I know better but I thought I'd share how I almost discarded a fantastic recipe.
Usually my recipe development process goes something like this:
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Devise recipe (can't give away all of my secrets).
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Make 10ml test batch.
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Shake and vape some. Usually I can tell if I'm in the ballpark.
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Set aside remainder and vape again at 24 hours, 48 hours, 1 week, 2 weeks, 30 days.
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If it's not good right away, I usually wait until it has sat for 48 hours and if it's not good then I start a new revision. If it's not good after 30 days I toss it and move on.
I've been working on a Vanilla Custard for a couple of months and haven't been able to get it just right. I think my current revision is somewhere in the high thirties. Today I was looking for bottles that could be emptied and recycled (gonna have to order some more soon...), and I came across an older revision of my VC that I hadn't actually discarded yet. This was revision 7.
I figured why not, let's give it one more shot before we toss it.
Good thing I decided to try it first, it is AMAZING! It tasted nothing like this at 30 days, and is currently 63 days old.
I don't know when exactly the change occurred, but the current VC recipe looks nothing like this revision. I made a 60ml bottle of v7 today, in 30 days I can start daily testing to figure that out.
So, I was reminded today that there are some flavors that don't mature until they are much older than most, and almost lost a good ADV in the process.
If you're not having any luck with a recipe, I'd recommend keeping a few ml for a couple of months and try it then before discarding the recipe.
Good advice hope you will post the recipe up at some point
I may, probability is low as I'm starting a juice company and this one is too good to just give away.
There is a parallel recipe that is also very good so one of them will not make the cut and will probably end up here.
I'm gonna have to vape a bunch more of it to decide if it is the best VC I can come up with.
Ok so here's the question then. You've got a juice that's finally good after 63 days. How do you go about making it good in 1/4 of the steep time?
I've got a citrus punch that takes about 2 weeks to get real good. It's usable next day, but not fantastic.
I'd hate to wait 2 months before something was usable. Hell I don't have that many bottles to sit on that long. I'd run out of them.
Well low heat over a specific time period will do it, but you have to be careful as that can be a fine line between aged and degraded.
I suppose some sort of vacuum emulsion system would probably do the trick, but that gets pricy quick. I don't have the chemistry background to say.
Maybe one of these days u/lolerwaffles will let us in on some of his secret process...
Search around for his posts @ /r/electronic_cigarette
I think it was him anyways that did the heat steep at different temperatures vs standard curing at room temperature. I just remember the conclusion that top on or off made 0 difference for the heat steep and that 2 hours @ 200F was equivalent to two weeks in a closet @ room temp. (chemical analysis performed after, not sure on taste test...) Been awhile...
Yeah he did the heavy lifting there, but he's also got some sort of secret process that he uses when he makes juice, which is how he gets the Bear line so shelf stable.
I bought a bottle of Nanner Bear just to test stability with and there was no perceptible flavor change for over five months with it just sitting in my dresser. I tried it side by side with fresh bottles on identical devices and couldn't tell which was which.
That's amazing, and I'd really like to know how it's achieved.
Unfortunately Walter isn't telling, and I don't blame him since that is how he's making his living now.
But I'd still really like to know how it's done.
Slow cooker! I cook my shit on low for a day or two. Works amazingly. Just make sure to really wrap the shit up in a bag or something. If water gets in, it'll ruin your labels.
Get a sharpie and lot # your bottles so you can cook them prelabel? Dunno if sharpie/slow cooker will actually work, just a thought, but I have some color dot stickers I use when I'm filling/testing, and don't actually label until a recipe is "final"... Until I get a final ratio, steeping time, etc established, I don't do names or labels...
Lemme get that citrus punch recipe man
I'll get the exact recipe in the morning but its. Tangerine, pineapple, guava, mango. Cant remember exact percentages right now.
I've found agitation/thorough mixing greatly speeds curing, think using a blender or milk frother to impregnate your juice with air bubbles. Heat does have some effect but it has not been as apparent to me as speeding oxidation.
I'm working on a variety of custards right now and intend to document my experiments with curing methodologies. But my experiences so far lead me to think that a combination of heat and impregnating the mixture with air are going to work best.