Hello! First time posting here; also first time making a juice.
​
From the get-go, here's my mix:
80ml total, broken down into:
|quantity|%volume| |:-|:-| |30ml base|37.5%| |40ml nicotine shots, 20mg/ml|50%| |10ml flavor/aroma|12.5%|
The base itself is 60%VG and 40%PG. The nicotine "shots" are 70%VG and 30%PG with 20mg/ml.
Doing the math (considering the flavor is 100%PG), so far I have 46ml of VG and 34ml of PG - 57.5%VG and 42.5%PG.
I'm looking to get a sweet and smooth VG "heavy" juice with 10mg/ml of nicotine. The aroma is 50% (5ml) Red Apple and 50% (5ml) Caramel from Aroma Guerrilla and eLiquid France respectively.
​
Over the past week I've read several guides and watched several tutorials for DIYs and I thought I was ready to do this. I mixed them all up in a 120ml graded bottle and let it sit. Every now and then I'd shake the mix for around 30s.
Now, 12 hours later, after it sat for the past few hours, it looks like this:
Around the 30ml mark a few really small but really dense particles become visible. Around the 20ml mark they become less and less dense, eventually thinning the liquid towards the bottom. This doesn't look right.
​
Have I messed something up? Thanks in advance for any help!
edit: I'll let it sit for a few more days; will update then.
update: Problem solved itself; I took a syringe needle and stirred it a bit after which I let it sit for around 2 days. Perhaps I shook the mix too much, or maybe the maceration process took longer. Those "particles" in the liquid were just real tiny air bubbles; all of them rose to the top after about a day but I let it sit for another day just to be sure. Anyhow, I'm vaping the stuff as I'm writing this and it's all good - good taste, decent flavor intensity and nice clouds! Thanks for helping me out.
Going by your ingredients, it sounds fine. But I've been mixing liquid for eight years and have several hundred flavors and I've never had anything come out looking like that. Why is it opaque looking?
Actually, this might sound weird but how much did you shake it? Could the opaqueness be caused by tiny bubbles caught in the liquid?? (This would actually explain why it's clear near the bottom.) If you let it sit, does it eventually because transparent/translucent?
Feels great to have a veteran look at my first attempt!
Well, for the first few hours I had the bottle on my desk and I would shake it, but not violently, every half an hour for maybe half a minute. I've, too, thought that maybe those bubbles or "particles" were trapped air, or something, but they're real tiny - basically dots inside the liquid.
I realise that shaking it too much could be the reason for this, but since then 12 hours have passed. Wouldn't this be enough for the supposed air bubbles to disappear?
Well, both PG and (even more so) VG are thicker (more viscous) than water so it might take a while but I would think 12 hours should be more than enough. After 12 hours, is only the bottom 10ml still clear?
This is weird. Were any of the ingredients (specifically the flavorings) a cloudy white? (I've never seen any flavoring like that.)
Assuming all the ingredients were transparent to start with, the cloudiness must be caused by little bubbles. If it's bubbles of air caused by the shaking, they should disappear. (Gentle stirring might help that process along.)
The other option is that it's bubbles of one ingredient not mixing into the other ingredients. This shouldn't happen because the only ingredients should be PG, VG, nicotine, and alcohol- or PG- based flavorings. They should mix together just fine.
Are you absolutely positive that both flavorings you used were PG-based or alcohol-based?
Also, to answer your last question - yes, to some extent, but never fully. The upper half seems to always be opaque, whilst the lower half is somewhat transparent, but not fully.
I'll try to let the bottle sit in its peace for two days without shaking. Hopefully it'll become clear.
Thanks a lot!
That, to me, looks like air bubbles. Though, not 100% certain as the pic isn’t the best. The liquid definitely looks more clear at the bottom than top, suggesting they are slowly floating upward. In my experience as an avid shake and vape mixer, the air bubbles from vigorous agitation are almost microscopic and do kind of look like there’s something in the juice. To test the theory, let it sit a few hours without shaking or stirring, should clear up or at least allow time for most of the bubbles to rise.
This is due to the viscosity of the fluid. Thicker liquid doesn’t allow the air bubbles to rise/combine as quickly as one would expect from something like water. VG/PG is extremely thick by comparison.
50%? As in 50% of the total mix? That would be way way too much. What flavors are these?
Lesser known brands are not recommended to be used by people starting out
Oh, no, 50% as in 50% of those 10ml (so 5ml) of flavor are red apple, the rest being caramel.
The apple is from Aroma Guerrilla and the caramel is from eLiquid France.
Is that the recommended usage for those? I assume those are one shots.
I have no knowledge of those flavours. It’s recommended that beginners start with recipes off ATF that use simple and well known flavourings. Secondly, biggest mistake you’ve made is making such a big batch. Always do 10-15 ml testers and that way if it goes wrong, you’re not wasting a ton of supplies. There’s little way to fix a mix once it goes wrong.
I’m not sure what’s happened with your mix. Can you make a small batch of just PG/VG and nic (no flavouring) and see how that goes? Will help deduce if the issue is your flavouring or bases. I have had reputable brand flavourings in the past that appeared to have particles that had separated. I threw those out for safety. If they are present you should be able to see them in the bottle.
Looks like its shook up and ain't sot long enough to settle.
I don't see the problem really.
Not according to your description...
Your comment definitely raised up my morale, even if by a tiny bit.
I'll let it sit for two more days, maybe, shaking it up occasionally; will update then.
You have indeed fucked up haha. Not to worry you can still fix it. You’ll need a larger container and add the appropriate amount of “base” to it. If you can provide more accurate measurements of how much VG and pg you’ve put in there already maybe we can help.
But typically let’s say for example a 100ml base with a 70/30 high VG mix you would be looking at about 20ml of nic shots. Or say around 20%. Your flavors are at about the right range anywhere between 0-20% at the very most, though 12-15% is about the average.
My guesstimate you’ll need about 160ml of base and another 10ml flavour give or take to fix it. Perhaps 150ml base and 20ml flavors. Whatever suits your taste really. That should be about the right amount of base for that much nic. Roughly speaking I’d go with about 110ml VG and 40 ml PG and 20ml flavour mix.
Edit sorry I just now saw the picture after commenting. There’s something definitely wrong with that mix. No idea what that could be but I’d rather throw that away personally. Can you post what VG PG nic shots and flavourings you used?
The base itself is 60%VG and 40%PG. The nicotine shots are 70%VG and 30%PG.
Doing the math (considering the flavor is 100%PG), so far I have 46ml of VG and 34ml of PG - 57.5%VG and 42.5%PG.
Adding more base to it would increase the VG%, wouldn't it? Should I do that?
Actually looking at the image I would throw that personally. Not sure if it’s the nic shots that have done this or not but seeing as they are 18mg x5 that would be 90mg of nicotine which is probably a bit too much considering the amount of base you have.