re: dropper tops, I would avoid putting those into the water. I use mine for cleaning bottles and tanks, but I only rinse the gaskets and rubber bits. I’ve tried cleaning the stoppers in there, but they sort of fog up. Make them look ugly, and I suspect over time would possibly cause them to wear out or become brittle, so I quit doing that.
But for steeping, just don’t fill the tank above the necks of the bottles and you’ll be fine. There’s no reason to go higher than the fill level of the bottle anyway.
If you tied one to a stick before setting it on fire, the little flaming droplets of plastic made the coolest sounds. Don’t even know how to describe it.
I started with just one but by the time I had finished; I had several of them tied to the stick and the whole thing was ablaze like I had a torch in some medieval dungeon and I was using the molten drips to kill ants. The sound it makes enhanced the experience and I pretended it was like the sound of an incoming mortar round as the ants tried to defend the hill…Zzzzzzz-plat…Zzzzzzz-plat…“Oh the horror!!!” Zzzzzz-plat…Zzzzzz-plat… "Medic! MEDIC!!!
It was a bloody battle that day on Ant-Hill…many were lost…
I have an “active imagination”
…At least that’s what the Dr.'s called it…
I used to use my USC all the time, then i noticed a pretty big taste difference in heat cured vs time cured liquids, especially with fruits and custards. In the heat cured liquids there was a noticeable diminished of flavor in the custard/fruits. The reason is the aroma molecules are much more volatile. Keep the lids off has a similar affect. At that point i just started making larger batches and keep them in 4oz bottle vs 8 oz depending on the length of time i was curing them, liquids in smaller bottles with cure faster than larger bottles.
This is just my 2 cents, observations over the few years i have been mixing. And i must say that i do seem to have a bit more sensitive palate than others.
I also use argon to top off the bottles and get rid of the oxygen when i am curing long term. You can get the cans on Amazon.
So if I put a custard flavor in the USC than I may ending up tasting like plastic? Does mean custard dominate flavor? What about flavors that aren’t custard dominate? Like say for example a strawberry custard with custard only be half the percentage of strawberry? Will this still come out plastic tasting? Sorry for so many question be the ultra sonic thing is confusing to me because the same people that swear by the USC’s for steeping are also saying that a ton of flavors that most people use are not recommended to be put in one. There has to be a very good reason why so many DIY people have these!
I dont know about plastic tasting but it will taste different, in some cases significantly. I dont recommend using any heat on fruit mixes. There is no better curing method than time.
That said i still see the value in using the USC to bring the liquids to 100* F to make them easier to shake/mix.
Keep in mind that this is partially an opinion but the volatility of some aromas is not an opinion. Ive been making custards for a few years and i have done it every sort of way. These are my observations that i noted down over that period of time. To you the differences may not be noticeable or not enough that you wont use the USC so test it yourself, if you are satisfied with the results then by all means use the USC.
@Ken_O_Where thank you very much for your input. It seems too me that there is really know solid information on using these other than the fact that they work for steeping. So many variations in time and temp to use the USC. I seen u said 100F and I have seen plenty of post of people going up to 150F. Mine is capped at 140F which the device is suppose to have a cutoff of the heat or maintain that temp once dots reached. What are your thoughts on letting it get that hot? Should I turn the heat off before it reaches the max temp of my device?
The higher the temp goes and longer duration the more of these volatile molecules break down and you lose flavor. Unfortunately we very few companies give us the chemical breakdown for the flavorings so we cant be sure which ones will be most affects by heat and the degree of heat.
I just mix in large enough batches and often enough that i always have my favorites ready to go with a month or more curing time. Sometimes i will throw a batch in the USC until they hit 100* to make them easier to shake, one can do this in a slow cooker too, and then put the bottles in cold water to quickly get them back to room temp.
I got this from a review on amazon for that UC so now I’m confusedheat or no heat
I bought this for the sole purpose to speed up E-Juice steep time. First of all this unit has a 30 minute timer. Also by default the heater is NOT on. When you want to use this for steeping you DO NOT WANT heat. So starting off with cold tap water as you approach the 30 minutes you will notice the water is quite warm (or hot). Dump and refill the unit before continuing. (So every 30 minutes). 2 Hours of ultrasonic on E-Juice is equivalent to 1 week. So it is best to run it for 2 hours, let your juice sit over night
I have a tall 1 liter Dental USC I bought at Goodwill for $5-$6 …they thought it was an ice cream maker. Not sure I would buy one at full price (<$200) just for mixing, but it’s also awesome when cleaning bottles, attys etc. When mixing I use with hottest tap water (120 F), but it’s mostly to heat/thin so it can properly mix (shake) and then degass in-between shaking sessions.
That process goes like this… cold mixes get a preliminary shake …into the USC for maybe 2 minutes to thin and remove air bubbles (degassing? you can see the air bubbles being driven to the top) …then a stiff shaking of the thinned mix …back into the USC one minute to degass, then another another shake/degass session. Maybe 5 minutes total in the USC. Not really targeting speed steeping, just thorough mixing and removing air from the liquid.
I make fruity custards and have no problem waiting for them to steep, as I now have sufficient quantities of vapable juice in front (Juice Mountain!) Heat to thin and ultrasonic to degass makes sense for me, and my results are tasty.
Found a video: