activated carbon question

by **alan** » Sat Nov 06, 2010 7:11 pm

hi g4jnw. I stopped using liquid carbon some time back in my washes i just run the finished spirit through a stainless tube filled with carbon granule\'s.

by **Phantom** » Sat Nov 06, 2010 10:32 pm

I still do the same g4jnw (a callsign per chance

).
There are those, (such as alan who\'s already said about) not bothering with the liquid carbon, though my local HBS sells the packs of yeast, carbon and fining as a set (separates on request).
Plus most of the other yeasts come separate from the liquid carbon anyway so it\'s probably up to you.

by **umpa** » Fri Nov 26, 2010 5:01 pm

The only carbon I use is in the \'Z\' filter for the reflux or the \'T\'bag in the SmartStill, I never put carbon in the wash I think its a bad idea to do so.

by **Frank** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 10:19 am

My first wash (including liquid activated carbon)is almost ready to be distilled and I\'ve got a plastic filter and collector system that \'came with\' an air still from Still Spirits. It has a replaceable carbon cartridge for the filter. I am advised by HBS to replace the cartridge every 1125ml of distilled spirit. Is this filtering system ok? Any advice?

by **Ronbo** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 9:15 pm

Hi Frank.

The filter you mention is useless. For not much outlay you can do a far better job. Just get a large plastic funnel -- 7 inch diameter. Stuff cotton wool into the spout and fill with \'Alcotec\' activated carbon to about a third of it\'s height. Flush it out with water to get rid of the fine carbon dust. Put the funnel into a glass bottle or demijohn -- make sure it can\'t fall over -- and filter away! This method is fast and very effective. From the airstill you will get pretty smelly alcohol but once through the funnel there will be NO smell at all. You can probably use the same carbon a few times until you notice the smell coming back. But if you are going to be a long time between each distillation you are probably better off discarding the carbon and using fresh.

The carbon cost about Â£5 - Â£6 from your local HBS and should be sufficient for about 6 attempts.

Regards, Ronbo.

by **Phantom** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 11:05 pm

Damn, that\'s a fine suggestion there Ronbo. As for the carbon being good for 5 or 6 attempts ? Well I use Gert Strands guidance, and use the carbon for filtering spirit that\'s been let down to 40%, then it (the carbon) gets used for 3 or 4 gallons, then I take it out my Z filter and rinse it into a large jug with water, strain off the water carefully and then rinse the carbon out with boiling water 4 or 5 times. That seems to dissolve out most (if not all) of the nasties i.e. the off flavour compounds and higher alcohols etc. Once the boiling water smells clean i.e. no smell of spirit etc, then it\'s rinsed again with cold and strained off, spread out over a baking tray and dried out in the oven set on low.
That way, I only need to replace a small amount of the carbon with new/fresh. And I start all over again.......

by **Frank** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 6:42 am

Thanks Ronbo, very much appreciated. Please excuse the novice question but do you leave the cotton wool in the funnel the whole process or do you take it out again to \"Flush it out with water to get rid of the fine carbon dust\"?
Hi Phantom, also please excuse the novice question but is there a benefit to letting spirit down to 40% before filtering rather than straight out of the still (eg \"60%\")?

by **Ronbo** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 3:40 pm

Hi Frank. Leave the cotton wool in at all times until you have decided to change the carbon, then start again from scratch with new cotton wool etc. Pack it reasonably tightly, you want the alcohol to stay in contact with the carbon for as long as possible.You only need to flush once and only one fill of clean water then let it drain. You can filter up to 60% but not more than that, other wise you will see the carbon start to fiz. The advantage of diluting the alcohol to 40% is that it will be even cleaner and also the water gets the benefit of the filtering -- I use mountain spring water for diluting.

Regards, Ronbo.

by **Ronbo** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 9:47 pm

Took a picture of the funnel which is worth a thousand words!

by **Legless** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 6:44 am

I have the Still Smart ez filter cartridge that gets used only once (9 litres of 40%) Any suggestions of what to do with the used cartridges?

by **Ronbo** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 3:48 am

Legless!

Hi. Not too familiar with the ez cartriges myself, no doubt some-one else here will give you better advise.

If they are like an extended version of the air-still filter cartriges supplied with the kit, then I would say that the boiling and baking method of attempting to re-activate them would result in them becoming totally distorted -- if not completely melted.

If you have a whole shed full of them you could try grinding them down and re-cycling them as per any other carbon granules. Other wise -- bite the bullet and bin them!

Regards, Ronbo.