I’ll check out the site you linked & solo test like you said. I’m curious about these recipes, they have vendors flavors & %’s, with the %’s, looks like these ejuice calculators adjust %’s for different bottle sizes, are these recipes one size fits all with these ejuice calculators making adjustments for different bottle sizes? It looks simple to make these recipes yet when it comes to actually making them it gets tricky with flavors & really trying to slow myself down so don’t waste money. I know I’m going to make some mistakes & have to redo some recipes & trying to be realistic about my learning these things & keep my expectations low for now till I can get some time & experience. Thank you as well lucy & plan on doing like you said,talk to you soon.
Hi Troy, welcome to VU!
Calculators adjust drops, mililiters, or grams for different bottle sizes. The percent is specified by the person who enters the recipe, and stays the same regardless of the size bottle.
So for example if you are mixing a 30ml bottle of eliquid, If you need to add 1% of a particular flavor, 1% of 30ml is 0.3ml, which is calculated by multiplying 30 x 0.01 (this is the part the eliquid calculator would work out, as well as the corresponding grams or drops, depending on your settings). But for that same 1%, if your bottle was 60ml, you'd need 0.6ml to meet that requirement of 1%.
The way I found to reduce the overwhelming nature of learning to mix is just to focus on one thing at a time. Set all your supplies up on a surface where there is enough room to be organized. Pull out only the flavors you need for the recipe you are working on. Put them in the same order in which they are listed in the recipe. As you use your components, set them to one side, together, to indicate they've already been used.
I mix directly into the bottle the liquid will be stored in. I measure in my nicotine, then flavors, then PG, using the grams or drops that my calculator specified for each of these components. Then I fill the bottle with VG to within about 1/2" of the top (to allow room for shaking/mixing). Cap the bottle, shake/tilt/roll it around for a few minutes, label it, and then let it rest. You can pick it back up every now and then, maybe twice a day, and give it another shake. Steep time depends on the recipe, and will be something you'll have more of a feel for as you learn. Most recipes are better if you let them rest until at least the next day, but some require considerably longer steep time than that.
I use a small scale that I ordered off Amazon, cost $10-11. It measures to 0.01 gram. I started off using pipettes and syringes, thinking that would be simpler, but it really isn't. I then went to a graduated cylinder for a while. In retrospect, I think I'd have been more comfortable if I had just ordered a scale in the beginning. I do not mix very large batches of eliquid, so the small scale works fine for me.
Here's the link:
Scales that have a "Tare" button can be recalibrated to zero no matter what the container sitting on the scale actually weighs. This way you can actually get the weight of the contents you are adding to the container. So set a bottle on the scale, a 30ml empty bottle weighs somewhere around 7.5 gm, scale reads 7.5 gm. Press the Tare button, the scale returns to zero, even though the bottle is still sitting on it. Add 2.07 grams of nicotine, press Tare and the scale returns to zero. Add 0.35 grams of super sweet, press Tare and the scale returns to zero. Easy peasy this way. Just go slowly so you don't overshoot the amounts called for by your recipe.
I hope this helps. It's exciting to see someone getting started. Let us know how you're doing!