FA flavor flat out after a few days of steeping?

[Nix]

By the way, the resources here are great and gave me the confidence to start DIY. But, my DIY journey is running into a stop. Trying to figure out what I am doing wrong. Any pointers from the Pros would be greatly appreciated. I followed a few Pro's recipes here to get a head start of understanding (mostly FA flavoring, max VG mixes, 5-10% flavoring). I do mix by weight. I do shake the hell out of my flavorings before I start. And I use a milk frother to blend my stuffs together.

At first, all of the different recipe juices I have made have this "muted dry taste" when vaping (Pretty much they all taste very similar even though they are completely different recipes). So I thought cutting the juice thinner would solve the problem. Maybe the juice is too thick to get into the coil and I was tasting my cotton.

Next batch, I made it at 80/20. It came out pretty good right of the bat. So I thought I cracked the mystery. Then I revisited these juices after 2-3 days steep. And it was flat out and taste just like it was at max VG again. It also smelled a lot weaker too from the bottle. My question is there a cycle for steeping? Would flavor go from medium > weak > Glorious?

I also use my frother to blend them together for about 30 sec and let the air bubble clear up (and repeat 3 times) when I mix.

 

[soulshine]

That is pretty strange Nix. I'm sure one of the FA guru's could probably help you a lot more than I. I know that there are a couple of flavors (peppermint, lemon sicily, and lime cold pressed to name a few) that fade from mixes sometimes according to comments on some of the threads. But I think in most cases that is after a week or so of steeping. I don't think it's your % ranges as most recipes you find here are usually between 3 and 8%. My normal batch size is usually most conveniently done with drops per recipe instead of ML so there might be something lost in translation there. That's the only thing that stands out to me as a potential issue. You also might want to share which recipes and specifically what flavors that you are having problems with. I'm sure HIC or wllmc or whoever came up with the recipes might be able to offer much more insight than I. Good luck

 

[Huckleberried]

I sure hope you get this figured out soon. I can't understand it.

 

[Smoky Blue]

5-10% flavoring with fa is just too high.. cut it down to 2% or less

as for your mixes, cut it into 1/2 , and you can add more of your pg/vg
mixing fa in high percentages like that will give off bad results. it is more concentrated than tfa cap or others out there.

 

[AmandaD]

Might help if you said which recipes you were having trouble with? Most of the FA only recipes posted here don't need much steeping. I find 2 or 3 days max for some simply to blend flavors together. There are some FA recipes that I increase the total percentage slightly (say from 6-8%) - that might be your issue?

 

[Nix]

5-10% flavoring with fa is just too high.. cut it down to 2% or less

mixing fa in high percentages like that will give off bad results. it is more concentrated than tfa cap or others out there.

I mean total flavoring 5-10%. Per FA flavor I do about .5%-3% (mostly on the low side).

Jason's White Coconut Cake:
9% Capella Vanilla Custard v2
.75% FA Coconut
.5% FA Apple Pie
.75% FA Marzipan
.5% FA Almond

and HIC's Quikberry Pink: Please go to his store for this recipe. I only heard good things about this recipe. I am sure it is something I am doing wrong.

These 2, their flavoring is completely different. They smells really good and taste really good right after mixing. But after 2-3 days steep in sealed bottle. The flavoring disappear by a lot and it is hiding in the background. I am thinking maybe I am putting too much air bubble into the mix when I am beating them together with my milk frother? I do 30 sec, 3 times.

 

[richardward77]

I mean total flavoring 5-10%. Per FA flavor I do about .5%-3% (mostly on the low side).

Jason's White Coconut Cake:
9% Capella Vanilla Custard v2
.75% FA Coconut
.5% FA Apple Pie
.75% FA Marzipan
.5% FA Almond

and HIC's Quikberry Pink: Please go to his store for this recipe. I only heard good things about this recipe. I am sure it is something I am doing wrong.

These 2, their flavoring is completely different. They smells really good and taste really good right after mixing. But after 2-3 days steep in sealed bottle. The flavoring disappear by a lot and it is hiding in the background. I am thinking maybe I am putting too much air bubble into the mix when I am beating them together with my milk frother? I do 30 sec, 3 times.

I only use fa flavours and have had no probs instead of frothing try mixing as you do then boil the kettle put your bottle in a mug and pour the hot water in the mug three quarters up the bottle wait few minutes and shake the bottle. Putting the bottle in hot water will make the vg easier to mix that's what I do anyways.your percentages look right for fa flavors.just remember to much flavouring will mute it.good luck.

 

[AmandaD]

I'm familiar with both those recipes! All I can suggest is yes, stop the frothing - it's not necessary. For the second recipe I had trouble until I realized a) I wasn't shaking my strawberry enough, and b) finally that I had an old and fairly flavorless bottle even though it smelled ok. Always shake the heck out of your flavorings before mixing - I've ruined more batches than I care to say not doing this. But over aerating could be a mistake. Just shake up the final mix (no need to go nuts over this part LOL)! Jason's recipe gets better and better with age to me, and HIC's recipe is great a day later. Try making new, small batches and shake the heck out of each flavor before adding. Also, you may need to make the second version of HIC's recipe, which is 50% stronger - I found the first to be too weak (but then again my strawberry was old).

 

[richardward77]

Unless it's a tobacco flavour I never steep. Even if I wanted to I couldn't they taste to good and I'm quite impatient to be honest.the longest iv been able to steep one of my mixes was two weeks and that was an ry4 fruit and nut and it was lush.

 

[Nix]

I need to ask few more questions before I mix the heck out of all the variation of 1 recipe. I also want to try different ways to thin out my VG. Have you guys try using distilled water, saline solution or PGA. Can you tell me which one I should not waste my time on?

 

[Doots]

I need to ask few more questions before I mix the heck out of all the variation of 1 recipe. I also want to try different ways to thin out my VG. Have you guys try using distilled water, saline solution or PGA. Can you tell me which one I should not waste my time on?

I use 7% distilled water to thin VG if it's to thick.. Works out good for me PGA or PGA would also work. I just dont want the alcohol in my mix if possible is why I use Water.

 

[MalooGaming]

5-10% flavoring with fa is just too high.. cut it down to 2% or less

as for your mixes, cut it into 1/2 , and you can add more of your pg/vg
mixing fa in high percentages like that will give off bad results. it is more concentrated than tfa cap or others out there.

Thanks for the tip, i usually mix 5% for single flavours , but i did a cola and peach and it was 10% and 7% , good for a day then muted .... so ill cut them both back to 2-3% as they both amazing flavours to work with

 

[Willbo]

Jasons coconut cake definately needs a decent steep to me, anything with custard or a lot of creams the longer the better I find personally. NOt aware of the particular HIC recipe but I did find for my tastebuds any I did mix were too weak for me and much better if I made them @ 1.5x the percentages, sometimes even double.

Everyone has there opnions on mixing and steeping, I cant say if your frothing is a good or a bad thing as never done it, but I dont think you should get too concerned about the pg/vg levels, thinning out with water and frothing. Bad nicotine can make a difference, so if you have a recipe you do know you like try making that in a small batch or even try a small batch of these recipes without any nicotine just to rule it out.

I always just mix by shaking everything before I measure it out, then once done I shake the hell out of the bottle and stick it in a cupboard for a week or two or longer with others if I am able too, always worked for me, old simple way of doing things.

One other thing I think is overlooked is just not to be over expectant. Vaping is a great thing, there are lots of good recipes and juices to buy....but often when we see other people lauding over diy recipes and store juices we can expect too much out of them. I could count on one hand the number of juices I have tried that have blown me away and still love as much two or three bottles later.

Personaly opinion but I think half the stuff you hear from youtube reviewers and mixers about the depths of a flavour in a juice is utter nonsense, yet there is a "so and so on youtube is saying this and others too why cant I taste that?".....they are doing so for there own gain and sheep shall follow.