First, apologies I'm very new to Reddit and DIY Juice!
I was just wondering if there was a consensus regards how effective mixing using a magnetic stir plate is over steeping, and how long I should stir for?
Also: I was quite interested in building a magnetic stir plate, and was wondering if its worthwhile adding a heating element like a peltier to help with VG heavy mixes, and if so what temperature range should I be aiming for?
Thank you.
I'm thinking about buying a hot dog roller, like the ones you see at the gas stations. I'll set that bad boy on medium heat, and then put the glass bottles on it before I go to work and turn it on. In my mind, I think it will work, but won't know until I pick one up and try it.
Call me ghetto, but after mixing up a bunch of juice I just turn on my laptop and play some games with the juice uncapped right next to the fan. Between games or when I die or whatever I'll toss the caps on, give them all a nice shake and rotate them for even heating.
Gets the job done!
This method is great! I do the same thing and it works out very well. The only thing I worry about is the amount of power I am wasting as opposed to the hot water method. I am an energy conscious as ferk....
Well I figure I'm already about to be playing pc games.
Don't have to buy anything or plug anything else in and it's a pita to change the water out all the time for constant heat.
Personally I own and use 2 stir plates, one heated and one not. I use the heated plate for my heavy VG juices and personally I don't heat it over 105 degrees.
Depending on the recipe, some will be stir and vape and some will still benefit from aging them a few weeks after stirring. Fruity vapes are typically good to go right away while the creamy mixes will benefit from aging.
Out of interest have you ever used Ultrasonic Cleaners to steep juice?
I haven't personally. Before I purchased my stirrers I was mixing with a device I made then heating in a food dehydrator for 4 hours at 140 degrees since I read that was a popular temperature. To my tastes, I think it was a bit too hot and it to me, it changed the taste of the juices more than I liked. So now, I just heat it enough to thin out the heavy VG mixes.
From doing a lot of reading, people seem to want to heat "steep" their juices so they don't have to wait for them to age a few weeks. So what I do now is just make larger batches.....I'll make a few hundred ml's at a time. So after a few weeks I have plenty to last me for a long time. When I see I'm starting to get low on a certain flavor, I'll mix up another large batch and then by the time it ages, I'm just about out of the previous batch and don't have to try to speed up the aging process.
I was looking heavily into heated stir plates and it dawned on me...I'd need to mix larger batches and mix in flasks/beakers to be able to use those.
I always mix in vials or bottles as I only make juice for me and my friends only. It's a blessing in a way, the crazy idea of spending 200+ on a decent heated stir plate is now out of my head.
Currently I throw the bottles/vials into a bowl of warm rice and shake them by hand. Shaking by hand can get painful fast and no matter how long I do this for I still need to give it a few days to weeks for certain juices to taste right.
I'm thinking about an ultra sonic cleaner to avoid shaking them myself.
I cut a straw into a propeller and stick it in my power drill. About 20 seconds of stirring and a few days steeping and my stuff tastes great. And my arms don't hurt.
The stir plate magnet (flea) go down real small, sub 10mm. So think even 30/50ml batches made in dropper bottles could be stirred.
I have a couple that could fit into as small as a 10ML bottle and I was thinking about trying this out.
One question I have though is would I need to use glass? My concern is that the stir bar may abrade the bottom of a plastic bottle.
Anyone try it yet?
If not, I will just set one in a bottle of bare pg/vg blend for a day or so to test.
I think your real problem with 10ml bottles will be the small magnetic flea, vs the volume of such viscous fluid.
I have a laboratory heated stir-plate, and the lowest I can go is 30ml, and even then I need to use the heat plate to thin the VG to get a vortex and effective mixing.
As you cant even use a hotplate with plastic, I think this is a non starter before you even have to consider the abrasion of the plastic.
Especially if your using a DIY mixer with a PC fan, the motor will burn out real fast.
Using something like a 3mm rod and a dremel tool will be much better for your needs:
http://www.planetofthevapes.co.uk/forums/advanced-pv-mod-making-and-diy-discussion/mixology/71608-cheap-dremel-mixer.html
As you can see I was the OP here, and in two months I tried a lot of setups with homemade stirrers and all sorts of sizes of bottles, so can quite confidently say, go 30ml glass MINIMUM, and that's with a hotplate stir-plate or with a hot water bath bain-marie style, and diy stirrers with PC fans burn out real fast.....get a used lab stirrer, or pick another method.
Good luck!
In my opinion, heat is a very important part of the process. It helps the flavors to blend together more evenly, and brings out the lower end of those creamy vapes. I use a double broiler to keep the bottles off of the direct heat of the gas stove, and fill the water to the level of the liquid in my bottles. I bring the heat up to 150F for about 45 minutes and then let it slowly cool down while shaking the bottles occasionally.
Some other things I've tried while heating the juices are adding nicotine after heating and heating with the caps off. Taste is subjective so I'm not going to tell you about how much better any of these methods are than others, but I've got the best results out of a combination of all of these things. Usually if I'm short on time I will skip those last two things, but I never skip the heating process especially when I'm making juice for friends.
A heated magnetic stir plate is gold if you are making batches 250ml or more. Any less and it's not worth the cost or effort. It helps a lot with homogeneity of a finished juice. Shake and wait is best for anything less. Ultrasonics work well, but have similar drawbacks