StillSmart

Hello everyone

Just re filled my Essencia carbon filter withe alcotec .4-.85 carbon, soaked both filters as per instructions,put through 5l of water, filled with double distilled 45% abv spirit,discarded first 400mil or so. but the filtered spirit has a slight metallic taste on the back of your pallet, the unfiltered stuff has not.


I seem to remember someone saying to boil the carbon before use,I had a look on refilling the Essencia filter thread but could not see any thing. I have the E book about using carbon for filtering alcohol by Gert Strand (good read) He has a routine using boiling water to prepare the carbon before use, I did not do that, is that the problem?

I routinely re-fill the Carbon Cartridge for my Essencia and have never had this problem. When I re-fill the cartridge I fill the top section with water and let it filter through for 24 hours. During that time, as the water level drops in the top section, I top it up until top and bottom sections can take no more. Then I run off all the water and it's ready to go

I'd suspect the carbon as the cause of the difficulty. Put a couple of tablespoons of dry carbon into a glass container an add 3-4 times the volume of boiling water and see if there is any discolouration. It may be that you just need to rinse the carbon more thoroughly before adding spirits.

It may seem a little obvious but when using this filter there are just three elements involved, the Essencia filter, the carbon you use to re-fill the cartridge and your alcohol. (1) The Esencia filter is a tried and tested piece of kit and isn't the cause of the problem; (2) the Alcohol you made yourself so one presumes it is to your liking; and (3) the Carbon you used to re-fill the cartridge.

The filter system itself won't add anything, like a bad taste, to the spirit and if the alcohol didn't have the "metallic" taste before filtering I'd suggest it has to be the Carbon you've added

The only reservation I might have would be in relation to the Ceramic Dome filter, as in, how old is it? and\or is there any sing of algae on it? (green/blue tint on the outside).

Hope this helps

AM

Hi Aidenmac

You mentiond in your post about rinsing more thoroughly I did not rinse it! Its not the Essencia that's a proven bit of kit,its not the spirit, that leaves the lack of rinsing of the carbon as the most likely cause.The dome filter has had about 12g through it so its nearly new.

I will try rinsing in warm water,and try the boiling water technique as suggested by Gert Strand.Or my simplified version of it.

The carbon that came out of the original filter had a more course texture, this wont have any thing to do with the taste problem, but whats your thoughts?

Just read a interesting article here http://brewerschoice.com.au/brewers-cho ... an-carbon/ does anyone know if you can by Pro-Clean Carbon in the UK I suspect that's whats in the original Essencia filter.

Luckyshot.

I use this stuff...

...relatively easy to come by and I've never had any problem with it

AM

Hi Aidenmac

I Used Alcotec 0.4-0.85 carbon but did not rinse it, I think that was the problem.The carbon that came out of the original Essencia filter was a different type,it was much larger granuels I theink they use the 0.4 - 1.4 carbon.

Alcotec recommend the smaller carbon for pot stills and you can get away with the larger stuff with reflux stills. I have emailed the Ozzy supplier to find out the spec of the carbon-clear. I will test both sizes of carbon and see if there is any difference in the taste.

Luckyshot

I look forward to any results that you post here Luckyshot.

several thoughts spring to mind;
The carbon that came out of the original filter had a more course texture, this wont have any thing to do with the taste problem, but whats your thoughts?
Maybe not the taste problem,in itself,but expect a different taste from different sized carbon pieces.Otherwise,why would we bother with different sizes?

2.Do the (commercial)fillers of the retail filters care very much about what goes in?

3.One mans neutral may be very different to anothers,and yield different finished (filtered) product.

Do I know what I am speaking about? absolutely not,but this has me thinking.
Robert.

Hi all

The Essencia seems to me a re branded and modified water filter, the ceramic dome filter is made by Waterco a large water filter company,lots of people us that type of filter in water purification. I think they use the larger granules first because its cheaper,faster,and good enough for the job,the smaller granules are more expensive,slower,do a better job, but can you notice the difference probably not that's why they use the cheaper larger ones. I will test both kinds and post what the findings are.

Lukyshot