Hi ! I'm new to this forum and also relatively new to vaping.
I do DIY juice from the beginning since my local supply options are rather limited. I started to do lots of experimentations of flavors mixes, extractions, etc. While unavoidable in order to evaluate the full potential of my blends, steeping slowed down my process quite a lot.
I finally found a process to accelerate the process of steeping by using ultrasonic steering, and for really cheap ! I searched the web to see if anyone came up with the same idea but found nothing, so I post my method here:
I use ultrasonic humidifier heads (~4$ without the 24V/1A supply) by placing PET 10ml bottles on top.
See by yourself (short demo):
The powered ultrasonic humidifier is placed in a water bath with 3-10mm of water above the emitter for conductance. Depending on the volume of the bottle, the process might produce some heat. This things are quite powerful ! If you really want cool steeping, add more water to cool down the bottle.
I shake the bottle, place it on the emitter for ~5min until the liquid is clear again, then agitate again and repeat as many time as needed. Agitation gives macroscopic steering while ultrasonic steering does the microscopic part. In my opinion, both are important for homogenization. As you can see on the video, the air bubbles scatter the ultrasounds, producing some macroscopic steering.
Don't leave small bottles unintended ! The ultrasound might melt the bottle at the air-liquid interface. It's important to move them regularly (Just shake and replace every 5 min). I guess it's possible to do more advanced setups to mitigate the problem of hot spots (coupling a vibrating plate, for example).
Overall, ultrasounds are better transmitted by soft and thin bottle materials. But it still works for big glass bottle (30-200mL) with more ultrasonic heads. I leave them longer between shakes (~20 min).
With my limited steeping experience, I found that 10x 5min cycles on a 10ml PET bottle with 70% VG is equivalent to one week steeping. Going further, it takes more and more cycles to reach two weeks. After ultrasonic steering, the steeping by resting seems to go faster than if the bottle had only been shaken. It seems that only time can do the complete job...
Still learning. Don't hesitate if you have any remarks / suggestions / questions.
I do DIY juice from the beginning since my local supply options are rather limited. I started to do lots of experimentations of flavors mixes, extractions, etc. While unavoidable in order to evaluate the full potential of my blends, steeping slowed down my process quite a lot.
I finally found a process to accelerate the process of steeping by using ultrasonic steering, and for really cheap ! I searched the web to see if anyone came up with the same idea but found nothing, so I post my method here:
I use ultrasonic humidifier heads (~4$ without the 24V/1A supply) by placing PET 10ml bottles on top.
See by yourself (short demo):
The powered ultrasonic humidifier is placed in a water bath with 3-10mm of water above the emitter for conductance. Depending on the volume of the bottle, the process might produce some heat. This things are quite powerful ! If you really want cool steeping, add more water to cool down the bottle.
I shake the bottle, place it on the emitter for ~5min until the liquid is clear again, then agitate again and repeat as many time as needed. Agitation gives macroscopic steering while ultrasonic steering does the microscopic part. In my opinion, both are important for homogenization. As you can see on the video, the air bubbles scatter the ultrasounds, producing some macroscopic steering.
Don't leave small bottles unintended ! The ultrasound might melt the bottle at the air-liquid interface. It's important to move them regularly (Just shake and replace every 5 min). I guess it's possible to do more advanced setups to mitigate the problem of hot spots (coupling a vibrating plate, for example).
Overall, ultrasounds are better transmitted by soft and thin bottle materials. But it still works for big glass bottle (30-200mL) with more ultrasonic heads. I leave them longer between shakes (~20 min).
With my limited steeping experience, I found that 10x 5min cycles on a 10ml PET bottle with 70% VG is equivalent to one week steeping. Going further, it takes more and more cycles to reach two weeks. After ultrasonic steering, the steeping by resting seems to go faster than if the bottle had only been shaken. It seems that only time can do the complete job...
Still learning. Don't hesitate if you have any remarks / suggestions / questions.
