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!
so im stuck on a Kiwi/Strawberry blend. Im trying to mimick Dripped Life's Twist, Which is kiwi strawberry, with a hint of coconut. I think the coconut is there for the mouthfeel.
Anyways, i have been mixing batches for 2 weeks now, and there's always something missing. The kiwi strawberry is the correct, but the "fullness" is missing. Here's what i have tried so far:
- 10% TFA Strawberry, 5% TFA Kiwi Double
- 10% TFA Strawberry, 4% TFA Kiwi Double, .4% TFA Coconut
- 10% TFA Strawberry, 6% FA Kiwi
- 10% TFA Strawberry, 5% TFA Kiwi Double, .4% FA Meringue (this one was not a good idea).
- 10% TFA Strawberry, 5% TFA Kiwi Double, .3% TFA Bav Cream
with each of the addon's, something was added to the overall flavor, but it took away something else. I was going back & forth with /u/iwillnoteatgreeneggs & i thought i would try the following (but havent done it yet):
- 10% TFA Strawberry, 5% FA Kiwi, .2% TFA Coconut, .2% FA Meringue
thoughts?
1.5% TFA Marshmallow or 1% FA Marshmallow could work here. 1% EM may also give you the fullness along with either marshmallow, or without. I made a Kiwi Strawberry a few months ago that was decent if you wanted to try this and see how you like it:
6% TFA Strawberry
3.5% FA Kiwi
2% FA Strawberry
1% FA Marshmallow
I also subbed out the marshmallow for 1-2% EM and it was still pretty good. .5% FA White Peach gave it a really interesting note as well.
Did the marshmallow or em add any sweetness, cuz I don't want that
Try using FLV coconut. It adds a buttery-smooth, full-bodied mouthfeel, and the coconut flavor that comes out with a steep is fantastic.
So I got sick of trying to mix up batches using locally (indonesian) made flavours and decided to order a bunch of stuff from TFA. Since shipping to Indonesia costs more than the actual goods I decided to buy a large selection of stuff to start with.
Banana Flavor-4ml
Banana Nut Bread Flavor-4ml
Bavarian Cream Flavor-4ml
Blueberry (Wild) Flavor-15ml
Boysenberry Flavor-4ml
Caramel (Original) Flavor-4ml
Cheesecake (Graham Crust)-4ml
Cheesecake Flavor-4ml
Fudge Brownie Flavor-15ml
Greek Yogurt Flavor-4ml
Kentucky Bourbon Flavor-4ml
Lemon (water soluble) Flavor-4ml
Marshmallow Flavor-15m
Peach (Juicy) Flavor-4ml
Peanut Butter Flavor-4ml
Pie Crust Flavor-4ml
RY4 Double Flavor-4ml
Strawberry (Ripe) Flavor-15m
Sweet Cream Flavor-15ml
Vanilla Custard Flavor-4ml
Is this a pretty good place to start for someone that likes desert flavors? Anyone have any recipes or tips for any of the flavors I have?
Ultrasonic cleaners.... I've seen people talk about steeping with them. I just so happen to have one laying around I used to use for cleaning atomizers and mods; but it's a cheap one. It doesn't hear the water, and only has like 8min max cycles.
Could my DIY steeping benefit from this style of ultrasonic cleaner? Should I throw hit water in it to start, and how many minutes should I leave a bottle in there? I'm wondering if it's even worth it considering the 8min max cycles if people typically keep a bottle in over night or something like that.
I try to steer people away from "speed-steeping" because in reality, it does nothing to help your juice steep.
Warming the bottle and ultrasonic(-ing?) will help homogenize the juice, but that's not the benefit of steeping; you can get the same benefits with a good shake. The entire point of steeping is to help vent off the volatiles that won't fall into solution(these add an off flavor to the other notes, like mixing peanut butter and jelly, instead of getting the salty peanut butter flavor followed by a sweet, juicy strawberry jam to wash away the PB, for example.) This can only happen with time, the individual molecules need to time to either find their spot in the solution, or to fall out entirely and vent-off into the atmosphere. So you're best bet is to just leave the bottle for a couple weeks and let time do its magic. If you're using flavors that have high amounts of ethyl alcohol, warm the bottle after mixing(I keep mine under 140F), and leave it with the cap off to vent the EtOH before steeping. You can use ultrasonic to help you mix the juice, but don't expect it to do anything steeping.
Thanks for the info. I'm pretty used to steeping in general since I started buying budget juice that would come in the mail just mixed from the vendor days before. I would insure I had enough juice on hand to let the bottle steep for minimum of one week, two weeks being the sweet spot it seemed.
With DIY, steeping time becomes far more annoying though because you can't wait to try it out and start making your tweaks to get your recipes dialed in. It's tough for a DIY new comer like me as well because you see this slew of bad information\amazing stories of speed steeping.... Ultrasonic, hot water bath, warmer plates, microwaves, etc. your not really sure who to trust, but in the back of your head your pretty sure that no major juice manufacturer probably does anything to "jump start" a steep. But at the same time your thinking there's gotta be some magical trade secret your not aware of that could blow your steep game wide open.
What I've been doing so far is this; make a juice, shake it up, let it sit in a bowl of warm tap water for 10-15mins, take it out and shake again. Then into the drawer it goes. I'll grab it out either everyday or every two days, take the cap off and squeeze it a few times to let the old "air" out and new air in, shake it up, then throw it back in the drawer. I'll taste it in 7 days, then again in 14 days and write down my findings and plan the tweaks from there.
How does my current method sound to you personally? Would you skip the initial tap water bath or the squeezing of air out and back in ever two days? My thought behind the initial tap water bath is just to "thin" the juice out momentarily for a really good shake before it goes in the drawer. I don't heat the water with anything, just use my tap water at its hottest setting. The bottle squeezey thing, not fully sure why I do that. I guess it comes from when I used to let bottles "breathe" with the cap off for 4-6 hours, but later realizing (or being told you don't need to unless your flavors contain alcohol) it might not be beneficial due to nicotine degrading, over oxidation, and chance of contamination from dust or other air born partials. But I do know some flavors that seem to "perfumey" can benefit from airing out. So I guess my mind set of the bottle squeezey was a happy medium doing some minimal airing out, but without the risk of open cap airing.
Your steeping method is fine, a warm water bath helps everything get mixed. As long as the water isn't hot, you're not damaging your flavors. And yeah it drives me nuts when I see those speed-steeping methods on ECR, like that dryer one, and the rock tumbler one.
30 seconds strapped to a sawzall blade, after mixing. No doubt about everything being well combined then!
As far as actual steeping, nothing except time will do anything for the taste. I used to use a crockpot, until I figured out that my mixes were muted vs time in a cool dark place, after a vigorous shaking.
I need a sawzall so bad! I think I even saw a YouTube video of a guy setting his up to do the exact same thing your mentioning. Between the VG nicotine, flavors, and my finished mixes; I haven't had this much wrist, elbow, and shoulder pain from "vigorously shaking" something since junior high.
Time is definitely the best thing for proper steeping, but I sure as hell could use some kinda paint shaker or sawzall or something to assist in that area. A sawzall and the other items needed to set it up right seem a little outta my price range at the moment though.
A have started to place my orders to start DIY today. I'll get the rest when I get paid at the end of the week. So far, I ordered most of the top rated TFA flavours, pipettes, and a scale.
I was looking at getting 50/50 60mg/mL nic blend and a quart of VG. I want to get at least 70vg/30pg 6mg or higher final blend depending on if I want to use a tank or dripper(I normally drip and don't like much more pg than 30 it never really mattered what ratio it was if it was lower.). Is this workable, OK to work with?
I don't really know what other flavours to get, any suggestions,or suggestions on how to figure out what others I might want?
That base is fine to start with. I prefer 100mg/mL either full PG or full VG just because it's easier to mix without a calculator if I keep everything in base10.
Just lurk here, see flavors that others are really excited about, or using a lot of. Then try to think of flavors that you want to try and mix with the flavors your already have.
Thanks for the reply. If I get full pg nic, will be able to keep my mixes under 30pg blend? And I have seen 'base 10' around this sub a few times, what does that mean?
I've used PG nic almost the whole time I've been DIYing, and it depends on how much nic you want. If you're going for +12mg, it'll be hard to stay under 30PG. If you do 3mg, it's almost impossible to hit 70/30 in a good recipe without adding PG.
Base10 is just that your numbers are all multiple of 10. I make 10,30,100, and 200 mL bottles, with my recipes conceived in a 10mL bottle. It makes 1%=.1g, 2%=.2g, and so on. And with nic, using 100mg base, it makes 3mg strength=.3g(.3mL) in a 10mL bottle. I then use these easy numbers and multiply them to find larger bottle numbers.
My simple mixes still basic some tragic, soon gonna truly dive into DIY as I ordered flavors before based off what sounded good (I now know that was the most foolish option) so when I am ordering new flavors and prepared with recipes my main question is. For the mixes I have now. And my future ones. Will I not be able to take a Vape for as long as I would on store bought juice? I noticed with my juice that's made by me I can only drag for under 4 and a half seconds (if I'm lucky) or it starts to become a burnt hit. What should I do to solve this?