A Question About Dilutions

submitted almost 10 years ago by brohemith

Can anyone tell me why 10:1 and 5:1 are the commonly suggested ratios for dilution? To me, it seems like 9:1 and 4:1 are the obvious choices, but I see 10:1 and 5:1 suggested time and time again.

At a 10:1 dilution, you end up with 9.09091% the original strength. With a 9:1 dilution, you end up with 10% the original strength.

At 5:1, you end up with 16.6667% the original strength. With a 4:1 dilution, you end up with 20% the original strength.

Was this just something that people have been doing for a while so it stuck? Or do people not have an understanding of how ratios work?

Comments

5 points

by dbbldz123almost 10 years ago

many people do not understand how math works

but whenever I see 10:1 dilution of something I just assume that person meant 10% and not 9.09.091%

2 points

by brohemithalmost 10 years ago

As do I, but the difference between 5:1 and 4:1 is even bigger than 10:1 and 9:1. With Medicine Flower extracts starting to get carried by more vendors, a lot of people are going to start making dilutions, and likely make them wrong.

1 points

by TheAlmightyDalmost 10 years ago

Whatever works for you. I have diluted versions of about 20 flavours but I usually stick to the original bottle and use drops per 10ml.

1 drop is 0.2% in a 10ml bottle. Medicine flower has never overflavoured at 0.2% for me.

3 points

by winterfogalmost 10 years ago

"There is often confusion between dilution ratio (1:n meaning 1 part solute to n parts solvent) and dilution factor (1:n+1) where the second number (n+1) represents the total volume of solute + solvent."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilution_ratio

0 points

by brohemithalmost 10 years ago

Exactly, and people always say dilute to a 10:1 ratio. I understand that there's a difference, and if you were to say to a dilution factor of 10:1, it'd be correct. I'd guess your average mixer doesn't know that though, so personally think it'd be better to go with a 9:1 ratio.

Maybe I'm just overthinking it, but wanted to make sure it's understood for beginners. The difference between a 5:1 ratio and dilution factor is only a 3.33% difference in total strength, not a massive difference, but worth mentioning in my opinion.

5 points

by winterfogalmost 10 years ago

But using 9:1 doesn't get rid of the ambiguity at all. If you write 9:1, some people are still going to make a 11.1% dilution instead of a 10% dilution. I think the best thing to do, if you're not willing to write out specifically that by 9:1 you mean "nine parts diluent to one part flavoring," is to use a percentage instead of a ratio.

If you say "make a 10% dilution" or "make a 20% dilution" there's no way to misread that.

1 points

by brohemithalmost 10 years ago

I'd think that a person that actually knew what a dilution factor was would recognize that ratio was used, and mixed it properly. You're right though, a percentage is the best way to right it.

3 points

by RoadSurferalmost 10 years ago

Thanks for this post, I'm a BIG fan of using the right terminology to eliminate ambiguity.

1 points

by sbarrett2727almost 10 years ago

Thank you for this post because for me, I was one of those folks who didn't understand. Once again DIY has taught me more than the Chem I've taken in school.

1 points

by iwillnoteatgreeneggsalmost 10 years agoLemon Party Man!

I'm no chemical expert,but I always used scaling to upscale a recipe, not for dilutions.