Mixing newbie, some questions

[blueberrycupcake]

Hello
I ordered the things I need to start mixing liquids but I am totally new to this and am unclear on a few things.
Firstly and most importantly, if I'm making a 10ml bottle and I want that at 0.6mg nicotine, am I right in thinking I need to add 0.8ml of the 7.2% concentration nicotine I have? I really do NOT want to screw up this part! It scares me a little as I'm rubbish at maths and I am relying solely on the various online calculators I have found.

Since we now use a 70/30 VG/PG mix and enjoy it, I want to stick to that, but does this need to alter depending on flavour or does that not matter? I'm certain some of these questions are really stupid and I apologise for this!

With flavours I'm finding percentages but what on earth is this in drops? My mind does not do maths, it rejects it. So just to double check I'm not completely and utterly stupid, which is entirely possible, if I wanted to make a strawberry flavour liquid and it was at 20%, that would be 2ml of a 10ml bottle? What would that be in drops, if so? The flavours we ordered are PG based, so do I then need to drop the amount of PG I use to make room for the flavours, as I have assumed that these calculators have taken account of this for me, in which case I don't need to.

And steeping. I have read and watched a few different things; allowing to breathe and then leaving alone for days, or possibly weeks (not sure which flavours would need longer/shorter time?), putting in hot water, and using a wotsit of which the name escapes me... Just leaving it alone seems to be the most commonly done thing, so I'm assuming that's the best option?

And also, the first flavour I want to try to make is a strawberry milkshake for my husband (guineapig, poor thing!). I have strawberry (ripe) FA, vanilla bean ice cream FA, and dairy/milk FA. I'm not sure what percentage of what to use! I was thinking a higher percentage of strawberry than the others, but the actual number I have no idea. Is there a general rule of thumb for overall flavour percentage? I have two types of cheesecake too, and unsure of whether to put any in as well. I realise everyone's taste is different, but if anything stands out like a sore thumb that make you think 'Oh no! Don't put that in there!' then I would really value your advice

Sorry for the long post. I'm excited to try this out but I don't want to completely mess it all up! And playing with nicotine is daunting. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me

 

[learnincurve]

What you want there is a calculator which can do the maths for you and give you drops as well as ml. Also a syringe. http://e-liquid-recipes.com

It will become clearer when you start inputting things, the PG/VG stuff is worked out for you based on if you are using nicotine in VG or PG and also flavourings which are PG.

If you wanted to make a strawberry flavour then it would be 6% strawberry and if you wanted to add accents to it then it's 1-2% of each. Far too many recipes out there with too much flavouring in that either turn out very strong or would have been the same if everything had been halved. You can also add a drop of toner which will boost the whole thing. People have a tendency to over sweeten as well, does taste delicious but sweetener can eat though a coil that should go a month in a day if there is too much of it.

 

[Mr Numpty]

Hello
I ordered the things I need to start mixing liquids but I am totally new to this and am unclear on a few things.
Firstly and most importantly, if I'm making a 10ml bottle and I want that at 0.6mg nicotine, am I right in thinking I need to add 0.8ml of the 7.2% concentration nicotine I have? I really do NOT want to screw up this part! It scares me a little as I'm rubbish at maths and I am relying solely on the various online calculators I have found.

Since we now use a 70/30 VG/PG mix and enjoy it, I want to stick to that, but does this need to alter depending on flavour or does that not matter? I'm certain some of these questions are really stupid and I apologise for this!

With flavours I'm finding percentages but what on earth is this in drops? My mind does not do maths, it rejects it. So just to double check I'm not completely and utterly stupid, which is entirely possible, if I wanted to make a strawberry flavour liquid and it was at 20%, that would be 2ml of a 10ml bottle? What would that be in drops, if so? The flavours we ordered are PG based, so do I then need to drop the amount of PG I use to make room for the flavours, as I have assumed that these calculators have taken account of this for me, in which case I don't need to.

Hi. The answer to most of these questions lies in becoming familiar with a mixing calculator. My own recommendation is eJuiceMeUp. If you download that and watch the video in that link then have a play around with it you'll soon be familiar with it.
Using drops gives very unsatisfactory results as drops come in amazingly varied sizes. The next best thing and much more accurate is to use syringes which are cheaply available from eBay. 1, 5, 10 and 20ml ones are useful. A set of scales accurate to 0.01g is the best option and can be had for very little. They save on time and cleaning up and are highly recommended. Best of luck.

 

[kermitthefog]

http://e-liquid-recipes.com/recipe/104221/Mustard+Milk+-+Simple+Strawberries+and+Cream

Have a look at this for a recipe of a tried and tested strawberry milk. the amounts shown equal 30ml in total and a 70/30 mix, so to get 10ml divide everything by 3. I find with strawberry concentrates the flavour can become muted if you breathe for too long so 4 hours maximum with the top off and then seal, give another shake and put away for 4-6 days depending how long you can wait and it'll be good to go then.

 

[blueberrycupcake]

Thank you so much, all of you! I think I will have to invest in some scales, would be easier. I have syringes, 1ml, 5ml & 10ml. Are there any flavours that are good to use right away, or do they all need leaving?

 

[chopper]

Generally, fruit flavours are a shake and vape (although they could be better after 1 day) Creamy or custard flavours are 3 weeks plus depending on your own taste. The thing with strawberry mixes are the strawberry is way too overpowering at first, and the custards and cream flavours don't come alive in the recipe for a couple weeks I find.

Also, don't bother doing the drops method. It's very time consuming, and it's a lot harder to keep count of drops than you may think, especially if you're using 5ml or more of the same liquid. If you lose track of where you are while counting drops, you're buggered

 

[blueberrycupcake]

Generally, fruit flavours are a shake and vape (although they could be better after 1 day) Creamy or custard flavours are 3 weeks plus depending on your own taste. The thing with strawberry mixes are the strawberry is way too overpowering at first, and the custards and cream flavours don't come alive in the recipe for a couple weeks I find.

Also, don't bother doing the drops method. It's very time consuming, and it's a lot harder to keep count of drops than you may think, especially if you're using 5ml or more of the same liquid. If you lose track of where you are while counting drops, you're buggered

I was slightly concerned about this! Because there must be many drops in some instances, and I am awful for keeping count! I know this from the amount of times I have lost count crocheting
My husband bought a scale, which made things really easy.

I made four!
No idea what they will taste like, they may be disgusting. Hopefully not, though. I made what will hopefully be a strawberry milkshake, strawberry cheesecake, a Battenberg and a blueberry peanut butter cheesecake. I had what my husband calls a 'brain fart' with the blueberry one and put in a little too much cheesecake, but I just thought oh well, we will just have to see what this turns out like! I have noted everything down and have a separate notebook to write down the ones that work well (will keep a separate note of what doesn't work digitally). They're sat breathing at the moment and I have labelled them.
I am less concerned about screwing up the flavour, more concerned about getting the nicotine right! Getting it all right is obviously preferable of course. We will see

I must say I am so happy I found this forum. Everyone is so incredibly friendly and helpful! Thank you

 

[blueberrycupcake]

So my husband couldn't wait any longer to try the strawberry milkshake. The smell has changed a fair bit since yesterday and it no longer smells just of strawberry, although that is still a very strong smell. He loves it though! Hopefully he will after it's sat there for longer as well. Pleased though, that's my first attempt (and the very first one out of the four I made) at making liquid and it's actually nice! I have tried it and also like it. Although I am curious to see if it changes much over the next few days [emoji4]

 

[mick brown]

Glad to hear you succeeded. I'm in the process of making my first ever batch. Trying to make an ry4 ADV. Using Flavour Arts BYO Nutzilla and RY4 Nutzilla. Will have to see which tastes best, if any !!

 

[learnincurve]

Day 2 of steeping and the juice I learned to create in my lesson is chuffing delicious.

http://e-liquid-recipes.com/recipe/680929/Frooty+tooty+purple