A DripHacks Guide to making E Liquid

So you want to make your own E-Liquid?

Fantastic, you are in the right place, here at Drip hacks we strive to offer the best quality products to ensure you can do that.  You may be apprehensive at first, especially if you have never mixed before.  After all, big companies make Eliquid, what chance have you got in doing so?  The answer is, you absolutely can do it, at home without any fancy equipment or laboratory.  All you need is a few basic supplies and before long you can mix up your very own E-Liquid at a fraction of the price of what you are paying now.  So join us here at Drip Hacks whilst we hopefully help you on your way to making your own E-Liquid.

Why make your own E-Liquid?

The main reason why anyone decides to start making their own E-Liquid is for cost, with the ability to make much more for much less money.  Take for example a bottle of your favourite E-Liquid, chances are it will be priced anywhere between £10-£15 for a 50 mil bottle, maybe 100 mil.  That can be a standard price for E-Liquid so times that by however many you need a month and the price of vaping starts to creep up until it can be very expensive as a hobby.  Add on top of that hardware purchases and you will wonder where all your money is going!  So mixing E-Liquid is a fantastic way to bring the cost down, allow you to experiment with flavours and keep vaping.  After all, if you can turn that £10 a bottle into £10 a month, would you not want to?

What do I need?

For any method used to make E-Liquid you need the base component, these will never change, only the volume of each you need.  This is the staple of E-Liquid and no matter what you make, you will always need these.

Vegetable Glycerine (VG)–  This is what gives you the clouds in your vapour.  One part of an Eliquid, it provides a smoother vape the higher the volume used, and is sourced directly from vegetables, hence the name.  It is a sweet clear orderless liquid that derives from plant or animal products and has been used for at least 200 years in various industries.

Propylene Glycol (PG)– This is the thinner, harsher component that is used mainly to suspend ingredients.  PG is again a colourless orderless liquid that is a synthetic food additive and has a multitude of uses in both the food and pharmaceutical industries.  In fact, PG is commonly found in aerosol based medicines such as Inhalers so even the medicine we inhale contains this ingredient.

Nicotine–  This is another core component of an Eliquid if you want to have a nicotine strength, which can come in 2 forms now.  Both are suspended in either VG or PG and their strength is dependant on the volume used.  You can buy nicotine shots or standard nicotine as detailed below;

Nicotine Shots– These are 18mg nicotine shots that come flavourless and simply suspended in PG or VG ready to mix in with your liquid.  We have a handy table showing you how many you need, but for now, you will need more of these when mixing due to the lower nicotine strength.

Standard Nicotine–  This comes at a much higher strength and is usually found at 72mg.  Bottles come suspended in PG or VG and much less has to be used to reach the desired strength.  However there is a much bigger safety precaution required when using this method, so we will cover that as we go along as to how to ensure you are safe.

Flavourings–  These are food based flavourings that come in a huge range of different types of flavours.  There are different companies offering different version of each flavour to their own unique way of creating and as such, the possibilities are endless in regards to potential new flavours out there.  They come based in PG and in different volumes starting at 10 mils all the way up to a litre, depending on the amount needed.

Empty Bottles–  Self explanatory this one, the bottle needs to be clean and unused ideally but one that can hold the amount of liquid you are making.  Bottles with a needle point top are even better as it means you can use them straight away rather than de-cantering the Eliquid into another bottle.

Gloves– If you plan on using the standard 72mg nicotine over using nicotine shots. This is for protection due to the toxicity potential if the nicotine comes into contact with your skin in any great amount.  Long sleeve tops are also preferable.

So now you know what the basics are with mixing, it is time to get into the task at hand.  Good news, there are 2 ways in which you can make your own liquid, one by volume and one by weight.

Mix By Volume

The most commonly used way of mixing is to do by volume.  What this means is to mix by the amount (volume) in mils that you are mixing so you work it all out using the aforementioned volume of the total liquid that you are creating.  Take for example you want to mix 100 mils of liquid, you can easily break it down by ratio and then total mils required of each ingredient.

What you will need for this method is either a syringe or measuring cylinder to be able to mix the liquid in each mil increment based on volume being created.  These can easily be picked up online for a cheap price, the more accurate the better.

The next thing you will need is a clean space to mix in, as clean as possible.  There is a reason why top standard companies like Driphacks use clean rooms to ensure you get the highest quality products.  You will ideally need plenty of room as well, once you start mixing you will be grateful for the room to swing a cat.  So a large table/counter is also ideal for mixing.  Once you have all that we are ready to begin!

The biggest advice I can give before mixing is to think of the power of 10.  Mix to 10s and soon you will find how easy this can be.  For example a 70VG liquid will be 7/10 of VG, with the other 3/10 being made up of the rest of the ingredients.  The bigger the 10 (100mil / 1000mil) and the rule becomes much clearer to follow.  The following steps can be done in any order minus the ending, but for guide purposes I will stick to the method I choose.

Another piece of advice is to work out amounts prior to mixing as it can be too late once you start.  So for example, if a 100mil of liquid is 70Vg, work out based on your supplies how much VG and PG you will need to achieve this.  Both the nicotine and flavourings count towards the total amount of Eliquid for their respective bases, PG or VG so make sure you have factored them into your final required amounts of each.

1. Start by measuring out the volume of VG required and fill your bottle as per the requested ratio.  So for a 60VG Eliquid, measure the amount of VG equivalent to the end volume, 6/10 of total volume.  This rule changes easy depending on what VG ratio you would like.  You can use a measuring jug to make the liquid first as well , but be noted the thicker VG will be harder to decant into a different bottle.

2. Once you have added that, it is time to add your flavouring to the mix.  First of all check the mix rate of the flavour / flavour shot before you start to add to the Eliquid.  So for example making a 100 mil mix of Eliquid, 15% mix ratio would mean 15mils need to be added, 20% = 20 mils and so on.  If you are making a smaller amount of liquid, divide by total volume of end Eliquid, for example 50 mils would be 7.5 mils at a 15% mix rate.  Add flavour to the VG and you are ready for the next step.

3. Time to add the 72mg nicotine.  This is where extra caution has to be taken due to the strength of the nicotine in such a purer form.  To mix nicotine into the Eliquid, you need to work with the desired strength amount rather than the volume.  This again can easily be worked out using the power of 10 as the set amounts do not change.

Working it out in terms of 100 mil total volume, for 3mg it will be 4.2mils of 72mg nicotine.  As you increase the desired strength this will increase each time, 6mg = 8.4mils and so on.  Using this method and dividing/multiplying these amounts you can work out the desired mils required for your strength.

If you are mixing with nicotine shots, please refer to the following table for accurate results for total required.

4. This is where maths starts to come into it, for whatever volume you are mixing, the remaining mils that are left can be topped up with PG which will take you up to the final volume of Eliquid.

5. The next step is to mix the Eliquid vigorously, either via a stirrer in a measuring jug, or by sealing and shaking the bottle for a good period of time to ensure all the ingredients mix together efficiently.

6. The next step is to decanter to your bottle if not already stored and to breathe the liquid for the required amount of time.  Breathing is the method in which you allow the Eliquid to settle using open air, this can be dependant on the flavourings used.  Always check to see breathing times required ahead of mixing as they can vary quite a lot, with some requiring none at all.

7. The final step is to steep the liquid for the desired time required until ready.  Flavours such as fruits are usually a short time but dessert/custard style flavours require much longer.  Eliquid can be used before steeping but may not be fully ready flavour wise.  Refer to our Steeping Guide for more information on steeping.

Mixing by Weight

A different option to mixing your Eliquid is not to go by the volume of the liquid but rather the weight instead.  This method is slightly different with the overall steps being similar, so any repeated steps simply follow a similar mixing pattern.  The main thing you will need before using this method of mixing is a good pair of scales that can accurately tell you the weight of your Eliquid.  It has to be big enough to house a bottle on top and be able to weigh up to around the 500 mil mark.  This method of mixing is ideal at around 300 mils or less , with anything bigger a little difficult to accurately reflect without the ability of the scales being able to keep up.

You can roughly work out the conversion from Mils to grams as a 1-1 ratio so instead of mixing in terms of millilitres, your numbers will be displayed as grams instead.  As before, make sure you know the right amounts of each ingredient before starting.

Remember also to reset the weight after you place the bottle on the scale to ensure an accurate reading of the liquid.

1. Start by measuring out the volume of VG required and fill your bottle as per the requested ratio.  So for a 60VG Eliquid, measure the amount of VG equivalent to the end volume, 6/10 of total volume.  This rule changes easy depending on what VG ratio you would like. So for this example, 60% VG would be 60 grams of VG on the scales.

2. Once you have added that, it is time to add your flavouring to the mix.  First of all check the mix rate of the flavour / flavour shot before you start to add to the Eliquid.  So for example making a 100 mil mix of Eliquid, 15% mix ratio would mean 15 grams need to be added, 20% = 20 grams and so on.  If you are making a smaller amount of liquid, divide by total volume of end Eliquid, for example 50 grams would be grams at a 15% mix rate.  Add flavour to the VG and you are ready for the next step.

3. Time to add the 72mg nicotine.  This is where extra caution has to be taken due to the strength of the nicotine in such a purer form.  To mix nicotine into the Eliquid, you need to work with the desired strength amount rather than the volume.  This again can easily be worked out using the power of 10 as the set amounts do not change.

Working it out in terms of 100 grams total weight, for 3mg it will be grams of 72mg nicotine.  As you increase the desired strength this will increase each time, 6mg = grams and so on.  Using this method and dividing/multiplying these amounts you can work out the desired grams required for your strength.

If you are mixing with nicotine shots then refer to the previous table for amount of shots required and factor the 10mils of each Nicotine shot into the total overall weight of the Eliquid

4. Finally top up the Eliquid with remaining PG until you reach the required total weight.

5. The next step is to mix the Eliquid vigorously, either via a stirrer in a measuring jug, or by sealing and shaking the bottle for a good period of time to ensure all the ingredients mix together efficiently.

6. The next step is to decanter to your bottle if not already stored and to breathe the liquid for the required amount of time.  Breathing is the method in which you allow the Eliquid to settle using open air, this can be dependant on the flavourings used.  Always check to see breathing times required ahead of mixing as they can vary quite a lot, with some requiring none at all.

7. The final step is to steep the liquid for the desired time required until ready.  Flavours such as fruits are usually a short time but dessert/custard style flavours require much longer.  Eliquid can be used before steeping but may not be fully ready flavour wise.  Refer to our Steeping Guide for more information on steeping.

And there you have it, a very simple how to make your own Eliquid, it doesn’t sound too difficult to do now does it?  By simply knowing the total amount of Eliquid you want to make, it is as easy as adding the specific amounts until you reach that magic total number, whichever method you would prefer to use.  If mixing everything from scratch does now sound like your thing then you can always pick up one of our starter kits on the website which provide you with everything you need in one go.  Hopefully this will start you on your mixing journey and remember to always check back to our website for all your DIY vaping needs.