Honestly , I was 1 month away from graduating to a culinary arts school in California. I prefer making deserts from scratch. I don’t buy cake mixes or frostings when I make cakes. And no electric mixers either…
Dinner from scratch, not really a need, when a lot of things store bought taste just as good.
And if you want to compare military branches
The army has the worst food
The airforce comes in second
And the navy submarine cook comes in first.
Can’t comment about the marines or the coast guard.
Rumor thou is coast guard Has the best food.
I honestly have nothing to add as what I have to say will just stir the pot and muddy the water, you can believe that store bought boxes of food are just as good as home made but alas I beg to differ.
Yea I guess talking bout food is way off subject, but one last food for thought about heat
Me and wife when we lived up in Florence, ky before going to work at the pizza plant used to go to cici’s pizza before work. One day I asked the manager if the changed suppliers for their pizza dough. Because it wasn’t the same as yesterday.
He replied no we make our own it’s still the same recipe, just corporate says use cold water instead of hot water.
The lack of heat when mixing the dough changed the end flavor.
No it changed the way the yeast reacted and how long it took it to “wake up” so it was probably a denser crust than it was when it was made with warm water, unless they used hot water that would kill the yeast and makenfor a hard crust. Unfortunately you should have gone to culinary school so you could learn all about what makes food and flavor tick.
I wish I did, but my mother talked me out of it over Christmas vacation. So she could get the check I had for going out and cooking for the government . Triple time is very nice. And once I have the mixer I may try it without heat.
But for now process is
Mix
Heat
Mix
So I want a mixer that mixes and heats.
May try mixing with a big vortex that adds air in the mix like the hand mixer
But going to try minimal vortex first.
Or I may put the hand mixer on a stand and use the mag mixer to heat the juice only …
So many variables , the joys of doing it yourself. So many flavors to try and so many different ways to make them…
It’s not a hobby it an adventure down a very big rabbit whole. Just knew I should’ve taken that blue pill
I think you in particular would be interested in archived threads on reddit which involve the usage of homogenizers. Not that I am recommending them because they are very expensive. One poster called abdada (apparently used to be here on ELR) owns and uses two of them. If interested do a search https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY_eJuice/comments/ for “homogenizer” and several posts will come up.
Just for clarification, I don’t believe that the use of stirrers shortens steep time. However, I believe there are multiple beneficial effects from stirring. I’ll leave it there and am not attempting to tell anyone what they should or should not do.
abdaba also addresses the usage of heat in several posts. I also find it interesting that you attended culinary school. My granddaughter just completed her training. (Louisville Ky) I know nothing about cooking, but I did discuss these heat issues with her. She was astonished.
(Edit because of vagueness) Her answer was essentialy the same as stated in one of these posts: "flavorings are emulsified in a protective substance(usually PG) to allow them to be used at high temperatures without decomposing. "
I don’t have it, but I want to chime and say that 140-150 heated is a preferred method for me in mixing most flavors. From the pictures etc, this unit looks horrible. Too bad. I looked at it with interest but now, there is no way I’d touch it. Thank you for sharing your experience.
This looks like a cheap 2.00 thermo electric heater in there, that while doesn’t require the kind of power for a real ceramic heater. I’m not liking the design of this unit at all. So sorry… I am extremely happy about you doing a tear down and posting the images. It could be salvaged I’m sure, you seem like you have more than a clue on what’s happening in there.!! Great work.
To Quote @ozo A heated mag stirrer may be unnecessary as the friction of a lengthy mag-stir generates sufficient heat by the time it’s done. @SthrnMixer sorry to hear about your experience with the Nitecore! Did the added Magnets add any power?
I think others have made the joke that the original Product picture featured in the #1 OP is mixing a shot of Scotch and not a VG-based liquid
It did not. Zero sum gain as I suspect the extra magnetic force resulted in less “slippage” of the stir bar, but slower rotation of the motor. Even heated VG is still too viscous for this sad little device.
Hi, guys & gals!! I’m sorry it took me forever to post a response to this question. I bought mine directly from NItecore, and it’s a great mixer but the instructions are quite vague so I haven’t yet mastered the deal…
So sorry… I am extremely happy about you doing a tear down and posting the images. It could be salvaged I’m sure, you seem like you have more than a clue on what’s happening in there.!! Great work.