steeping preference

[51vape]

Hey guys,

Thought it might be interesting to see what each others steeping preference was here.

Personally i like to mix my flavors firstly with only pg and nicotine(100 mg/ml in 100% pg) and shake vigorously for a couple minutes. After that i will add the rest of my vg and shake again.

After shaking i like to leave the cap of the bottle and breath for 30 mins - 1 hour depending on smell.

Then i re seal and warm steep in 100 to 150 degree water. (hot to the touch) for 1 hour

i then re shake and taste test after an half hour of cooling.

If it doesn't suite my tastes i will toss it in my closet and forget about it for a week or so.


Well that's it guys, that's how i steep my juice.

What is your guys favorite routine steeping method?

 

[Alter]

I made myself a magnetic mixer and I stir my PG, VG and flavoring as fast as they will spin for 2 hours. Set aside overnight to dissipate the air bubbles. Add the nic then mix it at a slower speed for another hour to avoid getting excess air into the mix. Since its mostly tobaccos I vape I then let it steep 3 weeks to a month before I blend it with other tobacco flavors to my taste, let sit another week or more then I vape.
I have enough juice on hand that I can continue the cycle without being out of any particular flavor.
I make 100mls at a time of tobacco and tobacco absolute standalones and blend 30mls at a time of different blends and ratios to suit my taste.

 

[MorpheusPA]

Heavens, I'm basic.

Throw everything into the 500 ml glass bottle. Cap. Shake a lot. Set on shelf until that bottle comes into use (usually 20 days or so). Shake. Use.

My basic recipe is 90% menthol, 9% cinnamon, 1% milk chocolate, so not exactly complicated or anything that requires much time or effort to mature, though.

 

[wllmc]

as soon as i mix mine a like to balance it on my head for 12 mins and voila lol

 

[QuestForVapology]

Everything in, shake vigorously, crockpot 140F for 4-6 hours, put it in a closet with the cap on for 48 hours, and should be good to go.

I heard too much time and too high of a temperature in the crockpot flattens your juice's taste, and lowers the nicotine. But idk, that could be wrong, I don't have the patience to wait a month.

 

[SailCat]

Hey guys,

Thought it might be interesting to see what each others steeping preference was here.

Personally i like to mix my flavors firstly with only pg and nicotine(100 mg/ml in 100% pg) and shake vigorously for a couple minutes. After that i will add the rest of my vg and shake again.

After shaking i like to leave the cap of the bottle and breath for 30 mins - 1 hour depending on smell.

Then i re seal and warm steep in 100 to 150 degree water. (hot to the touch) for 1 hour

i then re shake and taste test after an half hour of cooling.

If it doesn't suite my tastes i will toss it in my closet and forget about it for a week or so.


Well that's it guys, that's how i steep my juice.

What is your guys favorite routine steeping method?

This is quite a ritual. I prefer the head-balancing, myself.

Seriously, though, that heat range of 100 to 150 degrees is quite wide. What's the heat source and have you considered investing in an instant-read thermometer (about four bucks from FT!)?

 

[Time]

Mix. Shake. Put in closet.

I've never been one to do work that time will do for me. Come spring, nobody will know that I don't remove snow from the driveway.

 

[pulsevape]

time.

 

[SailCat]

So, @Time, do you have any thoughts with regard to whether or not heat steeping is detrimental? I've just started experimenting with it myself, having used only the method you describe above prior to this. For an old guy, I can get impatient, though.

 

[ej1024]

Damn
100%pg



VAPE ON

 

[ej1024]

Shake till ur brain moves
Air it out over night
Close lid the next day
Shake it till ur brain moves
Put it in the dark place,
AGAIN.... For a week
Do a taste taste test,
If it's peppery, shake it till ur brain moves then put it in the fridge over night...
Take it out the fridge shake it till ur brain moves
VAPE it,
Again,


VAPE ON

 

[SailCat]

Shake till ur brain moves
Air it out over night

I personally enjoy shaking my brains out though lord knows I have few enough that I'm loathe to lose any. I think you'll find that, unless you're using alcohol=based flavorings, there's no reason to loose the cap and, in fact, it will help to contain the flavoring molecules if you keep 'em on snugly.

So, ej, I presume you're not a heat-steeper, then?

 

[ej1024]

No sir


VAPE ON

 

[ej1024]

Sometimes what I do is I bring my juice at work,put in my pocket since I walk a lot, constant shaking 12 hours


VAPE ON

 

[Time]

So, @Time, do you have any thoughts with regard to whether or not heat steeping is detrimental? I've just started experimenting with it myself, having used only the method you describe above prior to this. For an old guy, I can get impatient, though.

I don't think that a bit of heat hurts much, for our purposes. I've cooked with my nic. Hard candy. It did have a bit of pepper, like nicotine gum does but not bad. I don't think that heating nic is ideal but it's not a huge problem. For me, it's just extra work so I don't do it. Unless I'm making nic candy, lol. And, I like old juice. So I mix and put it away. Best tobacco vape I've vaped was three plus years old.

 

[Mixer]

for my 50/50 blends I just mix and shake, they go in the closet and when I remember I take them out and shake them again. For max VG I set-up a flask and throw every thing in, Flavours, Nic , Pg/Vg, then I hook up one of my diy magnetic stirrers over night. (Highly recommend its fun just watching it mix) Most of the fruity flavours are shake and Vape. The custards, creams and tobacco flavours take the longest to steep.

 

[Mondo]

I make 400ml batches in glass mason jars. Once my complete recipe is in the jar, I take it over to my sink. I place the jar inside a pot and let the hot tap water fill up the pot until the water inside is as hot as it will go (which is usually < 120F degrees) and I let it sit in this bath for about 15 minutes or so.

Afterwards, I take the mason jar out and shake the piss out of it. I grab the dish rag and wipe off any excess water on the outside of the jar. Then it goes directly into the kitchen freezer for no more than an hour. I leave the lid closed and place it on a towel, on a wooden shelf in my closet.

I leave it in this closet for the recommended aging time period and then it goes into the fridge for the remainder of its shelf life.

Been mixing for roughly 18 months now and this method seems to work very well for me. The "blanching" process gets things off to a good start. I still firmly believe that time is THE best way to age your product and one I still adhere to in all my mixes.

 

[SailCat]

@Mondo: Where'd you hear about the freeing step?

 

[gopher_byrd]

@Mondo: Where'd you hear about the freeing step?

This is very similar to blanching vegetables and the way I make hard boiled eggs using an ice water bath. You are stopping the cooking process by removing the residual heat. In @Mondo's mixing process, he is just using the heat to make the mixing process easier then removing the heat.

 

[Mondo]

This is very similar to blanching vegetables and the way I make hard boiled eggs using an ice water bath. You are stopping the cooking process by removing the residual heat. In @Mondo's mixing process, he is just using the heat to make the mixing process easier then removing the heat.

Correct. I only use the heat in the beginning to properly meld everything together. Once that's achieved, the heat is then removed.

 

[SailCat]

This is very similar to blanching vegetables and the way I make hard boiled eggs using an ice water bath. You are stopping the cooking process by removing the residual heat. In @Mondo's mixing process, he is just using the heat to make the mixing process easier then removing the heat.

True, but in you analogy, the chilling process serves a specific purpose. With veggies, it preserves the textuere and color. Hard-boiled eggs become easier to peel. But juice?

Correct. I only use the heat in the beginning to properly meld everything together. Once that's achieved, the heat is then removed.

My respectful question is with regard to whether this step ultimately enhances or improves the end product or serves only as a method of accelerating the process; a time-saver, if you will.

For myself, with time and opportunity, the gradual cooling to room temperature with occasional vigorous shaking, is an intermediate step in the aging process (or the process in totality, depending on the ingredients or when I'm impatient).

Anxious for comments and always seeking to improve my own process, perhaps Professor #HeadInClouds would be kind enough to offer his opinion as well.

 

[Alter]

My go at heat steeping was a coffee pot that I checked to be a constant 160 degrees. Made a Lego corral so the jugs weren't on the glass, let it sit in the water for 2 hours, set out back to room temp then repeated. Within a month my juices were getting real dark and began to taste off. I must have caramelized my juice and ruined it...bummer. That was the first and last time I used heat to steep. I hear people using crockpots and they are set at 150 so 10 degrees isn't much of a window between heating and burning your juice. Only heat I use is tap hot water bath to loosen up the VG so it mixes in my magnetic mixer easier.

 

[SailCat]

My thought is that a month of repeated heat steeping might have been excessive. Most do so for a couple of days at most. In a minth, that shit is steeped regardless.

 

[Mondo]

My respectful question is with regard to whether this step ultimately enhances or improves the end product or serves only as a method of accelerating the process; a time-saver, if you will.

As I said in my original comment, time is the best way for everything to come together. I firmly believe this to be true. I don't look to accelerate the process. I simply wait it out. Having a decent rotation in the arsenal certainly helps.

 

[ej1024]

Time time time time....



Vape On

 

[SailCat]

As I said in my original comment, time is the best way for everything to come together. I firmly believe this to be true. I don't look to accelerate the process. I simply wait it out. Having a decent rotation in the arsenal certainly helps.

To put the question another way, does freezing make it 'more better' than allowing it to just drop at gawd's own speed to room temperature?

 

[Time]

This is very similar to blanching vegetables and the way I make hard boiled eggs using an ice water bath. You are stopping the cooking process by removing the residual heat. In @Mondo's mixing process, he is just using the heat to make the mixing process easier then removing the heat.

When blanching food for storage the goal is to kill bacteria and what not on the surface without thoroughly cooking it. The ice water is used to quickly cool the hot surface so that the inside does not heat.

This is entirely different than heating a bottle of juice. If you are heating the juice, you are heating it all the way through, not just the surface.

There is no advantage to quickly cooling juice. Turn the heat down or heat for a shorter period of time if you feel it's been hot too long.

 

[SailCat]

Thanks, Time, as always.

 

[Mondo]

There is no advantage to quickly cooling juice. Turn the heat down or heat for a shorter period of time if you feel it's been hot too long.

I agree with this statement.

 

[SailCat]

I agree with this statement.

Thank you, Mondo.

#vapeexperience

 

[Arlongkpr]

My thought is that a month of repeated heat steeping might have been excessive. Most do so for a couple of days at most. In a minth, that shit is steeped regardless.

I cant see you waiting a month to get a juice to hit a full steeping..

 

[SailCat]

You're right, of course, but I've read of some remarkably patient DIYers doing so. I'd need to make a seriously large batch so it'll outlast my greedy vape habit. I've made it a coupla weeks, though, an there's definitely some improvement.

 

[Kinser]

I use old and tested methods to age my juices. Generally I make shake and vape flavors, I'm kinda impatient sometimes, but for those that need to be aged I'll give it a hot bath just once in water in the 170f range until room temperature. After that it goes into the juice cupboard to age for at least a week. That said I mostly vape candy and fruit flavors (and my hyper-menthol) so aging really doesn't add much to those.

When it is time to come out of the juice cupboard though it has to be shaken vigorously and then placed on top of a cat's head for 12 minutes under the light of a full moon.

 

[HondaDavidson]

It's easy to wait a month or more... Provided, you start with a vaping supply of 1-3 months.

I only steep NEW recipes. Who wants to wait to see if a juice is worth keeping or making. When I do steep it's with either a crock pot on warm <150 or with one of those scented wax melting pots gets to about 130 or so. Otherwise it's mix, shake and shelf. I find even well steeped juice is better with aging. Steeping doesn't replace aging, as it is a component of it. I go through and shake every mixed bottle of juice I have once a week. I will usually vent juices for 24 hours minimum after mixing. I age juices from 1 day to 3 months depending on recipe

 

[ej1024]

Time time time


VAPE IT