My Understanding of Steeping.

[Super-Shiny]

Mar 24, 2014 18:45:36 GMT sammy13 said:

I agree with Super-Shiny

This could go of gone on for a very long time but @munkymunky stumped us

[virus2k]

lol guys ;p

[Bob]

I have heard that leaving the caps off called "breathing" should not be done for more than about 12 hours as it can affect the flavour, best to just leave them in a dark/cool place for about 7 to 14 days, maybe give them a vigorous shake halfway through to assist the process.

[s4j1d]

Interesting to hear all these views.

I've read somewhere that Atmos labs advise NOT to shake your liquid but to mix gently in a circular motion. Then leave to steep with cap and lid on.

They advise shaking "breaks the connections" of the liquid and changes it's taste.

Personally I just put my liquid is some old footy socks(clean) and leave at the back of my sock drawer for 7 to 10 days and its tasted fine.

[Deleted]

So many different ways and opinions.

Personally i mix, shake and forget for a couple of weeks.

[stmls]

Guide to Steeping - The Why & How

A question often asked is “What is steeping?”, closely followed by “How long should I steep a Liquid”?

Essentially steeping (in the context that we are interested in, i.e. for e-liquids), is a process, or number of process, used to blend, age and mature an e-liquid, to the point where the best flavour can be obtained from vaping it.

Steeping can be observed in the manufacture of lots of things, for example, alcohol and the food industry. Anyone that’s made a Christmas pudding will know about allowing it time to mature and develop, or soaking the fruit in an alcohol overnight (steeping).

Steeping will provide the best possible flavour from our e-juice by rounding out any harsh flavours, blending multiple flavours together, developing, maturing or ageing flavours. Flavorings need to completely diffuse into the types of base liquids we use, these need time to bond molecularly with any single or combination of base liquids used in a mix (Nic base, PG, VG, etc).

In addition, air is required to interact with the liquid, this causes oxidation, replenishing the air in the bottle will help oxidation and in turn quicken steeping, leaving the cap off helps (but make sure it is in a safe position).

As a juice steeps it will normally darken, this can be an indication to when a liquid has matured (molecular interaction with nicotine causes this - I have noticed the higher nicotine content, the quicker a juice will mature and darker the liquid will become).

Steeping methods that have been tried and tested and proved (if not always scientifically) vary and some are listed below.

Steeping will nearly always improve a e-liquid, I don’t know of any that have worsened.

Various methods used to steep e-liquids

Time.

The first and most traditional method of steeping is “Time”. Leaving the top off the bottle (allowing air to get to it) will steep and improve a juice by itself, this is usually done by placing the opened bottle in a warm dark place for anything from a day or two up to a week, occasionally giving the bottle a squeeze to expel the air in it and replenish it with fresh air. Benefits are naturally steeped and matured juice, disadvantage, the length of time it takes.

Steeping however, in particular the time element, can be reduced by also employing a number of additional methods.

Agitation.

Vigourous shaking, stirring, etc will help, allow time for the air bubbles to rise to the surface and then repeat again (as many times as you can/want).

Water Bath Heating.

Putting the bottle of juice in a warm (not hot) water bath will shorten the time it takes to mature a juice, it firstly thins the liquid and allows interchange and fusion at a molecular level. However, Heat is an enemy of Nicotine, it will degrade the Nic content if too hot. Warm not Hot water is advised.

Microwave.

Another method of heating is a microwave. This acts like above, but also has another action thought to do with increased molecular particle fusion when juice is blasted with microwaves. Once again, Heat is an enemy of Nicotine, so use in short 1 sec bursts to get it warm, not hot. Oh, and take the cap off first.

Using any (or a combination) of the above methods and then allowing time in a warm dark place, will improve any e-liquid considerably.

Other agitation methods have been employed successfully, including placing bottles in a rotating polisher (for polishing gem stones etc), using a vibrating electrical orbital sander, one report of a person wrapping a bottle in cloth and putting it inside the hubcap of his car for the duration of his daily travel.

Ultrasonics.

This method combines Vibration from ultrasonic frequency or pulses of energy, with or without a warm water bath, reports have been very encouraging when using this method, some say reducing 2 weeks of steeping time to a single day.

Chemical additions. There are new developments all the time, and I am sure that development on this is ongoing, however at this time no successfully reported methods have been noted and anyway, I am not a lover of adding chemicals.

So I can see the next question is going to be….. How long do I let a juice steep?

The Answer is “As long as it takes”. No two juices are the same, or will taste the same to you or me…. I would suggest the only person that can answer that is you…. It may be as little as a day or two. But, you will have to experiment, one thing is definite, given time to mature and using some of the methods above, they will improve from the first opening of a bottle..

This is a recommendation for all shop purchased e-liquids not just ours, all will improve with some steeping, manufactures usually bottle as soon as a juice is made, this halts the steeping process to a degree, employing the "cap off and dark warm place method", will improve 99.9% of juices.

I am sure that many users do not obtain the full potential from purchased juices because they do not allow adequate time for it to mature and reach its optimum flavour.

Employing some of the above methods will hopefully reduce the “wait time”, and give you more pleasure from your chosen juice.

[Perpetua]

Jun 3, 2015 1:11:31 GMT stmls said:

Steeping will nearly always improve a e-liquid, I don’t know of any that have worsened.

Some fruits & mints do not improve given too long steeping . . . . the flavour can lessen and lose some of it's crisp freshness.

For me there has only been time and patience when it comes to steeping, mix - shove in a cupboard or drawer and forget. Give the bottle a shake if and when remembered.

Simples.

[beedee]

Great thread, really helpful when relatively new to all this, like me.

No doubt in my mind that steeping is important, made some juice about three weeks ago. Being impatient I did all the speed steeping stuff, shaking, hot water baths, keeping in the dark. Boy, that stuff got more attention over 3 days than a new iPad at an IT convention. Then I tried it. No good. I was a miserable failure as a mixer.

Then I took a different approach, made some samples, shook, 1 hot water bath, a bit of shaking then leaving them for two weeks. The difference was amazing. Also noticed that some of my bought e juices taste much better after a couple of weeks.


Two things I find it hard get my head around:
- The notion that opening the bottle helps - makes no sense to me - there is always air in the bottle, they are not airtight and the amount of surface exposed to that air remains the same, open or not. I suppose the shaking will expose more juice to the air (see all those lovely little bubbles floating around after shaking?).
- The notion that only stirring gently will help and shaking is bad. If this were so a journey in the mail halfway across the world would ruin juices!

Anyway, rambling now. Happy Vaping!



The idea that shaking

[doveman]

I bought some of these bottles with needle caps, for no particular reason other than I needed some bottles and they were cheap I wasn't concerned about the type of caps they came with as I have plenty of normal caps spare anyway.
www.fasttech.com/products/1842500

However I wonder if these needle caps might actually be useful for steeping, by allowing some air in whilst (mostly) avoiding the risk of accidental spillage from leaving the bottles completely uncapped?

[b1mble]

Oxygen certainly has a part to play in one of my mixes. When mixed at 20% flavour and 50:50 PG:VG it tastes ghastly and metallic. After 6 months in an oxygen impermeable (glass) bottle it was still vile. When decanted into plastic bottles and allowed to age (I left the caps on) it was very pleasant after a month. Oddly enough, the same flavour (Solubarome Apple Crumble) when mixed only with Vg is vapable straight away.

I am far from convinced that homogenisation is the only thing going on. I reckon there are various chemical reactions slowly happening as well.

Not having access to fun stuff like spectrophotometers and GC/MS devices any more, I can't confirm this.

[mikedidthis]

Mar 31, 2014 22:26:22 GMT Bob said:

I have heard that leaving the caps off called "breathing" should not be done for more than about 12 hours as it can affect the flavour, best to just leave them in a dark/cool place for about 7 to 14 days, maybe give them a vigorous shake halfway through to assist the process.

I heard the same thing, but for a different reason. According to RiP Trippers, after 12 hours the nicotine will start to deteriorate.

[mike6]

i've always referred to steeping as infusion, i use the ultrasonic cleaner method to start the infusion process, i use a sealed mason jar at 70c for a couple of hours, i could be wrong but by sealing the jar creates pressure inside the jar which helps infusion without eroding the taste, this is followed up by giving a good shake, this goes on for about a week depending on what flavours i'm infusing..

[minime]

Huuu steeping the Bain of my life it is.

[mike6]

Nov 9, 2015 17:22:29 GMT mikedidthis said:

Mar 31, 2014 22:26:22 GMT Bob said:

I have heard that leaving the caps off called "breathing" should not be done for more than about 12 hours as it can affect the flavour, best to just leave them in a dark/cool place for about 7 to 14 days, maybe give them a vigorous shake halfway through to assist the process.

I heard the same thing, but for a different reason. According to RiP Trippers, after 12 hours the nicotine will start to deteriorate.

[mike6]

i'm more concerned about bacteria and dust contaminating the liquid by leaving the container open..