StillSmart

This a great thread to look at, I am looking at refilling my ceramic filter with activated carbon and I can't work out whether both the ceramic filter and carbon filter use the same cabin, I think the carbon filter is slightly finer granules. Got some 1.4mm stuff arriving for that and if its to big will crush it down in size. Hopefully this does the trick. Any thoughts in regards to essentially the ceramic and carbon filter having the same type of carbon to how come we gave to replace one more thsn the other? Big granules last longer maybe but not as thorough in a flow system? Help please

It's a complicated business with lots of variables including what it is made of, how many pores each granule has and how big the pores are.

Most people use this book by Gert Strand as reference, it gives you some good tips and tells you how to make a filter but if you follow the instructions please use Stainless or Copper pipe not plastic.

http://www.gobookee.net/get_book.php?u= ... FsY29ob2w=

Here is a link to a thread on this forum that re-purposes a used wine bottle as a filter, cost? Not a lot.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1131&p=9212&hilit=wine+bottle+carbon+filter#p9212

I think the carbon inside the ceramic filter is not as important as it is the ceramic material in the dome that does the initial filtering.

I believe that in the initial part of the filtering cycle the permeable dome effectively filters undesirable elements from the alcohol but in doing so, over time, the ceramic medium becomes clogged and I don't know if it is possible to clean and recover the ceramic for further use. I'm fairly certain that replacing the carbon inside the ceramic dome will have little effect.

To be effective in filtering alcohol you need a carbon in the size range of 0.4mm - 0.85mm so a 1.4mm will not be effective and you can't simply grind it to the correct size.

Almost all HBS that carry distilling supplies will have the correct size carbon available or you can get in online. The one I use is Alcotec Pure Karbon.

AM

I tried to fill my new Essencia filter today, and yes they are now gluing in the spider as Mozr said. Just turn it upside down and give it a couple of hard bangs onto a solid surface and it comes out.Its way over priced for what it is.

Having just bought one of these I'm happy this thread has been bumped, I can see myself having a go at refilling mine.

A replacement carbon filter for the Essencia costs around £22 while a bag of Alcotec Pure Karbon (the correct size carbon) costs around £6.50 and provides approx 5 refills for the carbon cartridge. No brainer as the yanks say

AM

Reading you load and clear AM, I hope to use mine this weekend so it's good to know that when the time comes I can refill and keep the cost down, I'm spending far to much at the moment.

I had the same dilemma when I was building up my equipment and I used to dread thinking about how much I'd actually spent over the past few years. Then I realised that each and every litre bottle of Vodka and Bourbon I make saves me almost 30 Euros That's one hell of a saving.

Last week I bottled 12 litres of Vodka for herself - that's 360 Euros from one batch - who's laughing now

AM