Filtering Through a Brita

Angel_Kefka · Post by **Angel_Kefka** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 7:56 pm

I was wondering if anyone has tried this. I haven't done any distilling yet, just doing some research before I start.

Anyway, a friend of mine ran some cheap, bad tasting vodka through a brita water fitering pitcher. These use activated carbon but are meant for water, not alcohol. It very much improved the flavor of the vodka. Does anyone know if this would be a good method of filtering the product of a still instead of dealing with carbon powder.

AkCoyote · Post by **AkCoyote** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 8:42 pm

Anytime 90+% alcohol comes in contact with plastic, there is the potential for trouble. Many people here run their spirit through Brita filters. Personaly? I prefer carbon in a funnel. If, however, you try the Brita and your spirit is cloudy after it's cut, chances are that it's your filtering method.

AkCoyote

Post by **Fourway** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 8:47 pm

http://www.ohmygoditburns.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 11:47 pm

thanks for the hint Coyote. I'm not planning to get anything near 90% so it shouldn't be a problem. What I'm planning to buile is mostly a pot still with a short tower with a little packing. It should get some reflux, but not much, so nothing near that purity.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue May 31, 2005 2:30 pm

Anytime 90+% alcohol comes in contact with plastic, there is the potential for trouble

This is false many 90+%alcohols are stored transported and sold in plastic now.

The Chemist · Post by **The Chemist** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 3:29 am

Anonymous wrote:
Anytime 90+% alcohol comes in contact with plastic, there is the potential for trouble

This is false many 90+%alcohols are stored transported and sold in plastic now.

What?? Are you in the business of shipping high proof spirits? Or just talkin' out your ass again?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 4:40 am

nope just stop by your local liquer shop though and you will find any number of spirits sold in plastic. If you were really a chemist you would also know that a whole line of plastic labware is available now that is imune to alcohol as well as most other chemicals. Are you guys living in caves get up to speed with current technology.

The Chemist · Post by **The Chemist** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 4:59 am

Anonymous wrote:nope just stop by your local liquer shop though and you will find any number of spirits sold in plastic. If you were really a chemist you would also know that a whole line of plastic labware is available now that is imune to alcohol as well as most other chemicals. Are you guys living in caves get up to speed with current technology.

Well, I really am a chemist. And I really do work in the distilled spirits industry. And I really do know that they sell liquor in (polycarbonate) plastic. And I really do know that you've never seen any high proof (>60%) alcohol sold in said plastic. And I really do THINK you're a pompous idiot.

The people on this forum try to learn everything they can. I don't know everything, Uncle Jesse doesn't know everything, Fourway doesn't know everything, and you don't know everything. If we all talk about what we know, in a civilized manner, we can all learn something. When someone like you comes in, doesn't even bother to register, and proceeds to spout the kind of misinformed, ill-advised, and possibly even dangerous bullshit that you have been posting for the last couple of days, it makes me wonder about evolution. You should have been de-selected years ago.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 5:10 am

thank you so much for what passes in your books for civil discourse the name calling and statements about my ancestory were so apropriate to a man who claims civil discourse is the goal. I say practice what you preach sir you need to do more research prior to discounting any ideas that do not fit your narrow views that apear to be based more on hearsay and staus quo than actual investigation of current facts or experiments. As a chemist can you show any reasons to fear poly? do you have either a destryed vessel or a chomo test of contaminated sprit or is name calling and insult what you need to reduce the debate to.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 5:14 am

correction chromo chromotography or spetranalysis

brett · Post by **brett** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 5:29 am

just clear something up (maybe) which type of % are u talking about, im guessing guest is thinking of something different to what we are talking about, because never in my life have i seen 90% spirits in my local shop hell i think its even illegal to sell a spirit that hight % (could be wrong) the average in the shops here is 40% (this is the uk)

The Chemist · Post by **The Chemist** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 5:31 am

Yes, sir, I do have the analytical data to back up what I say. One of the worst things that comes from polyethylene is di-isooctyl phthalate. It is a plasticizer--the softer the plastic, the more there is in it. It is not soluble in water, but it is quite soluble in ethanol--especially hot ethanol. As for civility, I have held off saying anything--hoping someone else would. But YOU need to learn what you're doing before you tell other people what to do. If you like spirits distilled through plastic, more power to you. I bet you don't like the taste of plastic. I know it's not good for you. But what kind of liqour IS good for you?

Maybe I am just getting old, and short-tempered. If so, mea culpa. At any rate, I've said my piece, and don't intend to respond further. Have at it.

brett · Post by **brett** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 5:32 am

i must get round to regestering so i can edit things

Also no spirits whatsoever are sold here in any of the shops i know of in plastic bottles.

Im sure there are some alcohol resistant plastics, but at what price and most the people here when there talking about plastics are not talking about pharmacuticle (i really cant spell) grade lab plastics

The Chemist · Post by **The Chemist** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 5:54 am

Here in the US, we can buy high-proof spirits: Everclear is one brand. It is only found in glass. Many other spirits (rum, vodka, bourbon) are sold in polycarbonate--not ever in polyethylene. I really don't hate our guest--I just think he's wrong, and not very polite. Therefore I see no reason to be. I know, I should be better than that, and I'm going to try.

KatoFong · Post by **KatoFong** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 6:09 am

Actually, Chemist, not to be contradictory, but I have a bottle of 75.5% Everclear at home in a plastic bottle, which is what it was sold in. The 750 ml bottles are always glass, but the 1.5 liter bottles are usually plastic.

KatoFong · Post by **KatoFong** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 6:15 am

Which doesn't mean our guest isn't a loud-mouthed idiot.

Post by **Grayson_Stewart** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 6:22 am

I've never seen anything in our stores labeled "everclear" that wasn't 190 proof. And its always been in glass. As a matter of fact, one of the Everclear bottles is what I put my stuff in when traveling.

The Chemist · Post by **The Chemist** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 6:35 am

Oops, live and learn. I'm big enough to admit when I'm wrong or learn something.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 6:36 am

stop by your local science supply and you should also be able to find 90+% alcohol packaged stored and sold in plastics also check at the local university chem and biology labs and you will find plastics routinely used for 90+% ethanol. Just disputing a false statement does not make me either loud mouthed nor an idiot.

Brett · Post by **Brett** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 6:37 am

i Finaly regd i was makin to many mistakes to not be able to edit

As i said in another thread basically about the same thing, im verry surprised that they use plastics for spirits especially after the health warnings i read about there use just with beers n water... i guess its each to there own, if u want to increase the chance of cancer at some time in ur life then go ahead with the plastics, im even considering going to a 5 gall glass carboy instead of my plastic fermenter n a stainless drum instead of a plastic one. (maybe OTT)

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 6:39 am

yes there are some states now in USA that do not permit 195 proof and everclear is also marketed at around 153 proof as well as in some fruit flavored blends in some places regards.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 6:41 am

I do find one important warning in most every msds and that is to avoid any contact of ethanol to aluminum as dangerous chemicals may be formed

level Joe · Post by **level Joe** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 6:48 am

Anonymous wrote:stop by your local science supply and you should also be able to find 90+% alcohol packaged stored and sold in plastics also check at the local university chem and biology labs and you will find plastics routinely used for 90+% ethanol. Just disputing a false statement does not make me either loud mouthed nor an idiot.

Is that alcohol labeled as safe for human consumption?

The Chemist · Post by **The Chemist** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 6:55 am

Anonymous wrote:stop by your local science supply and you should also be able to find 90+% alcohol packaged stored and sold in plastics also check at the local university chem and biology labs and you will find plastics routinely used for 90+% ethanol. Just disputing a false statement does not make me either loud mouthed nor an idiot.

You're absolutely right about that. But you're not supposed to drink that stuff (it's a taxation thing). It's not meant to taste good.

Maybe we just got off on the wrong foot. Peace?

KatoFong · Post by **KatoFong** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 7:03 am

Grayson:

Where I live, they can ship 95% Everclear, but can't actually sell it in the city. So they sell a 151 version. Never seen the fruit-flavored version, but I wouldn't put it past people to sell it.

Guest: It's not so much what you are saying that makes people in the forum call you a loud mouthed idiot, or a pompus idiot, or what have you. It's the way in which you phrase your posts. The way in which you phrase yourself makes you come off like some college kid who thinks he knows everything.

You came in and instantly started spouting phrases like "and tell us this mr intelligence how do you get this substance from plants if you do not extract it. It is rather obvious you have no clue," or "You have failed to recognize the truth just because you are cought up in a silly opinion that it is not a drug. Get a few facts before you start trying to claim opinions as facts" which you posted to Verte Ego in the flavoring and aging forum when he told you, not that absinthe isn't a drug, but that it isn't a narcotic (which is fact, which is documented). Or, "wrong again boys what do you think is gonna happen when you dump wine or brandy in a crockpot and put a lid on it now stop and think for a minute before you answer" which you posted to presumably everyone here when they told you that adding a little wine to a larger recipe is not nearly the same thing as trying to distill and possibly redistill a gallon of said wine (which, again, is true, no matter what your feelings are about use of plastic lids). This makes you come off cocky.

That you haven't shown respect for the fact that these people have as much experience distilling as you, and probably more makes you a loud mouth.

That you haven't backed up a single thing you said with demonstrated facts makes you an idiot.

Virginia Gentleman · Post by **Virginia Gentleman** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 7:04 am

So back to the original question, Guest, are you saying that it's advisable to filter 90+% alcohol through a plastic Brita filter designed for water filtration? What would you guess would be the effect on taste? Think anything would leach into the alcohol? All of your information is kind of pointless if it doesn't answer the question at hand. Then it looks like you're just spouting off to hear yourself talk and prove others wrong rather than actually trying to contribute to the discussion topic.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 7:13 am

no you are all correct trust nothing you hear very little of what you read and a fraction of what you see.

KatoFong · Post by **KatoFong** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 7:24 am

VG:

He's talking about this:

http://www.ohmygoditburns.com/index.php?p=4

I've seen this and thought of running an experiment of my own on it, but don't have a Brita filter and don't like vodka. Also a decent base vodka for my purposes is cheap enough and easy to find.

Virginia Gentleman · Post by **Virginia Gentleman** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 7:26 am

Thanks, I know KF. I've tried it myself (with 40% abv or lower). But he's talking about running 90+% through it.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 7:32 am

I'm not planning to get anything near 90% so it shouldn't be a problem.