm bath and shook vigorously. Put a couple drops in the Ol' EGO and puffed away. All I can say is WOW!!!! it really made the flavours pop without having to wait days steeping.

Hope this helps others

 

[Switched]

Just like a good chili, juices do taste better after time.

 

[Cee_Jay]

Seems especially true with 'bacca flavors. My RY4, USA, and Mboro are much more mellow when they cure 30-40 days.

 

[Switched]

Seems especially true with 'bacca flavors. My RY4, USA, and Mboro are much more mellow when they cure 30-40 days.

Not to mention full bodied and richer

 

[intog]

It seems everyone is either pro-steeping or anti-steeping and then there are those that are still trying to find the answer to better tasting liquid. I noticed no one really commented on the original poster's experience with soaking in hot water. I've read about people trying this and saying it didn't make a difference and I've read about people saying it did. I have tried this and I can't tell a difference... I think it depends on the flavors.

 

[Switched]

It seems everyone is either pro-steeping or anti-steeping and then there are those that are still trying to find the answer to better tasting liquid. I noticed no one really commented on the original poster's experience with soaking in hot water. I've read about people trying this and saying it didn't make a difference and I've read about people saying it did. I have tried this and I can't tell a difference... I think it depends on the flavors.

Soaking in hot water accelerates the mixing process. Although it helps blend a fresh mix, nothing beats time IMO. I always brew weeks ahead of when needed. For example Backwoods Brew Honey Flue does not come into it's own until about 6-8 weeks after being made. Myself I like to get 2-4 weeks before vaping.

 

[doots]

I always thought that some heat would make a different in steep time but haven't really experimented with it. Good post Redneck.

 

[Kevin Freeheart]

I'm going to have to try this on my next batch. For science, ya know?

I'm also extremely impatient, though I find unsteeped DIY juices to be disgusting. A few days usually makes them quite good and I've yet to vape a juice that EVER benefited from longer than a week. With that said, if I can cut those few original days out that's far better.

 

[Liv2Ski]

I'm going to have to try this on my next batch. For science, ya know?

I'm also extremely impatient, though I find unsteeped DIY juices to be disgusting. A few days usually makes them quite good and I've yet to vape a juice that EVER benefited from longer than a week. With that said, if I can cut those few original days out that's far better.

I must be more impatient than you since I vape right after the shake. I have a long list of recipes and some are better after they sit but most are good to go right from the mixing bench (that would be the bar in the man cave which now looks like a chemisry lab). With so many little 3ml concoctions sitting around I will agree about 1 week is enough for any noticable flavor changes to take place.

 

[Kevin Freeheart]

I must be more impatient than you since I vape right after the shake.

I've done it. They're all gag worthy and disgusting. For whatever reason, when PG and VG and Nic and Flavor hit but don't age, I get this very odd, rancid buttery flavor. Additionally, none of my flavors come out.

I actually stopped doing DIY for a while, because EVERY one had the same problem. I used three different flavoring suppliers, two nic vendors (both highly rated on ECF) and half a dozen sources for my PG and VG and every one, in nearly every combination, has the same thing.

It bothers me so much that I actually did step by step comparisons. Vaping JUST PG or JUST VG all the way up to multi-flavor mixes in percentages from 0 to 50%. Lots and lots of juice variables. When no ingredient alone carried the rancid buttery smell/flavor and swapping out hardware didn't affect the results, I tried most of the same things in a different place, fearing environmental contamination.

For whatever reason, they all seem to be okay once they've aged for 12-72 hours. If I didn't have some of my vaping friends do blind tests, I would be willing to admit placebo except that most of them confirmed my experiences.

So I just steep now.

 

[Liv2Ski]

I've done it. They're all gag worthy and disgusting. For whatever reason, when PG and VG and Nic and Flavor hit but don't age, I get this very odd, rancid buttery flavor. Additionally, none of my flavors come out.

I actually stopped doing DIY for a while, because EVERY one had the same problem. I used three different flavoring suppliers, two nic vendors (both highly rated on ECF) and half a dozen sources for my PG and VG and every one, in nearly every combination, has the same thing.

It bothers me so much that I actually did step by step comparisons. Vaping JUST PG or JUST VG all the way up to multi-flavor mixes in percentages from 0 to 50%. Lots and lots of juice variables. When no ingredient alone carried the rancid buttery smell/flavor and swapping out hardware didn't affect the results, I tried most of the same things in a different place, fearing environmental contamination.

For whatever reason, they all seem to be okay once they've aged for 12-72 hours. If I didn't have some of my vaping friends do blind tests, I would be willing to admit placebo except that most of them confirmed my experiences.

So I just steep now.

Kevin are you mixing all ingredients at once? I mix my base and store in a 250ml bottle and that sits for a long time. I wonder if that might be an issue. When I fisrt started out my base was just mixed and the juice I made tasted off. Almost like you descibed. I use 80pg/20vg at 12mg/ml as base juice. Now when I drop down 50 to 75 mls I top off my base mix so that is always steeping. Just a thought

 

[MaxUT]

How about this:
put your bottle(s) of juice into a jelly jar filled with water, place the jar lid on loosely, then put the jar on one of these:

Mr. Coffee Mug Warmer - MWBLK : Target

4-8 hours in the coffee-warm water should accelerate the aging process.

 

[msjay]

I was wondering if the steep time (the hot water method or the regular time method) is dependent on the size of the e-juice bottle. I noticed the OP used a 5ml bottle. So, does a 5 ml bottle of e-juice take the same about of time as a 30ml bottle?

 

[Kevin Freeheart]

Kevin are you mixing all ingredients at once? I mix my base and store in a 250ml bottle and that sits for a long time. I wonder if that might be an issue

Yes, but I have already (more out of convenience) decided to change that by mixing my PG and VG first so I can think of that as "base" rather than have to measure out two different "bases". My first few batches I didn't have the spare bottles to do the mix but I've already decided to do that with my next round.

How about this:
put your bottle(s) of juice into a jelly jar filled with water, place the jar lid on loosely, then put the jar on one of these:

Actually, there was a post withing the past 48 hours about a person who did that more or less. They microwaved a small bowl of water and dropped the bottles in for 10 minutes. That poster swears it eliminated the need for steeping. Can't personally confirm of deny, but that's even faster than the mug warmers.

Though... I have two of those mug warmers here that I never, ever use. Maybe I'll finally do something with them.

 

[Misshaunter]

Thought I'd post my discovery for others.......

I have read that the flavor seems to "come alive" if you leave your newly mixed juice open for a few days. Thats what I usually do and it seemed to work. But I am a very impatient man and last night after mixing up some RY4 and Turkish menthol for the wife, I noticed that even after shaking the mix the VG just seemed to swirl inbetween the PG and Nic juice without really mixing.

So I says to myself, "Self, maybe this is why we let it steep. so that the flavors have time to blend with the pg and vg." Did I mention that I'm impatient? So to speed the process along I got one of those little cups that you get at restaurants with dipping sauce in them, put some water in it, popped it into microwave for about 20 sec to warm it up, then put my little 5ml bottle of DIY juice in it for about 5min to heat it up.

Removed the bottle from its warm bath and shook vigorously. Put a couple drops in the Ol' EGO and puffed away. All I can say is WOW!!!! it really made the flavours pop without having to wait days steeping.

Hope this helps others

Great tip!! I made a bunch of juices up today and put the little 3ml bottles in a ziploc baggie and pop them in the hot water and let them set for about 15 mins and them took them out shook them and then opened the lids and let them cool. What a time saver!

 

[deback]

Actually, there was a post within the past 48 hours about a person who did that more or less. They microwaved a small bowl of water and dropped the bottles in for 10 minutes. That poster swears it eliminated the need for steeping. Can't personally confirm of deny, but that's even faster than the mug warmers.

I believe you're in that thread, Kevin.

 

[Kevin Freeheart]

I believe you're in that thread, Kevin.

Does "liking the scene of my own posts" make me a celebrity?

Yeah, I like talking even when it's a "Wow, I need to try this" moment.

 

[badmemory]

I just steeped some juice in hot water that I put in the micro for a minute, it really helped the flavor come out.

 

[Luvs5rugrats]

I heat my pg/vg up then add my flavors to the heated mix and let it cool. When it's cooled down enough, I add my nic. I'm too afraid heat will kill any nic if I warm it after I add it. It works great but find it still needs to sit overnight.

 

[MaxUT]

I heat my pg/vg up then add my flavors to the heated mix and let it cool. When it's cooled down enough, I add my nic. I'm too afraid heat will kill any nic if I warm it after I add it.

Well, a cigarette heats nicotine to about 400 degrees F but it doesn't seem to break down at that temp, it still works just fine. I wouldn't have any concern about heating nic liquid, aside from maybe boiling over in the microwave.