Do you go around your elbow to get to your ass?

[maiamly]

I have been mixing my little bottles of potion for a year before I discovered there are online communities where diyers can share ideas and techniques with other diyers near and far. One of the most widely shared idea among the diy community is that it is easier to mix by weight, and I cannot wrap my head around that concept. I don't see the convenience in having to determine the g/ml for PG, VG, and nicotine, so you can determine how many grams you need to achieve your desired percentages. When its all said and done, you will have a 30, 60, 120 MILLILITER bottle of juice. The difference? Mixing buy weight is like going around your elbow to get to your ass. 1ml of PG is 1 ml of PG. Who cares how many grams it takes when the end result will still be ml? Unless you guys do it differently, no one I know talks about how many grams of juice they made or bought. You stary talking about grams and ounces you have, you are referring to a completely different product. Then, it gets further complicated when you factor in the flavor concentrates. Some have PG, some VG. Some contain H2O, or ethanol, some have both, but at what quantity? How much ethanol evaporated when you set the bottle down to break up the toddler fight going on under the kitchem table? Who knows? Even more complicated when you have to account for the various compounds used to create each individual flavor. Is anyone familiar with diatomaceous earth? Fill up a liter container with it, cover and pick the container up. Guarantee you will swear that it is empty, even if you filled it yourself. It has virtually no density. Take that same container and fill it with salt and I bet you will notice the difference. Take what we have seen here, the same volume occupied by different substances can have drastically different densities, and apply that to the flavor compounds, each unique compound will have its own density. Refering back to the DE and salt, where 1 g NaCl might be a few ml, to get 1 g DE you will need a lot more ml. Therefore, assigning a general 1mg=1ml in regards to concentrates is not accurate. Yes, I have flavors that even being off by a drop or two will completely alter the overall outcome. Not to mention, natural flavors are far more complex than artificial and contain "contaminants" that will vary from batch to batch for various reasons, where the flavor was derived from, what it was exposed to, what was in the soil the plant was growing in...etc. With so many factors and some of them being unknowns, we add dificulty to what should have been a simple and easy process. Then, we add the scale in the mix. I'm sure everyone has and/or knows someone who has a scale in their bathroom. And you know you sure do get up on it every time you see one. And every time you do, you get something different, sometimes even completely off. Then you are left to wonder, who's is off? Yours, or theirs? Both? Who knows, it was $35 on amazon. I can't speak for everyone, I am sure there are exceptions, but from what I have seen, most people look for the cheapest option available and click that buy it now button, and have complete faith that the $15 piece of cheap tin foil and plastic screws will accurately calculate 0.02g. I will stop here....

Now, for what most view as overly complicated, volume.
I want 60ml 80/20 and 3% nicotine with 10% flavor.

I get my syringes out, and my bottle.
Gather the necessary ingredients.
Pull up 6ml pg and dump it into my bottle.
Mix my flavors accordingly, I have 6ml total added to my bottle.
Pull up 1.8ml of 100mg/ml nicotine and dump it into the bottle.
Since I am mixing directly into my 60ml bottle, i knnow from here I can top it off with the vg or measure the 46.2ml needed to achieve a 60ml bottle.

No extra equipment. No extra unnecessary math equations. No added frustrations that my scale timed out because life happened and I had to step away and, unless I know the weight of the bottle I am using, I have to start over because my scale reset its calibration. When I come back, there will still be 3ml in my syringe, and 12.7ml in my bottle.

I have asked others why they mix by weight, and every single one has responded the same. They don't want to clean up a mess. A few syringes? Seriously? My bottle is done and I have my "mess" cleaned up before you figure your math out.

If we were all the same, this world would be a boring place for sure. So, which is your preferred method? Do you go around your elbow to get to your ass, or straight to it?

 

[Greebo]

I still mix by MLS. I used to use a different syringe for each ingredient but I have to admit to being a lazy bugger nowadays. I squirt the concentrates into a small mixing cylinder, then use the same syringe for my nic, PG & AG. I only have 2 things to wash up then.

 

[bigbluenose]

I mix by weight.Nothing to do with cleaning up mess?
Simply because it is a very accurate way, for me to replicate exactly a good recipe.
I use percentages to mix and the online calculators make it a breeze to get the exact measurement needed.
Some flavourings and additives need a precise measurement which no matter how careful you are with syringes, you will never get.
If I get a mix I can easily duplicate that again and again with no detriment to the flavour through the percentages.
At the end of the day there is no right or wrong way to mix. You do what suits you and measuring by weight suits me because of the above!

 

[ch02]

I must admit, I like going around my elbow. A much nicer view than my arse.

Each flavour concentrate has a specific gravity which you can find online and store in a calculator, or use 1ml to 1 gram if you prefer.

When filling the bottles with PG/VG I prefer to add the amount shown in the calculator rather than just filling the bottle to the neck. More accurate.

Each to their own.

 

[Ment]

I do a mixture of both. Sometimes I make 20 bottles at a time that may involve 30 flavours so that's potentially 30 syringes just for the flavourings.

I use one giant syringe for the nicotine - it's far simpler to squirt 2.5ml into each bottle than add by weight, but with the flavourings often being as low as 0.3ml these are far easier to dispense by weight.

 

[slugster]

I mix by weight because I find it far easier, I just take it Pg 1ml=1gram vg is about 1.24 , might not be exact but won't be far away

 

[maiamly]

I still mix by MLS. I used to use a different syringe for each ingredient but I have to admit to being a lazy bugger nowadays. I squirt the concentrates into a small mixing cylinder, then use the same syringe for my nic, PG & AG. I only have 2 things to wash up then.

Lazy? I prefer efficient. I feel of I wipe any excess off of the outer part of the syringe that will come in contact with the next ingredient everything is good to go. I also keep some concentrates in dropper bottles so I can measure drops when a small amount is needed, eliminating the need of a syringe all together.

 

[slugster]

Maybe you should ask, has anyone went from syringes to weight, and back to syringes again, once you get used to mixing by weight most prefer it, although it is just a preference

 

[Mr Numpty]

I know a guy who rides to work on a donkey. He still gets to work. Maybe we should all ride to work on a donkey.

 

[Ment]

Lazy? I prefer efficient. I feel of I wipe any excess off of the outer part of the syringe that will come in contact with the next ingredient everything is good to go. I also keep some concentrates in dropper bottles so I can measure drops when a small amount is needed, eliminating the need of a syringe all together.

This is all fine if you're mixing just for yourself and making a couple of bottles a week, but many members here mix for friends and colleagues, so mixing by weight not only speeds up large batches but prevents cross contamination.

I would hate to be given a juice that had been made using a syringe that had been used for menthol or cinnamon for example.