This is a remix of /u/cheebasteeba’s Summertime. I posted the first version of this recipe in the most recent weekly recipe thread, but I’ve developed it a bit and it received a positive review from /u/cheebasteeba on the most recent Noted Podcast at about 1:40min in. I thought I might give y’all some full development notes on the first recipe of mine I think is good enough to share.
Fuji (FA) @ 1.25%
Elderflower (FLV) @ .5%
Pink Guava (FLV) @ .75%
Yakima Hops (FLV) @ 1.25%
Cactus (INW) @ .33%
WS-23 (BCF) @ .75%
For this recipe I set out with the goal of making a light refreshing ADV that would taste decent with an IPA. After reading about FLV pink guava and Yakima hops, I went ahead and bought the ingredients for cheeba’s summertime and fell in love with the guava, hop, and elderflower combo. I found that I tired of the eucalyptus but I still very much enjoyed the cooling effect. This led me to want to move the recipe to a more classically fruity profile while still maintaining the funky intrigue of the original. I started out with combination of FA Fuji with either FA Blackcurrant or FA forest fruit. I ended up dropping the berry aspect in the end as I found I the Fuji really shines when not weighed down by the dark fruit/berry. It takes on an almost pineapple profile that I prefer. If you want some berry, add some FA Blackcurrant .5% that was my favorite version before trying the Fuji solo.
FA Fuji @ 1.25%: The bright, crisp Fuji combines excellently with the elderflower for a complex and sharp top note. At first I felt this stepped on some of the other flavors at 1.25%, but I tried it at 1% as well but I felt it made the Fuji taste like a dehydrated apple chip. I upped the % on the other flavors a little to compensate
FLV Yakima Hops + FLV pink guava: these are possibly my favorite concentrates I’ve bought so far. They basically taste like chinook and Citra hops. Easily ties up problem of making a non-tobacco vape go well with an IPA. The pink guava is a sorta tropical/funky grapefruit. Not really guava. The Yakima hops are piney, dank (but not skunky/diesel-y), and floral. Yakima hops also provides a very full, almost bready mouthfeel. I can’t get enough of his combo.
FLV Elderflower: musky, almost chemically, but very reminiscent of summer. Too high and it quickly becomes your grandmas perfume. It’s low enough here so that it just alters the apple flavor a bit. It pairs excellently with the Fuji for a complex and bright top note.
INW Cactus @ .33%: we all know what this does here. It moistens up that Fuji and Yakima hops, giving us a wetter refreshing vape. Speaking of refreshing...
WS-23 (30% solution): I still wanted to maintain the coolness of Summertime without the eucalyptus and this coolant is pretty perfect here. I started out with koolada but I found the soapy/chemical taste compounded with that aspect of the elderflower and made things gross before it actually got cold. This percentage maintains the coldness of cheebas’s recipe with basically no off-notes.
Lastly, I’d just like to thank /u/cheebasteeba and all the other awesome and extremely helpful people in this community. There’s just so many knowledgeable people willing to help people out with this hobby. I’ve been mixing for about 8 months and I’m finally happy with what I’m mixing up because of all of you. Thanks guys.
Bonus: Fall Fuji I’ve tried out another version to make this a fall/autumn vape and I’m looking forward for the colder weather already because of it. To make it a warm vape, I took out the ws23 (obviously) and I added some FA Anise to warm it up even more. Anise also screams fall to me and at .25% it punches up that apple and warms the vape up without being overwhelming. You can leave the elderflower in or take it out, i like it either way.
Ooh, I like the idea of a Fall Fuji! I agree, that combo of Yakima Hops and Pink Guava is doing a lot of the work in this recipe, so it's fun to see where it can go. Still need to get me some of that ws-23, but this is a super great iteration of one of my favorites.
Thanks for the shout out and kind words =)
I have all of this except yakima, and use most of these flavors extensively, so this recipe feels like it'll be right up my alley.
What do you think the yakima hops adds to this? Is it gonna sick without it or should I go mix up a test batch without yakima hops right now?
I love Yakima ever since I got it. It's a really fucking interesting concentrate. Adds this kinda beer-y, funky, earthy, slightly sweet note that you won't get without it. Kinda almost like a fermented or sour note, which is absolutely delicious.
Without it in this recipe, you'll probably just get your run-of-the-mill Fuji recipe with a hint of floral note that may actually end up being a little odd. It'll still work, but I reckon it'll be less enjoyable overall. That Yakima really helps bridge the gap in recipes that seemingly wouldn't make a whole lot of sense.
I’d bet it’s still gonna be quite good. It just won’t have that really full mouthfeel of the original. If you like it without the hops you should totally pick up that missing flavor. It combines pretty seamlessly with the guava to where I can’t really pick it out individually, but it definitely rounds the whole thing out.
Edit: btw it’s an immediate SNV for me, with the pink guava getting a little less funky after the first day. Let me know what you think if you mix it up either way!
I know how well apple and elderflower work (see my cider recipe) so this looks intriguing. How important is the guava? (I have INW Elderflower, I expect I could use it as a 1.5:1 replacement, but the guava is the one I lack here. Thoughts?
I’d say the guava is half the “Funk”. If you have FW Ruby Red grapefruit, that might work pretty well at maybe ~2%. It’d be missing some of the weird intrigue, but the overall profile would be quite similar. And I’m sure that INW elderflower is a fine replacement. I’ve read it’s maybe more accurate than the FLV version, so I can’t see where it would go wrong.
Looks like I need to get some champagne to try out your cider recipe!
Well, I know someone who lives nearby who has the guava, so I'll just wait until I can borrow a bit.
Sounds nice but not very sweet. I still don't get what is really meant by mouthfeel either. Bready?? It all feels like vapour to me.
Yeah it doesn’t actually taste like bread, that’s not what I mean. Some vapes feel thin (most fruits, florals, etc), some thick/full (creams, marshmallows, custards, pastries). Yakima hops is a weird one because it’s floral but provides a full mouthfeel. If you haven’t noticed the mouthfeel differences, something like cactus is a perfect example. It makes things feel ‘wet’ even though that’s not actually what’s happening on your tongue.
And you’re right, this recipe isn’t very sweet as I feel that would make it less palatable for and IPA. Feel free to add some cap super sweet at .25% to up the sweetness. Ive tried that out in a cbd version of this recipe (to better hide the lingering cbd flavor) and its still good. Sweet things just aren’t my cup of tea unless the profile really needs it.
I feel like this guy may be in the same camp as me...I absolutely cannot corroborate any of the finer details like this that you amazing recipe craters describe. Cactus tastes like aloe vera smells to me...but the vapor "feels" exactly like a bavarian cream vapor or a pineapple vapor. It all feels like vapor. The only time I can tell a difference is if I radically change the pg/vg ratio.
I still try to absorb the info, I just can't replicate what you super smell/taste guys can. Thanks for sharing your ability :)
If you have some CAP Vanilla Custard V1, mix it up at 8% and leave it for 3 weeks to steep, any PG/VG ratio you like. Fill a tank and vape it, then fill your tank with a fruity mix that has no cream and try that.
If you still can't discern the "full" mouthfeel, then i'm afraid there may be no hope. I'd best describe it as the feeling you get when you have put too many marshmallows in your mouth. Obviously less so, but that's the kind of thing I get from it.
Exactly. Cactus=aloe vera, I don't feel or experience the wet sensation. I'm also in the same boat on mouthfeel, it all tastes the same, with, as you said, the exception for PG/VG ratios, and that just changes the throat hit for me, not the mouthfeel. I've been vaping for 4 years, mixing for a year and a half, and while I'm very grateful for the recipe posters and creators, I feel like they are actually aliens or something because half the time I have no idea what the tasting notes mean because I don't experience them in the same way at all.
Thanks for the insight. So perhaps some chemicals in certain concentrates react with the buds on the tongue responsible for the touch sensation.
Love citra, not as big a fan of Chinook. We need Simcoe flavor concentrate now!
I do kinda feel obligated to mix this up though, sounds wonderful.
I feel like if you know about different hop varieties then that means this is something you need to mix up lol.
I'm a brewer, it's my job :-)
And honestly, I’m not sure I can be quite that specific with what variety that Yakima Hops taste like. It just seems pretty piney and floral without much citrus. That Yakima hops gets kinda lost because that pink guava and Fuji are some bully flavors that can just step all over the other things in a mix.
I'd say that pretty close to a description of Chinook. That varietal does come from the yakima region, and for a lot of people Chinook is a defining hop for craft beer. Makes sense if that is the profile yakima hops is shooting for.
My rough notes on chinook: aggressive, rough bitterness. Dank, evergreen pine notes, earthy unrefined character. Somewhat reminds me of a pine forest in fall, with resinous sap and older vegetation present.
Hey mate, how essential is the WS-23? I can't get it in New Zealand and only have Koolada, which you're saying to steer clear of.
What do you think? Just omit that all together?
It’s not that bad, but the ws-23 is definitely better. Try the koolada at 1% and up the total flavor percentage to 6% but leave the elderflower at .5% (I think it’s currently at 4.75% total flavor). I’d also recommend mixing it at 80/20 vg/pg (or max vg if you like that) because that makes the koolada less flavorful. You’ll still love it.
I don't know if anyone has gotten around to trying this recipe yet, but I'm vaping it now and I can tell you it's an absolute winner!!
This recipe literally contains all of the concentrates I had in my basket before check out but decided not to buy because ive bought wayyy too many!! Goddmanit, now i have to go buy them.