So I am back into mixing flavors… Finding myself with a shortage of plastic dropper bottles. Can you truly clean these out so no flavor leaches into the new batch? I only have about 15 30ml 3 50ml and a couple 15ml bottles. I am currently starting at the beginning testing single flavors in about a 10ml batch at a time. I already have a couple that I am making 30ml at a time so me and the lady can vape while I’m testing but I’m trying to decide if I need to buy a bunch of bottles or if I can recycle the few I have? What are your thoughts? Methods? Links to good cheep bottles?
Thanks in advanced!
Make sure you use cold water for rinsing add some vinegar if water alone doesn’t do it. Do not rinse with hot water cause the flavour molecules will fix and you won’t get rid of the smell.
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That cold water method really works ey? Would you do a bath with cold water and vinegar and let the bottles soak for a bit first then rinse and let air dry?
That’s what I usually do, especially when the flavour is pretty strong. Some flavours just wash out with cold water alone.
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I doubt flavours fix with warm water very much. Can’t see the mechanism how that could happen. Could be wrong but I doubt it.
Warm water will help the bases dissolve. A bit of detergent, not too much. Small amounts of warm lightly studded water many washes like 5 or 6 . Try and find a bottle brush if truly worried, I’m trying to find some now. Detergent will work better than vinegar, but you will have to rinse plenty. Small amounts of warm water, repeat 5-10 times. By that time if there are any amounts of flavour in the bottle they will be so diluted. You’ll never notice it.
Both methods will work, cold or warm, acid or detergent. The warm water will help the VG/PG dissolve better. Detergent will pick up the flavour molecules, vinegar will just push them.
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You can use the warm water to get rid of the base after you’ve gotten rid of the smell with cold water. Warm water does fix the molecules, it’s the same principle washing your hands to get rid of garlic smell or getting stains out of clothes, you use cold water.
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Doubt it. What process is occurring that fixes the molecules and to plastic or glass. Not a chance. Clothes is a porous fabric, you’ve got to displace the other molecule literally push it out of the lounge chair. I’d have my doubts about warm vs cold in that situation too. Eggs you wash with cold water, it thickens above 50° that’s about it, and some other very particular substance. Not flavours though in plastic/glass.
Personally I’ve had no issues and am confident , could be wrong.
4th paragraph on this website- http://www.flavourart.co.uk/eliquid-mixing-guide.html
These people use warm water. It’s fine. Don’t stress about it too much OP. That will work and work well.
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Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Me personally, I have had no luck at all with hot water and soap getting all the flavor smell out of a plastic bottle. I have soaked and shacked and soaked some more with hot water and soap and it still smells strongly of what ever liquid was in it. The cold water method I have never tried so I am interested in seeing if maybe I get better results with that. Thanks for all the replies and please keep them coming I would like to hear other’s methods also…
Give it a go. I’d be interested to hear if you got better results with cold. I’m happy to be proven wrong. There’s learnin there in them wrongness.
The issue is that plastic is slightly, slightly porous.
yea I agree that is the issue… Just curious, with you using the hot water and soap method does it get completely clean or do you still have a slight smell to them? which would make sense because plastic is slightly porous… and if not what kind of soap are you using? that could make all the difference in the world lol
I do know this can only prolong the plastic bottles for a little while I know eventually you have to buy more lol but trying to pinch a few pennys so I can buy more flavors lol
I feel ya. I’m a penny pincher, too. 
I’ve always just washed with soap and water, rinsed, and let air dry. Anything that was still super smelly after that was tossed. But it’s been pretty well established that I’m not the most nit-picky person and I’m a firm believer in the “Have it Your Way” philosophy of DIY. You’ll find a groove that works for you. Everyone does, eventually.
I finally got tired of washing and reusing plastic bottles (and I am not a fan of glass 
) so I bought a bunch and for the most part decided I’ll just recycle from now on. We’ll see if that sticks. Guilt will likely get the better of me. 
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that is very tedious washing those bottles lol. Especially since I am now mixing by weight and it takes literally no time to whip up some juice with very little to clean up… no syringes to wash… oh man I’m in heaven… and to have to wash bottles… yuck… lol any good places to buy a bunch from where I wont have to sell my kidneys to afford them? (btw, RF apple pie at 10% is pretty tasty… first batch and I’m digging it thanks!)
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Personally, if a bottle is not cleaning from the smell. I don’t worry about it. As long as its not a bad smell. My thoughts is that whatever didn’t was away is in the plastic. And if gets in my ejuice it’ll be like 0.00001% and my tastebuds & olfactory won’t notice anyways. Too small. After a while I suppose the bottle has go.
Bottle brushes which I’m looking for will help. Blown air will help dry. I think se air compressor with inline filter added.
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I bought these for LDPE (my preferred plastic) and these I would consider for PET if I ever felt the need to use PET (which I don’t).
They come from China, so will take a couple weeks to get to you. And I haven’t counted tips and tops yet, but @Ken_O_Where had some issues the past couple times he has ordered (not sure where from) where they shorted him. I’ll count them eventually, but I bought 100 bottles and I’ve kept the tops from all the old bottles even if I didn’t keep the bottle cuz I like having lots of color choices so I’m ok either way. If you like colors, you can ask in the notes on the LDPE one for them to send you the 11 color tops and you’ll get fun things like royal blue, hot pink, purple, dark green, etc.
Glad the apple pie worked out for ya! It’s a great flavor. 
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Thanks a lot I will check them out. 
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lol just just washed some plastic bottles with really hot water like 10 minutes ago
wish I read this first
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Don’t worry. You did it right.
Hey Vol thanks
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That was my thought as well until I had a fruity bottle completely ruin a chocolate vape. I had washed it out well, it had even sat open for probably a couple weeks, but the leftover flavor that leached into the plastic absolutely messed with the new flavors. Now my policy is to only reuse bottles for similar recipes. If I do that I’m fine, but if I make, say, a fruit flavor in an old bakery flavor bottle it throws off my new recipe.
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