refilter my bourban

[fergi]

hi guys .i have just refiltered my 2 yr old bourban ,reason being it was crap.it tasted not bad at first but then had an after taste then after 5 mins gave me a headache.so i lost interest in distilling but i would like to start again,reason for it not tasting right was the final filter i gave it in a stainles inverta flow filter was done to quick.so after 2 years i have refiltered it through the inverta filter again this time more slowly,1 drop per second instead of about 4 drops per second.what i want to know is what will happen to the spirits,this is what i found. it has still got most of the color.bourbon color.it doesnt seem to have that high alcohol smell..it doesnt taste like a bourbon or alcahol.although i have added the bourbon flavoring back into it.i stuck the alco meter into it and seems to only read about 15 percent,could this be because i have added the flavoring in or has it lost the alcohol somwhere .also doesnt smell that much of bourbon ,not like the original lot that i made.thanks for any answers
cheers
fergi

[linw]

This sounds like a disaster! It tastes awful, doesn't taste like bourbon and is as weak as piss! Not a lot going for it, really. I'd chuck it back into my next still run. After all, what else can you do with 15% crap?

For it to taste so bad and be so low in alcohol it sounds like it was VERY much into tails.

BTW, what is the inverta filter you speak of? Does it have activated carbon in it?

[fergi]

hi lindsy
the inverta filter is a stainless steel filter i bought from hbs,yes it yes it comes with its own packs of activated carbon.when i originally made it the spirits were showing 82% so i cut it back to 40% and filtered it through the inverta filter.this called for about 1 drip per second but being my first batch i had it going at about 4 drips a second,,,no patience,,i then added it into my wood chips>>oak>>for 6 weeks then i added my flavorings..it smelt nice and first taste it was nice but within about 5 mins it seemed to give me a slight headache,so i got dissilusioned by the distilling bit and left it for a couple of years .now i have got renewed interest in starting it again especially since i have got all the equipment.any way it was only this week that i ran it all back through the filter again and in doing so i think it has stripped all or most of the alcohol out of it
cheers
fergi

[Bowie]

Hi,

Depending on the way you used the filter you may have lost the percentage to any extra water used to wash the carbon. If you use a carbon & wash it with water to remove mineral salts, this extra water left in it will transfer to the total volume you end up with. If you only filter small quantities this can lower the amonut considerably.

Try re-distilling the amount & filter it again.

Hope this may help.

[Rocky_Creek]

WHY, would anyone filter whiskey?

[Yttrium]

Some whiskies, even good ones, will go cloudy if water is added, or if the temperature changes. There is nothing wrong with this, but it might turn off some consumers, so lots of places tend to filter their whisky.

[Uncle Remus]

I've never filtered any of my whiskey, but in the second to last batch I threw in some maple charcoal (which I made myself) with the toasted oak chips. This seemed to mellow the whiskey without removing any flavour, it also gave it a rich golden brown colour as well as maybe a little sweetness.
I have a few litres of corn sitting on oak right now. I will probably make some more maple or oak charcoal and throw it in for a couple weeks.

[Virginia Gentleman]

From my experience with charred wood and charcoal, it definitely gives nice flavor but you have to be careful with it, a little goes a long way. Too much or too long soaking and the flavor is too strong and the color heads towards a dark gray or even black. One batch got called Shack Black because it was inky, but tasted OK because it also had a little vanilla, maple syrup and peppercorn in it.

I bet charred maple works real well, isn't that what Jack Daniels filters their hooch through?