"To Steep or Not To Steep"

[flipthebuzzard]

Hi all, noob here and trying to get my head around steeping.

Have read a bit about it and thought I would ask the experts if you had a sort of 'one size fits all' method of steeping for all your juices??

I'm starting to employ the following method myself now, on all my juice, rightly or wrongly.....

Make juice
Warm water, open top steep - 1hr ish
Shake
Closed overnight steep, in dark cupboard
Shake
Cap off in the morning, leave all day in dark cupboard
Cap on, then store closed 1 week minimum, in dark cupboard

Thoughts????


Thanks

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[pagandevil]

Ehhhh all I do is mix it, stick it in the ultrasonic cleaner at 50 degrees for about 15 minute, shake it again when I take it out, then stick the bottle in my juice case. Vape in a week or two.

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[flipthebuzzard]

I've heard about those cleaners.... Hmm. Maybe worth an investment...

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[gopher_byrd]

Make it, shake it, put it in the closet. When I get around to it, vape it. No fancy bullstuff, just time. If I ever get around to getting an ultrasonic cleaner it would just be for cleaning attys and mech mods...

 

[Rin Vapes]

The only thing I typically do that's "special" is give it a hot water bath after mixing to warm up the VG since I do 80% VG, which is rather thick. Warming up the VG before shaking makes it easier for the other ingredients to incorporate into each other.
Other than that, I shake it and put it in the drawer to test in a week or so. Sometimes, if I'm doing a show I will test it out right after mixing once the liquid thickens back up for an immediate impression... But if I'm mixing for myself, I don't always do that.
I don't leave the cap off unless I know the flavoring has an alcohol base or its harsh.
I never heat steep with a crock pot/etc or use an Ultra sonic cleanser.

 

[flipthebuzzard]

The only thing I typically do that's "special" is give it a hot water bath after mixing to warm up the VG since I do 80% VG, which is rather thick. Warming up the VG before shaking makes it easier for the other ingredients to incorporate into each other.
Other than that, I shake it and put it in the drawer to test in a week or so. Sometimes, if I'm doing a show I will test it out right after mixing once the liquid thickens back up for an immediate impression... But if I'm mixing for myself, I don't always do that.
I don't leave the cap off unless I know the flavoring has an alcohol base or its harsh.
I never heat steep with a crock pot/etc or use an Ultra sonic cleanser.

Interesting.
This sounds perfect and makes absolute sense.

I also mix at 80% vg....
That's settled then. Will continue to do the warm steep and mix but then, cap on, in the cupboard and 'fo-ged about it' for a week or so.

Ultrasonic cleaner might be added to the mix at a later date, also covers proper kit cleans as mentioned above.

Thanks

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[RonJS]

Warm water, open top steep - 1hr ish
Shake
Closed overnight steep, in dark cupboard
Shake
Cap off in the morning, leave all day in dark cupboard
Cap on, then store closed 1 week minimum, in dark cupboard

Unless you are venting alcohol from your mix, I see no good reason to take the cap off until you are ready to vape it.

Ron
---
"When you got your hand in the lion's mouth, don't do nothin' til you get it out."- Big Bill Broonzy

 

[PuffOn]

Mix, shake, breath if there is alcohol, put in drawer, shake when I remember, one month later...vape it.

 

[bobnat]

The steeping issue drove me nuts. There's so much conjecture, speculation, anecdotes, and folklore that it made my head swim. I guess the only way to truly know is to do some rigorous testing on your own. I'm finally at the point where I've got enough in the closet that it'll be months before I get to it.

I suspect I messed up more juices than I improved using too much heat for too long and/or breathing. It took a little bit of time before I understood that steeping does not make a juice good. If it sucks when you make it (or bought it), it's going to suck in two months from now. Steeping allows the creams and custards to mature. I can taste a major difference as tonight I tested a VCv1 juice I made 4 days ago, then put it back in the closet. I then vaped the same recipe from a batch I made 5 weeks ago. Same taste, just more of it.

 

[flipthebuzzard]

The steeping issue drove me nuts. There's so much conjecture, speculation, anecdotes, and folklore that it made my head swim. I guess the only way to truly know is to do some rigorous testing on your own. I'm finally at the point where I've got enough in the closet that it'll be months before I get to it.

I suspect I messed up more juices than I improved using too much heat for too long and/or breathing. It took a little bit of time before I understood that steeping does not make a juice good. If it sucks when you make it (or bought it), it's going to suck in two months from now. Steeping allows the creams and custards to mature. I can taste a major difference as tonight I tested a VCv1 juice I made 4 days ago, then put it back in the closet. I then vaped the same recipe from a batch I made 5 weeks ago. Same taste, just more of it.

That's really good info.

It makes sense that a bad juice won't miraculously become amazing. If it's not great when you make it, don't expect it to suddenly turn into a grade A juice from a month in a cupboard!

But will it make a great juice even greater, especially when it's custard/cream/cakey.... Likely so.

Thanks!

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[HondaDavidson]

I don't steep ejuice.. I do steep teas. I age ejuice.

Sometimes that aging is minutes sometimes months.

I use cleaning machines to clean things and cook ware to cook and sometimes brew juice flavoring.




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[Rin Vapes]

That's not necessarily true... I had a Kiwi and cream recipe that was terrible right after mixing... but when waiting 3-4 weeks, it was amazing... Those instances are rare but they do exist... That's why I'll give a mixture a month and retest. If it's still garbage, it goes in the garbage.

 

[flipthebuzzard]

I don't steep ejuice.. I do steep teas. I age ejuice.

Sometimes that aging is minutes sometimes months.

I use cleaning machines to clean things and cook ware to cook and sometimes brew juice flavoring.




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Jokes

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[wllmc]

I have perfected the art of "lung steeping" I mix it, shake it , vape it and repeat

 

[Vapin-Dave]

If using mostly fruit flavours is there any reason to steep/age? I may get into some creams/custards down the road but right now it's just fruit flavors. Or are there perhaps certain fruit flavours that are better after aging compared to others?

 

[Rin Vapes]

If using mostly fruit flavours is there any reason to steep/age? I may get into some creams/custards down the road but right now it's just fruit flavors. Or are there perhaps certain fruit flavours that are better after aging compared to others?

Some fruits improve with steeping slightly but most times they are good fairly quickly. Creams, deserts/bakery, tobaccos are the kinds of things that usually need to sit a while.

 

[RonJS]

If using mostly fruit flavours is there any reason to steep/age? I may get into some creams/custards down the road but right now it's just fruit flavors. Or are there perhaps certain fruit flavours that are better after aging compared to others?

Shake & vape or wait awhile. There are no set rules other than to do what you like.

Depending on what it is, Flavor Fade may be more a concern... The comments related to custards & tobacco mixes are correct for many of us. For some mixes I like them better after 2 months. Then again, I have added SC Cohiba to a cigar mix in such amounts it was initially a prominent flavor. (one day after mixing) 30 Days later I could barely taste it at all.

Ron
---
“If you think you can do it, or you think you can’t do it, You are right.” – Henry Ford

 

[Vapin-Dave]

OK thanks. I had read that most fruit flavors don't need much steeping but have also read of some getting results from letting them steep for at least a few days. I was really just wondering if there were certain fruit flavours perhaps from certain vendors that tasted better after steeping for a bit. I'm just starting to DIY but can see myself being more of a Shake 'N' Vape kinda person unless it's going to significantly improve the flavour.

 

[wllmc]

for me without sounding like a broken record since i posted a lot of stuff about steeping Ive found the voltage up and down to be my best friend. I get better result making things taste better or less harsh just by adjusting my power up or down a little. I have maybe 3 tobacco recipes I let steep the rest is shake and vape. I think its more about learning how things react to each other. just to echo a couple points above, I can imagine a flavor in my head then go make it. 99.9999999% of the time it taste about 95% the same as it did before i let it steep. if it taste like crap today its going to taste like crap tomorrow. things will most definatley "relax" i call it. kinda mellow out or smooth out and you will learn what tingles fade and what tingles stay. i experimented in the begining with steeping and additives and every single time i could solve my problems with adjusting flavors instead of adding more junk or burning out ultra sonic cleaners. burnt out 4 of them, i think lol. so i can safely say ive been there and done that. if you insist on a steep method I would consider a food dehydrator. no watery mess in the kitchen. to mix the liquid all you need is just a little heat. that creates enough vibration in all the little molecules or whatever to adjiate the liquid even if you cant see it happening. but then you have to wait 2 days because what i have found for certian in my own personal test that ALL speed steeped juices need 48 hours to "relax" so may as well just wait 2 days lol. you can over steep them also. .......................... best advice of any is you CAN NOT force a flavor or profile. there are no magic ingredients or steeping rain dances. if you cant make "X" flavor taste the way you want and are imagining in your head either broaden you flavor stash or scrap the idea and get something else rolling. come back to it later. the answer usually comes at some point or another but no sense in wasting time and $$$ trying to make the same thing with the same flavors lol ........................... thats just me though.

 

[wllmc]

oh and steeping is a dumb term since thats not what we are doing and opening the cap does nothing but oxygenate the juice and thats a whole other thread debate haha. to breathe or not to breathe nicotine.

 

[Vapin-Dave]

Now THAT'S a detailed response. AWESOME!! It sounds a lot like cooking really. It takes experience, trial and error and personal tastes to know what spices to add and how much etc. After awhile you get to know what to add in what amounts and generally get better results. And like ejuice certain foods will improve with STEEPING / AGING / JUST EFFIN' WAITING (LOL) and with others it won't make much of a difference at all.

 

[wllmc]

yes like homemade soup. first day is always good. 2nd and 3rd day are amazing then it dies out till it rots lol.

 

[wllmc]

but it really taste the same if its to saltly its to salty. an apple taste like an apple no matter what and the flavors you mixed will taste like the flavors you mixed

 

[r055co]

If you are going to be mixing most your juices get a Magnetic Stirrer. Put a rubber stopper in it, flip it on high and come back about 3 hours later. Juice only needs to be steeped if you don't mix it well enough. Sadly a lot of commercial juice company's don't thus needing to steep.

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[Vapin-Dave]

I read somewhere online (can't remember where exactly) of somebody putting the bottle of juice in their front pants pocket and just going about their day. Apparently the warmth from their body heat and the motion from walking around helped the mixing/steeping process. I guess this wouldn't work if you're making a bunch of juice or planning on not moving for most of the day. (Inset video game controller or tv remote icon here!)

 

[r055co]

Heat, air and light degrades/breaks down nicotine. Best to mix it or let it naturally steep.

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[Vapin-Dave]

HA ... I have one of these fans with a plug on the end. I may give this a try.

 

[MD_Boater]

Now THAT'S a detailed response. AWESOME!! It sounds a lot like cooking really. It takes experience, trial and error and personal tastes to know what spices to add and how much etc. After awhile you get to know what to add in what amounts and generally get better results. And like ejuice certain foods will improve with STEEPING / AGING / JUST EFFIN' WAITING (LOL) and with others it won't make much of a difference at all.

The 2 most important things I learned are that some flavors fade over time (sometimes, fairly quickly), and multiple flavor recipes need to be mixed really well. My experience is that "steeping" is a combination of those two things.

If you make a recipe that takes a couple of days to taste right, the trick is to figure out if it needed time to mix (as in the flavor molecules mixing together), or if it needed time for a dominant flavor to fade to it's proper proportion (which is close to what Will said about "adjusting flavors").

If you find a multiple flavor recipe that you really like, consider mixing just the flavors in a separate bottle to make a new flavor for future use. I like a variation of HIC's Pina Colada that I make frequently. It has pineapple, coconut, cream, and rum flavors in it. I made a 10 ml bottle of it by mixing all of the flavors without PG, VG, or nic in it. That bottle sits and "steeps" (mixes / fades) in a couple of hours and then it stabilizes. When I mix a bottle for use, I use 5% of that in the mix with PG, VG, and nic to make the actual juice. It is a shake and vape that tastes perfect every time. There is no need for any mixing or steeping. Ever.

 

[kh1]

I don't steep ejuice.. I do steep teas. I age ejuice.

Heck yeah, that term never seemed to fit.

 

[wllmc]

I agree with both above also. natural steep if needed and make your own pre mixed flavor concentrates. I do that will all my favorites. then when i want them I grab one bottle, mix at desired % and shake the crap out of it. usually all it needs for me

 

[wllmc]

I read somewhere online (can't remember where exactly) of somebody putting the bottle of juice in their front pants pocket and just going about their day. Apparently the warmth from their body heat and the motion from walking around helped the mixing/steeping process. I guess this wouldn't work if you're making a bunch of juice or planning on not moving for most of the day. (Inset video game controller or tv remote icon here!)

lol -----body steeping-- i remember that to. so many "magic tricks " when it comes to DIY myth and lore. the important thing is you are doing something fun and bettering yourself in the process. who cares how you go about it as long as its your way

 

[MD_Boater]

I read somewhere online (can't remember where exactly) of somebody putting the bottle of juice in their front pants pocket and just going about their day. Apparently the warmth from their body heat and the motion from walking around helped the mixing/steeping process. I guess this wouldn't work if you're making a bunch of juice or planning on not moving for most of the day. (Inset video game controller or tv remote icon here!)

That was me!!!! VG is kinda thick. In order for the flavors and nic to fully blend, the bottle needs to be warmed up a little. My front pocket is 98.6 degrees. By the time I fill my tank with the new mix, it is warmed up so the VG has thinned out and the flavoring is fully dispersed throughout. I jokingly call it "pocket steeping". It's really mild heat and motion...

 

[kh1]

I jokingly call it "pocket steeping". It's really mild heat and motion...

You happy to see me or is that a bottle in your pocket?

Eyow on the mild heat and motion lol.

 

[Huckleberried]

lol -----body steeping

I remember that guy! He even popped over here a few times. Blues something, or something that reminded me of the Blues.

 

[Huckleberried]

I mix, I shake, I vape. Or add to that, let it sit. With the shake and vape stuff I vape, it doesn't change much. The sittin' stuff is like Will's soup analogy, but it doesn't rot.

 

[bobnat]

I read somewhere online (can't remember where exactly) of somebody putting the bottle of juice in their front pants pocket and just going about their day. Apparently the warmth from their body heat and the motion from walking around helped the mixing/steeping process. I guess this wouldn't work if you're making a bunch of juice or planning on not moving for most of the day. (Inset video game controller or tv remote icon here!)

Is that a 250ml bottle of juice in your pants or are you happy to see me?

 

[bobnat]

I made a 10 ml bottle of it by mixing all of the flavors without PG, VG, or nic in it. That bottle sits and "steeps" (mixes / fades) in a couple of hours and then it stabilizes. When I mix a bottle for use, I use 5% of that in the mix with PG, VG, and nic to make the actual juice.

Just so I clearly understand this part, does that mean the recipe calls for 5% flavor total? Or does it call for a half-ml? This confuses me and I want to be able to do it.

Thanks.

 

[MD_Boater]

Just so I clearly understand this part, does that mean the recipe calls for 5% flavor total? Or does it call for a half-ml? This confuses me and I want to be able to do it.

Thanks.

Say for example that I have a 3 flavor recipe that I like that uses equal amounts of all 3 flavors, and the finished juice needs a total of 5℅ flavor. I'll take a 10ml bottle and put 3.3ml of each flavor in it. This is my 'new' flavor concentrate.

When I want to make some finished liquid of that flavor, I'll add 5℅ of that to my PG, VG, and nic. It will be a shake and vape every time because the flavors are already well mixed, or "steeped".

 

[bobnat]

Say for example that I have a 3 flavor recipe that I like that uses equal amounts of all 3 flavors, and the finished juice needs a total of 5℅ flavor. I'll take a 10ml bottle and put 3.3ml of each flavor in it. This is my 'new' flavor concentrate.

When I want to make some finished liquid of that flavor, I'll add 5℅ of that to my PG, VG, and nic. It will be a shake and vape every time because the flavors are already well mixed, or "steeped".

Cool, I'll give it a try. Thanks.

 

[MD_Boater]

I remember that guy! He even popped over here a few times. Blues something, or something that reminded me of the Blues.

It's the clear blue water under me ship that you remember.

 

[MD_Boater]

Is that a 250ml bottle of juice in your pants or are you happy to see me?

Yes... And yes...

 

[Vapin-Dave]

Is that a 250ml bottle of juice in your pants or are you happy to see me?

250 mils ... now your just bragging. LOL

Perhaps this is why the new bottles are called CHUBBY GORILLA bottles!!

 

[Huckleberried]

Blueser! That's who it was!!

 

[wllmc]

I think he was the OG body steeper lol. I remember him from that other crappy place. has he been around lately?

 

[Huckleberried]

I think he was the OG body steeper lol. I remember him from that other crappy place. has he been around lately?

No, and I think he used a different name here, but said who he was, anyway, LOL!! I actually found his post over there. He called it, "all the rage". We've had so many "all the rage" things vape related, in such a short time. I liked that guy. Too bad he didn't stay.

 

[HondaDavidson]

Jokes

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Maybe.... but is also factual and true for me.

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[wally]

Most of my mixes require three days or less for steeping because I use a low amount of percentages for flavor which does not mean low flavor. People just use too much flavoring.

 

[HondaDavidson]

I heard Steeping process reduces the harshness, chemical taste, as well as improve e-liquid flavours. But for me, it doesn't make my eliquid taste better.

Simply shake n vape

Yeah the need and extent of steeping varies by ingredient and user....

That's also why you have the heated steep vs aging arguement.

Most everything Vapor comes down to Personal Preference.

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[jambi]

Ultrasonic warm water bathing cap on cap off, nah...
Make it, shake it, date it, line up its batch in the back row of the queue. It should take 3 weeks to a month for that row to reach the front. When it does, those bottles go into the "Vape Now" box. Occasionally, stragglers in that box from previous batches that have gone unused for too long are either Force Vaped or declared "Off With Their Heads" and...liquidated via the kitchen sink. If it goes down the drain, it also gets removed from the recipe book.

There are a few exceptions. Juice made for other people goes to them immediately. They can "steep" if they want to (none of them want to). The FA lemons and limes (all of them) get a Flash Pass to Vape Now, so does FLV Cured Tobacco and a couple others, and Menthol doesn't need to wait.

The size of your queue is determined by the amount you vape. For me it's 3-4 batches (5 to 10 30 ml bottles each batch) in queue with up to 20 more in Vape Now. Sounds complicated, but it's actually insanely simple.

In the rare instance I feel the need to let alcohol evaporate off, I leave the cap off for a couple hours max. Any longer than that, aromas start to dissipate, and if you can't smell it, how ya gonna taste it?

 

[wildgypsy70]

I tend to mix a lot of bakeries and custards, so I let things "settle" for about a week, sometimes more, depending on the recipe. Good old fashioned time. No heat or anything! And I always go by what the "chef" recommends, if I'm mixing someone else's recipe.