Use of Hardwood Charcoal Lump for Filtering.

Treatment and handling of your distillate.

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TnSmokey
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Use of Hardwood Charcoal Lump for Filtering.

Post by TnSmokey »

I looked this up in the archives page search and did find a few responses to this question. I just didn't find any real answer so I will ask it again. Do any of you use the Hardwood Charcoal Lump to filter your spirit as it is being run. I was curious if this would be as good as running the spirits through a Charcoal Filtering system after the run is complete. I was considering rinsing the charcoal lump with water, allowing it to dry, and then adding it to my funnel which will be lined with cheese cloth allowing the run to pour directly through it. Thanks for the input, and forgive me if I missed this on another thread in the archive.
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HDNB
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Re: Use of Hardwood Charcoal Lump for Filtering.

Post by HDNB »

i am kinda trying that. I made some white oak coal lumps and tossed them in an aging experiment. think "totally charred" blocks.
i think if you just ran the output over it the effect would be minimal, save fouling the charcoal with oils unless you have mastered cuts on the fly. I'm guessing of course, but the contact time seems too short.
i think a regular run, using whatever filter material to keep the crickets and the critters and the squirrels out your receiver and still making cuts and then soaking the coal for a while is going to be more effective.
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Re: Use of Hardwood Charcoal Lump for Filtering.

Post by Bohunk »

Charcoal by it’s self doesn’t have much cleaning ability, it’s activated carbon that does the cleaning. This is made by crushing charcoal, then heating it to a high degree, suddenly quenching it with cold water. This fractures the grains, and creates millions of cracks and crevasses where contaminants can be trapped. Using charcoal won’t hurt anything, but it’s pretty much a waste of time.

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Re: Use of Hardwood Charcoal Lump for Filtering.

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Hello Bohunk, listen to him he has driven down this road...

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rad14701
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Re: Use of Hardwood Charcoal Lump for Filtering.

Post by rad14701 »

If you check into the "Lincoln County Method", as used by Jack Daniels, you'll discover that it takes a significant amount of time for the raw spirits to travel through the sugar maple charcoal that they produce on-site... Without looking it up, and memory fails me, it takes between hours and days...
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Re: Use of Hardwood Charcoal Lump for Filtering.

Post by Windy City »

Here's a couple of good reads pertaining to making charcoal and filtering
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 3#p6822213
http://w.homedistiller.org/forum/viewto ... =2&t=14372" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
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http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 15&t=52975
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