I have read a lot about steeping your juice and fully understand the theory behind it, however there are a lot of questions I still have. Being that many of you have a lot of experience in the DIY realm, perhaps you can give me some input as to your experiences.
I have seen that there are several steeping methods: Air, Time, Water bath, Microwave, etc… Which have you readers had the best success with. I am curious as to what degree the various methods and amounts of heat affect the nicotine level, being that heat degrades it.
There is also the question of aerating the liquid : Shaking, stirring, mixing, etc… I get the idea of introducing oxygen into the liquid to help facilitate aging (oxidation) but have had no experience with it personally.
I will start with these questions and as time goes on, will definitely have more. Thanks for any input you may have.
Left Turn
I have a feeling this post will get hundreds of reply’s with a hundred different ways that people choose to steep their juice. So here’s what I do 
After mixing my juice in a beaker, I use a Dremel (10,000 - 30,000 RPM Tool) with a frothier attachment on it. I know it sounds like overkill, but I really hate waiting and want to beat the shit out of those molecules into submission, lol. After the juice turns into foam, I sit the beaker right next to my laptop where the heat pours out of the fan until it turns back into liquid. I bottle it and throw it into my drawer for however long (depends on the flavorings) and vape away…
Everyone is gonna have their own methods of course. Stir plates are a good choice IMO as well… but check out Rip Trippers video on steeping. I think he’s a funny guy, so here it is 
For me the best thecnique is pacience, shake and wait, shake and wait then after 4 days I taste a sample, pesonally don’t like to mess nicotine with heat.
I mix .cap shake and open it back up and let it breath for a few hours .Then I throw it in a box in my closet in the dark and wait minimum 4 days .Some need more time some need less …and the occasional shake in between
This is essentially what I do as well. I skip the breathing sometimes, I don’t feel that it makes much of a difference. But steeping, letting it sit for a few days, definitely makes a huge difference for some flavors, so that’s what I do. I feel like people have their streathing and breathing and hot water, ultrasonic cleaner rituals because they are anxious to try their new concoctions in all of their fully steeped glory, but I personally feel like there is no substitute for giving it time.
I agree with clackie. The simple process is best. Mix, stir, shake daily for a week or 4 (depending on your flavors) and wait for perfection. No way to rush it.
Hey Left Turn, IMO, all of the previous post are correct, process just depends on your patience level. Mine…very low 
but does need to be done in most formulas.
Me, I’ll test it right away just to see whats up.
If not what I want I put in 150deg F water for 4hrs, remove let breath/cool, then shake a bunch, let settle and sample, if still not right, tag the date on it and put away for couple days.
One of my flavors “cooks” overnight (discovered by accident) and good to go.
Example, My absolute favorite mix went thru the 3 day process and was still garbage.
I gave up tossed in my box and forgot about for another week.
Ran across it later, gave one last try and WOW I wanted to just sit there and drink it it was that good.
P.S. couple lessons learned here, Don’t throw away blends too early, AND don’t throw away recipes like I did with this one 
Enjoy the Ride…
Generally I mix and wait but if I run too low I’ll do a crock pot steep. If it’s only one flavour I put it in a cup on an electric mug warmer.
Hi LeftTurn,
I’ve tried a lot of different forms to speed up the process and I find the most consist is Time. I use a ultrasonic cleaner and yes it does help but it also does degrade the nicotine so unless you self test the mg of your nicotine you could think you have a batch of 12 mg and really you have less. I shake daily and let air for only a few hours.
You’ll find a solution that works best for you. its a great hobby. Have fun and vape on 
️
I do the same as Clackie too. Just steep it… .I may take it out now and then, give it a shake, but generally I just let it sit in the back of my ‘steeping’ drawer.
Oh, I ALWAYS label my juices good with recipe name, date of creation, and nicotine level.
As Don3 said there are going to be so many ways to cure your liquids and many of them are great ways to cure your juice, its all about whats right for you. When i make my juice i make it in 4/8/16 oz boston rounds and fill them close to the top, about an inch of space.I then either put them in the ultrasonic cleaner for crock pot, on warm, depending on the bottle size. I do this to heat them up a bit so i can make sure all the ingredients will mix easily. If in the crock pot i shake them every half hour over a couple hours. In the UC i shake them when they become warm enough and then i shake again before putting them in the curing box, about an hour in the UC. There they stay for varying periods of time, depending on what the flavorings are. Anywhere for a week to a couple months, i dont shake them further and i dont open them up. For the larger bottle sizes i will put them in my small fridge to slow down the oxidation, i often make large batches and knowing i wont get to the juice for awhile i try to slow things down a bit.
If i am using perfumey flavorings i mix them together and let them breath before i add them to the VG and nicotine. This has worked well for me and is what i decided on doing after reading many discussions on Reddit and other forums.
Best of luck on your journey!
As I suspected, there are quite a few techniques that are in use. It’s great to have the input, my supplies arrive tomorrow! I haven’t seen anyone mention the microwave method. Interesting. Please keep the information coming, I greatly appreciate it.
Ya, shouldn’t microwave plastic (unless its BPA Free)…
Thanks Don, but I guess I was thinking glass instead of plastic, but good tip anyway.
does anyone mix big batches then add the nic after the steeping time? or do you need the nicotine for it to steep?
Yes and NO… LoL !! The flavors along with The VG and or PG can steep on their own but once you introduce your nicotine Base into the solution you will have to let your juice steep again… So IMHO it’s a waste of time to do that… Though it’s a great idea to make flavor bases then add your Nic base and steep !!
@Don3 that’s funny that you use a Dremel to mix your juice like that because I thought of doing that as well… Then I saw a juice immersion device at liquid barn for under 15 bucks !! It’s not as powerful as a dremel but the whip on the end makes up for it !! Same principal though !! They use to sell it separate but now they got it in their starter kit but I bet if you called them up they’d sell it separate…
Lastly steeping juice for you’r own personal use doesn’t need to be so difficult… Once you mix your juice and shake or “whip” it up… you should take it and place it in a cool dark place and that’s it…
You can put it in a “cigar box” (like rip said) and forget about it for a few weeks… Just be sure that if you use a cigar box the smell of the cigars are not still present b/c your juices will absorb that odor and it will be noticible in your end product… Cedar boxes are not good either cause they have a natural odor as well…
I’m revisiting this topic for answers.
Is there anyone out there who has a chemical engineer type friend that might answer some questions? Or perhaps there is one of you that might have the answer to my question. I’m not looking for an opinion; we all have our own. I’m looking for hard, proven facts. Here’s the situation:
I’ve been using a milk frother to mix my e-liquids. I might be crazy, but I’m tasting like the steep time is shortened when I whiz my e-juice about 4 or 5 times, allowing the air introduced to the juice to dissipate between milk frother whizzes. I feel that what would normally take 3 weeks to steep, tastes great after about 3 or 4 days of steeping. The question is: Does the introduction of air into the mix aid in molecules binding together at a faster rate than just going through the regular steeping process of sitting and shaking? Or is it the “aging process” of letting an ejuice sit and mature for 2 to 4 weeks the reason for the steeped taste?
Steeping is about mixing the ingredients together and oxidizing it a bit - It makes sens that frothing it would speed up steeping I know some attach their bottles to a jigsaw to shake it up, and that works as well - the liquid gets white and completely opaque until all the tiny microbubbles have disappeared…
@Jimk I give the milk foamer a huge 
I bought a cheap crappy one for £1 didn’t have electronic inside so I burst the end off and made this bad boy with my power drill
http:youtu.be/d5zBxGWjlPg
I had seen a guy on YouTube do this but with a cut up cotton bud or cue tip depending on what side of the water you are.
I’m a chef so I had the crazy idea of putting all my pgs into a mix first warming them up and slowly adding the vg whilst whipping with that bad boy like you would a French dressing this emulsify the mix smashing all the molecules together
That’s kinda what I do as well, but I put all my ingredients in a beaker and warm the mixture in very warm dry rice. Then I whip it with the frother. I haven’t gotten scientific approval this process helps with steeping, but it makes sense that warm molecules being slammed together can’t hurt and might help!