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Guide to Mixing by Weight
- Thread starter Botboy141
- Start date
Nice. Those look like they would be awesome on some of these.
http://packagingoptionsdirect.com/8-oz-cylinder-round-wide-mouth-natural-hdpe-plastic-bottle
I think that's what I keep my PG/VG in!
diyguy
Member For 4 Years
I just bought some of these spout bottles on Amazon (Prime eligible). They have a narrower neck which might have more secure threads than the ketchup bottle style. I plan to use them for VG, PG, and nic.
They come in 2oz, 4oz, 8oz, and 16oz.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B5136U4
They come in 2oz, 4oz, 8oz, and 16oz.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B5136U4
@KeyserSoze the bottles I use for my PG/VG are just some bottles I bought VG in from WalMart before I started buying it online. They are like 6 oz bottles, maybe 8 oz, they have the little flip up dripper on the top. They work well for dripping into a beaker on my scales. I keep Nic in 15 ML dripper bottles that I just refill from my bulk thats stored in glass.
Since you're into spreadsheets, make you one with various volumes and weights. Saves me a lot of time in the instances I need it. I have my most common recipes printed out so I don't use the spreadsheet, calculator or computer much when I'm mixing.
Happy mixing!
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Since you're into spreadsheets, make you one with various volumes and weights. Saves me a lot of time in the instances I need it. I have my most common recipes printed out so I don't use the spreadsheet, calculator or computer much when I'm mixing.
Happy mixing!
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Damn it! I thought I looked everywhere for these type of bottles. Now I'm waiting weeks to get them from China. Why didn't I sign up here sooner?!
I've had those same squeeze bottles in an order in recently. 'Canceled them so the rest would ship. FT has indicated "Ships in 7 days" for a couple of months now. I'm going with @AmandaD's recommendation. Both bottles and caps on this link:
http://packagingoptionsdirect.com/8-oz-cylinder-round-wide-mouth-natural-hdpe-plastic-bottle
Mine are actually on the way. I wish I could say the same for my other order that's been delayed for the second week. I hope it's worth it. https://www.fasttech.com/products/2833800
I use bottles similar to these for VG and PG
http://www.diyflavorshack.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=125ml-Clear-Plastic-Bottle-3pk
http://www.diyflavorshack.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=125ml-Clear-Plastic-Bottle-3pk
Beautiful. I'll be ordering some of those. Over the weekend I grabbed a couple of the bottles that Amanda posted the Joanne link to. They look fine but haven't had a chance to use them yet.
Just a heads up for people in the UK looking for scales that measure 0.01. I just got these https://www.creamsupplies.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=7571&category= The auto shutoff can be set at 60 secs, 120 secs, 180 secs or turned off.
A nice set of scales.
A nice set of scales.
Thank you so much for this thread! I just started diy and I found syringes and pipettes a PAIN. This made it sooooo much easier. I found a phone app that has pretty accurate calculations for weight compared to your numbers (almost identical) called E-juice Lab. You can enter the gravity for flavors, too. But you can't customize weight of PG/VG/NIC. Still, its pretty spot on! Thanks again!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.
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.
I bought several 250ml beakers, a Digital scale & measure to the drop. Works every time.
Hopefully all you guys, and especially you gals. Know you can buy a wide assortment of bottles at your local "Sally's", or a similar store. They retail/wholesale hair salon products and supplies. Lots of chemical mixing going on in those bottles. So they're good. They're reasonable.
Hey all!
What size (ml) pipettes should I get?
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What size (ml) pipettes should I get?
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If your bottles have dropper tips on them, you shouldn't really need them, but for those that don't, I'd think that 1ml (1cc) size would suffice. At most, a 3ml (3cc).
Perfect - thanks a bunch!
JimScotty0
Member For 4 Years
If you want a small scale that is accurate and has a cover, this is the one that I use and it works well. I got mine on Amazon for $14.00 and I think the cutoff time is about 3 minutes but that is plenty of time per ingredient for me even with 60ml recipes. I also use their weights and calibrate before each session just to be sure it is accurate. Like most everyone has said, the first drop may not show up but it is registering and usually a single drop will increase the scale readings.
American Weigh Scales ACP-200 Digital Pocket Scale, 200 by 0.01 G
American Weigh Scales ACP-200 Digital Pocket Scale, 200 by 0.01 G
I recommend getting a scale that can measure up to 500g, unless you just mix smaller amounts (up to 150ml) only.
If you are mixing by weight I would get 7ml pipettes. You can measure from a glass vial just as accurately as a 1ml pipette (since the scale is telling you how much you've dropped) but they also come in handy for transferring entire glass vials into dropper bottles. About the 3rd time I grab a particular glass vial, it gets transferred to a dropper bottle.
This is a great thread!
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.
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.
scootervapes
Member For 4 Years
Plenty of 500g scales out there, doesn't hurt to have more capacity than needed, you'll eventually want it. Harbor freight has 3 pack of 8oz(240ml) bottles for $4 i think, always seems to be on sale for $3. They also have scales, but only measure to the tenth. Only reason to get scale there is convenience.
Heartlandvapes.com has good prices on flavoring, vg, pg, glass dropper bottles, and plastic bottles(anywhere between 5ml to 32 oz, i think) as well as yorker spouts for larger bottles. Tfa flavors tend to be $6-9 for 4 oz bottles....but 30ml bottles sold there too. Last time i checked, nicotine wasn't a great deal there. Free shipping over $75 or 80.
Heartlandvapes.com has good prices on flavoring, vg, pg, glass dropper bottles, and plastic bottles(anywhere between 5ml to 32 oz, i think) as well as yorker spouts for larger bottles. Tfa flavors tend to be $6-9 for 4 oz bottles....but 30ml bottles sold there too. Last time i checked, nicotine wasn't a great deal there. Free shipping over $75 or 80.
CurlyxCracker
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Liquix is the best for weight imo.
CurlyxCracker
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Pm me if you want to try it out before you buy it. I can send you the apk to a older version that I'm currently using.
I'll do that when I have learned a little more about this new tablet thing. I'm a longtime desktop dude and the transition has been a challenge for me. Ill get there.
CurlyxCracker
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It's simple. I'll send you a link to d/l app. Go to settings>security and allow unknown sources. Then install app and use itI'll do that when I have learned a little more about this new tablet thing. I'm a longtime desktop dude and the transition has been a challenge for me. Ill get there.
. Just shoot me a PM when you're ready
It's simple. I'll send you a link to d/l app. Go to settings>security and allow unknown sources. Then install app and use it
Oh, I intend to and your offer is sincerely appreciated. 'Thing is, while I've been working with computers for dog years; building, de-bugging, repairing, in-home support, all that stuff, (just between you and me) I've never owned a smart phone. F'rinstance, the cell phone I have folds in the middle and even at that I've had a tumultuous relationship with that thing and its' teensy, little buttons. I actually inherited this fairly new and (I'm told) kinda nice tablet thing. Being an autodidact, I'm eyebrows-deep in the learning process but this stuff is all new to me. I really will PM you but give me a few weeks to tame this Tab.
CurlyxCracker
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Complete opposite of me, I was, still am into computer repair, well electronics repair since I was a teen, mind was blown when first iPhone came out had to have it. Personally, I've been a "mobile user" ever since. Yeah I still use the computer, when I have to but being on the go and dealing with two wild toddlers mobile, is the optimal choice. Maybe this tablet will make you want a shiny new Android phoneOh, I intend to and your offer is sincerely appreciated. 'Thing is, while I've been working with computers for dog years; building, de-bugging, repairing, in-home support, all that stuff, (just between you and me) I've never owned a smart phone. F'rinstance, the cell phone I have folds in the middle and even at that I've had a tumultuous relationship with that thing and its' teensy, little buttons. I actually inherited this fairly new and (I'm told) kinda nice tablet thing. Being an autodidact, I'm eyebrows-deep in the learning process but this stuff is all new to me. I really will PM you but give me a few weeks to tame this Tab.
. What'd you get btw? Ever need any help feel free to ask me!
Complete opposite of me, I was, still am into computer repair, well electronics repair since I was a teen, mind was blown when first iPhone came out had to have it. Personally, I've been a "mobile user" ever since. Yeah I still use the computer, when I have to but being on the go and dealing with two wild toddlers mobile, is the optimal choice. Maybe this tablet will make you want a shiny new Android phone
In my (thus far) brief study of the thing, I understand it is an Android phone, albeit virtually so. It's a Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.0. Arguably KitKat or Lollipop, Android could teach Microsoft a thing or two about amusing OS names. It's WiFi only so phone function? There's an app for that.
I just mixed my first ever batch of eliquid. Just two 10ml attempts at something resembling a fruity vape. Though my initial attempts have proven ridiculous, my most important finding had to do with the inefficiencies in mixing by volume.
This post is exactly what I needed to find. Now to figure out this calculator, get a scale, some small dropper bottles and I'm off!
Thank you.
*mixing by weight should be the primary tool given to any newcomer. If only so many of the stickies on forums (not blaming any of them, just saying) weren't still advising mixing by volume and recommending all the tools necessary for it.*
This post is exactly what I needed to find. Now to figure out this calculator, get a scale, some small dropper bottles and I'm off!
Thank you.
*mixing by weight should be the primary tool given to any newcomer. If only so many of the stickies on forums (not blaming any of them, just saying) weren't still advising mixing by volume and recommending all the tools necessary for it.*
As you wish.
THANK YOU! Kiss, kiss, hug, hug... Love ya! (for that)
great post, i think im buying a scale tomorrow
Wasn't sure if I should start a new thread or not. At what point does the quality of the scale suffice? I am looking at getting into small production possibly. Currently using a scale from Ebay 400g x0.01g, haven't had any issue. Curious to know if I should just upgrade to an AWS LB-501 and buy proper weights. I used rolled nickels last time I have a budget of a few hundred if it's worth it.
I have a budget of a few hundred if it's worth it.
I just got the AWS LB-501 from Amazon(seller EZ Sell) a week or two ago after my old one died(I killed it). It came with two 200g calibration weights. I should have bought it in the first place. It's a great scale. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005UGBG20?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00Wasn't sure if I should start a new thread or not. At what point does the quality of the scale suffice? I am looking at getting into small production possibly. Currently using a scale from Ebay 400g x0.01g, haven't had any issue. Curious to know if I should just upgrade to an AWS LB-501 and buy proper weights. I used rolled nickels last time
I was wondering, does that scale show the weight of just 0.01g? The one that I currently use, doesn't show anything until it reaches 0.03g, which can be a problem doing a small mix of just 10ml.
I just tested. It starts at .03.
Awesome!! Thanks!
I bought the LB-501 from Amazon a few months ago and I have to say it's not a perfect scale.
I need perfection to get consistent results.
The scale will not calibrate anything under 0.03g. So sometimes I'll drop in some flavor and the weight will be 0.01g or 0.02g, so it will show nothing. It makes adding things like sucralose in 6mL test batches very difficult.
The scale will also freak out when it's near other electronics, so keep that in mind. Shut off your computer, your phone, etc.
---
Anybody got a new recommendation for a higher end scale?
I need perfection to get consistent results.
The scale will not calibrate anything under 0.03g. So sometimes I'll drop in some flavor and the weight will be 0.01g or 0.02g, so it will show nothing. It makes adding things like sucralose in 6mL test batches very difficult.
The scale will also freak out when it's near other electronics, so keep that in mind. Shut off your computer, your phone, etc.
---
Anybody got a new recommendation for a higher end scale?
Not within a normal diy'ers budget ... seriously, you are talking about a considerable outlay for something that is pretty minuscule when viewed from a larger perspective. A single drop of flavoring weighs at least 0.02g even from a needle tip so if you account for this when weighing, it's not so bad.
You are absolutely right about it being sensitive to other electronics and such, even drafts but by the same token, anything you buy that is even more sensitive will have this same problem, if not worse, especially from air currents.
I have the same problem with my scale. However, over time, I found out, how many drops of a certain flavor will give me the desired weight. I guess, for a more accurate scale, you might have to go mechanical, utilizing proper counter weight, but that would defeat the purpose of mixing by weight, in order to be faster.
Don't breath while measuring!
Yeah that's a good point, I've started doing that.
My biggest gripe with my scale is that I really feel like I can't trust it. Like I have to do all these little superstitious rituals to make it accurate. Put on top of a book, don't breathe, shut off electrics, calibrate every time, wait 5 seconds, put in the corner of the room, make sure the windows are closed, lightly drop my flavors on the table, clean it, make sure I my skins oils don't get on the calibrating weights--enough already! Just let me mix the friggin juice.
I would pay more money for a high end scale, I just don't know which to get. They all claim to be the best.