I am a new DIY mixer. About a month ago, I looked up some top recipes on ELR and decided to order supplies. As soon as I received my order, I cooked up a few batches of the recipes that I had noted down. On paper those recipes sounded delicious and it drew rave comments from people. Anyways, I cook up a batch of Aftermath clone, Snakes Blood and JTJM Shurb and vaped on them right away. Ughhhh the Aftermath clone tested like cardboard box, Snake's blood tasted like I am eating raw veggies. And Shurb was just sh*t. In the process I was able to create an awesome strawberry/sweet cream recipe that has been my ADV so there was some hope.
Well I was disappointed as every new DIY mixer would be and instantly thought "What a waste of money, should've stuck with local B&M home brews!". So, yesterday, I pickup the good old 30 ml of Snake's blood that I had mixed in the beginning. The color was darker. It smelled pretty good and when I vaped it, I was instantly amazed by the difference in taste. Next, I tried aftermath, the taste was amazing but a little harsh so I added some more VG and wow, even more amazed as it tasted like premium ejuice. Next up was a simple blueberry extra with sweet cream, it was a simple recipe yet tasted better than my local shop's own line of blueberry ejuice.
Now I feel silly because in the beginning I thought I wasted my money but now I have 4 x 60 ml of amazing e juice, all of them can be ADV for merely $75 and I still have more than 70% of supplies left. Which means I am set for next 3-4 months. I may have to order some VG though.
Sorry for the long post but I just had to put my personal experience down here on /DIY_eJuice for all the people who just started or are potentially starting to mix their own juice. Have patience, let steeping do it's thing and it will be worth it. You may have an amazing recipe on hand that may taste bad, but don't give up on it. Give it a fair chance.
Personally I can't stand that "how long has this been in the jar taste?" I love shake and vapes and mix my stuff every week. I won't vape it if it's not clear. Forget that brown, red, tan shit. :)
Just out of curiosity what is your go to recipe?
Are you typically and all fruit kind of person? I don't mind, and sometimes prefer, SAV for heavy fruit stuff but prefer dessert, cream, and cereal flavors and have always found then to be better after steeping.
Maybe since you're mixing smaller batches and therefore not using a jar, that was the problem. Try mixing in 30 or 60(my preference)ml glass Boston round dropper bottles, cobalt or amber. $9/12 pack Amazon. Maybe your problem was a dirty jar or residue from other mixes/cleaning getting in there. I guarantee any coffee or caramel recipe will taste much better after 2-4 weeks. Especially if any cream whatsoever is involved....
I'm sitting on a cart of goodies from Nicotine River to start...going to keep it simple...wanting a Cream base, so got some that look very promising from ELR...being a Cream/Dessert/Custard girl, I have learned the importance of steeping ! Still a little nervous, though, but you have to start somewhere, right? Glad it worked out for you !...hoping mine works out as well !!
It will all be worth it. It was frustrating in the beginning. I would suggest vaping each flavor individually. Mix 2-3% in 2-3 ml vg/pg. This way when you mix your juice, you will know exactly which flavors you overshot, and which flavors lacked.Good luck :) hope you come up with some mad recipes.
Yup. Nice to hear another person learning the importance of time. There are people that want to "speed steep" things out there and they say it works. Personally, I just mixed several 30mL of juice and let it sit. Sometimes I forget about them until 2 or 3 months later, and it pays off. Time is your best friend.
The opposite is also important. Steeping isn't a golden rule. Some flavors taste best fresh and start to go bland after a fortnight. Best Damn Pink Lemonade is a popular example of this. Realistically there's probably some sort of Goldilocks time period for all recipes.
I find a lot of fruits tend to die off (strawberry and lemon for sure) and the creams/custards get "stronger". Just my experience as a new mixer as well.
Did you people not ever steep your juice when you bought from a vendor? I don't understand why steeping seems to be a new thing for new mixers, especially since there are also so many resources talking about steeping anyways.
If it was a "premium" ejuice, I never steeped it because between the time it gets mixed, labelled, shipped and time it sits on shelf, it's atleast couple of weeks steeped. This post was specifically for new mixers like myself who looked for instant gratification, but failed to realize that time is an important ingredient.
I use a hot plate with a magnetic spinner and 150ml flask. 4 hours at 60C and 400 rpm and it's done.
Can you post a pic of the said setup?
Something along the lines of this:
http://www.camlab.co.uk/images/thumbs/0007431.jpeg
This is the SCIENCE!!! way of mixing things.
I was wondering about something in the area myself. I've been mixing awhile and after all the research I did in the beginning it seemed the best method for steeping is a good long shake at mix and then into a dark cool dry place for 1 week to months.
Now I see lots of people warm water bathing and magnetic string Breathing streathing or sonic cleaning and I was wondering if any of you long time DIYers (year or more) have tried and like any of these methods or is it just a new craze from impatient young-ins?
Thanks in advance for you time and happy mixing.
In regards to ultrasonic cleaning, I always leave my fresh juice in an ultrasonic cleaner at around 50 degrees. Thins out the VG and really helps homogenise the mix. A lot of my 1-week steep juices turn out great after 2 hours in the cleaner.
I haven't been mixing for very long and I'm ignorant to some of the subtleties of steeping. That being said I have noticed the smell of certain juices being fainter after a while in the heated ultrasonic cleaner, specifically a juice with a very small amount of FA Almond as an accent.
My guess, without doing any testing, is if a recipe has subtle notes and nuances, don't bother with the heater. I see no reason why an unheated bath in a sonic cleaner would cause any harm though.
Some of them affect the taste in different ways....slow heating does bring out the creams slightly, but in a burnt way. Like bad burnt. I haven't done any extensive or well documented research just a few experiments with some of my recipes.
Breathing kills top end, allows moisture in and makes your juice musty. Under very controlled settings I could see it work as a way to speed up alcohol evaporation.
Magnetic stirring is the best method of stirring a liquid because it won't add oxygen air bubbles into the mix. I just use a spoon in a mixing bowl. In a bottle best way to mix is just shake.
Sonic Cleaning, no idea.
NOTE: in order to keep this sub clean and searchable, please read the following-
-
If this post is questioning where to buy supplies, what flavors to buy, how to mix, or any other general questions, please delete this post and post in the weekly "New Mixers Questions" link in the sidebar.
-
If this post is requesting a clone recipe, please delete this post and use the monthly "Clone Requests" link in the sidebar.
-
If this post is regarding what you can make with your flavorings, please delete this post and use the "Suggest a Recipe for Me" link in the sidebar.
If your post does not meet any of this criteria, it still may be subjected to utmost scrutiny. Please take some time to read through our wiki and other valuable mixing information in the sidebar if you haven't already. Failure to follow sub rules may result in a ban. Cheers, and happy mixing!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.