Mixing red Astaire

[tmg]

I've just started dabbling in the world of mixing, I made up a 5ml trial of red Astaire at 20% and left it for a week. It tasted ok so I decided to mix 30ml. Now according to the calculator I should use 6ml or 180 drops of concentrate. I decided to do it by drops rather than try to get the drip top out of the bottle, after I'd counted out my 180 drops I noticed that I didn't seem to have used as much of the concentrate as I should have done, out of a 10ml bottle I should have less than half left, however I still had more than half in the bottle. I'm sure I counted correctly, so I'm wondering are the drops out of a t juice bottle smaller than ordinary dropper bottles? Have I made a rookie mistake and should have made sure I used the same size drip tops for all liquids or measured it out in mls by syringe? My trial 5mls does taste slightly weak but I didn't think much of it, just figured I wouldn't achieve the exact same taste as pre-mixed. Either way I shall give it a week and chuck a few more drops in if it doesn't taste right, I just wondered if I'd made a basic error.

[OneDay]

The problem with drops is that all droppers give different sized drops. Some are 20 drops to the ml, some 30, some are different again. Personally I always use a syringe and measure in mls. I make my RA at 15% 50/50 20mg and it's delish

[Perpetua]

I always work on 30 drops to 1ml tmg . . . if you'd rather use drops for small volumes of flavour, then it's worth taking a little time to measure out how many it does actually take from different dropper bottles, especially if they appear smaller to you.

For 6ml it's worth using a syringe . . . though a 10ml bottle of concentrate can be more like a 11/12ml bottle in actual size, so you may not be too far off. 

[dagl]

I could be completely wrong.. But I've been of the assumption that drop sizes could vary, depending of the viscosity of the liquid. For ease and accuracy I find it easier to use a syringe. Oh and some suppliers are very generous in their 10mls

[chykensa]

I must admit I always use a syringe, having read about different drop sizes. Having said that, if I'm mixing a whole 30ml bottle of concentrate into juice, I use 15ml of concentrate per 90ml x 2, one for me and one for my vaping friend who I mix for. I'm a bit ashamed to say that I simply tip in half the 30ml concentrate into each 100ml mixing bottle and use my eye, nothing more technical.
Did 180ml total of RA this afternoon, and it will now steep for a week before I need to use it - not that I've noticed much difference steeped or not, it's almost ready to vape straight away!

[OneDay]

Apr 18, 2014 22:09:56 GMT chykensa said:

it will now steep for a week before I need to use it - not that I've noticed much difference steeped or not, it's almost ready to vape straight away!

RA is one of those rare exceptions that really doesn't need to steep. Mix. Cuppa. Vape. Job done

[chykensa]

Quite agree OneDay - the only reason it will end up steeping is that I've already got about 45ml mixed up to use first!

[tmg]

Thanks for the replies, I think I will in future use a syringe for the larger amounts, saves having to count out 180 drops! I know it's trial and error and personal taste, I just didn't think about the possibility of different bottle tops being different sizes...doh!

[Adam78]

T-Juice bottles have very thin dropper nozzles and the dropper is a real pain in the bum to get out (but not as bad as trying to get into a bottle of FlavourArt peppermint etc )

I find that 2 T-Juice drops is about equal to one drop from your average concentrate bottle.

So... only another 180 drops to go tmg

[OneDay]

Apr 18, 2014 22:35:30 GMT Adam78 said:

T-Juice bottles have very thin dropper nozzles and the dropper is a real pain in the bum to get out

I just grip the dripper between my teeth and pull it out

[X&Y]

Anything under 1ml I usually use drops

Anything above I use syringes, measuring cylinders or measuring beakers.

As for the TJuice thin dropper nozzles OneDay has the right idea

[300]

It's not worth getting your syringes dirty for anything less than 20ml, by the time you've cleaned all your kit afterwards you could have done it with drops from the bottles & be sat havin' a vape & a cuppa.

For regular/most used recipes i line-mark a 50ml bottle with a permanent marker, 1 line for each ingredient, i only measure the ingredients once, then for every mix of that recipe afterwards just tip the stuff in & judge it by eye, never had a bad batch, always tastes the same.... easy.

It may not be accurate in terms of weights & measures, but as long as you keep to the same bottles it's consistent & that's what counts.

[andy01424]

old cooks way,measure what % and a dash for luck in mine lol

[Perpetua]

Apr 18, 2014 22:22:10 GMT tmg said:

Thanks for the replies, I think I will in future use a syringe for the larger amounts, saves having to count out 180 drops! I know it's trial and error and personal taste, I just didn't think about the possibility of different bottle tops being different sizes...doh!

It's a learning curve as far as mixing goes tmg, we've all been there.

At least if anything you've put too little flavouring in, which is far easier to fix than the other way around.

[stewarty]

Apr 18, 2014 22:09:56 GMT chykensa said:

I must admit I always use a syringe, having read about different drop sizes. Having said that, if I'm mixing a whole 30ml bottle of concentrate into juice, I use 15ml of concentrate per 90ml x 2, one for me and one for my vaping friend who I mix for. I'm a bit ashamed to say that I simply tip in half the 30ml concentrate into each 100ml mixing bottle and use my eye, nothing more technical.
Did 180ml total of RA this afternoon, and it will now steep for a week before I need to use it - not that I've noticed much difference steeped or not, it's almost ready to vape straight away!

Yea pretty similar to the way I mix now Andy

Got a few 250ml bottles that I use to make 24mg base, also got a load of 50ml bottles and a 50ml syringe so when I am mixing I just use the big syringe (with a short length of tubing instead of a needle)  to draw up 40mls of base, squirt it in the bottle and top up by eye to 50ml (usually sit the bottle next to one at the right level).

Give the bottles a good shake, put away for a couple of weeks and end up with 50mls of juice @ about 18mg / 20% and only one syringe to wash out !!!!

10ml 20ml and 30 ml bottles I just do the exact same but reduce the amounts accordingly.

If for any reason it is a stronger flavour that I don't want to mix @ 20% I just make up the difference of concentrate with neat PG / VG to keep the strength @ 18mg ish.

Lazy I know but it works for me and not had any disasters so far