Waiting for first 2 flavours- steeping times for these 2?

[Ancient Hermit]

Hi folks,

I got some PA Black cherry and some PA Caramel (original) about to arrive today or tomorrow.

I have bought no nic base yet, but will play about with straight PG and VG to see how this stuff works and get used to it.

I want to get an idea for how much each would need in a proposed 50-50 mix - I'm thinking of maybe 10% of total by volume?

Also steeping time for these two specifically if you are experienced with them?

I got the rough understanding that the fruit ones maybe need a day or so, and then start becoming interesting, but others need at least a week and get quite good after maybe 3 weeks. Is this about the right way to look at these two from PA? ???

[Super-Shiny]

My rule for steeping is 2 weeks, some try after 1 week but i stick too two.

For fruits 1 week +

For chocolate eternity or until i have grown a beard like Gandalf

[Ancient Hermit]

Aug 14, 2013 8:11:39 GMT Super-Shiny said:

My rule for steeping is 2 weeks, some try after 1 week but i stick too two.

For fruits 1 week +

For chocolate eternity or until i have grown a beard like Gandalf

Thanks for that Super-Shiny. Looks like I would have made a right cods of that one! 

Being a daft old devil, I may have forgotten I made any after 2-3 weeks too! We shall have to see about a good dodge for this! 

[Super-Shiny]

Taken from here: allaboute-cigarettes.proboards.com/thread/2230/grizwalds-guide-all-mixing?page=1&scrollTo=52913

STEEPING JUICES

In the section "MY JOURNEY INTO THE WORLD OF MIXING". I made a reference to a technique that I had read over on the ECF forum called "STEEPING". Now as I have a passion for all things concerning mixing, and am always on the hunt for ways to improve my mixing techniques, I thought I'd look into this.

In my post I made a reference to a flavouring I had purchased from TW, DV Custard. I had never intended this to be one of my daily vapes of course, it was purchased for the development of a recipe I was puting together. However, curious as to wether it actually tasted like Custard I mixed some up to try. After leaving for 24 hours, as I always do with all my recipes to let it infuse with the base and settle, I tried it and noticed quite a pronounced lemony taste and also a slightly harsh metalic undertone, plus it did'nt really taste like custard should. So I decided to try this Steeping method on it to see what, if any, affect it would have.

Steeping involves making up a juice, at whatever quantity you wish, shaking it, then removing the lid and droper nipple and putting the juice somwhere dark for anything from 1-3 weeks, giving the juice an occasional shake. (put your juice in a bigger bottle i.e 10ml juice in a 20-30ml bottle, as this allows for the evaporation of the offending chemicals. And also seems to age the juice more rapidly).

So I put my Custard mix away and after a week tried it and found that the harsh metalic undertone had gone, and after another week the lemony taste had subsided and it was quite an enjoyable vape. So I concluded that this Steeping was worth further investigation.

My latest recipe called "Whiskey Cream" was born while trying to make "Bailleys Caramel" which I was'nt having much luck with as it seemed to lack punch. So I purchased some F'art Whiskey flavouring thinking that this might perhaps help. Unfortunately F'art Whiskey is a very strong flavouring and found that 1 drop per ml was more than enough. Now although I did'nt get the desired Bailleys Caramel taste that I was after, I did end up with a rather promising Whiskey concoction, although a little overpowered by the Whiskey flavouring. So I decided to Steep it'

I made up the recipe, which you can find in my post entitled "GRIZWALD's RECIPE COLLECTION", shook it, removed the lid and droper nipple and put it somewhere dark for a week....

....After a week I tried it and found that the Whiskey flavouring was'nt as dominant and had interacted with the other flavourings to produce a creamier taste, and so I decided to Steep it for another week. I made up a second batch to put away with it so I could see the taste difference at both 1 week and 2 weeks.

After a further week of Steeping I tried the 2 juices and there certainly was a difference between them. The 2 week old juice, although even creamier, had a much more weakened Whiskey taste and found it to be well balanced with the other flavourings, although I personally prefered the 1 week Steeped mix. Incidently the 2 week old juice was much darker than the 1 week old juice.

So in conclusion I'd have to say that Steeping, in my opinion, certainly has its merits in as far as its affect on flavouring. You could compare the effect to the difference in taste between a cheap chocolate bar as opposed to a more expensive luxury chocolate. I now intend seeing what affect this Steeping method has on my other recipes, and flavourings that I had condemed in the past for being too harsh, or overpowering, and will of course report my findings, for those of you who are interested, in further posts. So if you purchase a juice and find it harsh, or not to your liking, try Steeping it, You've nothing to lose in trying.

P.S. Steeping is also said to improve pre-made juices as well, but as I don't buy any I can't verify this claim. However, I will be purchasing RY-4 and RY-4X from toby over at iVapour and I will try steeping a few mls of each to see what, if any, affect it has. Will let you know.

[Ancient Hermit]

Oh it does affect pre-made juices too - that's the only area I have any experience in, but I also spotted that the one where choc was involved it needed more, so I can concur! (blimey, get me, concurring indeed, whatever next! LOL)

I know about mending bought in mistakes, but now I am to embark upon making my own mistakes instead!

I bet I'm not so good at mending them! Oh well, it's all good practice.

[Ancient Hermit]

Remind me, who was TW and DV again, it's popped out of my poor old memory? This getting older lark is not all that at times!

[Roscopecotrain]

Guessing tw is totally wicked and dv is decadent vapours.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

[Ancient Hermit]

Aug 14, 2013 8:38:44 GMT Roscopecotrain said:

Guessing tw is totally wicked and dv is decadent vapours.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

Yes, I expect it is them too! I'm not going for tobacco flavours yet, so that is probably why they have not stuck quite like some of the others have! 

[Perpetua]

TPA's Black Cherry I mix at 15% it's good to vape after a couple of days . . . and TPA's Caramel Original at 20-25% and steep for 2 weeks, maybe add a little sweetener if your name is 'Super-Shiny.

Both standalone percentages of course AH.

[Ancient Hermit]

Aug 14, 2013 8:49:19 GMT Perpetua said:

TPA's Black Cherry I mix at 15% it's good to vape after a couple of days . . . and TPA's Caramel Original at 20-25% and steep for 2 weeks, maybe add a little sweetener if you name is 'Super-Shiny.

Both standalone percentages of course AH.

Well, I shall certainly use those numbers as a guide but also take on board that, by your own frequent admission, you have no taste buds left! LOL 

As it happens I got some sweetener in the same pack due today as well as bavarian cream. I already got their smoother in stock as I could see where it would be good sense to have some "fix up" things in stock as a basic priority.

I'd admit to "a little apprehensive" right now! 

[Ancient Hermit]

ok, so, I just mixed as follows:

3.5ml PG
5.0ml VG
1.5ml PA Black cherry.

Gives me 10ml, 15% flavour as you suggested Perpetua

I make that a 50-50 mix and accept it's got to be a little off as the VG has 10% DI-water, and flavouring claims water included as well as being PG based.
Does that seem about reasonable? ???

Feels nice having got that little bit out of the way!

Would have made 5ml, but my skills are not quite there yet enough to feel confident in doing those fractions of a ml right every time.

[Perpetua]

Sounds fine to me AH . . . don't beat yourself up too much about exactitude, the odd drop of flavouring one way or another isn't going to make a vast difference to the overall end result. Unless it's a really potent flavour of course.

A way of testing a concentrates intensity is to taste a drop, they are after all food flavours so you're not going to come to any harm. Whilst it's not a hard and fast gauge, it does give you a working idea how strong you might personally find them.

The waiting begins now then.

You may find it takes a little while longer for the flavour to develop as you're not using any nicotine, which I believe helps ' grab ' the flavour and speed the process along a little.

[rich64]

Hi Hermit

I ve kind of got a labelling system that works really well for me which basically has the whole recipe on it(the advantage is i can look at the label as im vaping the liquid and figure out tweeks here and there for the next batch

It goes along the lines of date,pg/vg/nic%/concentrate %/s and sweetener.

so for example the one you have just made (with the addition of 18% nic and 1 % stevia would look like this

PA Black cherry 10ml
140813505018/15/1

140813(date...50/50(pg/vg)/18(nic)/15(concentrate)1(stevia ..although not in yours) so wrtitten like this =
and then just any further notes below with more than one concentrate listed as per liquid name

I know it might not suit you but after getting used to it i find it great to be able to just glance at a bottle and see the recipe and when i made it(so maybe your own labelling system to keep track? )

[Ancient Hermit]

Aug 14, 2013 13:36:38 GMT Perpetua said:

Sounds fine to me AH . . . don't beat yourself up too much about exactitude, the odd drop of flavouring one way or another isn't going to make a vast difference to the overall end result. Unless it's a really potent flavour of course.

A way of testing a concentrates intensity is to taste a drop, they are after all food flavours so you're not going to come to any harm. Whilst it's not a hard and fast gauge, it does give you a working idea how strong you might personally find them.

The waiting begins now then.

You may find it takes a little while longer for the flavour to develop as you're not using any nicotine, which I believe helps ' grab ' the flavour and speed the process along a little.

Crikey, the taste test was a revelation! Yummy stuff.  

I'm not super critical about accuracy, I'm almost as laid back as Super-Shiny about stuff really! 

I'm not always too good with patience but Friday is not that far away. I better get the caramel done shortly too as that may be a bit more challenging in the waiting department.

[Ancient Hermit]

That labeling scheme looks like the start of something rich64 thanks very much indeed for that tip!