wow i am a idiot please ignor last post this is what i meant!

by **carlg340** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 3:09 pm

well what can i say my bad, not really sure where i got that from i actually used Alcotec 48 temperature tolerant turbo yeast which brews to 20% in 5 days and uses normal sugar!

does anyone know if this stuff is suitable to still? oh and next time i promise to engage my brain before my fingers ! sorry carl

by **Jimmy** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 10:32 pm

Yeah, I started off with Alcotec 48 - it works fine with a SmartStill. Make sure you keep an eye on the fermentation though, I found it took more than 5 days - a hydrometer is the best way to check. Then use Turbo Klar to clear it, and you're ready to go! I'd also recommend carbon filtering after you've finished distilling - the Alcotec 48 does have a little bit of a yeasty taste which can be polished off nicely with carbon.
Any more questions, feel free to ask!

by **carlg340** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 11:33 pm

ok thank you, that answers me! i have triple distilled through carbon (correcting to 40%) and i think i have a VERY passable product thanks you for the reply . carl

by **Jimmy** » Sat Aug 09, 2008 1:40 am

No problem! A quick and easy improvement is to dump about 1/2 - 1 mugful of activated carbon into a bottle of your vodka while it's sitting on the shelf, shake it up every now and again, and after a week or two you can strain it through a coffee filter into a new bottle and it'll be even better.

by **Phantom** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 9:01 pm

A quick and easy improvement is to dump about 1/2 - 1 mugful of activated carbon into a bottle of your vodka while it's sitting on the shelf, shake it up every now and again, and after a week or two you can strain it through a coffee filter into a new bottle and it'll be even better.

Damn! now that's an excellent idea Jimmy.
Activated carbon? In what form ? 'Cos I've got the small granules from Still Spirits that are actually for using in a "Z" filter.
When I'm filtering, I tend to run the batch through 2 or 3 times, but I'd guess that there's no problem with getting whatever yield I get from my reflux still, putting it in a DJ and then chucking a pack of carbon in it - well I'll probably use "used" carbon when I replace it in the Z filter as that will have already been rinsed through to remove any fine particles etc, but I don't see why that shouldn't do the trick.
Or are you alluding to something different ? Maybe you could post a link?

by **Jimmy** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 9:59 pm

I'll write it up with some pictures, but basically from a homebrew shop you usually get two kinds of carbon - the liquid stuff for filtering the fermented product, and the granular stuff. DO NOT use the liquid stuff with distilled spirits - it's too fine to filter out with a coffee filter, it needs Turbo Klar and is meant to be used before distilling. The other stuff is fine to chuck in bottles and filter out as you want, play about with it because it comes out with a coffee filter so no harm done. I'd imagine it strips flavours out though so I'd only use it on vodka.

by **Jimmy** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 10:02 pm

Oh, and regarding 'used' carbon - it holds the impurities in the structure, so if you have it in a filter then the 'top' part of it will be saturated with them. If you never change the carbon, the impurities will block more and more of the pores or whatever they are, and eventually what comes out of the end will be just as bad, if not worse than it was when it went in!
The way I do it is to just chuck the carbon when I've had it in a bottle - you have to rinse it out anyway so it's just easier, and it's not too expensive to replace.

by **Phantom** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 2:48 am

Excellent, Ok matey, I'll try just that i.e. when I change the filter carbon next I'll save it and give it a mix - hell I might just put the lot into the DJ rather than the bottle, then I can just run it through either my boot's version of a harris filter or I've got some lab filter papers (finer than coffee filters) that I can run it through.
Cheers for the tip.