Z Filter

[Opus 27]

Can someone give me an idea what sort of quantity of spirit I can expect to get through a Z Filter on one carbon charge.

[Phantom]

Not entirely sure what you\'re aiming for there ?
I tend to use the same batch of carbon 5 or 6 times. That\'d be to run between 5 and 10 litres of distillate at a time.
Is that what you\'re referring to ?

[Opus 27]

Thanks for that Phantom,

When you say 5 and 10 litres at a time. Is that the total through one batch of carbon or 5 or 6 times that. I\'ve only just bought my filter as the small bottle top filter that came with my Air Still wasn\'t very efficient. The instructions don\'t give any clue as to how much distillate you can put through one pack of carbon.

[bluecap]

Hi just by shear coincidence I have a z filter being delivered today, well hopefully today.
I think it can do about 10 of under 50% liters on one lot of carbon, but to be honest I will be trying the cheaper carbon from a homebrew shop rather than there own make at 4 times the price..
Here’s a link to instructions
http://stillspirits.com/webfiles/StillS ... 6May08.pdf

[Jimmy]

A good tip would be to keep each filtered batch separate and do a taste test, certainly the first time you use it. If you just collect into one big container, if you go too far then you will taint the whole batch. Just don\'t be greedy basically, carbon is cheap and bad tasting vodka is a waste! It does work much better if you boil it up too.

[Phantom]

Thanks for that Phantom,

When you say 5 and 10 litres at a time. Is that the total through one batch of carbon or 5 or 6 times that. I\'ve only just bought my filter as the small bottle top filter that came with my Air Still wasn\'t very efficient. The instructions don\'t give any clue as to how much distillate you can put through one pack of carbon.

Each batch of spirit is either 5 to 10 litres. So what I tend to do, is use 1 pack of the carbon, put it into the filter housing (as per instructions), then run water through it until it runs clear and any tiny carbon dust particles have been removed. Then I\'ll run a batch of spirit through it (usually 2 or 3 times).
The actual filter part of the above description, is repeated for 5 or 6 batches. Then I change the carbon, and start the whole process again.
I\'ve not had any problems doing that. It\'s entirely up to you how often you change the carbon. Though the more often you change it, the more expensive the process becomes.
As for boiling it, as Jimmy suggests, well the "distillers carbon" packs, are actually where it\'s obviously been crushed to dust and then "extruded" though a dye, so it\'s in the form of pellets, looking rather like tiny "animal feed nuts/cake". I\'d think that if you did boil it you\'d end up with black sludge. By just hydrating/rinsing it as per the instructions for the filter, it seems to work well.
I can\'t say if you used carbon that looks like it\'s just tiny pieces of broken up twigs. That would probably stand boiling, but I don\'t see the necessity for doing that. Though that\'s not to suggest that Jimmy\'s method is wrong, it\'s just how you\'ve found it to work best!
Hope that helps some (and makes sense of course)

[Jimmy]

Good point - the stuff I use is the granulated type from Alcotec, not the powdered stuff. You boil it up in a pan, pour off the sludge, add more water and repeat, then after a couple of goes it is clean. That\'s the advice I got from the Activated Carbon e-book anyway, seems to work well. If you can\'t be bothered, you can just pour a hot kettle through it - the basic idea is that it works best when wet or else it will soak up a load of your spirit.

[HangOver]

the taste test is the best way my filter uses about 200g and i put maybe one or at a maximum two washes through before changing it but I do run my spirit thought twice.

One point to remember is if you use your carbon too much you can actually put a bad taste into good spirit.

[Phantom]

the taste test is the best way my filter uses about 200g and i put maybe one or at a maximum two washes through before changing it but I do run my spirit thought twice.

One point to remember is if you use your carbon too much you can actually put a bad taste into good spirit.

at which point, you put it aside and at sometime later, dilute it back down and then re-distil it!

[Opus 27]

On the subject of filtration I\'m still uncertain of another factor. ie. ABV%.

All the guide lines say to filter at below 50%. What is the adverse effect if you filter at say 60-65%.
Opus

[bluecap]

Hi the adverse effect of filtering above 50% is it supposedly doesn’t take all the crap out, saying that most of what comes of the SS and filtered in to the collector is above 50% and that filtered is ok if you taste the before and after so I guess its minimal.
On the subject of the Z filter I use the carbon once but I do use the alcotec one as it’s a lot cheaper than Z filers own but I use the filter with a small adjustment, I put a 2â€

[Opus 27]

Thanks for that Bluecap. I think I\'ll try puting it through just as it comes out, I can always do it again later when I cut and before flavouring if any bad taste remains.
Opus

[Phantom]

I put new carbon in my Z filter yesterday and left it filtering about 7 and a half litres of 75% spirit.
I then put it through again today.
I know that all the guidelines say about being between 40 and 50 % for maximum performance etc, but the stuff I\'ve run through twice, now has a lot less of the slightly sweet, \"alcoholly\" type smell to it - when my neighbour took a smell this evening, he thought it was water......
If you check out Gert Strands site, there\'s a link for a free e-book/pdf (28 pages) all about \"Activated Carbon for the purification of alcohol\" (you have to register with the book selling hosts, and effectively \"buy\" a copy for 0.00$ when then directs you to the download link).
But with the suggestions/guidance, it\'s probably just a case of running a batch and then keeping it as \"raw\" spirit - then running it through the filter at the strength for drinking, even if you use bluecaps idea of the \"cotton wool\" technique.....
p.s. Oh and there\'s also the tip about \"rinsing\" the used carbon with hot/boiling (boiling is what I\'ve been trying) water to remove/clean out the \"collected impurities\". I\'d think that any technique that can be used to re-activate/revitalise it has got to be good to keep costs down.....

[Bottleofrum]

With regards to the free e-book on activated carbon, can anyone

tell me how they have used that information on the Z-filter e.g a brief description of events, as I whould like to put this e-book into practise but wanna find out what others have done first. Thanks.
B.O.R

[Opus 27]

I have the ebook but relating it to the Z Filter isn\'t really that viable as there isn\'t any controls on the Z filter and obviously theres a fixed amount of carbon (about 175 grams).The Z Filter being a \"Z\" shape does\'nt compare with something like a straight 1 metre tube. In conclusion I would say the Z Filter does it\'s job OK but does\'nt lend it self to improvement. A s a point of interest I\'m having a lok at the Essencia Filter System tomorrow (Monday).
Opus