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My brother got some bad advice on steeping and it is infuriating
submitted almost 9 years ago by SGTSHOOTnMISS

So I recently got into DIY juice and made some Unicorn Milk with some modifications, and after two weeks, it was incredible compared to store bought.

So I was bored last weekend and decided to make some for my brother and myself, and a guy at the vape shop told him to steep it in the refrigerator.

I have tried to find any relevant information on backing up having cold steeped juice, but I can't find a single bit of reliable information, most of it claiming what I had originally thought, where it is going to take forever to steep.

Since the fat guy that told him to do it works for a vape shop, he's taking his word over mine but he's pissing me off defending this advice.

Is there anything I can show him to get him to get the juice I made out of the refrigerator and just in a cabinet drawer? It's getting under my skin a bit.

Edit : showed him the responses, the juice has left the refrigerator

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24 points
 
by ECX_FlavorLabalmost 9 years agoMixologist

It's a pretty simple concept. Colder = more viscous. More viscous = slower steeping process due to the speed that the molecules are moving around in the liquid.

6 points
 
by Procrasturbatizationalmost 9 years ago

Yep, and it's not just mixing, in some cases there are chemical interactions you're after as well. Reducing the energy of molecules in the liquid is going to reduce the rate of these reactions as well.

1 points
 
by SuperKoopaTrooperalmost 9 years ago

The molecules are just less active and don't move around as much. Heat gets them excited and the juice becomes thin but can also force some of the fragrance to quickly evaporate. The mest method is to just let it sit at room temperature. Make your own concentrates based on the recipes you like. That way you only need one bottle of flavoring and the flavors have had plenty of time to mix in the bottle. So everytime you make that juice you like, its pretty much already steeped.

9 points
 
by SenorSativaalmost 9 years ago

VG becomes molasses when chilled. Tell him to 'slosh' it around or something and tell him molasses doesn't stir very well and steeping is, at least at first, about diffusing everything to make a homogeneous mixture.

Or, have him vape a bit of your juice after a bit and some of his so he can see the difference.

9 points
 
by iwillnoteatgreeneggsalmost 9 years agoLemon Party Man!

If you are making the juice, why is your brother taking advice from a shop?

9 points
 
by SGTSHOOTnMISSalmost 9 years ago

We hang out at the shop and 2 of the guys that work there are really cool people, the 3rd guy is a real life Eric cartman, cartman gave him the advice when he was just there to hang out and buy some coils for his TFV8

4 points
 
by contactclosurealmost 9 years ago

Some shop employees hate on DIY juice pretty bad. They see it as a threat to their juice sales, which it totally is. Maybe that's what happened?

3 points
 
by SGTSHOOTnMISSalmost 9 years ago

I'm doubtful, but I'm trying to learn to not blame malicious intent on ignorance.

1 points
 
by five_magicsalmost 9 years agoMixologist

This. Roommate told an employee he was starting DIY, to which the employee replied that DIY is never as good as what you buy in a B&M (like they had some secret process or ingredient not available to us mortals).

Same vape shop sells a juice that is basicly FA blackberry at (Im guessing), 5%. Thing is foul.

6 points
 
by RuntDastardlyalmost 9 years agoOne of "The Damned"

/u/Vurve actually posted about steeping in a Modest Monday around 3 months ago, and before that, /u/skiddlzninja posted a great DIY Mythbusting article that also addresses steeping. Both are full of extremely useful information, and absolutely neither of them recommend "cold steeping", because there is no such thing.

You can maybe slow down the steeping process a little through cold storage, but, that would be the opposite of steeping/homogenizing, wouldn't it?

Hope this helps your brother see the light!

4 points
 
by SGTSHOOTnMISSalmost 9 years ago

Thanks for the legwork bud.

That's it. I want to vape this stuff as soon as possible, not have it ready by the holidays.

That and all my flavors for this juice were CAP which I'm told need more time than others to reach maturity.

I'm going to get him this information this weekend and hopefully he will see just how ridiculous the information he was given is, considering it's 6 flavors, nicotine, and VG, which I'm sure all chill at different rates, which should essentially make it harder to steep as opposed to just good old room temp.

I'm not trying any black magic voodoo or speed steeping with heat, I just use time and that seems to be the best method I've used thus far.

4 points
 
by ECX_FlavorLabalmost 9 years agoMixologist

Go give Mr. Cartman a piece of your mind ;)

2 points
 
by exclusivegirlalmost 9 years agoOne of "The Damned"

I could only see that being a good idea after your juice has reached the steep you want and you don't plan to vape it for a while. That way it doesn't dull it's flavor after sitting for a year (depending on flavors).

2 points
 
by RuntDastardlyalmost 9 years agoOne of "The Damned"

Yeah, that's pretty much what I meant, but "cold storage" isn't anything I'd do personally, because I have a hard enough time waiting until something's good-to-go as it is.

After that, It's gone long before it can dull.

2 points
 
by exclusivegirlalmost 9 years agoOne of "The Damned"

I know that there are a few recipes that do taste best as a shake n vape but then they have a bit of a weird taste between 1-14 day steep. Example is Tamamango that u/ID10-T introduced (with u/tamachicken i think?). It could be a good option to prolong that initial flavor then once it reaches the weird, to just leave it out to get past it.

3 points
 
by BuryMeInSmokealmost 9 years ago

Easy enough to do a little experiment to prove your point.

3 points
 
by SGTSHOOTnMISSalmost 9 years ago

Although it would be a nice "told you so" I do take a little bit of pride that I made this stuff and I hate to see it not reach its fullest potential.

I had 2 bottles for myself and vaped one at a week, and the other at 2 weeks, and there is a noticeable difference in quality. I really hate that he's going to end up with a sub-par product just because some idiot at a B&M store gave him bad advice.

5 points
 
by goldfish18almost 9 years agoDiketones, Schmiketones

Mix him up another bottle and tell him to not put that one in the fridge. Tell him to wait a week for both and let him be the judge of which he likes better

4 points
 
by SGTSHOOTnMISSalmost 9 years ago

I do have two unmolested bottles in my drawer currently, didn't even think about making him compare the two products. Me being a stubborn ass as well makes me want to tell him to cut it out now.

3 points
 
by BuryMeInSmokealmost 9 years ago

Even better, do the steeping yourself and mark the bottles A/B. Remember which is which, let him tell you which one is better. Cause if he puts that much belief in the vape shop guy he'll be likely be bias towards that steeping method.

3 points
 
by eloc49almost 9 years ago

Just make him do the Pepsi challenge with different steeping methods

2 points
 
by disallowedwordalmost 9 years agoOne of "The Damned"

If the refrigerator speeds it up then why not try the freezer? Or have him "Google it" :)

ETA: I like the idea of you steeping some Unicorn Milk (clone) in a warm place then sampling both batches with your bro the best!

2 points
 
by puffpepalmost 9 years ago

When people say cool dark place, what temperature do they mean by cool? Are we saying room temp 68 F or more like 40 to 45 F.

6 points
 
by SGTSHOOTnMISSalmost 9 years ago

From what I've seen, mind you I am fairly inexperienced in this topic, is generally room temperature, so ranging from 66F to 72F.

Ideally you don't want it to be hot and start deteriorating the ingredients in the juice sensitive to heat but you don't want it to chill where it will get thicker and unable to kind of melt together.

Mind you there are people with far more expertise on what is happening on a chemistry level but it makes sense that ideally, just let it do its thing. No unnecessary heat, no unnecessary cold, just dark as to not deteriorate your nicotine and let it age.

2 points
 
by sadboysalalmost 9 years ago

any way i can see your improved recipe? and in regard to the problem just tell him that chilling slows down the molecular speed making it steep slower

2 points
 
by SGTSHOOTnMISSalmost 9 years ago

I didn't document the changes but essentially just raised the vanilla flavor hair, went max VG, and added like 1/5ml of joy flavoring.

2 points
 
by BlazeDemBeatzalmost 9 years agoMentholatier

All you would have to do is pull up any common article. If doing a hot bath would speed up the steeping process it's obvious that leaving it in the cold is going to do the opposite.

2 points
 
by cdogg75almost 9 years ago

Stop making him juice. He can get it from the pig at the vape shop.

0 points
 
by VAPORMARKalmost 9 years agoProud Sidebar Reader!

Or go with him to the vape shot and tell him he gets no more e-liquid until he calls the guy a pig.

0 points
 
by cdogg75almost 9 years ago

that sounds very doable too. What's the pig gonna do? blow vape rings in his face?

2 points
 
by nonfatalmost 9 years ago

DUDE.

You have a very very simple way to test this and prove your point....

Mix two batches.

Give them both to your brother.

One goes in the fridge, the other goes where you think it should.

After two weeks, test both.

BOOOOOM..... this is not rocket science buddy.

2 points
 
by CheebaSteebaalmost 9 years agoFrugivore

Have you considered having him do back-to-back tests, one in the fridge and one in cabinet, then try them both out in 2 weeks and see which one he prefers?

1 points
 
by SGTSHOOTnMISSalmost 9 years ago

I really rather not waste 30ml and 2 weeks on this.

1 points
 
by thatcoilalmost 9 years ago

I dunno about you man but I pop a couple ice cubes in mine, keep it nice and chill.

1 points
 
by iowabeansalmost 9 years ago

Boys, boys, boys... How about you make your juice the way you want and he makes his juice the way he wants.

4 points
 
by SGTSHOOTnMISSalmost 9 years ago

I made it. It's like pounding down salt on grandma's cooking. She's not going to be happy with what you're doing to it.

2 points
 
by engmiaalmost 9 years agoOne of "The Damned"

It has nothing to do with that. I can see how hot baths can become a myth, but letting people believe putting juice in your fridge would increase the steeping process is an outright lie.

0 points
 
by iowabeansalmost 9 years ago

I didn't claim one method was more effective than another. Obviously refrigerating is going to be completely counter intuitive. Either way, they will both result in a usable product and a lot of vaping has to do with personal preference, I was just trying to sort the situation like one of their parents would, saying you do you, let him do him.

2 points
 
by engmiaalmost 9 years agoOne of "The Damned"

Listen I'm all for that, the guy isn't hurting anyone so if he insists, let him steep his eliquids in the fridge. However I feel that people nowadays are taking this a step too far, and letting others get off with some really stupid stuff.

If he outright claims to me (which was the case here) that putting a freshly mixed liquid in the fridge is going to speed up steeping time, which is actually opposite of the truth, I'm certainly not just going to nod my head and agree.

1 points
 
by Beau_Bargeralmost 9 years ago

For years, I have microwaved a bottle of juice for 10 second after mixing almost 100% of the time. I have let it naturally sit, and find that slight heat equals about two weeks steep time. Refrigeration will slow down nicotine corrosion, but there have been articles saying the potency is not affected by heat or light, and flavor is really based on the base it is diluted in.

1 points
 
by Macktologistalmost 9 years ago

Simple. Let him taste both and decide for himself.

1 points
 
by MelodyMistalmost 9 years ago

Your frustration is understandable. What I do for peace of mind is view the curing time of any given juice to be a part of the making of it, so I only release a batch into the wild when I'm happy that it's ready to be vaped.

1 points
 
by RinVapesalmost 9 years ago

People who do not know what they're talking about have no business giving out advice. Hearing shit like this irks me.

1 points
 
by SGTSHOOTnMISSalmost 9 years ago

Exactly, and people who admit they don't know things end up getting bad advice and even worse, share the bad advice.

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