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Guide to Mixing by Weight

Squonk

Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
I got an LB-501 a couple of weeks ago, and love it so far. It has a 10-year warranty, comes with the calibration weights, and an AC adaptor, not a bad deal for $24.
That's what I've been using. I like the bowl that comes with it as well. I ruined my previous scale when the top came off my VG and completely engulfed it.
200w.webp
 

SailCat

Silver Contributor
Member For 5 Years
Welcome to Scale Watchers, Brian. Mixing will be something you look forward to again as well as it'll be less hassle, more fun-time. :)
 

Briandesimone

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Not Me!

Gotta be prepare for a possible prolonged power outage! :eek:

Ron
:D:D:D
----
"A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool."- William Shakespeare
That's why I got batteries as backup

Sent from my SM-S120VL using Tapatalk
 
This is a great thread!
Agreed! :cheers:

If you are going to mix with a flavoring that you do not know the accurate weight for:
1) Put an empty syringe on the scale and write down the exact weight.
2) Pull in 1 ml of flavoring and weigh it on the scale.
3) Subtract the syringe weight.

I usually then add or subtract that flavoring to use ml for that flavoring for this one time.
Another option would be to tare the scale with the empty syringe, then just read the scale directly after sucking up your flavor and reweighing the syringe. :)

Personally, I'd draw and weigh several milliliters of flavoring, to reduce your margin of error for calculating specific gravity. Let's say you can measure with +/-0.1mL accuracy. If you draw 1mL, your margin of error could be as much as 10% of your total volume, but if you draw 10mL, the maximum error is only 1%. So measure and weigh 10mL of flavor, then divide the total weight of the flavoring by 10 to give you a more accurate estimate of its density. If you don't have any large syringes, a graduated pipet and a small beaker work well for this. A small graduated cylinder would do as well.
 

MaxPerilous

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Awesome thread. Added the scale to my cart along with some 3ml pipettes. The link from the thread for the calculator seems broken what calculator are ya'll using and mind sharing a link por favor?

Now, I just gotta figure out where to get the nic, vg, and flavors from lol.
 

Squonk

Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Awesome thread. Added the scale to my cart along with some 3ml pipettes. The link from the thread for the calculator seems broken what calculator are ya'll using and mind sharing a link por favor?

Now, I just gotta figure out where to get the nic, vg, and flavors from lol.
I use ejuice me up.
You can get nic and everything else from ECX to get you going(free shipping over $59.99). https://www.ecigexpress.com/
BCF is great too, but no nic. http://www.bullcityflavors.com/
After you get going there are more options, but to keep it simple and avoid multiple shipping cost, I'd go with ECX on your first order.
You'll need(IMO at least 30ml bottles) and these are great for PG & VG I use a clean dropper bottle for my nic. I only vape 1mg now so I get 36mg/vg base last me a loooong time.
 

Squonk

Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
I use ejuice me up.
You can get nic and everything else from ECX to get you going(free shipping over $59.99). https://www.ecigexpress.com/
BCF is great too, but no nic. http://www.bullcityflavors.com/
After you get going there are more options, but to keep it simple and avoid multiple shipping cost, I'd go with ECX on your first order.
You'll need(IMO at least 30ml bottles) and these are great for PG & VG I use a clean dropper bottle for my nic. I only vape 1mg now so I get 36mg/vg base last me a loooong time.
The Amazon link won't post. Anyway put this in the search bar.
Vestil BTL-RC-8 Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) Round Squeeze Dispensing Bottle with Removable Red Cap, 8 oz Capacity, Clear
 

MaxPerilous

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Right on I'm at 2mg wife is at 4mg. Thanks folks. I'ma go get that calculator and I bookmarked the sites. Prob start ordering next week.
 
Thanks for awesome post.
Any tip for someone like who use a PV/VG/NIC base ?
I tried to create a new ingredient for it but the software forces me to keep the 2 lines for PV/VG and can't set them to 0
 

KGuardian

Silver Contributor
Member For 5 Years
I tried to create a new ingredient for it but the software forces me to keep the 2 lines for PV/VG and can't set them to 0

If I'm understanding you correctly, can't you just set the PG, VG, and NIC to what your base is? Which software are you using?
 
If I'm understanding you correctly, can't you just set the PG, VG, and NIC to what your base is? Which software are you using?
Thanks for your answer. I am talking about the software in the OP. "JuiceCalculator"
It seems not very easy to use if you have PV/VG/NIC already mixed
 

Neunerball

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Thanks for your answer. I am talking about the software in the OP. "JuiceCalculator"
It seems not very easy to use if you have PV/VG/NIC already mixed
I've experimented with various calculators, and ended up utilizing the one on http://e-liquid-recipes.com, due to the ability of accessing it from any web capable device.
 

Ms. Trixy

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I admit, I have gallons of all bases and a variety of flavors and don't know that I have all of the flavors I need for flavors I favor. Some 250ml bottles have kind of sucked in in the middle. Don't know if they're still considered as "good".

I need to learn all of this, now. So, since the thread is long, I'll do my best to read it all. I spoke to WATCH about some 3mg Monkey Spunk he had that I ordered since he was out of 12mg. He told me to get to 12mg I needed to subtract 2.43ml then add my nic to it.

To me, weight seems the way to go.
 
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Neunerball

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Member For 4 Years
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@Ms. Trixy
We usually use an eJuice calculator, in order to mix our liquids. Personally, I use the one provided at http://e-liquid-recipes.com. I can access my recipes on any internet capable device. Once you've registered (for free), you can add your flavors in "Your Flavor Stash" in the drop down menu "User". This will also help to find other recipes.
When I first started mixing my own eJuice, I used volume. However, after switching to measuring by weight, it was way quicker mixing my liquids. In addition, I didn't have to clean any measuring cups, or syringes either.
 
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Ms. Trixy

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Thank you very much, @Neunerball ! I knew there was a way to create a database for flavors, recipes and let it tell you what you can make. Also, I've been advised time and time again to go by weight. I have the syringes and one tall, think beaker. I'll just fill a ketchup/mustard squirt bottle with VG. I believe the PG has caused my tinnitus. Because of this, I have 10 gallons of PG to give away. I'll have to go all VG to see. I'll still some PG left.
I'm thrilled!

I'll be delving into it hopefully this weekend. :)
 

Saddletramp1200

Diamond Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Mixing juice is as easy as making coffee. Weather you use weight or volume it's a good thing:) I use juice me up calculator.
 
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Whether you're looking to make your blends be more consistent, avoid clean up, avoid cross contamination, mix larger batch sizes, or are just trying to avoid the long term cost of buying syringes and other mixing instruments, well, this is written for you.

Supplies
There are very few supplies that are REQUIRED to mix by weight. They are:

1.) Scale - Scales come in many different varieties and there are tons that would work for most people. There is one major thing you need to AVOID when looking for a scale. You need a scale that DOES NOT have an AUTO-SHUT OFF feature, or at least if it has one, it needs to be on a long delay. A lot of scales by default have a 10 or 15 second auto-shut off, this can mess you up very badly if your scale shuts off while you are trying to add ingredients to a mix. I recommend:
American Weigh Scales LB-501 Digital Kitchen Scale

2.) Pipettes - These are only needed if you have flavoring bottles that do NOT have dropper tops. You can find them on Amazon for ~$20 for a box of 500. This will last the average DiY'er a very very very long time.

3.) Bottles - You will want some dropper bottles for adding PG/VG and Nicotine to your mixes. I'd recommend at least an 8oz bottle, however, if you mix smaller quantities for the most part, you can probably survive with 4oz bottles for PG and VG and a 1 oz for 100mg NIC. I use 4oz for nic and 8oz for PG/VG. You can find these on amazon for under $3 each, or go to a company like www.usplastic.com and get them much cheaper (but have to pay higher shipping).

Calculator
Not too much I need to say here other than give you some basic values. There's only one Calculator that I have used since I started DiY'ing and it works wonderfully for mixing by weight. Calculator Link.

The basic values that you need to know for mixing by weight are below.

Weight of PG: 1.038 grams per ml
Weight of VG: 1.26 grams per ml
Weight of Pure Nicotine: 1.01 grams per ml
Weight of 100mg in PG: 1.0352 grams per ml
Weight of 100mg in VG: 1.235 grams per ml

If you have a mix of Nicotine that is not 100mg the calculation is fairly simple:

48mg VG based nicotine solution. That's 4.8% nicotine in VG. Let's just pretend we have 100ml as it's easier than dealing with a lot of decimal points. The total weight of nicotine in this solution would be 1.01 x 4.8 = 4.848g. Add in the other 95.2ml of VG and you have 1.26 x 95.2 = 119.952g. Add the two together, and you get 124.8 grams in 100ml solution or 1.248 grams per ml. The same can be done for any nicotine base or solution if it isn't shipped to you with an MSDS or you no longer have it.

When it comes to flavors, there are a couple of thoughts/theories surrounding mixing by weight when dealing with flavors. Many people enter the specific gravity as indicated on an MSDS for every flavor that they have. I feel this is a complete waste of time. After searching hundreds of MSDS sheets for flavors, all flavors fall into a range of .93g per ml to 1.07g per ml.

In order to achieve personal consistency for your juices though, all that is relevant is that you use the SAME value, every time for any given flavor. I simply use a value of 1. This means that whether or not my flavors actually weigh 1 gram per ml, I always pretend they do. Percentages in any given recipe of mine will always be the exact same for me, however, if I am trying to recreate someone elses recipe, or they are mixing mine, there's a chance I'll be off a little bit (no more than 7% which is about the margin of error most people get when mixing by volume).

Method
The method is pretty subjective but I'll share what I do. It's fairly simple. Any scale you buy should come with a 'tare' button. This resets the scale to zero regardless of the weight on it. This is a button you use quite frequently.

Basically, start off by setting your bottle on the scale, whatever it is you want to mix into. Sometimes for me this is finished bottles, other times when I'm making larger batches, it's 250ml Amber glass bottles.

Now your bottle is on the scale, turn your scale on, this starts your scale @ 0.00g. If you turned it on first and set your bottle on after, no big deal, just press the 'tare' button. Now, The calculator I linked above, gives you the weights you need to add for your Nicotine, VG, PG, and each flavor. I always go in order so I don't miss anything or forget my place (I also have my bottles set up in the same orderly line in my mixing space just to make sure).

For example: I'm making a 15ml batch of my Princess Cake (fruitier version recipe). I'm using 100mg VG nicotine, and am looking for an end result of 40/60 PG/VG.

The calculator gives me these outputs.

TIvsIDw.jpg


I start by adding 0.556 grams of nicotine to my bottle, I round this to 0.56 as your scale likely only reads to the hundredth (at least mine does, thousandth readings on a scale will cost you ~20x the price of the scale). Then press 'tare'.

Next I add my PG (4.476g) rounded to 4.48g. Then press 'tare'. Then VG 10.773 grams rounded to 10.77. Then press 'tare'. Then add your flavors pressing tare after each one. Before you know it, you've mixed your first bottle and have no mess to clean up.

Congratulations, you just mixed your first batch of juice by weight.

Any questions, shoot away.
Thank You so much! I was trying to figure out what you do when you but PG/VG with nicotine already added. Thanks to you now I know!
 

dez

Silver Contributor
Member For 2 Years
Whether you're looking to make your blends be more consistent, avoid clean up, avoid cross contamination, mix larger batch sizes, or are just trying to avoid the long term cost of buying syringes and other mixing instruments, well, this is written for you.

Supplies
There are very few supplies that are REQUIRED to mix by weight. They are:

1.) Scale - Scales come in many different varieties and there are tons that would work for most people. There is one major thing you need to AVOID when looking for a scale. You need a scale that DOES NOT have an AUTO-SHUT OFF feature, or at least if it has one, it needs to be on a long delay. A lot of scales by default have a 10 or 15 second auto-shut off, this can mess you up very badly if your scale shuts off while you are trying to add ingredients to a mix. I recommend:
American Weigh Scales LB-501 Digital Kitchen Scale

2.) Pipettes - These are only needed if you have flavoring bottles that do NOT have dropper tops. You can find them on Amazon for ~$20 for a box of 500. This will last the average DiY'er a very very very long time.

3.) Bottles - You will want some dropper bottles for adding PG/VG and Nicotine to your mixes. I'd recommend at least an 8oz bottle, however, if you mix smaller quantities for the most part, you can probably survive with 4oz bottles for PG and VG and a 1 oz for 100mg NIC. I use 4oz for nic and 8oz for PG/VG. You can find these on amazon for under $3 each, or go to a company like www.usplastic.com and get them much cheaper (but have to pay higher shipping).

Calculator
Not too much I need to say here other than give you some basic values. There's only one Calculator that I have used since I started DiY'ing and it works wonderfully for mixing by weight. Calculator Link.

The basic values that you need to know for mixing by weight are below.

Weight of PG: 1.038 grams per ml
Weight of VG: 1.26 grams per ml
Weight of Pure Nicotine: 1.01 grams per ml
Weight of 100mg in PG: 1.0352 grams per ml
Weight of 100mg in VG: 1.235 grams per ml

If you have a mix of Nicotine that is not 100mg the calculation is fairly simple:

48mg VG based nicotine solution. That's 4.8% nicotine in VG. Let's just pretend we have 100ml as it's easier than dealing with a lot of decimal points. The total weight of nicotine in this solution would be 1.01 x 4.8 = 4.848g. Add in the other 95.2ml of VG and you have 1.26 x 95.2 = 119.952g. Add the two together, and you get 124.8 grams in 100ml solution or 1.248 grams per ml. The same can be done for any nicotine base or solution if it isn't shipped to you with an MSDS or you no longer have it.

When it comes to flavors, there are a couple of thoughts/theories surrounding mixing by weight when dealing with flavors. Many people enter the specific gravity as indicated on an MSDS for every flavor that they have. I feel this is a complete waste of time. After searching hundreds of MSDS sheets for flavors, all flavors fall into a range of .93g per ml to 1.07g per ml.

In order to achieve personal consistency for your juices though, all that is relevant is that you use the SAME value, every time for any given flavor. I simply use a value of 1. This means that whether or not my flavors actually weigh 1 gram per ml, I always pretend they do. Percentages in any given recipe of mine will always be the exact same for me, however, if I am trying to recreate someone elses recipe, or they are mixing mine, there's a chance I'll be off a little bit (no more than 7% which is about the margin of error most people get when mixing by volume).

Method
The method is pretty subjective but I'll share what I do. It's fairly simple. Any scale you buy should come with a 'tare' button. This resets the scale to zero regardless of the weight on it. This is a button you use quite frequently.

Basically, start off by setting your bottle on the scale, whatever it is you want to mix into. Sometimes for me this is finished bottles, other times when I'm making larger batches, it's 250ml Amber glass bottles.

Now your bottle is on the scale, turn your
Congratulations, you just mixed your first batch of juice by weight.

Any questions, shoot away.

Hello! The girl who is making my DIY juice actually uses this scale and I am so glad when I asked her what she uses before I ordered mine because it is the same one, and I am about to try DIY mixing. I guess I didn't think it through much and didn't realize I would, even though I am using a scale, was thinking that I would need to know the ml to use of everything, but this is very helpful. I hopefully we'll be able to find where to enter in the weights of the different products, and hopefully we'll know where those weights are located depending on where you buy your supplies, or does it matter? Anyway, thanks so much for putting this here -it explains SO MUCH for me! Now I will not have 100 questions to ask the friend that has helped me so far, when I get my supplies.
 

gopher_byrd

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As far as weights are concerned, the very first post on this thread has the weight for PG, VG, and 100 mg/ml nic in both PG and VG listed. Flavors will vary but a good middle point is 1 g/ml. If you use e-liquid-recipes.com as your calculator, they get the various manufacturer's product sheets and have the weights for each flavor.
 

dez

Silver Contributor
Member For 2 Years
As far as weights are concerned, the very first post on this thread has the weight for PG, VG, and 100 mg/ml nic in both PG and VG listed. Flavors will vary but a good middle point is 1 g/ml. If you use e-liquid-recipes.com as your calculator, they get the various manufacturer's product sheets and have the weights for each flavor.
Thank you, I am using the app for that website and saw that it already had the weights put in which is very convenient.
 

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