Homogenizing Equipment Used for E-liquid Making

Mixology Methodology
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@anon96069639 My biggest “take home” so far is there is “in my humble opinion” no “one size fits all” approach to mixing. Off gassing of volatiles is a prime example. Some are wanted, some not. Bummer if both are present. Dispersion of µM particles is obviously assisted by heat per the variance of viscosity we play with. Not knowing what “flavors” are i.e. the actual chemical composition and “mimic” methodology creates a real “blind” playing field.

Some valuable tools are starting to assemble however. There are a number of “unwanted” outcomes that I now know the fix for i.e. chemical taste in a mix. Not to imply in any manner that I am done experimenting.

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The next thing I want to try is the use of a hand blender. I have one with a domed enclosure and side openings in the dome. It is obviously a quasi homogenizer with a good deal of shear force but without the compression of particles needed to ensure tissue and non-liquid particles are addressed by the shear. I am going to try it with the dome fully submersed in liquid and see if I can avoid aeration or frothing.

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@Methodologists Can you try and post here please:

https://vapingcommunity.co.uk/t/homogenizing-methods/300

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Got it! Let the Dbase be populated!!!

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Something I haven’t seen mentioned is the fact that a tank full of liquid is subjected to considerable heat when you vape, especially at 50w+

I use a 6ml tank, so over time the liquid being subjected to heat should change dramatically?

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No doubt. And what aromatic portions of the mix are present at room temperature and which develop only after boiling? I will put myself at risk and quote my favorite electronics professor. “chicken shit is chicken shit. don’t pick the white stuff”. Now the disclaimer here is I don’t pretend to know where substance ends and chicken shit starts, but his point is obvious. At some point detail is useless baggage. He made this point when a student would come up with an answer like 0.2531842Ω. No son, .25Ω is fine.

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Excellent idea, a detailed look at using the Homogenizer would be awesome.

The method topic is for you guys to add your methods and results / observations

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I’ve “been at” this conclusion for a good long time. (Not trying to sound smug, holier than thou, or arrogant. Just speaking “matter of factly”.)

Very early in, I struggled with which overall mindset that “I thought I needed to have” so I could try and approach this new endeavor with the best possible chance of having success with the subject overall. What I found was, my road had to be personally hammered out (laid step by step) respecting each individual aspect of concern step by step, and in order of importance (first) down to preference (last).

For me, the very first thing was level of nicotine.
(Because you have to stay off the cigarettes)

The second was a PG sensitivity (which was/is a very real and demonstrable physical manifestation of the negative effects of PG which directly correlated to the level/amount of overall PG present in a mix.)

The next was TH aka Throat-Hit. (Without splitting hairs, this can be perceived as “a general discomfort” or aversion to, the irritation of the throat by either alcohol [not being off-gassed properly during the mixing process] or inferior grade nicotine, or oxidized nicotine.)

And then, the hardware interactions came into play…

Everything from:

  • the temperature of the vape you prefer
  • time length of draw
  • whether you are after clouds or flavor
  • single coil vs dual (and by extension, type of atomizer)
  • ramp time (material composition of the coil itself)

And several I’ve forgotten…

Anyways, with all of these variables changing from person to person, it’s NO WONDER that DIY is such a confusing labyrinth for new folks to navigate.

The bigger problem IMO is when OV’s (yeah, sorry Bitches, but you ain’t gangsters, and OG only has one meaning. The original meaning…) sorry, had to vent… /on topic: some of the self proclaimed Original Vapers need to step back, and remember that there’s different reasons for, and different needs dictating some of these different approaches.

I’ll stop here, as I’m already coloring well outside the lines. While I don’t mean to, I almost fell like I have to though, since it all ties in together. :wink:

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For the win! IMO. lol

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Excellent point and observation Grubster!! :+1:

It’s definitely been mentioned before (elsewhere) but I’m glad you reminded us here!

That is definitely something that I believe is worthy of additional consideration and observation to those who vape in such a manner, and are willing/able to try and assess the matter!

Unfortunately, I can’t help, as I’ll likely never go above 46-48w. Not to mention my theorem’s only hold 2ml (before I get bored and swap flavors).

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Guilty! LMFAO
I’ve missed that forest for that reason from time to time… :embarrassed: :wink:

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As have I.

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The contributing members in this thread strike me akin to my band mates. We all walk in with bits and pieces, throw them in a pot, and cook em down. Man is the result sweet! We all have one concentration, making the music the best it can be. That mandates putting self aside and doing some serious listening and thinking. Constant adjustments and experimentation. Trying things that don’t look that great going in. Our keyboard player is the best for that. He comes up with the damdist ideas but sometimes they just work. Only one way to know if they will or no, try them. A byproduct beatitude is that no one is hurt if it doesn’t work. The important thing is that it was tested.

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Thinking again.
Is it time to expand the scope of a recipe? I’m thinking of the simple strawberry cream. Instead of simply listing the ingredients and volumes would the addition of mixing be helpful? The flavors that constitute the cream would most likely benefit from extended emulsification. Strawberry doesn’t seem to. It seems best “floating” within the mix.
e.g.
Combine x,y,and z (cream base)
blend thoroughly via (whatever)
Add strawberry.
Shake for (whatever)
next step
next step
…

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I’ve added how I mixed and what I vape my recipe on in the last 2 recipes I made on ELR

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Looks like you are gonna have to send me two bottles of the experiment. One with the fancy stirring and one without so I can see if there is a difference. Thank you and I look forward to it.

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Yeah! “Skip nights” were awesome!! :smiley:

:nostalgic: :grinning:
Yeah, the next “big one” for me was Frequency Modulation!!

Everything went from sounding like The Waltons, to “being in the same room as” a live band, or at symphony hall. So clear, no static, no power line interference, no random changes in amplitude as the signal bounced along…

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Another term I see used often is “naturally” in regard to the voodoo of steeping. There’s not a whole not “natural” involved in the first place. Just a tad romantic possibly? Kinda limited to the nature of the effect of time on vaping chemicals which I doubt is a universal algorithm.

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On the note about certain flavors and the possibility of emulsifiers… I think you’re highly likely onto something there.

One of the things I noticed early on (with using heat and the USC) was in testing duration requirements WRT to “flavour category”.

I finally settled on the basic premise of:
Fruits = a single one hour cycle
Bakeries = two hours (some creams)
Custards = three hours (some creams)

Now, this does not include Ina’s custard, or FA. While I have both of the others, I haven’t used either yet, hardly at all compared to Cap VC v1.

I didn’t test fruits without heat, though I’m confident that the majority absolutely do not need it.

Everything I’ve done in the USC though, did need off-gassing (again largely due to my personal preference for getting rid of any alcohol related TH), and was almost always best after a 48hr “settle in”.

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Another thing I noticed in doing the last experiment is that the sealed juice appeared to create a slight vacuum. Using a single layer of a sandwich bag created a “tympanum” on the top of the jar which was concave after treatment. I want to retest that with tighter controls but if that turns out to be true it is obviously interesting. Both stirring to a small degree and USC treatment to a much larger degree would create conditions for off gassing. Very interesting if it resulted in an overall pressure reduction. I can’t wrap my head around volitiles entering a gaseous state then re-condensing into a liquid with such low heat applied and especially such small temperature and pressure differentials.

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