I’ve mixed about 7 bottles of different recipes so far. Each one got from here, I’m not sure whether i had my expectations too high or if i’m doing something wrong. Everything seems muted, i have just made 2 more bottles an hour ago, strawberry jam (from here) with just strawberry ripe and strawberry tpa and a Strawberry lemonade recipe. Both were recommended as shake and vapes but i am getting no flavor when i try them in my rda. I’m mixing by syringe for flavors and nicotine (i have bought a lot of them to avoid any cross contamination), graduated cylinders for vg and pg. The only thing i’ve liked so far is a one shot concentrate of Strawberry milkshake by vapable but that was obviously premixed. Is there such thing as a shake and vape? maybe it’s just the steeping that’s needed but when i came here i expected to get high quality juice that you would buy from the shop. I normally like a sweet vape hence the strawberry recipes but i’m getting none of that from anything.
Wow, that sucks, but you did the right thing by bringing your question here. I do believe you are gonna get a lot of responses. Yes, there are shake and vapes. Some you can vape right after some 12 hour or so of steep time is needed.
here is one of mine that you can vape right after shaking, though I am not sure if you have the ingredients.
Juicy Blu Cup : http://e-liquid-recipes.com/recipe/1109436/Juicy%20Blu%20Cup
0.75% Blueberry (Flavorah)
0.5% Caramel (Flavorah)
1% Cream (Flavorah)
1% Creamy Yogurt (CAP)
2% Cupcake Batter (Flavorah)
0.5% Juicy Peach (CAP)
0.75% Marshmallow (Flavorah)
Flavor total: 6.5%
Remember to rate it at: http://tjek.nu/r/8QKH
here is one that needs a bit of steep, though you could vape it after a shake, it’s just better after about 12hrs
Elysium : http://e-liquid-recipes.com/recipe/1450729/Elysium
3% Banana Cream (TPA)
1% Butterscotch (TPA)
2% Lemon Sicily (FA)
4% Vanilla Custard (Flavorah)
5% Vanilla Custard v1 (CAP)
Flavor total: 15%
Remember to rate it at: http://tjek.nu/r/bBeA
this one is really good.
Don’t give up. It takes a little time but you will get there. Like I said, I am sure you will get a lot of response from some very good mixers.
One thing you have to keep in mind when comparing DIY juice with store bought juice and that is that store bought juice is full of Sucralose so when you are missing the sweet, that’s the ingredient you’re going to need.
On that subject (the one @Josephine_van_Rijn brought up) there are some pretty good threads on the subject. just type in the word sucralose or sweeteners in the search bar and it will bring up the threads.
Check your wicking (cotton or rayon)
A lot of recipes here are catered to the mixer. All of my recipes are stuff that I enjoy. Also remember that we are all not pro juice makers 
but we try 
It took a good year for my taste buds to return to normal after smoking. My first bottles of juice I made had like 25 - 30% of flavoring before I could really taste the juice but over time l just kept lowering the percentage more and more. Some flavors are weak, some are strong of course so you have to test flavors individually and see where they shine for you personally.
You can tell which recipes are the best by how often their names pop up in the forum. There’s quite a few exceptional mixers here that can give you the high quality juice you expect! Bull City Vapor has a new thing on their website where you can buy flavor packs that contain all the flavors to make those juices, and a lot of the mixes come from awesome people here at this forum!
Keep at it man! Play around with what you like and eventually you’ll hit the mark. If you think about it, commercial juice makers are using the same exact flavorings that we use. Whatever they make… we can make. It’s all about finding the right combo 
that works for you. The best advise I can give you is buy a digital scale. Once I started mixing by weight my life got much easier. Good luck!
Which recipes are you mixing? Let’s take a look together.
In the mean time…did you measure the pg and vg? Being off by 5mls can throw things off.
Did you shake the hell out of your concentrate prior to dispensing? They do settle and separate…you may not see the separation but they do. A classic one is strawberry FA…it’s clear in the bottle, but if you don’t shake it up the results are very mixed.
Yeah i was being very careful with the measurements because of my earlier mixes, i used cylinders to measured the pg and vg. First off i tried
Fizzmustards Mustard Milk - Turns out i’m a pepper taster and that overpowered everything! Staying away from VBIC
Strawberry Lemonade - http://e-liquid-recipes.com/recipe/68981/Strawberry%20Lemonade%20(Restaurant%20Style)
Strawberry Jam - Simple but seemed it could have worked - http://e-liquid-recipes.com/recipe/1175936/Strawberry%20Jam
Strawberry Milkshake by Vapable - I Mixed at 10% and after a few days it was the best of the bunch but still missing something.
Some others i tried myself and experimented but much the same effects. I find it hard to believe people i wouldnt enjoy mixes like these because of the ingredients and the smells are awesome. Strawberry TPA for example, LOVE the smell of this concentrate but i’m not getting the taste.
The key for me was playing around for awhile with mixes to understand what I like and why. I started by trying to clone a couple of juices I liked. I have found I don’t like a lot of sweet. I like my juices better than what I wanted to clone already. In all honesty most of my friends don’t like my juices as they want sweet. Having said all that, I think I am going to look at making a couple of “desert” juices for that occasional dripper full of sweet for after a meal etc. I was and am amazed at how these flavors blend. A lot of what I thought about what will go together well went out the window. Gram Cracker and Pineapple? Whoda thunk! Certainly works for me.
Not sure why you picked those recipes. But it’s ok. The lemonaide one is over flavored. See how the average mixing percentage use for lemonaide is 5.7%. I would guess 10% is way way to high for snv.
Try…
5% lemonaide or 7% if you want higher lemon
5% ripe SB
3% SB
Then if you got marshmallow FA or tpa slide in 0.5%
And if you got fresh cream FA sneak in 0.25%
Both of these will shave down the harsh notes
Give it 24 hours to blend.
I have a problem tasting SB, perhaps a mix w/o SB, do u taste the lemonade? the one shot u tried, iam sure had alot of sweetner. you never said what ratio pg/vg u are mix at, perhaps leaning to the pg side for more flavor.
As @worm1 mentioned, the PG/VG ratio can affect the end result.
Too high of VG and flavors become weak (VG doesn’t carry flavor well).
It could also be your pallette, as @SignMan was mentioning. Some flavors come through better for some where others barely taste anything at all.
Many variables can also affect flavor, i.e., air flow of the RDA/tank, temp/wattage of mod, wicking materials used, high percentages of flavoring (can cause muting).
Don’t give up.
It’s just a matter of constant learning, with the benefit of learning our own pallette and favorites along the way.
I’m sure you’ll hit upon the “one”.
I see you have a few strawberry flavors. Try layering them for a full strawberry taste (layering in this case is using one main flavor, strawberry, and using various makers, tpa, fa, etc., to make a more “fuller” flavor overall. Start by tasting each individually, so you will know what each has to offer overall.)
Here is a shortcut method I used to use for getting to know a flavor quickly. It works well with the syringe method.
- Measure 10 ml of water (yup, you’re gonna use water for this. DON’T put in your gear.)
- Mix the flavor you’re evaluating @1% (0.1ml) with the water. Stir well.
- Take a sip of the, now, flavored water, don’t swallow. Let it rest on the tongue, ensure it covers all areas of your tongue (different senses of taste, sweet, sour, bitter, salty, are located on different areas of the tongue. *note, sour flavors do not carry over well in vaping, they require a carrier to reach your senses (sucralose))
- If the flavor was weak, increase by 1%, retest. Continue until you’re comfortable with the % and your knowledge of the initial flavor.
Take notes! Always keep notes.
This will only account for the initial flavor, not the “magic” that happens while steeping. Some flavors fade during a steep, others become less harsh and yet others will blossom.
Sorry for the long windedness.
Wishing you the best with your next mix.
Next up?
Fizz Mustards’ Mustard Milk is a 3 week steep minimum recipe…It is definitely not a shake and vape…The TFA VBIC is reported to have a peppery taste to some, but if you read the comments by mixers under that recipe, you will find that the pepper taste will go away after a 3 week steep… That is how I treat that particular recipe and it is an excellent vape…If you wanted to shift gears with that recipe, look for “Turbo Milk” Tribute to http://e-liquid-recipes.com/recipe/274013/Turbo%20Milk%20-%20Mustard%20Milk%20TributeMustard milk…It uses more Strawberry…(and a couple of different ones)…It is a very Strawberry Forward blend, and the VBIC actually acts as a binder for the Strawberry, which brings out the Strawberry, and the VBIC actually takes the back seat on this one…It is an excellent Strawberry vape…It appears that you only give your mixes a couple of days to steep…I have found that this shortchanges my mixes…so I have found that steeping with most mixes is essential…Depending on flavors, I will steep some fruits from 12 days to 2 weeks… Some fruits longer…Creams and dessert vapes 3 to 4 weeks and …Custards for 4 to 6 weeks…This allows my flavors to blossom to their full potential…and I really have rarely gotten decent results with Shake and Vape technique…Good luck in your mixing adventures…
are you new to diy ? or is there another site you use and are getting better results from ? , if your use to sweet commercial juices then you may disappointed in many recipes , typically the commercial juices are heavy with sweetener and most mixers here try to avoid sucralose etc , yes there are SNV but with time things typically get better , i didnt look at the recipes you made but if they dont have sucralose in them try to add some start with 1 pct it may be whats missing for you
sorry i should have read through and seen the recipes you tried before anything , i would have been disappointed as well , even the mustard milk , which at one time was super popular isnt great imo
A pepper taste huh well my friend you need Liquid barn Vanilla ice cream! Not only is it the best imho but you won’t get a pepper flavor from it! as far as your mixes go just keep at it man I had my expectations too high when I started and was sadly disappointed in my first few mixes and every once in awhile I still am when I try to create a new one! Soon you’ll get the hang of it by getting to know your flavors and percentages to use certain ones at and then you’ll be happy I’m sure! Go for some original recipes like say you want cookies or some thing say to your self what would go on a real cookie recipe and try to replicate it! For example you would need a cookie base, some butter, eggs, vanilla and if it was plain or had fruit notes then would add a fruit!
So right away you know you would need cookie by FA or sugar cookie caps, inawera biscuit and so on. Then for butter say caps golden butter or perhaps butter cream caps , FA meringue for egg and there’s a ton of vanillas to choose from! Basically just giving you an idea of how I like to think of recipe building. Also look on your flavor list to check average percentages for flavors and read the notes people posted and it should help! Anyway long post but hope it was helpful!
not always true unfortunately , i get the same note as the tpa 
at that high of a percentage ( mustard milk ) its bound to happen more , i just tried a recipe with VBIC tpa and i get the pepper note but barely and not always , its weird actually so i just mixed the same recipe with my flaves to see if it might be my VBIC that wasnt mixed as well or something
Thx @fidalgo_vapes I wasn’t aware of that issue with liquid barn but it does make sense being that tfas and Liquid barn are very similar! What percentage would you recommend for pepper tasters to to avoid it or just barely notice it I guess? Or would vanilla bean gelato be a better sub? So far the only flavor that has ever given me issues is FA mandarin it tastes like an old sweaty sock or like an old sponge smells lol
I may have spoke too soon, i’ve just tried strawberry jam again, this time in my baby beast and it seems wayyyyyy better, i hadnt tried my juices in the baby beast because the coils are expensive. but damn, the difference seems to be night and day. The RDA i was using i bought specifically for tasting my eliquid but maybe it just sucks at delivering flavor… peerless RDA.
I have the same problem with my peerless. I have tried so many different builds in it. And I use the cloud beast as well.