StillSmart

Re: How long do carbon cartridges last after activation ?

2014-03-08T05:24:43+00:00

makum101 wrote:
You can stick your fancy-dan £80 filters where the sun dont shine! (Whats the betting I buy one at some time in the new future)

I thought the same a while back, but I bit the bullet and bought one only a few weeks back... What an eyeopener!!! the liqueur comes out as good (if not better) than some of the standard commercial brands....I'm chuffed
----------------------------------
I noticed that this thread was started a year back by sonsenfrancais on Fri Jan 04, 2013 8:58 pm.
Then it gets legs again and starts to run, and other members get the benefit of it all...don't you just love these forums
It's a shame sonsenfrancais didn't last as long...Last visited:
Thu Jan 10, 2013 5:18 pm
He's not been back since, you win some, you loose some.

Statistics: Posted by Icefever — Sat Mar 08, 2014 5:24 am

Re: How long do carbon cartridges last after activation ?

2014-03-08T00:32:23+00:00

makum101 wrote:
*Tin hat on*

You can stick your fancy-dan £80 filters where the sun dont shine! (Whats the betting I buy one at some time in the new future)

I'll resist shooting at your tin hat,but even VS,tastes more neutral through a proper fancy filter,if that is what you are after.

Robert.

Statistics: Posted by Easydrinker — Sat Mar 08, 2014 12:32 am

Re: How long do carbon cartridges last after activation ?

2014-03-07T22:40:03+00:00

*Tin hat on*
Whilst Ive moved from Turbo yeasts to vodka star with no carbon in the wash, I still filter my spirit through the 'Heath Robinson' Filter system that came with my Air Still. Ive been stilling with this for 4 years and now make one carbon filter and one tea bag last for about a 10 bottle run before replacing both.

You can tell when its no good any more coz the filtered spirit tastes like unfiltered spirit. However changing to Vodka Star need virtually no filtering once its been through a second run.

You can stick your fancy-dan £80 filters where the sun dont shine! (Whats the betting I buy one at some time in the new future)

Statistics: Posted by makum101 — Fri Mar 07, 2014 10:40 pm

Re: How long do carbon cartridges last after activation ?

2013-05-23T18:22:56+00:00

Sounds good sense to me

aidanmac wrote:
plus, there's no way she'd let me cook that stuff in the oven to dry it out

AM

For those of you that have not tried this yet - let me put it in perspective. The carbon adsorbs all the nasty volatiles that you don't want to drink. You can't wash these out effectively, you have to evaporate them out. The smell is truly awful. Even with an AGA where it gets vented out the chimney, the kitchen still stinks.

If you try it you can be sure SHMBO will not appreciate it.

Statistics: Posted by Myles — Thu May 23, 2013 6:22 pm

Re: How long do carbon cartridges last after activation ?

2013-05-23T15:53:42+00:00

In the beginning, after reading the ebook on Activated Carbon which I downloaded from http://www.partyman.se, I did all the faffing-about with activated carbon in the wash and loose carbon in a variety of contraptions made from copper and stainless steel. Man, you should have seen some of the crappy messes I got myself into.

In March 2010, venerated member Opus 27 posted some lovely pics of an attractive looking filter and being thoroughly deflated about using activated carbon at all I jumped on it like a madman.

I have to say that when I need clean pure Vodka the spirit goes into the Essencia and comes out at an acceptable rate filtering 5 litres in approx 24 hours and the result is absolutely brilliant.

Activated Carbon costs me about 7 Euros for a bag that provides 5 refills so I consider it more cost effective to simply dispose of the Carbon once I've filtered an entire batch of Vodka - usually about 20l. This means about 7 cent per litre which I consider excellent value for money. plus, there's no way she'd let me cook that stuff in the oven to dry it out

AM

Statistics: Posted by Almanac — Thu May 23, 2013 3:53 pm

Re: How long do carbon cartridges last after activation ?

2013-05-23T08:57:11+00:00

AM that essencia is convenient, and I take it from your reply you are treating the carbon as disposable. Just use it a few times and then replace it.

Now I went down the other route and built a tubular filter similar to the one described in the activated e-book. Except mine was copper and 1.5m x 54mm.

It worked well but was a real PITA with cleaning and re-activating the carbon. Did you ever try doing it that way yourself?

There is a discrepancy between the depth of carbon that the e-book says is required, and the essencia system. I suspect that you could build a tubular filter much shorter and it would probably work just fine.

Perhaps a 1m x 54mm tube 1/2 full of carbon, with a needle valve at the bottom. Filled to the top with spirit (it will hold well over a litre) to slowly drip through the filter bed.

I don't know how it compares price wise, as there is cost involved in cleaning and re-activating the carbon.

Statistics: Posted by Myles — Thu May 23, 2013 8:57 am

Re: How long do carbon cartridges last after activation ?

2013-05-23T08:03:49+00:00

As some of you know I started off with an Airstill and used it for a number of years before building my 50l pot still and VM. Today, I still use that same Airstill and I like to think I know all the ups and downs of using that little gem of a still.

One of the indisputable drawbacks to the Airstill is the absolute need to use Activated Carbon to achieve a completely clean spirit - BUT - once you use Activated Carbon the Airstill will produce lovely clean spirits for you every time

Having said that, Activated Carbon is mucky, messy stuff you should avoid handling as much as possible and it is possible to avoid handling it I wouldn't put Activated Carbon in a wash and I wouldn't put it in my spirits either because getting it out again is just way too messy for me.

The only time I use Activated Carbon these days is to Carbon filter my wife's Vodka through my Essencia Filter System.

I'm not marketing for them but, to my knowledge, nobody else has produced anything near as good, clean and efficient as the Essencia.

Yes! It is relatively expensive to buy - initially but let's face it, if you're using an Airstill you don't have any choice but to Carbon filter your final spirit and when you have to do it you may as well get it done well and with as little fuss and mess as possible. After all, you're going to be drinking the stuff

I even tried triple distilling in my Airstill and the final spirits still required Carbon Filtering.

Once you refill the Carbon Cartridge yourself the cost per litre of running an Essencia filter is quite low.

My 50l pot still is a piece of distilling heaven Quiet, efficient, predictable and it produces beautiful clean spirits for me. My Airstill, on the other hand, is a quiet but inefficient still that can be used to produce spirits of reasonable quality that require Carbon Filtering before being good enough to drink

I love the Airstill, it's where I learned my hobby and craft and it's brilliant for anyone with space restrictions or who just wants to make small batches, but I'm also a realist.

The Airstill is a compromise still in terms of design and has one particular shortcoming as a result of the design compromise. This 'compromise' is that the product from an Airstill must be filtered through Activated Carbon to get as good a result as you would get from a conventionally designed pot still.

Now, would somebody please get that soapbox out of here before I get started
on something else

AM

Statistics: Posted by Almanac — Thu May 23, 2013 8:03 am

Re: How long do carbon cartridges last after activation ?

2013-05-22T20:32:10+00:00

I just stick activated carbon (2tsp per litre alcohol) in 50% spirit in a demijohn and shake every day for about a week, doesn't need to run through a filter. Then I do filter through a vinbrite and reclaim the carbon for reactivating later.
Cheers
Dave

Statistics: Posted by planetgong0 — Wed May 22, 2013 8:32 pm

Re: How long do carbon cartridges last after activation ?

2013-05-17T10:53:21+00:00

Speedy, you could always just fit a small valve on the bottom to control the flow rate.

Statistics: Posted by Myles — Fri May 17, 2013 10:53 am

Re: How long do carbon cartridges last after activation ?

2013-05-17T08:54:47+00:00

YHB you're quickly becoming my hero lol!

Myles, from my side of the fence re posts, no worries. I know airstills are pretty much the most basic way/easiest of safely making drinkable alchohol but YHB hits it on the head about space/time constraints and quality vs effort.

I had hoped to make my filter so I could attach plastic tube top and bottom to the outlet pipes so being a seled unit it would be a bit like a fuel filter with the booze dripping in at the top and running out the botom, but stainless bolts sound a far far better idea than the off cuts of copper pipe I had got hold of.. I wonder if its possible to to get a threaded stainless tube/bolt? hmm...time to hit the DIY websites again

Statistics: Posted by Speed_demon666 — Fri May 17, 2013 8:54 am

Re: How long do carbon cartridges last after activation ?

2013-05-17T07:20:43+00:00

OK, perhaps I was a bit out of sorts when I posted. Sorry.

I have filtered myself in the past when using a simple 5 litre pot still. If you have to do it because the equipment you use makes it necessary, then you have no choice.

I just object in principle to a system which is self fulfilling. Once you start down that route you are stuck in it until you change your equipment.

If you are going to filter then I can say that the methods at the end of the activated carbon e-book do work. Make sure your carbon is completely saturated before use, and the filter cartridge has no air in it before you start to filter.

I used to set up my filter and store it filled with alcohol that I reserved for the purpose. Because I have an AGA I used the oven recycling method - it smells real bad!!

Statistics: Posted by Myles — Fri May 17, 2013 7:20 am

Re: How long do carbon cartridges last after activation ?

2013-05-20T03:57:27+00:00

===============================

Myles wrote:
OK I will probably get crucified for this, but I don't understand why you use carbon filters at all.

===============================

Myles

We have always tried not to crucify anybody here including Airstill users and turbo yeast fanatics, it seems to be bad for moral.

I am fortunate and have just enough space in my shed to run a BOK. If I was limited, like so many people, to making spirits on a windowsill and it was going to be an Airstill or nothing, then I may have chosen the Airstill and tried to make the best of it.

The chap in my local HBS sells Airstills. He has sold over 800 of them and appears to make a make a living out of supplying the purchasers with essences, turbo yeasts and carbon filters etc. To put in into perspective, in the same period he has only sold four T500 reflux stills. This is for walk in customers only - she does not even have a web address. I wonder how many of these little devices there are scattered around the country.

Until I read Mozr’s and Aidan’s breakdown I did not realise the amount of effort that the Airstill users put into these little machines. It takes about 30 hours of still time to process just one 25 litre ferment, I think that if I was putting that much effort into the process then I would want to maximize the returns and may be tempted to use turbo yeast / carbon filters.

You say “It will get clean without carbon - it just takes a bit longer” – maybe the time that they are spending with their still is long enough for some. With an 8 or 10% wash that you suggest you could be talking about 30 hours stilling to produce a couple of bottles of spirit..

It is all part of a learning curve, some stick with the manufactures recommendations other get past them and try for quality rather than quantity. Either way I am happy both you and they are here and that all crucifixions are banned.

Statistics: Posted by YHB — Fri May 17, 2013 6:30 am

Re: How long do carbon cartridges last after activation ?

2013-05-17T05:22:41+00:00

Easiest way is to drill a hole in the stainless tube, then put a stainless bolt through it and try to seal the hole - you won't seal it and alcholol will drip through it.

By playing around with the bolt, tightening and slackening it, you will adjust the amount that it leaks, or if you want to sound good, you could call it adjusting the flow rate.

Statistics: Posted by YHB — Fri May 17, 2013 5:22 am

Re: How long do carbon cartridges last after activation ?

2013-05-17T01:58:29+00:00

I thought there were quite a few commercial companies that also filter their spirits with Carbon (and I guess the inside of th ebarrels to some extent)?

Having said that with stripping the wash first AND using liquid carbon in the wash (although thats more because I'm still starting and currently using turbo yeasts), I'm less concerned with filtering afterwards, especially after reading Alcotecs website about using both.

However I plan to make a sealed stainless steel cylindrical filter which I can siphon the alchohol through using the alcotec Carbon, just to see how much difference it makes. At that point as I'm only using a few litres at a time I might need to try and refresh it before using it again as it will most likely dry out between filterings.

The only issue is I can't weld and I dont know how to attach the small copper inlet and outlet pipes to the steel container..any ideas? Hmmm, how quickly will 40% alchohol eat through silicon sealant?

I think this is heading towards a different topic

Statistics: Posted by Speed_demon666 — Fri May 17, 2013 1:58 am

Re: How long do carbon cartridges last after activation ?

2013-05-17T00:49:48+00:00

OK I will probably get crucified for this, but I don't understand why you use carbon filters at all.

The way I understand it is this. In the beginning, someone designed a really basic still that did not separate any of the components. All it did was to remove some of the water.

Then they adapted a fuel grade yeast system to produce a yeast that almost could be relied on to be stressed to the point it produced bad flavours. The quick and easy answer was to build a carbon filter to clean it.

You do not need it. Use a wine or lager yeast to ferment to a reasonable level. Lets say 8 to 10 %ABV. You want vodka? Do multiple runs with your airstill, discarding heads and tails each time. It will get clean without carbon - it just takes a bit longer.

Flavoured brown spirits are a bit more difficult

Statistics: Posted by Myles — Fri May 17, 2013 12:49 am