Mixing Multiple Flavours

[cheersm8]

Hi Folks

Mixing Multiple flavours

Bearing in mind that I still consider myself very much a beginner at DIY mixing, with only a years worth under my belt this is how I, currently arrive at, my percentages when using multiple flavours.
First off (obviously) I decide on the combination I want to try, then I "imagine" what parts of the combination I hope to taste more than other parts.
eg, the order in which I hope the various flavours to show through in terms of strength.

This gives me an idea of what kind of ratios I'm after, as in one particular flavour requires more than an another.
Once I've got my head around this, I then look at each individual flavour based on it's optimum dilution percentage as a "stand alone flavour".
One may give a good stand alone result at 15% another may only require 5% to achieve a good flavour on it's own.

A general rule of thumb that many diy'ers use is "a two flavour mix = half of one and half of another, but I found that this only worked for me if both flavours diluted, by themselves
required the same percentages, and that an even 50/50 taste was desired.

Knowing how each individual flavour behaves, when mixed on it's own, really helps me come to a final dilution percentage when the flavours are combined and how much of each I will need to get the final combination to taste in the order of "strengthness" that I'm hoping for.

As a simple example, going by a two flavour combo, using the 50/50 rule, I would be adding half of one flavour and half of the other.
Now, if flavour 1 mixes by itself ok at 20% and flavour 2 mixes ok by itself at 20% then it's all hunky dory at 10% of each.

But, if flavour 1 is a "20 percenter" and flavour 2 is a "five percenter" then 10 percent of each is going to be a right royal fuck up with flavour 2 being way to strong.
In this scenario the 50/50 flavour mix has to be 10% of one and 2.5% of the other.

Anyway, that's how I'm working things out at the moment, and it's doing OK, but there may be easier ways, and I may even be making unnecessary complications.

Thanks for reading.

 

[schlinky]

I'm going nuts I did a 7 flavour coffee and it's freaking heaven!

Much the same method as you although my nose gets more of a say in things, I'll smell the juices and see how dominant the flavour is. I also consider the ratio 'IRL' how much of an actual cup of a coffee is cream, sugar etc. That affects how much of each flavour I put in and well as the strength of the concentrate.

I've been pretty lucky so far, everything I've done have been somewhere between 'vapable' and 'OMG that's amazing'. The one that's going to screw me up is this doughnut I'm trying to do. It currently smells like feet.

It's gonna come around, it is....

 

[StuPot]

All good info there but keep in mind that a lot of mixes / flavours will often turn out nothing like you expected.. Sometimes they seem to create a flavour unexpected of the ingredients. Theory often disappoints but that's the beauty of DIY.. It's always open for tweaks and rethinks

 

[scrumpox]

It sounds very reasonable and plausible cheersm8 though StuPot has a point too.

I've been at it less time than you and my approach to mixing has always been to understand each individual flavour first ... getting its standalone % down before even attempting to mix it with something else.

What's held me back is a narrow mindset, thinking I need to like each flavour before I'll use it in a mix. I really wish I hadn't done that. I also avoided fruits, creams and custards for far too long.

Smelling a juice is mostly a waste of time I've found as mixes rarely vape as they smell.

At the end of the day, no matter how I do the math, most sample mixes fail at the first attempt and need another go ... this is where patience comes in and where I can be lacking. Often I've moved onto trial 2 and even trial 3 before trial 1 was allowed to mature fully. That is a waste of effort and cause of frustration. Sometimes I like trial 1 and make up 10 or 20 ml only to find it hadn't matured and has changed a few weeks later.

I need a milk frother.