How to Make DIY E-Juice: A Beginners Guide
Welcome to our vape guide on How to Make DIY E-Juice. When you love to vape, e-juice can become expensive. Especially if you are a sub-ohmer it is possible to go through 10mL in one day! If you are a fan of premium e-juices costs can get very high and be discouraging for those who are on a budget. Not to fear. We are here to provide you with a DIY instruction manual on how to make your own e-juice right at home. E-juice DIY is a fast growing hobby and it can quickly evolve into just another thing you love about vaping. Making your own juices allows you to customize your blend, the nicotine level you prefer and the flavour. It is just as good as any product you can buy at a store but it saves you money. Follow along below for our easy step-by-step instructions on how to make your own e-juice. Don’t forget to bookmark this page for future reference.
What is DIY E-Juice?
For those who were unaware that you could make your own batches of e-juice basically the process involves mixing together the four primary ingredients that constitute e-juice which are: PG, VG, nicotine and flavouring. We should note that you do not necessarily need every component listed, for example you might be someone who prefers to just vape without the nicotine so you will omit nicotine in your mixture. Although it might sound a little daunting, give it a chance, if you can make Kraft Dinner you can make e-juice.
What Do Dou Need to Make Your Own E-Juice?
Just like pickling you will have to compile a small kit of items before you can begin making your own e-juice. The following is a list of what you will need to be successful in the DIY e-juice industry.
Propylene Glycol – or PG. If you are a sub-ohmer you will want to purchase a bottle of PG. To start out we recommend a 500 mL or a litre bottle. You must make certain that your PG is pharmaceutical grade with no additives.
Vegetable Glycerine – This substance constitutes the bulk of your e-juice especially if you are sub-ohming. It is best to start out with buying a litre of pharmaceutical grade VG.
Nicotine – If you are adding this ingredient make sure you are buying premium. Nicotine degrades rather quickly when it is exposed to air and it takes on that peppery taste you are probably familiar with. When you purchase nicotine make sure it is well sealed and that it is clear. A 100 mL bottle of 72 mg/ mL nicotine should be enough for beginners. Generally, nicotine is held in a PG solution, so be aware that this will affect the PG/VG ratio of your juice. Make sure that you do not get any nicotine on your body as this could harm your skin. Just wear gloves as you do anything with chemicals.
Flavour Concentrates – This is the fun part, as they will determine what your juice will taste like. As you likely know there are so many different flavours out there to choose from so take your time and do some experiments to see what you like best. You can even mix different liquids together to get a custom blend once you get the hang of making your own juice.
You’re working with chemicals so you will need some other gear in your kit for e-juice making. There are two predominant methods for creating e-juice: mixing by volume and mixing by weight. This article will cover both methods but mixing by weight is recommended as it produces more accurate results.
Scales –You will need a small set of scales (preferably electronic) that go up to 0.01g.
Storage Bottles – It is easiest to store your VG and PG in squeeze bottles as it will be less mess when you go about making the juice. Picture a katsup bottle. You will also want to store your nicotine in amber dropper bottles – this will make it last longer and the dropper bottle will help make sure you don’t loose any nicotine as you mix it.
Syringes – If you decide to mix by volume, you will need a series of syringes: 10 mL, and 1mL syringes are the most useful in this project. You’ll also need some 14-gauge needles to work with the thick consistency of the VG.
E-Juice Bottles – When you first start out buy a few 10mL plastic bottles for recipes you want to test and some larger 50mL bottles for larger amounts of recipes you have tried and enjoyed.
Labels –All you need for labels are some cheap ones in order to keep your juices organized. If you get really into this project you could invest in a label maker for more efficiency and to make your juices look more professional.
When you first begin making your own liquids take it easy. We recommend starting out with a simple recipe or a one shot concentrate. There are lots of available recipes online, just do your research. If you do have a good knowledge of e-juice and have an idea for a flavour combination jump right in! Make sure you take notes so you can amend the recipe if it does not turn out quite the way you want it to.
1) Recipe And Ratios
Find a recipe you like and purchase all the ingredients it calls for. The recipe we will use is for an e-juice called Mustard Milk, which is a popular strawberry flavour, created by Fizzmustard, who is an avid e-juice maker and redditor. It calls for:
- Strawberry (TPA) 6%
- Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (TPA) 6%
(TPA is an abbreviation for The Perfumers Apprentice, a major flavour manufacturer. You will want to look under the heading the Flavour Apprentice when you go to their website.)
No you have to decide on your PG/VG ratio. Fizzmustard suggests VG/PG 70/30, which makes it suitable for sub ohm vaping.
Next, you have to choose your nicotine level. In this recipe we are going to make a simple 10 mL bottle of Mustard Milk with 6 mg nicotine and VG/PG at a 70/30 ratio, but you can adjust to your personal taste. Once you get the hang of things you can adjust as needed.
2) Measurements
Calculating measurements can be a bit complicated but there are a variety of online calculators that will do the work for you. We suggest setting up an account on eLR – it is simple to use and there is an app that allows you to access your recipes from any device. There are also more complex calculators but this will do the trick for what we want to do. To use the app all you have to do is enter the recipe in the create page and put in the relevant details. The app will automatically generate all the data and numbers you need to create your e-juice.
3) Mixing
Time to jump in. You want to work in a safe and sanitary area where there are no pets or children. Make certain to use rubber gloves and work over a plastic tray to prevent and substances from getting on your floor or counter.
By Weight – If you’re using an electronic scale use a grams setting. Set your bottle on the scale and set it to zero. Add your nicotine using a dropper. Add the PG and the VG using your plastic bottles or syringes if you prefer. The final weight should match what the app calculated for you.
By Volume – If you decide to go by volume you will want to use separate syringes for each substance. Gauge the mL on the side of the syringe and add these to the empty 10 mL bottle. Each flavour concentrate and nicotine will require an individual 1 mL syringe. As noted this method is trickier and less accurate than using weight.
That is it! You have now learned how to make your own e-liquids in the comfort of your own home. We hope you have found How to Make DIY E-Juice: A Beginners Guide useful and welcome you to share your comments below.