Become a Patron!

What to do when your recipe needs more of an ingredient?

VinnySem

Silver Contributor
Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Say I'm working on a juice recipe that takes 3 flavors, and when I try it I think it needs a little more of one of the ingredients. Say it needs to be upped by a half percent. Is it possible to re-use the sample batch I made, and how would I calculate the amount I would add? By just adding more of one flavor, I'd be increasing the total volume of the batch, and throwing off the percentages of the other ingredients.
 

VinnySem

Silver Contributor
Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Thanks.. it just seems that if I add .1ml more (for example) to a sample batch of 10ml, then the values I calculated for the other ingredients in the 10ml batch would be off because now the total volume is over 10ml. Not by much, I realize, and I am probably splitting hairs.
 

Huckleberried

VU Donator
Diamond Contributor
Member For 5 Years
VU Patreon
Thanks.. it just seems that if I add .1ml more (for example) to a sample batch of 10ml, then the values I calculated for the other ingredients in the 10ml batch would be off because now the total volume is over 10ml. Not by much, I realize, and I am probably splitting hairs.
LOL, splitting hairs, yes. If you were to start over and mix it with the increase, you'd likely not notice the difference. In a 10ml batch, wanting to increase by 0.5%, I'd personally do 2 drops from an average size dropper tip, if it's one of those really skinny ones, maybe 3. No need to get syringes out for something that small.
 

OBDave

VU Donator
Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Thanks.. it just seems that if I add .1ml more (for example) to a sample batch of 10ml, then the values I calculated for the other ingredients in the 10ml batch would be off because now the total volume is over 10ml. Not by much, I realize, and I am probably splitting hairs.
You're right in that you'll be slightly off, but your recipe is off anyway - if you bring it closer to your end destination with the tweak, you're still on the right path. If it works, mix your whole next batch with the new version and try it again - or you might even want to try more tweaking. I'm rarely satisfied until I get to version 5 or 6 on a recipe, some have taken more than a dozen attempts, even when the initial attempt was pretty damn close...
 

chinacatsunflower-

Member For 3 Years
Member For 2 Years
Member For 1 Year
ECF Refugee
Say I'm working on a juice recipe that takes 3 flavors, and when I try it I think it needs a little more of one of the ingredients. Say it needs to be upped by a half percent. Is it possible to re-use the sample batch I made, and how would I calculate the amount I would add? By just adding more of one flavor, I'd be increasing the total volume of the batch, and throwing off the percentages of the other ingredients.

Let's say the flavor you want to increase the potency of is at 10% in a 30ml batch size of juice, which would be 3ml of flavoring. You then need to decide how much stronger you would like it. For the example, let's say you want it to be slightly stronger, so a 1/3rd. Which means you'd need to add 1ml of extra flavoring to the mix (a 1/3rd of 3 equals 1). This would then bring the flavoring percentage of your 30ml batch size to 13.33%.

If you want to be exact however, you'd have to account for the amount of juice you took from the bottle. If you took 5ml of juice out of your bottle, you'd have a 25ml batch size, still with 10% flavoring but the volume affects the total milliliters you'd add. 10% of 25ml is 2.5ml, and a 1/3rd of 2.5 is 0.83. So you'd need to add 0.80ml of flavoring to the bottle.
 

jambi

Bronze Contributor
Member For 4 Years
ECF Refugee
I just add, note, and don't worry about the "off", since I'm shooting for great juice, not exact numbers. If I want to duplicate it, I just follow my notes rather than try to re-factor it to end up with an exact ml. It works. I figure it all evens out pretty close quantity wise, since I took a bit from the mix for testing.

Apparently, I'm more chef than chemist.
 

SteveS45

Diamond Contributor
ECF Refugee
Member For 5 Years
When I do a DIY mix and I think it needs something I will either use the calculator to find the exact amount and then divide the amount of drops for the batch to see if I can just do it in a 2ML tank before adjusting the entire batch. Always keep detailed notes on your tweaks so you can reproduce the results.

:ejuice::ejuice::ejuice::ejuice::ejuice::ejuice::ejuice::ejuice::ejuice::ejuice::ejuice::ejuice::ejuice:
 

Toronnah

Member For 3 Years
Member For 2 Years
Member For 1 Year
The greatest chefs and bakers never use measuring cups. They wing it.

If you need more flavor, add it until you get the desired effect. Who cares if the nic or pg/vg ratio isn't exact.
 

SteveS45

Diamond Contributor
ECF Refugee
Member For 5 Years
The greatest chefs and bakers never use measuring cups. They wing it.

If you need more flavor, add it until you get the desired effect. Who cares if the nic or pg/vg ratio isn't exact.

I can agree with VG/PG ratio not being exact but when it come to the Nicotine I make 100% sure I am as ACCURATE as I can be.
 

Neunerball

Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Member For 3 Years
ECF Refugee
I usually make a 10 ml test batch in a 15 ml dropper bottle, giving me ample space to add more flavor if needed. I'm testing just a few drops in a RDA. Therefore, I'm not using a lot of eJuice, in order to test. Due to using http://e-liquid-recipes.com, in order to make and save my recipes, it's fairly easy to get a calculated result. There's a feature, I'm utilizing (in the saved recipe) "Adapt this". It makes a copy of the existing recipe with the default setting (volume, nicotine & VG/PG) and all flavors with it's percentages. I just add a new version number to the name of the recipe, adjust the percentages as I see fit, and save it off. Either I wait for the next 10 ml batch, or use my calculator to calculate the difference (V2 minus V1), and add the difference to the existing batch. This is not 100% accurate either, but to me, it's close enough to, when I make a new batch, they will taste alike.
 

SteveS45

Diamond Contributor
ECF Refugee
Member For 5 Years
Sounds like a winner to me. If I do some tweaking I usually write on the hard copy and if it is a keeper I adjust the recipe on ecigvape.com where I save my recipes.
 

CosmicTruth

Member For 3 Years
Member For 2 Years
I make an educated guess:
tare an empty bottle on the scale, then weigh your part used bottle so you know the weight of the contents.
then if you want to add say 1% of a flavor to a 10g volume, use this formula: (1/100)*10=grams to add=.1g
be sure to take notes and change your recipe so next time you make it you will use the new recipe
 

Redchigh

Bronze Contributor
Member For 4 Years
You're right,1 ml/ 1℅ of 100ml is different from 1% of 100.1ml which would be 1.01 ml..

Of course, take into account the volume removed to test, presumably about 1ml in a dripper... Which makes the volume in still off, but an even smaller amount. Now your flavor is 1ml, in a batch of 100ml.. and 1%-
But all other fractions are reduced bit... (Your previous 20% flavor, 70% VG solution is now a hair less than 69% VG, and a hair less than 21% VG..

Not that it matters. ;)
 
Last edited:

jojosvapes

Drippopotamus
VU Donator
Bronze Contributor
Member For 2 Years
Member For 1 Year
ECF Refugee
Reddit Exile
Hell on larger bottles I have mixed up I have gone back popped off the drip tip grabbed my flavor and just squeezed. :) At first I used to be OCD about every little thing. Only bad thing is at times I got lax with what else I tossed in and by the time a 240 is gone its nothing close to the original recipe and I like it better then what I have on paper. I dont do this often but if I mix up something I dont like to much or the flavor is week I just add to what I like/seems good. Kinda do the same with cooking, besides we all know one clove of garlic will not be enough for a entire pot of pasta sauce :) you need at least a small handful heheheh
 

VU Sponsors

Top