UV Steeping?

[EthelKing]

The Results of A Finely Balanced Scientific Experiment...

Well, the results of me exposing a 1.5ml sample of flavourless juice to UV light for an hour and testing the nicotine content before and after the experiment, in the kitchen whilst keeping an eye on the oven at the same time!

I made a 100ml of 1.5% (15mg/ml) 60/40 VG/PG nic juice. I made sure that the constituent parts were thoroughly mixed - a spin on the orbital sander plate, warming in a water bath and a final spin on the orbital sander plate again. I then took three 1.5ml centrifuge vials and added 1.5ml of liquid to each from the 100ml batch. One sample was put to one side as a control. 1ml of the second sample was tested with .12N sulphuric acid and bromothymol blue and gave a nicotine content reading of 15.576mg (approx. 1.5%). The third sample was put into the Dexter E-Juice Solarium and photographed at the start (0mins), the mid point (30 mins) and the end (60 minutes). The results are shown below.

View attachment 10232

I then took 1.0ml of the test liquid (which had been exposed to UV for an hour) and tested its nicotine content using the Sulphuric Acid and Bromothymol Blue method. DRUM ROLL! The test result was:


Test Specimen (subjected to UV exposure) 15.576 mg/ml



Now, this test was performed in my kitchen and so cannot be regarded as any form of a scientific experiment - I am no expert by a long mile and am happy to be corrected. This was merely done because a question was raised and I have the basic kit at hand to provide some form of an answer. Whether it's the right one or not...


@ZT

 

[kolgeo]

Love the idea... why i don't have this nail thing...bleh ..well atlest i know what maybe my next investment!

 

[dansolo]

Awesome experiment, thanks for taking the time to do it and sharing. Could be the steeping solution for impatient sods like me.

 

[EthelKing]

Awesome experiment, thanks for taking the time to do it and sharing. Could be the steeping solution for impatient sods like me.

dansolo - Absolute pleasure! But like I said, don't think of it as being scientific proof by any stretch of the imagination. The vanilla custard shown in the original post tastes absolutely fine - I'm tooting away quite happily on it now, and there is absolutely no separation of flavours at all - the four ingredients have come together quite nicely to give a nice rich vape. I don't think I'd go longer than an hour in the box - but it seems to have some merits - especially if you want a bottle of juice to be ready to go on the quick.

 

[Barracuda]

Dexter

this thread has got me thinking as i don't own a uv lamp, i do however own a SAD bulb which has a kelvin of 6500 and is considered to be as close to natural daylight as possible.
am now thinking of steeping my next mix under this as i can leave it under the light overnight which is convenient for me.
i stand to be corrected but i think it could be another method albeit i need to test it but could update you if you like once i have

 

[dansolo]

Dexter

this thread has got me thinking as i don't own a uv lamp, i do however own a SAD bulb which has a kelvin of 6500 and is considered to be as close to natural daylight as possible.
am now thinking of steeping my next mix under this as i can leave it under the light overnight which is convenient for me.
i stand to be corrected but i think it could be another method albeit i need to test it but could update you if you like once i have

That would be great for me, because I also have a SAD light. Didn't even think of using that. Cheers for the idea.

 

[EthelKing]

@Dexter

this thread has got me thinking as i don't own a uv lamp, i do however own a SAD bulb which has a kelvin of 6500 and is considered to be as close to natural daylight as possible.
am now thinking of steeping my next mix under this as i can leave it under the light overnight which is convenient for me.
i stand to be corrected but i think it could be another method albeit i need to test it but could update you if you like once i have

Absolutely Barracuda ! My understanding of what happens when the bottle puts it little black goggles on and jumps into the solarium is minimal, at best! I would be very interested to see what the SAD light has to offer - I reckon it may well work a lot quicker given that they are designed to replicate daylight exactly. I look forward to seeing what happens.

 

[Barracuda]

That would be great for me, because I also have a SAD light. Didn't even think of using that. Cheers for the idea.

i have my light bulb ideas occasionally lol

Absolutely @Barracuda ! My understanding of what happens when the bottle puts it little black goggles on and jumps into the solarium is minimal, at best! I would be very interested to see what the SAD light has to offer - I reckon it may well work a lot quicker given that they are designed to replicate daylight exactly. I look forward to seeing what happens.

ok, i will put the experiment to work and update this thread, all in the name of tinkering.

 

[ZT]

@ZT - Not that I've noticed mate - the fruit ones I've mixed stayed very light in colour after the UV sunbed - BUT, in the interests of "kitchen science", I have mixed up a batch of 15mg flavourless juice and will do a before and after experiment, along with a nic content test before and after to see what happens. Might take a bit longer to get the results up, as I'm in the middle of doing the dinner for the kids and waiting for my wife to get in from work. But it will be done.

Im not trying to dampen things Lee

Ive just read somewhere that nic degrades in sunlight or UV .. It could well be bollocks ... I guess another issue is wether degraded Nic still tests as nic

 

[EthelKing]

Im not trying to dampen things Lee

Ive just read somewhere that nic degrades in sunlight or UV .. It could well be bollocks ... I guess another issue is wether degraded Nic still tests as nic

I didn't take it as anything but a question @ZT. I certainly didn't take it as a negative. As I've got the testing stuff here, I thought, "Why not have a go and see what happens" - especially as capella vanilla custard seems to go red after a steep, after what you asked I wondered whether it was the "stuff" or the nic. As you know, I have little understanding of anything, and certainly didn't post with any authority - just a curiosity whether others use false light to speed up a process which will happen after a few days/weeks in any case.

And as an added bonus, the incidental findings have proved to my wife and daughter that I can actually multi-task! Ha Ha!

Now you've given me another task - to leave some nic base out for a while and test it over time! Cheers!
Any suggestions from anyone where I should leave the samples to see what happens - I thought in the kitchen, in the mancave (extremes of temperature), in the car. Any more?