Measuring by Drops

[Imthiaz Khan]

Hi Mixologists,

Need some advise please.
I use the eJuice Me UP calculator for my recipes and was also using the standard 20 drops per ml.
I just tested now and found that dripping from a pipette is actually 40 drops=1ml.

Does your calculations of drops per ml also come to 40 drops per 1ml?

While using 20 drops per ml for my previous recipes would make them all half the strength, correct?

Thanks!!!

 

[VapeSnow]

Yes that is correct it would have been half the strength . Im using 52 drops for 1ml.

 

[Imthiaz Khan]

Thank you for the feedback @VapeSnow!
Wow, that's a lot. Are you using the pipettes that come with commercial juice bottles?

 

[Ernest]

Thank you for the feedback @VapeSnow!
Wow, that's a lot. Are you using the pipettes that come with commercial juice bottles?

You can use drops as measurement as long as you use the same type of dropper for all ingredients, or calculate the amount each type of dropper gives you. The bottles with dropper tips gives a smaller drop depending on the hole size while a pipette will give a bigger drop etc.

 

[VapeSnow]

Thank you for the feedback @VapeSnow!
Wow, that's a lot. Are you using the pipettes that come with commercial juice bottles?

I use the bottles with the dropper tip.

 

[Imthiaz Khan]

Thank you @Ernest and @VapeSnow

 

[Imthiaz Khan]

@Ernest, I tested from the bottles with a dripper and it comes out to 50 drops. So how do I calculate this difference on the eJuice Me Up calculator?

 

[Ernest]

@Ernest, I tested from the bottles with a dripper and it comes out to 50 drops. So how do I calculate this difference on the eJuice Me Up calculator?

At the top where it says "20 drops equals 1ml" you can edit the 20 to read 50. If you then click calculate at the bottom of the recipe it will give you the updated recipe. Just remember if you use those droppers you have to then use it for all ingredients, or recalculate.

 

[rogue zombie]

50 drops :0

My scale broke, so I made two juices this past weekend using it at '25 drops'. And I thought it was too much, because the 30ml bottle I put the juice into was filled to a higher than normal level.

 

[YeOldeOke]

I have ended up using a standard pipette dropper for all my mixing at 20drops/ml, too many different size droppers around. Innawera used to be about 60 drops/ml, others 25/ml and 28/ml. Local 20/ml. Becomes a mess.

 

[rogue zombie]

I have ended up using a standard pipette dropper for all my mixing at 20drops/ml, too many different size droppers around. Innawera used to be about 60 drops/ml, others 25/ml and 28/ml. Local 20/ml. Becomes a mess.

This is the problem. I don't believe measuring by drops will ever be dead accurate. It's not going to be totally off either though...

 

[Lingogrey]

@Imthiaz Khan

I'm sorry for diverting from your original question (that has already been answered well), but I would highly recommend considering mixing by weight. It makes mixing SO much more hassle-free (and arguably more precise). Good quality scales from Amazon are quite a bit less expensive than one would think (or at least much cheaper than I thought it would be) - for instance an American Weigh (excellent brand) 200 g capacity, 0.01g resolution - is available for $ 12.33 (R 188.12 at this moment's exchange rate) and $ 8.21 (R 125.26) shipping, totaling at $ 20.54 (R 313.38). I ordered the 500 g version from Amazon; it was delivered to my door with no customs excess payable about a week and a half after I ordered. This was about a month ago and I have not regretted the purchase for a single moment.

www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-Scales-AWS-201-BLK-Nutrition/dp/B007X64HPS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1460443472&sr=8-1&keywords=american+weigh+aws201

 

[Ernest]

50 drops :0

My scale broke, so I made two juices this past weekend using it at '25 drops'. And I thought it was too much, because the 30ml bottle I put the juice into was filled to a higher than normal level.

Yes a scale works best for me and ml as second option. I have a pipette that can measure very accurately up to 1ml for the smaller amounts and syringes for the rest. Drops are a bit of a hassle.

 

[rogue zombie]

I need a new scale, but importing and waiting a month or more depressing m

Yes a scale works best for me and ml as second option. I have a pipette that can measure very accurately up to 1ml for the smaller amounts and syringes for the rest. Drops are a bit of a hassle.

Yip, for me a scale is the only way.

I could see when filling the 30ml bottle, how it was generally accurate.

 

[Lingogrey]

I need a new scale, but importing and waiting a month or more depressing m


Yip, for me a scale is the only way.

I could see when filling the 30ml bottle, how it was generally accurate.

@rogue zombie - I've just checked now and mine took exactly 10 days (not working days) from order to delivery to arrive from Amazon. I was impressed and pleasantly surprised (I also had no idea that it would be delivered to my home and was still waiting for a Post Office notification at the time)

 

[rogue zombie]

@rogue zombie - I've just checked now and mine took exactly 10 days (not working days) from order to delivery to arrive from Amazon. I was impressed and pleasantly surprised (I also had no idea that it would be delivered to my home and was still waiting for a Post Office notification at the time)

But when you buy from Amazon, don't you sometimes randomly get hit by customs. I cant remember if it was Amazon, but I think it was, I once ordered a F1 McLaren original wallet that at the time worked out to R500, and I ended up paying R1000... I was not amused. I just cant be sure it was Amazon.

I see Importitall.co.za also import American Weighs with 10-20 working days delivery.

 

[Lingogrey]

But when you buy from Amazon, don't you sometimes randomly get hit by customs. I cant remember if it was Amazon, but I think it was, I once ordered a F1 McLaren original wallet that at the time worked out to R500, and I ended up paying R1000... I was not amused. I just cant be sure it was Amazon.

I see Importitall.co.za also import American Weighs with 10-20 working days delivery.

Sjo - that's hectic! It might very well be Amazon. I haven't ordered anything from them besides the scale for quite a long time, and I can't remember if I had to pay duties previously. If I did, it was never something extravagant - in that case I would have remembered. It might just be that I was lucky this time, as the 500 g scale was quite a lot pricier than the 200 g and I was expecting to have to pay at least something in terms of customs / VAT

 

[rogue zombie]

Sjo - that's hectic! It might very well be Amazon. I haven't ordered anything from them besides the scale for quite a long time, and I can't remember if I had to pay duties previously. If I did, it was never something extravagant - in that case I would have remembered. It might just be that I was lucky this time, as the 500 g scale was quite a lot pricier than the 200 g and I was expecting to have to pay at least something in terms of customs / VAT

American Weigh are apparently the business, so I should probably just do it.

 

[zadiac]

It depends on the viscosity of the liquid your are dripping. VG drops are larger than PG drops. Dripping from something with a wider mouth also causes the drops to be bigger. Using drops to measure is generally not accurate at all. Using a 1ml syringe or a scale is more accurate imo.

 

[Effjh]

@Imthiaz Khan

I'm sorry for diverting from your original question (that has already been answered well), but I would highly recommend considering mixing by weight. It makes mixing SO much more hassle-free (and arguably more precise). Good quality scales from Amazon are quite a bit less expensive than one would think (or at least much cheaper than I thought it would be) - for instance an American Weigh (excellent brand) 200 g capacity, 0.01g resolution - is available for $ 12.33 (R 188.12 at this moment's exchange rate) and $ 8.21 (R 125.26) shipping, totaling at $ 20.54 (R 313.38). I ordered the 500 g version from Amazon; it was delivered to my door with no customs excess payable about a week and a half after I ordered. This was about a month ago and I have not regretted the purchase for a single moment.

www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-Scales-AWS-201-BLK-Nutrition/dp/B007X64HPS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1460443472&sr=8-1&keywords=american+weigh+aws201

Do you have calibration weights for this scale? It requires 1x 100g and 1x 200g cal weight from what I understand. How is calibration right out of the box?

 

[Spydro]

I never did the drops thing. Can't imagine counting drops for the 120ml (and up to 1 litre) batches I make of my ADV's. So mostly I used syringes for more than accurate enough percentage of flavors/additives that I put into one of the Pyrex lab beakers or graduated cylinders first that I mix my liquids in. For the base I just pour it into the beaker/cylinder with the flavor additives until at the target total amount of juice in mls I was mixing for. Exact, no. Close enough, yes.

Now days I use a scale and measure additives by weight rather than by volume, get to 0.01g accuracy of every ingredient added except base (it still just gets poured in). I use the updated eJuice Me Up app for the gram equivalents of percentages wanted. The main advantage is the few additives that are so powerful that even a small error can ruin the end results. The old way was not broke IMO, so using the scale was just something else to play around with that takes a simple task and tries to turn it into Rocket Science. Can I tell any difference in the vape between mixing the same recipe(s) either way? No. So either way works just fine for me. You can choose to be a super lumper or a super splitter and mix great joose either way.

 

[Lingogrey]

Do you have calibration weights for this scale? It requires 1x 100g and 1x 200g cal weight from what I understand. How is calibration right out of the box?

@Effjh - The American Weigh LB-501 that I ordered comes with two 200g calibration weights included. Mine was pretty much perfectly calibrated (I think about 0.02 variance) out of the box As far as I can tell, the 200g models do not come with the weights included. It seems that (I think it was) the 100g weight qualifies for international shipping from Amazon, whilst the 200g (I think) doesn't. I would guess that having only one of the two should do the job more or less. As far as I understand - the reason to calibrate it at 100g and 200g is so that it is ultra precise at both lower and higher weights. However, I would think - and I might be wrong of course - that if it's calibrated correctly at 100g, you'll get 99.9% accuracy across the full range.

 

[Imthiaz Khan]

Thank you all for the responses! Greatly appreciated
Looks like I will have to get a scale!

 

[Effjh]

@Effjh - The American Weigh LB-501 that I ordered comes with two 200g calibration weights included. Mine was pretty much perfectly calibrated (I think about 0.02 variance) out of the box As far as I can tell, the 200g models do not come with the weights included. It seems that (I think it was) the 100g weight qualifies for international shipping from Amazon, whilst the 200g (I think) doesn't. I would guess that having only one of the two should do the job more or less. As far as I understand - the reason to calibrate it at 100g and 200g is so that it is ultra precise at both lower and higher weights. However, I would think - and I might be wrong of course - that if it's calibrated correctly at 100g, you'll get 99.9% accuracy across the full range.

Thanks for the detailed reply @Lingogrey. Unfortunately it is the 100g weight that they don't ship, so I'm hoping and praying it is properly calibrated out of the box. Been looking around online to source weights locally, but haven't had much luck, almost all my enquiries go unanswered or they don't have stock. Now I'm on a wild goose chase to find an everyday object that weighs exactly 100g, might go hunting around the fruit section at supermarket to find the perfect potato!