I would like a detail description on how to use a ultra sonic cleaner to steep my DIY liquids. Also some recommendations on which ones to buy would be great. I have never used a ultra sonic cleaner before so I have no clue how they work, setting them up, or how this will help steep e liquids. I have heard great things about them regarding DIY and would like to get one for myself but I would like all your input on them first! Thanks.
I use this one…CLICK ME
It has 30min timer intervals and a heater. My basic process is…
Mix by weight
Froth with coffee frother ~1min
Bottle and cap
4x 30min cycles in USB @ 45 degrees Celsius with 15min rest between each cycle
**Note: The 15min rest is for the USB, not the juice. I don’t wanna wear it out and break it.
30min countertop cooldown with cap off after USB process
Then re-cap all and put in dark storage area
Tests are every 7 days up to 6wks (if it’s still bad then The blend is probably off)
Hope this helps. You’ll get 100 different answers to this question though, this is just my method. Use what works for you and remember, nothing is gonna beat Father-Time and Mother-Nature.
EDIT: Forgot to mention, I personally don’t like to cook any custard blends with this method, it tends to make them taste funny to me… For custard blends, I give them the frother, cap 'em, store 'em and try to pretend they aren’t over there watching me…
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@Mofogger thanks for all the info. That USC looks nice. When u fill the water in it what level is the water up too on the e liquid bottles your steeping?
If you look at the 3rd pic from the bottom on that link; it should show the unit with the little wire basket that’s included.
WARNING: You have to use the basket cause if you sit anything in the water reservoir and it is in direct contact with the reservoir sides or bottom; when you turn it on, the item will vibrate against the reservoir walls at thousands of times per second. This will wear a hole through the wall and all your water leaks out, unit destroyed.
I know way more about ultrasonics than I care to bore you with but they basically operate using the piezoelectric effect to vibrate something (usually metal) very fast. You can increase or decrease this effect by manipulating the hertz or (electrical sine wave) of your power source… very cool stuff to play with.
Anyway, with all the cautionary crap out of the way… With the basket in place, there is 2.5" from the bottom of the basket to the top of the “Water Fill Line” inside the reservoir. The width and depth of the basket 4"x4" square. I can fit 9x 30mL Boston round bottles in it comfortably.
These are the bottles I use CLICK ME
Let me know if ya need anything else. I had a ton of questions too.
Has this happened to you? I only recently started using mine without the basket, and the instructions say the basket is only for items with small parts. Also it reduces the effectiveness a fair bit. This is the unit I use. No longer in production I guess but I’ve been using it for just over 2 years.
Hasn’t happened to me no. I’m not sure how damaging glass would be to metal but gonna stick with the basket to be safe.
Where I used to work; we used ultrasonics to cut sheets of tight-knit cotton by vibrating a ceramic wheel against a stainless steel plate. This process would wear a groove in the SS plate and we constantly had to replace them. I’d never seen ceramic cut into steel before but it sure as hell did.
When I was researching USB Models prior to purchase; I did find one review where a guy was complaining that the unit was a piece of junk cause it already had a hole in it. He then explained that all he did was put carburetor parts from his car in it. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what happened there. What an idiot, everyone knows that your carburetor goes in the dishwasher! LOL! 
@Mofogger I just purchased this one after doing some research. Has a heater and a timer that will go up to 30 minutes. Could you please tell me how to post a link on here using my phone?(I’m such a noob) I will post it after you explain so I could hear your thoughts on it. It’s not the same one you post earlier.
I’m not sure on the phone thing, I’m kinda behind the times on that, I still use a flip phone …cause that’s how I roll, lol. There should be a little chain “link” icon at the top of the “Reply” pane. That’s what I use…or you can just copy and paste the URL in the body of your reply.
@Mofogger http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005GA1I3M/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1450421190&sr=8-3&pi=SX200_QL40&keywords=isonic+ultrasonic+cleaner&dpPl=1&dpID=41hM4lW6roL&ref=plSrch
See if that works? By the way can I put my glass bottles with a dropper top in the ultrasonic? Wasn’t sure about the rubber or plastic on the dropper tops?
Damn, that one is nicer than mine 
lol
Link works just fine. I’ve had bottle dropper tops in mine before and they were fine. I was always cautious that the caps weren’t submerged though, I didn’t want to risk getting water in my juice. I know they have a good seal but still…
Also, I usually boil everything before reuse. I take tops off, remove drip stem from top and rinse everything. Then take all of it and place in a pot full of water on the stove. I bring that to the edge of boiling then remove from heat. Let it sit for about 10mins then remove everything to air-dry on a papertowel. Even this much heat has never messed up any of my tops 
You should keep the temp in the USC pretty low, like 45-50oC (113-122oF) - so no worries about the plastic or rubber 
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@Mofogger thanks, I’m glad you like it makes me feel much better. I should be set up pretty well to start really getting into DIY. I just started a little over a week ago and love it! Thanks to this site I have had some success early!!!
@daath thanks for the info on temp. I wonder how I’m going to control that because this USC heater says its preset to 140F. Not sure if the temp is adjustable by the way the description reads. Any ideas?
Glad to hear you’re having fun with it @Borders_03
I’m still pretty green too, about 2 months in to this little adventure and having a blast. I occasionally make some horrid blends but I’m getting better everyday
The more I fail, the more I learn. Success is usually supported by 99% failure because after you get it perfect on that last attempt; ya don’t mess with it anymore lol.
Oh, and I went back and looked in the Q&A section on that USC; it says temp can’t be adjusted. Not a big deal tho, mine gets hotter than I set to due to all the friction so I’ve gotten into the habit of checking on it every 10mins or so. If it runs a little hot, I just plop an ice cube in
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@Mofogger cool idea with the ice cube! Would it be a huge deal if the temp hit 140F with my juice in it? Would it ruin it? I have read some people saying to not cross 150F. Seems to be some conflicting reports as too how how a mix can get before its ruined. What are your thoughts on this? Let’s say I set this USC to the 30min setting and it reaches the 140F during the session. Do you think this would ruin my juice?
This is the exact same issue I ran into when I first started…
I couldn’t seem to find much info on suggested temp. The range that @daath mentioned seems to be the norm.[quote=“daath, post:11, topic:40673”]
keep the temp in the USC pretty low, like 45-50oC (113-122oF)
[/quote]
I tend to stay on the lower end of that scale, sometimes lower than 40 Celsius. All I wanna do is get it just warm enough to lower the viscosity so the chemicals can move more freely on a molecular level. The goal is to aid blending and facilitate new molecular bonding. We are not trying to “cook” our juice.
I would believe anywhere under 140 degrees Fahrenheit is safe since above this temp is where serious changes occur. However, I don’t wanna get anywhere near that threshold. I’m not a chemist so I can’t speak to this in volumes.
You’ll know where “warm enough” is by looking at the bottle while the USC is running. What you should see inside the juice is called cavitation. They look like little tornados in the liquid. Kinda hard to describe but you’ll know it when ya see it. This is the goal, if cavitation is occurring then the temp is fine. It doesn’t take much heat to achieve this.
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@Mofogger so once I start seeing this occur I could probably just turn the heater off on mine then, u think? Since I can’t control the heat, I guess I could just shut the heater off when I see this occur. I will do a test first to see how hot the water will get in a half hour session without my juice in there. Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge of USC’s!!!
Now I find this! LOL I have been doing my custards in this. Just got the vortex mixer in today so I’ll try that out with the custards and see what happens.
What wrong with putting custards in the USC’s? I heard that somewhere else too.
I can’t really explain this effect that USB’s have on custards. I’m not even positive that it’s a universal opinion. They just taste kinda off… (when ya speed steep them)
It’s like a wax/plastic taste… Imagine taking one of those little plastic green army men, setting it on fire then eating it…
Lets not pretend I was the only kid to torture these things with an arsenal of weapons…magnifying glass, hairspray and a lighter, tin foil lined cooking pan…
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