DIY Journey

[Rivera]

Silverhound !!! Gets me every time.

Nevertheless, it serves to confirm my point about ratings.

Also, I don't see why it's a problem to mix an unknown mixer's recipe. The popular mixers also started out as unknown. Point is, if a recipe looks decent to you, just mix it. And not all popular mixer's recipes are going to be brilliant. We all make a few recipes some won't like, regardless of how good you are. I'm putting it out there for anyone to enjoy, and if people give feedback for improvement purposes I'm happy to take it on board. Otherwise if you just didn't like the recipe, that's totally cool. Try a different one.

 

[Puff the Magic Dragon]

Of course, it is fine to mix any recipe you may find or make up. That's essentially how knowledge is gained.

As I said I mix large amounts at a time. I wouldn't want to take a greater risk than necessary resulting in me wasting 100ml of a juice. As I said it is not much of an issue when mixing 10 or even 30ml. For me, given my practice of mixing large amounts, I usually try popular juices or recipes published by the particular mixologists that I prefer. The odds are then greater that I wouldn't waste a mix.

There are also recipes that I can recognise as being similar to or a variation of existing recipes. If I can see, from my experience, that the new variation may well be an improvement, I may try it. This is similar to @ivc_mixer being able to make a recommendation for your recipe without even trying it. I am definitely not in the same league as @ivc_mixer which is why I mainly rely on the experts and make small tweaks mainly when substituting when I am short of an ingredient.

DIYing your own juices, including making your own original recipes, can be a great hobby. I can see that you are already enjoying the experience. Enjoy the journey.

 

[Rivera]

Of course, it is fine to mix any recipe you may find or make up. That's essentially how knowledge is gained.

As I said I mix large amounts at a time. I wouldn't want to take a greater risk than necessary resulting in me wasting 100ml of a juice. As I said it is not much of an issue when mixing 10 or even 30ml. For me, given my practice of mixing large amounts, I usually try popular juices or recipes published by the particular mixologists that I prefer. The odds are then greater that I wouldn't waste a mix.

There are also recipes that I can recognise as being similar to or a variation of existing recipes. If I can see, from my experience, that the new variation may well be an improvement, I may try it. This is similar to @ivc_mixer being able to make a recommendation for your recipe without even trying it. I am definitely not in the same league as @ivc_mixer which is why I mainly rely on the experts and make small tweaks mainly when substituting when I am short of an ingredient.

DIYing your own juices, including making your own original recipes, can be a great hobby. I can see that you are already enjoying the experience. Enjoy the journey.

Yes, if you are mixing in larger amounts then for sure, go with popular mixers.

I imagine there are TONS of recipes similar to others! This happens for sure. I would like to get constructive feedback on my recipes as I post them, since it's great to be able to learn and improve Also why I share them.

@ivc_mixer has been such an amazing help, I appreciate his advice!

 

[Quintusson]

So much to catch up on from the past few days. Been too hectic at work to really notice the forum, nevermind read anything.

Could someone please advise what sort of percentages to use CAP Super Sweet please?

As said previously, this is a personal preference, but it also depends on the recipe. I have mixes in which it is used at 0.5% and then mixes where it's used at 2.2% (but it works). What I suggest, and also what was said, is start low-ish (0.5%) and work your way up from there. You will find 0.5% offers a decent amount of sweetness and usually works well.

Thanks Adephi! Might stay with FLV Sweetness then I noticed Wayne’s sweet tooth lol.

Not necessarily. IMHO, the following sweeteners are used accordingly:
CAP Super Sweet - Fruits, gums, beverages, etc.
FLV Sweetness and Clyrosweet - Bakeries, Desserts, etc.
But again (though not the norm) I have two recipes where I use a combination of two different sweeteners as they both bring a different aspect to the juice which I needed.

I put the bottle (with mix in) on the scale, hit "tare" to zero it and started dropping the cactus in. Low and behold the numbers don't budge

Oh, so so many times. I have learnt through time though how much drops weigh based on the type of flavour and the bottle it's in. On average, your 10ml needle nose bottles dispense about 0.02gr (the 100ml needle nose ones about 0.03gr) and the PET (button nose for want of a better description) about 0.04 - 0.05gr. So if this happens, then I count the drops and figure it from there. This is not always true though as some juices are thinner and thus the drops would be 0.01gr, etc. but a general avg of 0.02 works well enough.

If people don't like it I'm not bothered, I'm enjoying the journey.

And that right there ladies and gentleman is the crux of DIY.

@ivc_mixer has been such an amazing help, I appreciate his advice!

Always glad to help out wherever I can.

 

[Rivera]

So much to catch up on from the past few days. Been too hectic at work to really notice the forum, nevermind read anything.


As said previously, this is a personal preference, but it also depends on the recipe. I have mixes in which it is used at 0.5% and then mixes where it's used at 2.2% (but it works). What I suggest, and also what was said, is start low-ish (0.5%) and work your way up from there. You will find 0.5% offers a decent amount of sweetness and usually works well.


Not necessarily. IMHO, the following sweeteners are used accordingly:
CAP Super Sweet - Fruits, gums, beverages, etc.
FLV Sweetness and Clyrosweet - Bakeries, Desserts, etc.
But again (though not the norm) I have two recipes where I use a combination of two different sweeteners as they both bring a different aspect to the juice which I needed.


Oh, so so many times. I have learnt through time though how much drops weigh based on the type of flavour and the bottle it's in. On average, your 10ml needle nose bottles dispense about 0.02gr (the 100ml needle nose ones about 0.03gr) and the PET (button nose for want of a better description) about 0.04 - 0.05gr. So if this happens, then I count the drops and figure it from there. This is not always true though as some juices are thinner and thus the drops would be 0.01gr, etc. but a general avg of 0.02 works well enough.


And that right there ladies and gentleman is the crux of DIY.


Always glad to help out wherever I can.

Coming along to save the day once again! Your advice on CAP Super Sweet is so helpful, thank you! I love the tips for where to use what sweetener, so awesome! Making notes

IVC rocks!

 

[Quintusson]

Coming along to save the day once again! Your advice on CAP Super Sweet is so helpful, thank you! I love the tips for where to use what sweetener, so awesome! Making notes

IVC rocks!

Another thing I forgot about the scale and it not picking up. It also helps (sometimes, not always) if you pick the bottle up and put it back on the scale again after like 2-3secs. It then re-reads the weight and will give you the difference between when you tarred and the current weight.

 

[Rivera]

Currently in the process of getting to know as many concentrates from brands as I can, to decide on which I like the most and help me determine which ones will work best in what recipes. I have an itch to make an apple pie mix, so I've got some concentrates for that coming soon. Also ordered other base concentrates to build on with a few more top notes as well.

I've been sticking to simpler mixes mostly, but I'm starting to feel a bit more comfortable about branching out and experimenting a bit more. Nothing crazy, but as I get to know what can work for certain recipes it gets easier to work out what I could mix up. I just love the endless potential for recipes! DIY is literally my excuse to be creative and I love it.

 

[Rivera]

NEW MIX (WORK IN PROGRESS)

Alpine Strawb 0.2%
Strawberry RT (FA) 0.67%
Berry Mix (TFA) 1.08%
Watermelon (HS) 2.7%
Raspberry Malina (INW) 2%
Lemon Lime (CAP) 0.6%
Lime (INW) 0.8%
Sweetness (FLV) 0.6%
Cactus (INW) 0.16%

So I mixed this up as an overhaul to a recipe I made that I wasn't happy with. I'm now a little concerned the Raspberry INW may be too strong, but I'm unsure as this is the first time I'm trying this concentrate. I guess we'll find out when it's ready for testing!

My thinking with the watermelon higher here, is that it may soften up the berries and go in there nicely (fingers crossed).

I love lemon/lime so those had to stay from the previous recipe.

If any of the more experienced mixers can spot something wrong, please do let me know!

 

[Quintusson]

What do you want from this recipe? I.e. what must it taste like?

 

[Rivera]

What do you want from this recipe? I.e. what must it taste like?

Hoping for a raspberry as the leading fruit, but with fairly punchy lime flavours, and also with some berry mix/strawberry background notes coming through Watermelon as the main experiment, hoping it ties in smoothly with the berries. I’m just worried that INW raspberry might take over everything at 2%? As in it might kick out any berry/strawb notes. I'm thinking of how potent the Alpine strawb was lol. Straight raspberry should be okay at this percentage, but when I see "Raspberry Malina" I think of "Alpine Strawberry" and how that additional word meant potency!

This is one recipe where I am dipping a toe into being a bit more critical and trying to add dimension to my recipes/fine tuning with other complimentary flavours at different percentages. I wanted to see what the watermelon will do for this recipe, and how it will perform, since it is generally a softer flavour I believe (unless maybe if you use Double Watermelon) so I added it in at a higher percentage. And I wanted milder but still there notes of strawb/berry mix so lower percentages, and all this WITHOUT the dreaded muting of flavours But of course, the art is in finding the correct balance, and that always takes time to learn.

I tried to find some info on what sort of percentages to use INW Raspberry Malina, but nothing came up. Wayne didn't seem to have a vid on just general berry flavour usage. I did smell it and it smelled quite strong, so I'm hoping that wasn't my first warning lol.

I love juices where you have the first vape and you pick up one or two main flavours, then another vape and you're like "oh wow I can taste so and so in there" and another vape, "oh there's hints of that too". Maybe this is more difficult to achieve when you are using stronger flavours like raspberry and lime. But at the same time, I wanted to learn what Watermelon would be like in here, and I don't have the most refined palate lol, so higher percentage since I won't pick it up if it's too subtle. Or at least, I won't recognise what it's doing in the recipe if it's too subtle due to my limited experience in DIY mixing.

 

[Quintusson]

I tried to find some info on what sort of percentages to use INW Raspberry Malina

- Here the Noted team discuss Raspberries in general. I have not watched this episode yet, but their comments re ingredients is usually very insightful, especially since it's not just the comments of one person but 3 or more.

Hoping for a raspberry as the leading fruit, but with fairly punchy lime flavours

The following are just my comments, but you can adjust to how you feel it needs to be done if at all.
-Your Watermelon may be a bit high then as it will come through in the mix adding its own dimension to it. I would drop it down to between 1-1.5%.
-As Strawberry is not your main note but just used to compliment the Raspberry, the 0.2% Alpine is more than enough and will make it shine.
-I would suggest an additional Raspberry, like FA Raspberry Beryl (1.5%) or FRA Raspberry (2%) or (recommended pairing with Malina) TFA Raspberry Sweet (2%) or if you want a slight more jammy/syrupy flavour then VT Raspberry Jam (1.5%) or SSA Raspberry Syrup (1.8%)

 

[Rivera]

- Here the Noted team discuss Raspberries in general. I have not watched this episode yet, but their comments re ingredients is usually very insightful, especially since it's not just the comments of one person but 3 or more.


The following are just my comments, but you can adjust to how you feel it needs to be done if at all.
-Your Watermelon may be a bit high then as it will come through in the mix adding its own dimension to it. I would drop it down to between 1-1.5%.
-As Strawberry is not your main note but just used to compliment the Raspberry, the 0.2% Alpine is more than enough and will make it shine.
-I would suggest an additional Raspberry, like FA Raspberry Beryl (1.5%) or FRA Raspberry (2%) or (recommended pairing with Malina) TFA Raspberry Sweet (2%) or if you want a slight more jammy/syrupy flavour then VT Raspberry Jam (1.5%) or SSA Raspberry Syrup (1.8%)

Thank you as always IVC! I have some concentrates coming soon, will get one or two Raspberries with it

 

[Rivera]

Venturing out into deserts now! I need to create bases and different textures to my recipes. Ordered biscuits, ice cream, creams, cheesecakes. I think this is where the real fun will begin

CAP vanilla custard seems to kill my chest at 3% sadly I'm going to try it at maybe 2% and hopefully that makes it better. Very frustrating!

Creams, I also need to be careful with. Yet there's a milktart juice that I can vape with no problem! So I don't know if it's maybe higher nic content combined with cream (the milktart juice was 3mg) or what, but I have to experiment to pinpoint the problem.

 

[DarthBranMuffin]

Venturing out into deserts now! I need to create bases and different textures to my recipes. Ordered biscuits, ice cream, creams, cheesecakes. I think this is where the real fun will begin

CAP vanilla custard seems to kill my chest at 3% sadly I'm going to try it at maybe 2% and hopefully that makes it better. Very frustrating!

Custards is a bugger when it comes to mixing... Mix your juice in equal parts whereby you add all the other ingredients in one part and the custard in another part, let it steep for a couple of days, then mix it all together and let it steep for at least a week in order for it to blend properly. With certain blends it can make your juice "sour" very quickly if not mixed correctly. Also, if you add Nic to a custard recipe, first make your juice without it, let it stand for a day or two, then only add your Nic in. Custard gets better over time, you need a boat load of patience when it comes to using it in a juice.

 

[Rivera]

Custards is a bugger when it comes to mixing... Mix your juice in equal parts whereby you add all the other ingredients in one part and the custard in another part, let it steep for a couple of days, then mix it all together and let it steep for at least a week in order for it to blend properly. With certain blends it can make your juice "sour" very quickly if not mixed correctly. Also, if you add Nic to a custard recipe, first make your juice without it, let it stand for a day or two, then only add your Nic in. Custard gets better over time, you need a boat load of patience when it comes to using it in a juice.

Thanks so much Darth! I'll definitely give this a try

 

[Rivera]

Custards is a bugger when it comes to mixing... Mix your juice in equal parts whereby you add all the other ingredients in one part and the custard in another part, let it steep for a couple of days, then mix it all together and let it steep for at least a week in order for it to blend properly. With certain blends it can make your juice "sour" very quickly if not mixed correctly. Also, if you add Nic to a custard recipe, first make your juice without it, let it stand for a day or two, then only add your Nic in. Custard gets better over time, you need a boat load of patience when it comes to using it in a juice.

Just curious now, are creams similar to custards when mixing? Maybe that's why I have issues sometimes.

 

[Paul33]

Try this as a stand-alone recipe but also pairs really nicely with fruits plus the INW custard only needs a few days and not a month to be lekker.

 

[Rivera]

Try this as a stand-alone recipe but also pairs really nicely with fruits plus the INW custard only needs a few days and not a month to be lekker.

View attachment 249919

OMG this is awesome! Thanks Paul! I have CAP NY cheesecake coming if I recall correctly, just need to get INW custard What a win it only needs a few days!

 

[DarthBranMuffin]

Just curious now, are creams similar to custards when mixing? Maybe that's why I have issues sometimes.

Not to sure about the creams, not something I delved in to. Tobacco Custard for Mrs Chuck Norris Lungs and Fruits & Tobacco for me. We are both simple creatures and my DIY exploration was short to the point where we found what we liked and stuck to it.

 

[Paul33]

OMG this is awesome! Thanks Paul! I have CAP NY cheesecake coming if I recall correctly, just need to get INW custard What a win it only needs a few days!

INW custard is also a good standalone at about 4% but then you can add strawberry or raspberry or cookie or biscuit or whatever the bloody hell you want cause its DIY and you can!

 

[Adephi]

Venturing out into deserts now! I need to create bases and different textures to my recipes. Ordered biscuits, ice cream, creams, cheesecakes. I think this is where the real fun will begin

CAP vanilla custard seems to kill my chest at 3% sadly I'm going to try it at maybe 2% and hopefully that makes it better. Very frustrating!

Creams, I also need to be careful with. Yet there's a milktart juice that I can vape with no problem! So I don't know if it's maybe higher nic content combined with cream (the milktart juice was 3mg) or what, but I have to experiment to pinpoint the problem.

@Rude Rudi has a good custard base.

3% INW Custard
2% INW Creme Brulee
1% INW Shisha Vanilla

Steep only 5 days.

 

[Rivera]

@Rude Rudi has a good custard base.

3% INW Custard
2% INW Creme Brulee
1% INW Shisha Vanilla

Steep only 5 days.

This base sounds superb!!!! Thank you Adephi

 

[Rivera]

Just a super simple, SNV fruit recipe I am enjoying a lot. The ice is just meant to brighten the recipe

Sweet Guava (CAP) 4%
Apricot (INW) 2%
CAP Super Sweet 0.8%
Black Ice 0.5%
Meringue (FA) 0.3%

 

[Rivera]

So I realised after dropping down my nic from 6 to 4mg, how harsh Scrawny Gecko is Vaping one of my juices at 6mg after my mix with 4mg, there's a big difference. Is Gold nic better in this regard?

 

[Puff the Magic Dragon]

When it comes to nic (and many other vaping issues) there are tons of different opinions. Some nics give some people a peppery taste and others detect nothing. I have found one that works for me but it may not work for you. I have tried all of the nics sold in SA and I am lucky that the one I use is the cheapest and is sold by a very reliable and friendly vendor.

My advice is to find one that works for you and stick to it.

I'm pretty certain that some of the "brands" contain the same nic from the same manufacturer.