So, I've been doing DIY for all of... one week so far. To the day, actually!
For the past couple months leading up to my decision to go the DIY route, I'd been vaping MBV's Float On. I love the root beer float flavor, but Float On left some room for improvement in my mind. That's pretty much the reason as to why I chose this as my first flavor.
I didn't want to get ahead of myself, so I started off with an established recipe. After poking around on ELR, I settled on Krash's Rootbrrr Float. The only change I made was upping the VG ratio to 20/80 pg/vg and added a bit of nicotine.
So here was my v1 recipe:
- 63.3% VG
- 16.667% Nic. (36mg full VG)
- 7% PG
- 8% Root Beer Float
- 3% Vanilla Bean Gelato
- 1% Vanilla Swirl
- .5% Vanillin
- .5% Koolada
^^*All ^^flavors ^^from ^^TFA
V1 was... Not great. The flavor was okay (just okay), but I was getting a really harsh throat hit. I had a sneaking suspicion that the harshness was a product of the koolada so that was the first change for v2.
So for RBF2.0, Koolada was out. I also tweaked the flavor percentages just a wee bit. Added a touch more root beer float flavor, and vanillin. I also lowered the nic down to 3mg.
Here's v2:
- 71.667% VG
- 8.3% nic. (36mg full VG)
- 6.5% PG
- 9% Root Beer Float
- 3% Vanilla Bean Gelato
- 1% Vanillin
- .5%Vanilla Swirl
Results? So, soo much better than v1. Throat hit is super minimal, vanilla notes really starting to shine through. This was very close to what I'm looking for. So close in fact, that I thought about leaving well enough alone and calling it good. But I've never been one for "good enough".
So, Root Beer Float 3.0! For this round, I wanted to really bring in that creamy vanilla-y nom-ness that you get from a real root beer float. That thick sort of tastiness that you can feel on the roof of your mouth. So, Most things were left alone. I was close, didn't want to have to back-track by going crazy at this stage. I did a little further tweeking of the percentages and added a new player to the mix; Vanilla Custard v2. I spent quite a bit of time sniffing the custard flavor and I really felt it had what I was looking for.
So, v3:
- 71.667% VG
- 8.3% nic (36mg full VG)
- 6% PG
- 9% Root Beer Float
- 2% Vanilla Bean Gelato
- 1% Vanillin
- 1% Vanilla Swirl
- 1% Vanilla Custard v2 (CAP)
Results? Nailed it! It's creamy. It's vanilla-y. It's delicious. Whatever is in that custard did exactly what I wanted it to. It added a nice thick feeling that I was missing in v1 and 2. All the vanilla flavors blend really nicely together to give a good vanilla bean ice cream flavor.
So what's next? Well, nothing for the time being. I am completely and perfectly happy with this recipe just as it stands. This will happily be my ADV for a good little while. I have no desire to make v4.
I may try a little slight fiddling down the road but right now, this is perfect to me. Which is convenient since I want to concentrate on refining my strawberry cheesecake side-project (my first "from scratch" recipe). So stay tuned for that. :)
So to sum up, big thanks to this community. I don't contribute much, but reading all the great information you guys provide is what made it possible for me to start making juice. I hope that as I gain more experience, I'll be able to contribute more.
Your progression of improvement by going from 20% flavor to 14% is an important lesson. Try reformulating down to 12, or even 10 while keeping the same ratios and you might be surprised as the flavors become even more refined.
Thanks for the suggestion! That's actually exactly what I was thinking for future fiddling. I'm gonna vape a few batches as-is just to get a better feel of the current flavor and what I might want to change in the long-term. but mostly because I'm really happy with it currently. :)
I've heard that decreasing overall flavor percentage can increase the end flavor which I certainly wouldn't mind (plus, why use more when it's not necessary?)
Thanks again! :)
Looks good!
Personally, I'd sub out that Root Beer Float with Tasty Puff's Rasta Root Beer at about 4-5%, because it is hands down, the best root beer flavoring I've tried. I wasn't that keen on RBF. Alternately, you could add a touch of wintergreen to bring out a little zip in the root beer and make it a little less flat (that was my main issue with RBF).
I like that you've showed your work on the flavor development. Nice work!
Thanks!
I'll definitely look into rasta root beer. Gonna place another flavor order soon so I'll just add that to the cart. :)
I had thought about adding something to give a bit of an effervescence feel, but I didn't have any mint related flavors to work with (other than koolada which is a thumbs down for me). I really do need to remedy my lack of mint flavors... hehe
Thanks again for all the input!
Rasta Rootbeer is also available on ebay. It's good stuff
What are you vaping on? I've been working on a Root Beer Float, starting from the same source (Krash's) and found that the amount of root beer there is just way too high. I couldn't get any other flavors out. Plus, that original left a foamy ring around the inside of the bottle -- a sure sign that there is too much of something in there.
What I've got now is:
Company | Flavor | % ---|---|---- Cap | Caramel | 0.4 TPA | Koolada | 0.5 Cap | Marshmallow | 1.0 TPA | Root Beer Float | 4.0 Cap | Vanilla Bean Ice Cream | 2.0 TPA | Vanilla Swirl | 1.0
This is pretty good and more my speed. I'm testing on a Derringer single coil 0.5ohms 25-28W one air hole and daily vaping with a Subtank Mini 0.43ohm single, fully wide open airflow at the same wattage. The Vanilla Bean Gelato hits too high of the vanilla note and gives very little to the mid-tones... it lacks creaminess and sweetness. I subbed that for Cap's new VBIC and it really makes a difference. Cap's VBIC is like a complete package of vanilla creaminess, imo. Took out Vanillin to just simplify the whole recipe. Added just a touch of Cap Caramel to thicken the bass of the mix without changing the flavor too much. Marshmallow just adds thicker mouth feel.
Biggest change, of course, is the comparatively large reduction in TPA Root Beer Float. Maybe my vaping setup differs from yours and Krash's, but at 6-9%, the root beer was just overwhelming the mix. I dropped it to 5 and it got much better, at 4, it is perfect and allows room for the other flavors to come out (for me).
I like /u/DrSnakensteinMD's suggestion on a different root beer, as I am actually finding that TPA's tastes like Dad's Root Beer (which I actually love), but I'm more used to ice cream floats using A&W-style root beer...
I'm running a single 24g coil @ .48Ω in a Velocity clone with the upper air closed completely and the lower air about half-way open. I use it on an Innokin Disrupter @ 30W (I put the coil between/perpendicular to the posts). Japanese organic cotton Scottish-rolled.
I like a pronounced root beer flavor, but I do think when I try backing off the flavor percentages, the RBF will be the first to back off (I'll take it back 1% at a time). It's a sort of "stand-out" flavor and I think it'll still shine through. There is a very slight wintergreen note in the TFA RBF flavor that I like (which makes sense because root beer often has wintergreen in it), but it is very slight and on the exhale for me. I think I may need to add a tiny bit of wintergreen if/when I lower the rbf % but I'll just have to try and see.
I used marshmallow in my strawberry cheesecake side-project for the exact reason you mentioned (added thickness) and it worked wonderfully for that. I thought about trying that instead of the vanilla custard v2, but I wanted a bit more vanilla and the vanilla custard has a slightly different taste that I thought would work well with the other vanillas in the mix so I went with that and I'm very happy with the results.
I think the more I vape this recipe, the more I'll get to know it and find the things that I may want to change, add, or subtract.
Definitely looking forward to trying that other root beer flavor too.
Are you getting a noticeable cooling effect from koolada? From what I've read, it seems like a very "different from person to person" ingredient.
Also, are you steeping? I'm just doing a warm water bath followed by shake'n'vape.
Thanks for chiming in. It's awesome that we're both after the same thing and had the same starting point! Maybe in a week or two after I dial mine in a bit more, we could do an exchange! :-)
Right-on, I agree with the stand-out description of TPA's RBF. This is why I wasn't afraid to drop it way down from the original recommendation. For me, it still stays front-and-center even at 4% and I still get the wintergreen at that lower percentage.
I could probably delete the Marshmallow in my mix and replace it with Cap VC v1 to add a bit more vanilla and creaminess.
Koolada is definitely doing something positive for me -- I am getting the cooling without any flavoring. I had given up on using it when I started DIY about a year ago, as I was using too high a percentage of it but was too inexperienced to know this. Krash's recipe pushed me to try it again and man, I'm glad it's back in rotation. The harshness you were talking about which led to you deleting Koolada may actually have been from the over-driven Root Beer Float. The burning could have been coming from the wintergreen... try putting Koolada back in. It really does add to the refreshing feeling of this mix.
In terms of steeping, yes, I did a hot-water submerge for about 8-9 hours in a glass vial. Turned out smooth but I'm not sure how it compares to shake-and-vape as I didn't vape it fresh.
Yeah, to be honest, I've had this 4oz of RBF sitting in my cupboard for the longest time and decided to try a mix... found Krash's as a starting point and here we are... for sure, let's swap recipes as we refine ours.
Alright, you've convinced me. I'll give koolada another shot. Since you mentioned it, I'm thinking you're right about the rbf giving the throat hit. I do still get a bit of tingle if I really rip on it. While removing the koolada did take a lot of that out, maybe the two were compounding each other? v3.1 will have less rbf and v3.2 will have koolada added back.
Also, I've now got you RES tagged as "root beer float buddy". Expect a random PM in the near future. haha
Hey. Get tastypuffs' root beer flavor. It's available on ecx and it is hands down the best root beer flavor there is. I PROMISE if you try it you will realize you have wasted your time with every other root beer flavor. Its that good, and over on VU there are many people who agree. It's so good it's a standalone vape even, has the coolness and the fizz and mouthfeel...one of the best flavorings there is
If you are happy with it, fantastic.
I found most 'root beer' flavorings suck, or are too much like barrel candies and not like a real, organic root beer (I'm not talking about A&W, I mean real root beer).
I build my root beer base myself, with sassafras, caramel, vanilla, and just a touch of sparkling wine for the effervescent feel. It works, but it took a long time to get those ratios right.
The TFA root beer float (and MBV's Float On) definitely give me more of a root beer barrel candy feel, but it seems the vanilla mix tones that down quite a bit and blends it more to a fairly realistic rb flavor (to me at least).
I've tried making real rootbeer from scratch a couple times (the drink, not the vape). Started with a ginger bug, added the sassafras, vanilla beans, wintergreen, sarsaparilla bark, etc. It's ended up horrible both times. haha
I think I know where I went wrong though and have been thinking about trying again.