Carbon Z filter alternatives ???

Any hardware used for mashing, fermenting or aging.

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demonx
Swill Maker
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Carbon Z filter alternatives ???

Post by demonx »

I've been stilling for about 6 months now and the local home brew shop says the Z filter is the best method

I reckon thats got to be wrong - yet when I search the net I find nothing.

How do you experienced guys filter your batch?

Cheers

Allan

edit:

I should add that I'm using turbo yeast and dextrose. then using turbo clear (separating agent) in the wash before it hits my column still
Last edited by demonx on Fri Apr 04, 2008 9:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
tracker0945
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Post by tracker0945 »

If you make a good wash with good yeast (not Turbo) and distill it slowly making the correct cuts - you will not need to use carbon.
It's a money making trick spread by Home Brew Shops.
Do a bit more reading on this site and you will find all the stuff you need to do.
Cheers.
2"x38" Bok mini and
Pot still with Leibig on 45 litre boiler
demonx
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Post by demonx »

Thanks for the quick reply.

I've been reading through the site for quite a while and get the idea that most of the guys here are doing flavored washes, mine is a pure wash that I flavor afterwards.

I understand that the flavored washes do not get filtered for the flavor reason, however I've also read that the unflavored washes are usually filtered as a standard.

Still I'm open to suggestion and definitely open to learn more about the process to get better quality and will keep reading but I haven't found my answers yet.
Rudi
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Post by Rudi »

A good clean wash (like a birdwatcher with Wineo mods) run through a pot still twice with good cuts or a reflux column wont need carbon. This is for a neutral.(vodka)

Home brew shops need to sell you all the crap they can to make MONEY

IMHO turbo washes are expensive crap
Such is life
demonx
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Post by demonx »

Rudi wrote:IMHO turbo washes are expensive crap
I am using a column reflux still - however I'm open to be educated on something better than "turbo wash" as my main source of education so far has been the guy at the home brew shop who swears by the turbo wash!

I see the point though that it's their income - so what do you guys suggest?
Rudi
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Post by Rudi »

Read this

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5018

It's a sticky in tried and true.
Such is life
punkin
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Post by punkin »

demonx wrote:Thanks for the quick reply.



Still I'm open to suggestion and definitely open to learn more about the process to get better quality and will keep reading but I haven't found my answers yet.
If you really are open to suggestion, look at what's been suggested to you from the first post.
If you were to let go of the turbos, stop buying expensive dextrose, let go of the clearing, not worry about the bottles of cordial, and just set out to make the best you can for drinking....

Suggestion is to get your hands on some offcuts of oak (try googling cooperages and ring em, they're cheap) toast em up in the oven, get a bag of corn and a bag of raw sugar (assuming you're a bourbon drinker), take your packing out and try some UJSM. Flavour it only with your charred sticks (and maybe some pure maple syrup) and compare it to the neutral/cordial stuff.

I have, and you won't turn back again i promise ya. :wink:

Another good thing for me is that i don't buy anything from the HBS.
Theres no connection there at all and i like that.
demonx
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Post by demonx »

Rudi - just read through that whole thread. I'm intrigued. Might have one of those wash's in my not too distant future.

AS far as UJSM recipe. I've looked it over and seems like a forum favorite. I'm definitely interested and will have a ply with it after looking at the above wash

As far as oak. Here in Aus oak is not "readily" available like it is for you guys. Especially in the small town I live in! I can either buy chips from the home brew store or use a barrel, which I already have a charred 25lt oak barrel on order. Will still be a few weeks.

Thanks guys for all your input.
Rudi
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Post by Rudi »

demonx wrote:As far as oak. Here in Aus oak is not "readily" available like it is for you guys. Especially in the small town I live in! I can either buy chips from the home brew store or use a barrel, which I already have a charred 25lt oak barrel on order. Will still be a few weeks.
Thanks guys for all your input.
All of us guys are in Aus and have no problem getting oak read Punkins post AGAIN and do what he says.

Home brew shops get a shitload of oak from cooperages then cut it into little bits put it into 200grm lots and charge a shitload for it.

Where did you order your barrell from do they sell oak offcuts :idea:
Such is life
demonx
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Post by demonx »

Rudi wrote:Where did you order your barrell from do they sell oak offcuts :idea:
I ordered it through the local home brew shop. All I know is its costing me $315 for a 25 lt barrel (cheaper than online stores I looked at) and it's getting made in Melbourne.
tracker0945
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Post by tracker0945 »

demonx wrote:Thanks for the quick reply.

I've been reading through the site for quite a while and get the idea that most of the guys here are doing flavored washes, mine is a pure wash that I flavor afterwards.

I understand that the flavored washes do not get filtered for the flavor reason, however I've also read that the unflavored washes are usually filtered as a standard.

Still I'm open to suggestion and definitely open to learn more about the process to get better quality and will keep reading but I haven't found my answers yet.
There is nothing wrong with using the cordials if that is what you want to do until you get more confident or involved, its just that they add another $3 or so per litre of booze.
Just make yourself a low alcohol (10%) straight sugar wash with some nutrients and bakers yeast. Let it ferment for 3 or 4 days, decant into a clean container and let settle for another couple days then run in your still doing good cuts.
No wierd smells or taste, no need to filter or aerate, just add cordial and drink.
Cheers.
2"x38" Bok mini and
Pot still with Leibig on 45 litre boiler
RadicalEd1
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Location: Mitten State, USA

Post by RadicalEd1 »

Agreed with the general consensus above. I run a pot still myself, but I'm not above making some vodka with it either.

I recently ran 10 gallons of Birdwatcher's recipe; the wash itself merely had a mildly acidic flavor to it, clearly a fantastic start for a neutral spirit. On only my second run, I pulled off 5 375mL bottles at 80% that were fantastically pure. Absolutely no need to re-run those bad boys. I had a good bit of feints, too.

Another useful trick is to make a volume reduction, or stripping, run. This will reduce the volume of the mash greatly, letting you run it through your reflux still much faster. Better yet, you can then use the baking soda trick, which will further eliminate off tastes from the distillate. Please see the main site's stripping and using salt sections for more information on these techniques.

You have a few other options to using turbo clear. If you really need it to clear quick, then you can add some unflavored gelatin to your fermenter and it'll do the same job for a fraction of the cost. Or you can use the generic brew store clearing agent. However, if you have some time before you need to distill, then you can just let it settle out in the fermenter, a process that takes 3-4 days if you transfer to secondary, or about 2 weeks (for me) if you leave it in primary.

I got nothing against my local HBS, I am a brewer as well after all. But beyond basic yeast and nutrients, a distiller probably should avoid them. Remember that they know wine and beer; distilling is far outside of their areas of expertise. They've been told by clever marketers that the turbos are good, and seeing the lack of major competitors, why shouldn't they believe that? That's where this forum comes in. Stick around here for a while and you could school your LHBS owner in the art of distilling. My LHBS owner is very friendly, and was actually very interested in learning some of the basic recipes and techniques from me.
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