To steep or not to steep your E-Liquid?

Steeping is the process that allows the separate ingredients of e-juice to absorb oxygen and bond together. Simply put, by introducing your e-liquid to oxygen it allows the volatile components to evaporate away. This removes any harshness or perfumery flavor that you taste in fresh e-liquid. By steeping your e-liquid it will soften and round out, giving it a deeper and smoother flavor profile, which is what you are looking for, right?

Why Steep E-Liquids?

Steeping e-liquid brings out the best flavor of the e-juice and improves the overall vaping experience. This is not a compulsory process, but when you vape an e-juice straight from the bottle, the semi-green liquid may or may not have mellowed out. If you learn how to steep e-liquid, you will enjoy a much better flavor, no matter what kind of vaporizer you are using.

Do I have to steep my liquids?

The simple answer is no. The purpose of steeping is to improve the flavor of your juice. If you already like your juice there is no need to steep. What’s to wait for! However, if you are making your own e-liquid, steeping will tend to change the flavor of your juice for the better. It is important to note that some flavors need to be steeped more than others. Fruity flavors tend to be ready to vape right away with little to no steep time. Tobacco and dessert flavors are more complex, therefore need time to intricately react with the other components. Time is very important for looking for a creamy taste. How much time? A general rule of thumb for the rich and creamy flavors is to let the vape juice sit and steep for at least two weeks.

Different ways to steep E-liquid

Breathing

Breathing is the preferred method to steep your e-liquid. If you are finding your liquids to be potent, harsh, or chemically tasting, this method can vastly improve your e-liquid. It is done by simply removing the cap and storing it in a cool dark area. Simple, right? Leaving the cap off will let the volatile parts vaporize away. Many important ingredients used in e-liquid flavoring such as alcohol need time to diminish. Fruity flavors can be ready as soon as 24 hours while tobacco and dessert flavors need at least 14 days.

Warm Bath (speed steep)

A warm bath is a safe way to speed up the steeping process. Simply heat up a small saucepan of water on the stove. Once warm, turn off the stove. Make sure your e-liquid is tightly closed and place your e-liquid in the water. Cover the pan and wait for 20 minutes. Then remove your e-liquid, shake your liquid vigorously. Then remove the cap and let sit for another 10 minutes. Repeat these steps until you have reached your desired results.

Crockpot (super speed steep)

This method can be used for the inpatient or last resort. A slow cooker can be used for 2-8 hours to steep e-liquids that are more stubborn and need more steep time such as tobacco and dessert flavors. Place a few cups of water in the crockpot and set your crockpot on LOW. For this method, you must use glass bottles. If your solution contains nicotine it is very important not to get the liquid too hot. Nicotine is heat sensitive and when it is heated too high, nicotine can diminish and even harshen. Do not exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This steeping method is not highly recommended because it can actually hurt the taste in the long run. Introducing your liquid to heat for long durations will shorten the shelf life of your e-liquid. While it may taste great right after, many people have found that the flavor disappears a few weeks after this process.

How long should I steep my e-liquids?

There is no set amount of time you should steep your e-liquids for and it is also dependent on which method of steeping you choose. Allowing your flavors at least 2 weeks to steep is generally enough time to deliver a dramatically enhanced change in flavor. The amount of time you allow your e-liquid to steep for is dependent on a number of varying factors:

The Flavor

Custard, creamy and dessert flavours generally take the longest amount of time to steep due to its denser components and the Mallard reaction. Fruity flavors tend to take the least amount of steeping time, while tobaccos, spices, drinks and teas are somewhere in-between. With this said, there could be a fruit flavors that take longer than dessert flavors to steep. The only way to be able truly know which flavors need the longest steeping time is by tasting your flavor as you are steeping until you are happy with that taste.

The amount of concentrates used

The more concentrates used in a flavor can often mean it will take longer to steep due more flavours needing to homogenise.

The VG, PG and nicotine ratio

Due to vegetable glycerin having a higher viscosity, e-liquids with higher VG ratios will take a longer time to steep as the added thickness of VG needs more time for the flavors to homogenise. It should also be noted if nicotine is added to the flavor, it will need an even longer time to steep.

The method of steeping

If you are resting your flavor with the cap on the entire time, it will take longer to steep then if you were steeping by letting it breath. If you are water bathing your e-liquid it will take a significantly shorter amount of time to steep. A good guide would be: 1 week – 3 months steeping time for resting, 1 week to 1 month steeping time for breathing and resting. 1 day to 2 weeks steeping time if you are regularly hot water bathing your e-liquid (at least once every 72 hours for an hour or more). The only way to tell if a flavour is truly at its optimum steeping time is by tracking your flavor taste with streathing. The whole point of steeping e-liquid is it to get it to a point where it tastes best to you. For some people this could be as little as one week and for others this could be as long as 3 months.

What can cause the change in taste and color when steeping E-Liquids?

Flavour homogenisation

E-liquids contain VG, PG and several flavor concentrates to make up a flavor. All these components have different viscosity’s (levels of thickness) and various chemical compounds that make up the flavor. The process of steeping allows the components of your flavor to blend together and this process of homogenisation takes time to occur. Before homogenisation takes place you may find when you first taste a flavour certain concentrates or components may dominate the flavor, steeping allows dominate flavours, harsh notes and off notes to smooth out.

Evaporation

When you steep with the lid off, you are exposing your e-liquid to the atmosphere. This can remove volatile components used in the production of flavor concentrates that can have astringent or chemical odors. A good example of evaporation taking place is when alcohol is removed from wine when used in cooking. It should be noted that leaving the lid off for an extended period of time (normally 24 hours or more) will cause the nicotine to evaporate and degrade, so it is recommended to not let your flavor breath for over 24 hours.

Degasification

Similar to the production of wine, carbon dioxide is an undesired by-product for most wines. E-liquids can contain similar by-products that can be released by leaving the lid off your e-liquid bottle when steeping.

The Maillard Reaction

The change of colour and taste over time is caused by a chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars. The Maillard reaction is accelerated at higher temperatures. A high temperature example is the change of taste and browning of potato chips as you cook them. The Maillard reaction also occurs at a slower rate at lower temperatures such as the aging of wine and balsamic vinegar. It is due to The Maillard reaction that the fastest method of steeping is hot water bathing your e-liquid as this accelerates the process. The Maillard reaction gets exponentially slower as it progresses and this is why when e-liquid first starts to steep you see the golden and browning colour forming over a few days while the colour darkening slows the longer you let it steep. Due to this, it takes a longer period of time to reach the full desired flavor and colour. The degree at which the colour changes in your e-liquid is dependent on the presence of nicotine and concentrates with colorization. Some flavors won’t change at all or change by only a small degree and these are often referred to as shake and vape e-liquids.

What’s the best way to steep my E-Liduid?

The best method of steeping is dependent on your outcomes. If you have the time, breathing is the best method to use, while water bathing would be the best method to use if you want to be able to have your flavour ready to vape quicker. To get the best of both worlds. You can accelerate the process while maintaining a optimum taste by following these steps

1. Let your flavour breath by taking the cap off for 6 hours
2. Water bath at 60 degress for 1 hour
3. Rest your flavour in a cool dark place for 24 hours

Keep following the above process until you have achieved your optimum flavour taste. This process usually takes 3 days – 2 weeks of steeping time to achieve the desired result.

 

How to Tell If Your E-juice is Done Steeping?

There are many ways to tell if your e-juice has been properly steeped such as smelling it, tasting it, and of course looking at the color.

If your e-liquid is alcohol based you should be able to smell the alcohol before steeping, but not afterwards. Tasting your juice before and after for harsh chemical flavors can also help you determine if it has properly steeped, but the most reliable way is to identify a change in color.

Looking at the Color of Your E-Juice to Determine

The longer the e-juice steeps the darker it will become. This is due to an oxidation of the nicotine in the juice. The more nicotine in the juice, the more of color change you should see. So, a change in color tells you that the e-juice is oxidizing and thus steeping properly.

Why’s Color an Important Factor?

Since each flavor, the amount of nicotine and the VG/PG combinations can result in different colored juices and each of those combinations will have its own specific flavor, you can experiment with various times for steeping and use color to track the results. Some juices might be best when they are amber in color, others will end up dark brown, or still others, like those light fruit flavors we talked about, may be pretty much clear when they are “ready”. You should use the color to track the oxidation process and learn to identify how you best like your e-juices.