re-using granulated carbon

[HangOver]

I read somewhere that if you boil and dry out granulated carbon it can be reused several times.

Anyone tried this?

[pi55ed]

Never tried that....

But i make my own carbon filter........ i buy granulated carbon from wilkinsons in the pet department, its used for clearing filters in fishtanks, i grind it down smaller and enclose it in 2 coffee filter papers inside my still filter holder....... its only £1-00 for 500grams...

I run cold water through it until all dust has gone through, and water is crystal clear

hope this helps......... its cheaper than buying packets of two carbon filters from ebay, and if one rips etc.......

[Jimmy]

You can apparently re-use carbon if you bake it, but as it contains trapped alcohol if you bake it in a gas oven you'll probably set your house on fire. I wouldn't bother personally, you can get a fair bit of use out of a bag and it isn't so expensive - I wouldn't buy the little filter pack teabag things for the SmartStill though, I just make my own with coffee filters and carbon from the homebrew shop.
If you're using it in a longer tube, you can use it a few times anyway because the impurities get trapped at the top and it takes a while to block all the pores in the carbon as you move down the tube. Gert Strand has an e-book about carbon which is very geeky but extremely useful to read, and it's free - Google it!

[HangOver]

I guess you are right, the local brew shop sells it for AU$20 for 1KG

I was just wondering the quicker I can recoup the cost of my still the better

[Jimmy]

Depends on your local prices of course, but I worked out that my equipment costs would be more than covered once I'd made 16 litres, and that took 3 fermentations, the rest is pure profit!

[quietman]

Ive made 11 litres of 60% in 2 fermentations so I'm well on the way Jimmy.
Regards, Q

[Whiskers]

Never tried that....

But i make my own carbon filter........ i buy granulated carbon from wilkinsons in the pet department, its used for clearing filters in fishtanks, i grind it down smaller and enclose it in 2 coffee filter papers inside my still filter holder....... its only £1-00 for 500grams...

I run cold water through it until all dust has gone through, and water is crystal clear

hope this helps......... its cheaper than buying packets of two carbon filters from ebay, and if one rips etc.......
Pi55ed-does this work ok? sounds like a very economical way of filtering

[lyonacre]

Whiskers,
I thought the fish tank stuff was not food grade so not suitable for spirit filtering. There is a German guy who has written a whole book about reprocessing carbon that you will find if you search through the forum

[Phantom]

Gert Strand is in Sweden (not Germany). If you want to try his methods for ♲, PM me an email address and I'll forward/attach a copy of his "Carbon Filtration" ebook for you.
Does ♲ work ? Yes, it seems to ☻, and the logic behind it makes sense as well.
The basic idea being that you rinse all the tiny carbon pellets out of the filter housing and then strain off any liquid that comes out. Then in a bowl (heat resistant) pour a kettle full of boiling water on the carbon pellets/granules, let it stand for a little while (while you're reboiling the kettle), then you strain the carbon pellets/granules and rinse them in cold, then more boiling water, etc etc. ☻
I think he recommends to do that 5 times. The idea being that boiling water from a kettle should dilute any of the nasties ☠ that the carbon has absorbed (as 100 degrees C boiling water should be enough to dissolve ♨ the absorbed nasties ☠) - though you wouldn't want to boil them continuously as they do start to deteriorate - then once you've completed the cycle as recommended, you put the pellets/granules on a flat baking tray and heat them through in the oven to completely dry them out and bingo, use them again but topping up with a small amount of fresh unused ones as you will lose a small amount though dropping and some of them breaking up etc.
It seems to work fine and is now what I do every time I think that the filter needs cleaning out etc.... ☻
regards
P. ☮

[lyonacre]

Geography was never my strong point!!