After read posts and watched videos i have some doubt about the steeping methods and tecnique because i was reading the sidebar but i found some discordant videos and tutorial, so i need that understand what is the truth:
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i this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkOE-blQBtc it says that after 8 weeks nicotine is becoming harsh so when we buy an ejuice from the shop, how can be possible that is still good after 8 weeks or more?
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in the video is adviced to mix flavor and base (vg/pg without nicotine) and steep it and add the nicotine! when you will add the nicotine you'll need to steep it again ? for how much time ?
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i was about to buy an ultrasonic cleaner for speed steeping as showed in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R068nmHyF8, where they say that need 4 hours in the uc for steep. Instead i read in other posts on reddit i read that the ejuice need weeks also using the ultrasonic cleaner, what is the truth ?
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Can i ask you how you steep your ejuice starting from mix till when u vape it ? (i know can be a bit boring but if everybody is adding his way to do it, it will be really interesting)
Many thanks and Kind regards (sorry for my english)
"Steeping" or better names resting or aging is allowing the flavors to mix chemically.
Aging takes time, sonic cleaners won't help much, they're more for mixing.
Heat helps aging more than anything but heat oxidizes nicotine much faster.
There was a post here a couple weeks ago about using heat to age your juice and he came up with 70-80c for I believe it was 12 hours will be close to 1 week at room temperature.
Also there's alcohol in a lot of flavors. That should evaporate off over time but only if you don't have the cap on.
Add nic after aging. No need to age more, just shake well. The nic doesn't chemically change like flavors. It's kind of like rice in soup. Just make sure it's evenly mixed.
My personal process is to mix with no nic, heat in a crock pot with the cap off for a few hours. Shaking and getting air out occasionally. Squeezing the bottle to get evaporated alcohol out. Then heat with the cap on over night. I generally mix in 100-500ml plastic bottles.
I don't add nic till I fill a 30ml bottle.
I'll edit any mistakes later, on mobile now.
You mentioned there being alcohol in s lot of flavors... Can you elaborate on this a bit? I do know of one or two flavors I have that definitely have alcohol in them, their made by NudeNic. I also know that other companies make flavors with alcohol, but I thought most people choose to use only PG based flavors only? Maybe I'm unaware of it and a lot of my PG flavors also contain alcohol. I typically use TFA, CA, FA, & INW flavors. I was under the impression that they were all PG based; but I'm still pretty new, so maybe some of these contain alcohol without me knowing it.
Usually the bottles will say on them what they're mixed with. Most are PG yes, but some aren't. If it says Alcohol, Ethyl Alcohol, or ETOH (acronym for Ethyl Alcohol).
If you've ever had a juice taste a little like perfume, that's the alcohol.
can i ask if the ejuice need to oxidize or not ? because i still dont understand this. what about a nicotine degradation ? how is possible that doesnt happen with the ejuice what you buy in the shops? (when u will edit mistakes can you add the numbers like in the question, in this way is easier to read and compare with the answer of other person, thx)
Nicotine ozidizing is the degrading and that's what turns the juice brown and makes it taste like pepper. Your flavors won't oxidize with heat or air.
I haven't had a chance to watch the videos, I just wanted to let you and others know of my experience on the subject. I'll watch them and reply more directly when I get home.
This could be totally off, but I asked WizardLabs way back, and supposedly the VG is sort of a catalyst in oxidizing the nicotine. I have in fact had VG taste like bad nicotine without the peppery feel, and my VG nicotine solution does go bad faster than the PG solution, even if I store them in my mini fridge.
Might be worth it to store your VG like nicotine solution.
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When you buy juice at a store it has probably been there for less than 8 weeks and you vape it in ~1-2 weeks so you get it at basically its prime. Also, some higher end juice companies will replace the oxygen in their bottles with argon, which doesnt degrade nicotine, and assuming that excess light is kept off of the bottle (cool dark storage) it will have a basically indefinite shelf life.
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The point of this suggestion is that nicotine will start to oxidize and lose potency the moment you expose it to air so. If you plan on making a flavor and vaping it right away, dont bother with this step. I don't ever have a bottle of juice that sticks around longer than 8 weeks so i completely ignore this. I find the presence of nicotine actually accelerates the steeping process.
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Ultrasonic Cleaners will help steep your juice to varying degrees. The most optimistic i've heard is that 3-4 hours in an UC is equivalent to a week in the closet. I personally have had little success with mine but it only goes for 7 minutes so your experience might be different. seeing that your first post on this sub is 6 days ago, i wonder if a UC is too big of a step for you with too little of a return. Just mix up a few 30's every two days until you have a good stockpile going and then slow production.
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Here's my process:
- Mix the flavorings
- Split into bottles
- Add VG, PG, Nic
- Bottle and shake thoroughly
- Sit overnight
- Shake again and let breathe for 30 minutes if perfumey (Like TFA Blackberry)
- Wait
- Wait
- Wait
- Wait
- 1 week later...
- Vape!
can u post a pic of one of your diy ejuice? (for show me how oxidized nicotine after 1 week) thx
i'm not quite sure what you're asking. do you want to see how steeped juice is after one week? Most of my juices are roughly a pale yellow after one week.
I suggest you save your money and just use hot baths. I either either boil some water and stick the glass bottle with ejuice in there or stick it in front of a space heater for a while. The heat thins the juice and allows all the flavors and bases to commingle faster. Add nicotine afterwards, heat causes that peppery affect down the road.
vg+pg+flavor => heat (how much time) => cool => nicotine => steep ? is that right ?
The heat is the steep, and as long as you want really. Depending on the flavors in there but if I'm boiling I do it for about an hour. Just under boiling point that is. Let it cool and your good to go. In some cases it may take up to an additional two days for quality results. But the heat treatment allows you to skip about a week and a half of waiting.
I don't think this needs to be complicated. After mixing I give the bottles a hot water bath, letting them sit 15 mins in the sink with as hot water s comes out of the faucet. After that shake the bottles for a few mins and put them aside. Steeping, for me, just means don't vape it right away. If after a day or two it tastes like crap, let it sit another week. If it still tastes crap let it be another week. If it still tastes like crap, toss it and try something else.
Ditto. Cant be bothered with all this complicated gubbins. Hot water bath for a little while helps thin the vg to help mix. Shake the living f*uck out of it, and leave for as long as i can be bothered. If it tastes rubbish, leave and try again later.
But then im mixing purely for my own purposes, so if its not brilliant, i just try again.