To steep or not to steep

E-liquids Flavors
1

So im just getting into mixing my own liquids… i went down to my local vape shop the other day and bought two more concentrates (strawberry and colonel custard t-juice). As usual when i go for a quick peek in a vape shop i end up staying there for quite some time talking about everything vapeish… he told me that i need to steep custards and creams for minimum 2 months and that berry flavours would be good after a few days! How am i supposed to sit and wait for my vanilla/caramell custard mix for 2 months? Im so eager to try this im almost sweating! Is there any way to speed up the steeping or should i just vape it right now?

Tips much appreciated! :slight_smile:

2 Likes
2

There are many methods you can try to speed the steeping process (crock pot or ultrasonic cleaner bath, search for threads about steeping) but I didn’t find they helped much when I was first starting out. The best thing to do is mix up some of each and vape on the fruity stuff while the custards steep, or buy some pre-made vendor juice from the store while they both steep. I did a bit of both while testing new recipes when I got into DIY. I no longer do crock pot baths.

Once I found some tester recipes I liked I just mixed up a bunch of 100 - 200 ml batches and let them age while vaping on store bought juice and my testers. Once every 2 - 4 weeks I mixed up a few more 100 - 200 ml batches to make sure I had batches in varying degrees of the steep process and now I am vaping on 2 - 3 month old recipes with nearly 3 liters of batches (10 - 20 different recipes of varying age) steeping in the basement cabinet.

10 Likes
3

Here’s a few threads to get you started :+1:

8 Likes
4

Thanks alot guys! I will read trough it all tonight :slight_smile:

2 Likes
5

I spent the money on an Ultrasonic Cleaner. I have used various spinny things like frothers and attachments to my Dremel. I’ve left them in my car during summer months and on and on. What I’ve found works best is finding a few recipes that are good shake and vape (SNV) recipes so I will have things to vape while other things steep.

Ok, that works till you run out of the steeped liquid, right? Well, yeah. But it’s better to figure out how much you’re vaping. At one time I was well over 30 ml per day. But I’ve slowed down to around 20ml. For me that’s 140ml per week. So in order to keep up and not find myself only having juices that are under-steeped I have to make 140ml per week, and if I do that then when I’m done vaping my first batch of month old juice this week, then next week I have a fresh batch of month old juice to vape. Make sense?

Now if you’re also making WIP mixes (work in progress) then when steep is done you can’t be sure you’re going to like it enough to vape. So you need to figure that you may come up on full steep time with some WIPs and won’t like them. So you’ll either need to make more than your weekly consumption or resign yourself to making the SNV mixes to get you through till you currently steeping batches are ready.

Some folks like to have less frequent mixing sessions and will make far more than they will vape in a week. Maybe they’ll sit down and mix a month’s worth of juice. And that’s fine too. But if you’re concerned about waste then I would discourage that because although most juices do improve over time, that is relatively a short time. After enough time they’ll start to fade. So you don’t want to have a lot of juice mixed that you’ll get to in 6, 8, 10 months or a year or longer. Reason is that improvement in flavor over time is not indefinite. You WILL throw away liquid if it sits too long. Been there, done that.

Bottom line is, learn patience. Nothing beats time for making juice reach its fullest potential.

8 Likes
6

In general this is correct. The trick is to make enough, once you know you are going to like it, so that you never run out. BUT i could mix some Vanilla Custard V1 (CAP) at 12%, shake the shit out of it and vape it right away. Really it boils down to what you like so when you make something test it at a week, two weeks and so on until you find the right spot.

You can use heat to speed things up a bit but it has some serious downsides with some flavorings. I just mix and put it on the shelf for months…

3 Likes
7

Some good points here. Bottom line is this -
Steeping (homogenizing) will 99 % of the time improve a mix. Don’t introduce heat, light or aeration to maximize the flavors potential.

Fruits can often be made to vape straight away, many are best at a week.
Desserts with custards or certain creams are best to steep for 3 weeks, sometimes a month. Others may suffice within 2 weeks.
Tobacco These take the longest and are generally best after a month, sometimes more.

Experiment to find your preferences and thus your ADV.

2 Likes
8

I bumped this up a bit because I’m curious of current thoughts about steeping and I didn’t want to start a new thread.

3 Likes
9

steeping is a must imo , i rarely test a juice until min 1 week and more than often wont settle on an opinion until the 30day mark ( apprx ) some things i mix like mf vanilla ill let go as long as possible its magical the longer you let it go … im a huge fan of fruits and cream or cereal vapes so im often waiting lol

1 Like
10

Lol. Digging deep eh? It’s odd. I had this thread marked as tracking but I never responded. Lol. I think I meant to respond. Oh well my answer is the same.

At this point I steep/age everything for a min of 3-4 weeks. I don’t have time to s&n or time to test a bunch of juices at one week. I work, I live, and I adult all freaking day. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

So what is my remedy. Knowledge. I’ve learned by practice on how flavors fade, enhance, and interact with other flavors. From there I shoot for a final product right from the start with the goal they will be good 3-8weeks. For example I am vaping root beer flv I mixed 1/10. I’m very sure it would have been way too forward at one week with the spice and the silent drop or so of anise fa I add. But at this point the ic lb has pull up to the middle the root beer has faded a touch, the anise helps hold the root and vanilla mf at a drop props up the ice cream.

Sure. I could mix a root beer float every freakin week. But why not just have it ready and waiting once every two weeks. (Shit. I got a 30ml and 4 15mls just sitting). Fully steeped and always consistently a pleasurable vape.

So yeah I age everything. I don’t have the time to mix every two weeks. I works great for me. Vape choars one week (bottle cleanup and wicking) and mix the next week. And skip a week of everything from time to time (like last week I didn’t do anything but spend money. Lol )

3 Likes
11

I would ask anyone who is a shake and vape fan to read the advice above.
PLEASE LET YOUR E-LIQUIDS OXIDIZE/BLOOM LIKE THEY ARE DESIGNED TO DO.

@Cornflakez asked the right question. Many people are only exposed to DIY from watching you-tube mixers who constantly refer to things as being a great SnV. When that is all a person knows, they really haven’t exposed themselves to the full potential of mixing. I’m glad you spent that time at the vape shop. The ones near me, aren’t as well versed. Imagine how long it took for a branded bottle to make it from the plant it was bottled in to the distributor, and then your vape shop where it sat on a shelf for IDK. Likely its already 2-3 months old if not close to a year. I think 2 years is the consensus on shelf life.

I agree with formulating a rotation for your mixing so they bloom at various intervals & you always have something new coming of age- which helps keep your palette excited. A well planned garden’s colors change between April & October. At the market, you buy a mix of ripe bananas along with green ones for later in the week. This is no different.

Here is my outline for others to adapt adjusting the quantities that are most practical for your vaping needs & timing recipes to your liking. In general, I find 45 days to be my sweet spot, some are good at 3 weeks, others best after 8.

May 1
First- mix a shake and vape to enjoy while you plan and prepare for the rest.
Recipe 1- steep until May 7 : a simple fruit vape like mixed strawberries & pineapple
Recipe 2- steep until May 21 : maybe a caramel ice cream
Recipe 3- steep until June 11 : time to break out the custards, cheesecakes & such
Recipe 4- stone to steep thru JULY 2 - make that cream base you found

May 8
MAKE ANOTHER SHAKE AND VAPE- I KNOW YOU WANT ONE
Recipe 4- steep until May 14… try a different fruit medley
Recipe 5- steep until May 28… how about a nutty apricot boysenberry vanilla cream
Recipe 6- steep until June 18… try Banana Bondage or another concentrate. These might seem okay at 3 or 4 weeks, but after 45 days they shine.

May 15
SnV #3- nothing wrong with them, but you might find you start to make them less & less.
Recipe 7- steep until May 21 > Hey recipe 2 is ready. Skip the SnV, but what to make?
Recipe 8- steep until June 11 >> WOW, recipe 3 is ready, more bounty to unearth. Options.
Recipe 9- steep until June 25 >>> Perfect timing, Gay Pride ended the day before & you have a special reward for surviving the March or hold off and save it for July 4th just to see the difference 9 more days might offer.

REMEMBER TO ADD THE DATE YOU MADE YOUR MIX TO THE LABEL & IF YOU CAN WHEN TO START ENJOYING IT.

This should allow you to explore your creativity on journey well & we are waiting to see what you choose to make a public recipe with everything you want to tell us about the creative process that got you there.

DON’T LET THIS OUTLINE STOP YOU FROM MIXING WHENEVER THE MUSE STRIKES. It’s only one person’s thought process for keeping 200 flavors from collecting dust.

Remember you are now a mixologist. Don’t toss something away if it tastes awful the first time you try it… just put it in the cabinet & let it sit for a month. Give it a second look, without prejudice to your first experience (positive thinking, positive thinking, hope for the best, you just might find it).

You likely have enough flavors by now to make 12-16 recipes each month that should keep your colis happy, your tastebuds satiated, & your ashtray empty. If it is a nice pretty glass one, I suggest giving it a good cleaning and use it as the dish you place a bottles dropper in when you need to put it down. Good reinforcement (reminder of how far you’ve come) & makes for an easier clean -up.

5 Likes
12

I have just started experimenting with homogenizing. I have no results and doubt I will for upward to a year from now. Initial results are promising. “Steeping” however is my baseline control being best practice as I know it.

1 Like
13

I am homogenizing with a Cat Scientific X120 and a T17N shaft with generator. I have done only 1 batch so far and I am amazed. There is no better way to blend. I have been mixing for over 4 years now. I have always done basic flavors because I never really had the time to play. However, now I’m starting off on this recipe kick. I want to apply my culinary expertise to my e-juice. Here is the last batch I made. 100ML of Butter Pecan Cinnamon Cookie. Just a slap together recipe to play with this tool I have. The results are crazy.I wish i could post my pics here. Its started off looking like milk. Seemed like a massive amount of air bubbles. It reminded me of the top of a beer but much “thicker”. When I woke up the liquid was 90% clear with a nice orangish tint. By the afternoon it was clear and golden orange. The next day it looked like I pulled it out of my steeping cabinet after a few months. Deep in color and super fragrant with strong flavor. I split it into 3 bottles to track the difference in flavor. I cant stop vaping this one though lol. Have 3 other recipes going that I just mixed today 04-05-18. Will update in a few days.

4 Likes
14

upload to imgur, copy the linked bbcode, paste into a reply here

15

Just rotated in a bottle of HS Turkish from the steep stash to the working rack. Mixed it up in July.

Mighty nice. Good things come to those who wait.

1 Like
16

Here is the link to my homoginizer ejuice. Flavor was amazing even when it was “white” and only got better. This is truly the best way to mix. I’ve done this on 4 more batches and all are ready to go right away and are even better in 24 hours.
Homogenized ejuice
Homogenized ejuice https://imgur.com/gallery/pdEMkXd

17

Thanks for the tip! I posted!

18

Why go through all that trouble? :face_with_raised_eyebrow:
I always just copy/paste images in this forum. It’s only the recipe side that requires imgur afaik.