OK new mixers, this is your thread to ask any questions you want of the DIY eJuice community. All posts are allowed, but we still encourage you to use the sidebar and search features before asking any questions.
- Placing your first DIY order and want to make sure you have all you need?
- Not sure about how to mix your first bottle?
- Want to get started but aren't sure how?
- Any other questions? ... then this is the thread for you. FWIW, the answers to the first three questions will eventually be found in the wiki (still in development); link at the top of the page.
Ask away!
How do we get this in a place where new users like me can find this? I found these weekly newbie threads buried way down in the depths of reddit
Use the search bar, then sort by whatever you want to.
Yes, I can use the search function to find it, but I'm thinking new users to the sub don't know off the top of their head to search for "Weekly New Mixers Questions Thread"
Just started mixing this past weekend. So far not too bad. I've been following some clone recipes. All of my mixes don't taste like how I would expect them to though. I'm thinking even some of my simple shake and vape recipes need to steep longer. I don't have an ultrasonic cleaner, so I've just been hand shaking them for about 30 seconds, letting them steep over night, and then giving them another shake. And none of the flavors really pop.
- Coconut (FA) 1.5%
- Ethyl Maltol (PG) 1%
- Smooth (TPA) 0.5%
- Sweet Strawberry (CAP) 12%
- Vanilla Swirl (TPA) 2%
- Watermelon (TPA) 6%
In this recipe I would think the watermelon would be noticeable, but I'm picking up more coconut/pina colada than anything else. It's good, but not really premium tasting.
Should I buy some accenting ingredients? Just let it steep? Or is it just being a beginner, and adjusting expectations, and needing to tinker more with recipes?
FA extracts are very strong, so you may want to drop the coconut down to a few drops/10ml. Are you trying to make Hobbes Blood? or just trying to make your juice feel more full and creamy?
Both, kind of. I used to mix Vape Wild's Vanilla Clouds with Tiger's Blood. So, I'm trying to recreate something similar. Next batch I'll step down the FA Coconut.
Remember, you can always add more of your "finishing touch" flavors. It's best to start low and work your way up, and you can usually ballpark the final amount of flavoring when you make a second batch.
edit: also, TFA Vanilla Swirl has a good bit of alcohol in it, so a steep will only make the juice better.
I'm more for the idea of making sure you are correctly adding the amount needed. Do you use a syringe or a weight scale?
I was measuring by weight, usually within .01-.02 grams. So not perfectly accurate, but pretty close.
I think it is probably just inexperience, I didn't know FA flavors were that much more concentrated, and substituting my FA that I ordered for the TFA in the recipe is probably the issue with this recipe.
Little trick. Go http://e-liquid-recipes.com/flavors here. Enter you flavor in and find the one that's used the most. Because they do have duplicates. The next step is to see what is the median used. I drop 30% below the median or sometimes more. Since most people over use flavors. This is the best tool for creatin a recipe from the internet for me.
Ask a question about nicotine. If you get a 1L bottle of nicotine say 50/50, how long and how hard to you need to shake it for the nicotine to equalize and get rid of hot spots?
I've been getting harsh nicotine, and I think partly due to storage and part due to not shaking enough. I guess the best would be to shake a lot and break it down into smaller bottles. But how do I know if I've shaken enough before distributing it into smaller bottles?
I just purchased a high end magnetic mixer capable of mixing 20L (guessing H20), would it make sense to throw a big stirring pill in there, mix for 1(?) hour, and then re-bottle? Have the option to heat as well, maybe set to 50C to help with the initial distribution? Obviously don't want to heat nicotine base, but in this case would it be worth the light degradation in exchange for better distribution?
Don't heat nicotine, it'll only make it harsher and taste bad. If you have an airtight mixing glass that you can throw your nicotine into with a big pill, or maybe one of the cross-style pills, you could mix it for an hour or so and have a very uniform solution. But if not, don't open-air stir the nicotine. When I shake(my mixer can handle like 200mL) my nicotine, flavorings, final mixes, or anything really, I shake vigorously until it's cloudy with airbubbles all throughout. Juices I'll shake until they look close to homemade mayo.
Jeez, mayo? Out of curiosity do you have any pictures of what that would look like?
I guess I could try buying a 1L glass bottle and use that. But actually, why do I even need to transfer the initial solution into a glass bottle? Couldn't I drop a stirring pill into the original plastic nicotine bottle? If it's a new bottle, it would be pretty full/not too much air. Are you talking about some special glass bottle?
I'm at work right now, but I can post a picture of what I mean when I get home. If you've ever made mayo at home, it's not the yogurt-y consistency that hellman's is. It has small air bubbles that you can easily make out. and I suppose you could, but at the height that a 1L bottle is, I don't think the top of the bottle would get mixed very well.
I'm suggesting Glass Flasks with a rubber stopper to just set it on the mixer and forget it for an hour. Then it would also be easier to transfer into smaller bottles.
Everyone who uses a magnetic stir plate with heat, do you put a cap on the bottles while stiring? What is the average RPM that you mix it at for what amount? How long do you mix what batch? What temperature?
I can answer the first 2 as an ex ChemEng major, but i'll leave the last 2 for more experienced mixers :)
Never put a cap on the bottle when stirring with or without heat, as reactions might release gas - and you really want to avoid that pressure buildup.
This obviously doesn't necessarily apply to everything, just to mixes you make. If you're using the stirrer to evenly distribute nicotine, closed should be fine, as there won't be any reaction.
On RPM, general use in chemistry is to start low and slowly raise RPM untill you have smooth, even movement (without the pellet being thrown around the place). But crank that up as high as your viscosity allows, if you feel better with it.
So I should mix the juice in an open flask first without nicotine with temperature. Then with the plug stir the nicotine in. Same would go when I get a new batch of 100 mg/ml nicotine?
There was a post concerning higher concentration spots on the Nic Base (not a truly homogenous mixture). I'd only mix a bottle with cap on if it were a ready-made mix, such as a nic base, in order to guarantee homogenization: there shouldn't be any relevant reaction promoted by this, because the mix has sat on itself for quite a bit of time since manufacturing and should have already done its thing.
Care for the temp you use to mix, anw. Higher temps may produce undesirable side reactions. Read this as "don't put it on high", not necessarily "don't use the thermoplate at all" - gently heating VG makes it easier for mixing. Try to not heat nicotine too much tho, seems to alter taste (possibly thermal decomposition).
TL;DR: I wouldn't mix anything but the Nic base ALONE with cap on. I wouldn't mix at very high temps. 100mg/mL Nic base is the same, but more carefully - at that concentration, nicotine is actually poison, so glove, mask and potentially eye protection should be used. For less experienced people, a lab coat or some sort of protective overgarnment should be used.
Does Acetylpyrazine smell like that "frito" dog feet smell? I feel like the connection between the smells has ruined cereal flavors for me... Apparently the yeast/bacteria that causes dogs' feet to smell like fritos or popcorn just so happens to smell similar to the bready/toasty/cereal flavors.
Reading the sidebar and using search, there seems to be lots of mentions that we should take notes on our creations and iterations. What I haven't run across is, what should be in those notes!
Does anyone have any ideas on what should be noted?
Or even better... some type of tasting outline, rubric, etc. that they use?
Two days and no comments. Either nobody has any ideas, or this new mixer weekly post drops too far into the depths of Reddit, as I have seen lots of posts over the past two days
New mixer here. For every new iteration of a mix I've been creating a new recipe on e-liquid-recipes, and then I leave myself a comment every day that I taste it. I'll leave a comment describing everything in the juice that I taste, and on what atty/mod I tried it on. Taste is subjective, so your notes should reflect what you taste, and if you think something should be stronger or weaker, or if something is missing.