Recipe development 2020

[wildgypsy70]

Howdy, everyone!

I‘m thinking it’s about time to post about recipe development. As we all know, we‘re about to get royally screwed by our “government” and their overzealousness to “protect the children”. There’s gonna be a big migration towards DIY any day now. So why not tell everyone how YOU, our fabulous mixers,
develop a recipe! Give all the noobs an idea of what the deal is if they choose to go down the rabbit hole of development!

So....how do you develop a recipe?

 

[wildgypsy70]

So I’ll start!

1. Pinterest. I spend a LOT of time on Pinterest....art stuff, ideas for my restaurant and, yes, ejuice ideas. Pinterest is a treasure trove of stuff to vape.

2. Pick out flavors. Because I’ve done a bunch of single flavor testing(hint, hint), I have a general idea of how individual flavors taste. And because I develop/mix recipes, I have a general idea what the concentrates are gonna do in mixes....no guarantees, but generally. I also, at this stage, do any research I need to do, especially if I haven’t used a flavor in a recipe. I’ll go to ELR and look up said flavors for percentages and other recipes/notes.

3. ELR and percentages. Next, I head on over to ELR and start a new recipe. Yay! I start entering flavors and tweak percentages to where I want them. And I pray to the Goddess of DIY to grant me a tasty recipe. This is key.......

4. Mix ‘er up. I usually mix a 15 ml bottle, mostly so I can test it along the way. I like testing fresh, in 2 days, 5 days, 7 days and around 10 days. If it still doesn’t work after 10 days, I start questioning my decisions and if I think I can save it, I’ll go back to start tweaking.

5. Tweaking. It’s rare that I make a perfect recipe off the bat. So.....tweaking. More research, usually. For me, it’s usually pretty obvious what needs to be changed. Oops, too much strawberry(is that a thing?). Oops, this tastes flat, too sharp, too muddled, too whatever. One percentage goes up, one goes down. A flavor gets switched for a different one or taken out all together. Mix it again and go through it all over again....until i like it.

6. Mix a bigger bottle. If I like something, I’ll mix a bigger bottle, especially if it’s a steeper. I have a couple I mix 120’s of regularly.....Crack Pie.....yum......

So that’s it. Nothing spectacular. Nothing extraordinary.

 

[gopher_byrd]

When first starting out mix others recipes. That way you have something to vape on while you're working on your own. Look here on VU in our recipe section or the daily mixing thread in the general DIY section. There are some gems in that thread. Look on ELR as well. Find something that looks good to you and buy the flavors to mix it. Doing this will also give you hints on how others use a flavor.

Single flavor testing! It's a pain in the ass, but how will you know how a flavor tastes to you? What works for me or others may be too much or too little for you. Find the median percentage on ELR (e-liquid-recipes.com) and use that as your middle point. Get 5 10ml bottles for each flavor you're testing and mix two of them below the median, one at the median, and 2 above the median. Use a dripper for testing and start at the lowest percentage you used and work your way up. This way you don't need to keep changing the wick. When testing, test off the shake, then again a few days later, and after week. Even with single flavors they will change over time.

Take NOTES! How will you remember what worked for you if you don't take notes. Use what works for you to take you notes, whether it's paper or electronic it doesn't matter, just take notes on everything you notice. At what level do you start tasting a flavor, when does it feel right to you, where did it start getting muddled, etc.

When putting together a recipe sometimes less is more! What tastes good as a single flavor may overpower other flavors when mixed into a multi-flavor recipe.

 

[wildgypsy70]

When first starting out mix others recipes. That way you have something to vape on while you're working on your own. Look here on VU in our recipe section or the daily mixing thread in the general DIY section. There are some gems in that thread. Look on ELR as well. Find something that looks good to you and buy the flavors to mix it. Doing this will also give you hints on how others use a flavor.

Single flavor testing! It's a pain in the ass, but how will you know how a flavor tastes to you? What works for me or others may be too much or too little for you. Find the median percentage on ELR (e-liquid-recipes.com) and use that as your middle point. Get 5 10ml bottles for each flavor you're testing and mix two of them below the median, one at the median, and 2 above the median. Use a dripper for testing and start at the lowest percentage you used and work your way up. This way you don't need to keep changing the wick. When testing, test off the shake, then again a few days later, and after week. Even with single flavors they will change over time.

Take NOTES! How will you remember what worked for you if you don't take notes. Use what works for you to take you notes, whether it's paper or electronic it doesn't matter, just take notes on everything you notice. At what level do you start tasting a flavor, when does it feel right to you, where did it start getting muddled, etc.

When putting together a recipe sometimes less is more! What tastes good as a single flavor may overpower other flavors when mixed into a multi-flavor recipe.

Ooooo, I forgot to mention about taking notes. Damn. Hahahaha.

 

[gopher_byrd]

Ooooo, I forgot to mention about taking notes. Damn. Hahahaha.

I've got your 6 gypsy!

 

[DaBunny]

I scoot around reading you folks den give a try at what i think sounds really good.
an BITCH when i aint got what your using..
WELL??? how else ya supposto learn?

 

[wildgypsy70]

I scoot around reading you folks den give a try at what i think sounds really good.
an BITCH when i aint got what your using..
WELL??? how else ya supposto learn?

Lol! Always ask if there’s a sub for what you don’t have. Chances are, someone has gone through the development enough to have tried different things. Like I know if one of my recipes uses a specific strawberry, I also know what can be subbed to get the same effect. Won’t be exactly the same, but close enough to get what I was after.

 

[Nailz]

I'm far from experienced, but think it's best to start off small, meaning small recipes with only a few flavors, maybe even one shots, get the hang of mixing and then move onto bigger recipes, be prepared to fail, you won't be a mixing chef in a day, it takes time.

 

[wildgypsy70]

I'm far from experienced, but think it's best to start off small, meaning small recipes with only a few flavors, maybe even one shots, get the hang of mixing and then move onto bigger recipes, be prepared to fail, you won't be a mixing chef in a day, it takes time.

Yes! Definitely don’t go for super complicated profiles right off the bat. K.I.S.S.

Like HIC....one of his recipes(and one of my favorites) uses 2 flavorings. 2. That’s it. And it’s awesome.

 

[FL_David]

When I returned to the wonderful world of DIY, I was winging everything except nicotine. Nic is nothing to mess about with especially with 100mg before mixdown.
Now that I have made a few not so great mixes, it's time to be more precise with my flavors. I never did like the long waiting of steeping, but now I am embracing it as long as I have a decent Shake N Vape to use while waiting.
I have tweaked the same recipe many times to get the flavor just right, then I'm off to find other flavors to play with. I had to think real hard if I made the same recipe more than once for myself. I used to make a recipe for a friend years ago a few times, but for myself, I am always wanting to tweak it somehow.

This time around I am trying out having a 250 ML of PG/VG/Nic base. I have tried using 60ML for a test and I love it. Far less fiddling around with different percentages for each recipe like how I use to do it. It was fun way back then, now I don't have the desire to fiddle around with the base. I like the smooth vape of 30 PG/70 VG, though I may try 35 or 40 PG to get more flavor out of each mix.

I was going to keep about 20-30 flavors on hand, but a few flavor sales later I am closer to 75. My first time around after a few months I had over 250 flavors and still felt I needed more.
There are even more flavor companies now making it harder not to get more flavors. It is super rare to find a recipe that you have all the exact flavors and brands on hand.
This time around I want to dip into the Bakery category.
I gotta go, vape mail is here packed full of new flavors for me to play with. Yay!

 

[VapeOn1960]

Good advice! I do SFTs of every new flavor I get. Yes, it's a PITA but worth it. I have learned though (the hard way) that once you mix flavors, they interact so keep that in mind. Steeping also changes flavors. It's a deep rabbit hole but just like cooking it's so much fun and open to creativity. Once you get some experience, don't be afraid to "think outside the box". Finally, don't get stuck on flavor names and don't assume every recipe has to be just like real life recipes. Forget what the names are and just think about what you taste. Maybe you wouldn't mix pie dough and croissant dough in real life but vape juice doesn't care (that's not the best example but I'm tired) Is it chocolate cake with raspberry syrup and topped with bavarian cream, or maybe it's raspberry cake with chocolate syrup and a layer of bavarian cream, or plain cake with raspberry syrup and chocolate bavarian cream (much better example)... vape juice doesn't know the difference (pretend you just put it all into a blender) There are also tricks to alter flavors... make a crust taste more "crusty browned" or a fruit more "jammy" or "cooked". I'm still learning and by no means an expert but I try so many different things and learn something every day. I once tried butter mint flavor with lots of fruits (melons were the best) but it blew my mind that just for fun I tried it with some store bought juice that was peanut butter banana... that was the best of all. You never know.