What's the deal with steeping?

[CrimsonJack]

I hear constantly about how juice needs to steep, and have heard folks talking about venting after a day, shaking every so often, leaving the bottles in the dark, open bottles for so long, closed bottles for so long, etc. etc. etc. Exactly how am I supposed to do this? Just let the bottles sit, or is there other stuff I need to be doing?

 

[Coulson]

All juice should be steeped. Dark place, room temp. It a process of bonding the flavoring to the PG. The longer you steep, the better the flavor. Best to let new juice steep anywhere between 4 days to 2 weeks (min). Shake every so often, let breathe every so often. Like a glass of good wine. Some tobacco juices could use up to a month or more of steep time. Check with your juice vendor on what they recommend.

oh.. Welcome

 

[Bill's Magic Vapor]

As Coulson said, it takes time for the flavors to fully blend. Prior to blending, you often can taste the chemicals, which are food additives, but not yet compounded into the final flavors. Your description sounded right. Store in a cabinet, no direct sunlight and cool. Dark bottles are best, but plastic works ok to start. 24 hours of breathing, then shake and seal....and, wait, patiently. This is tough at first, when you want to try what you just bought, or made, and you need that juice to vape on anyway...very tough. In time, though, you'll have extra juice (the same reason we bought cartons of smokes), and vaping will be second nature. Some juices come pre-steeped, but that's not the norm. Great question, btw! Power Up, happy shopping and Vape On!

 

[Lessifer]

You only need to steep if juice is freshly made, and even then some juices don't need it. If you smell alcohol or perfume, take the cap of the bottle off and leave it off for a day so the alcohol can evaporate, then put the cap back on. It's always a good idea to keep juice in the dark, as the light can degrade it(or so it's been said). As for how long, that depends on the juice and you, more complex flavors tend to need more time to truly blend together well. The shaking can help speed things up a bit, and helps to get the flavorings fully mixed into the juice. Just about all of the juices I've had have been freshly made(meaning it's mixed when I order it) and some have been great straight from the mailbox and never changed their flavor, others have had odd tastes or little taste from the start and got better over time(flavors deepen, meld better), and others have been bad from the start and got worse over time. Welcome to the wonderful world of vaping

 

[CrimsonJack]

In the immortal words of Inigo Montoya...I Hate Waiting. But wait I will if it makes for a better vape Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated!

 

[Lessifer]

I hate waiting. Now that I have a decent juice stockpile I can afford to wait a bit, I still don't. I try everything within a couple days of when I receive it. If it's not great but I can tell it will probably get better I set it aside. If it's good I end up putting it in rotation right away. If it's not good, I throw it in my box and revisit it after a couple weeks when I'm bored.

 

[Pawny]

i highly recommend letting your diy juice steep a bit. mine sits for at least a week, u can see the color changing and the taste also changes quite a bit on some. the whole thing about opening it, bathing it in hot water etc is imho a bit too much. i shake it from time to time but do none of the rest. worked out for me so far.

 

[Pixiehardcore]

I always find when in production of juices that leaving them for a while in the cool and dark really helps to envelope the flavour and also COLOUR. nearly every one of my 5 juices I made last week have changed into reds and yellows and gone darker or lighter, I forgot about a couple of bottles and they really have turned nice and dark, this clearly shows time is good when it comes to fresh juice. Also don't be put off with the flavourings looking dull in colour to start they will change

 

[SnowDog]

When I order a juice that I don't already have on hand, I start vaping it as soon as possible after I get it in the mail. I simply don't have the patience for steeping. My bottles usually last me at least 2 weeks anyway so I will still find out if they improve. It can get better if it wants to but I'm not going to wait around for it to happen.

I'm still fairly new at this so my opinion might change but so far the improvements I've noticed with steeping have not been worth the wait. Some have gotten better but not that much better. I haven't had a juice yet that got so much better that I would want to wait 2 weeks to start vaping it. If a juice proves itself worth steeping then I will definitely steep it but until that day, I gotta vape em right now.