Here is how I carbon filter.

[pomiataa]

Two glass jars, 4 feet copper pipe ¼ inch total, one needle valve, s.s. mesh with coffee filter and activated carbon inside.
To start – I open the valve a little bit and suck from the lower end, then adjust the output to 1 drop every 3 seconds. It takes 1-2 days, but I do nothing, just wait.
I made some pictures but they were useless. This is why I made the drawing.

Hope this helps

[takewarning]

Why don't you use a pur water pitcher filter.

[rubber duck]

Hear we go.

[rad14701]

Why don't you use a pur water pitcher filter.

What about the plastic and rubber components...??? Have you read the Rules We live By...???

[pomiataa]

It is not just the plastic that bothers me about this type of filters.
Recently I was trying to be as cheap as possible (as usual) and I had the idea of breaking a Brita filter and use the activated carbon inside. I read the label and it says the ingredients are activated carbon and “ion exchange resins”. I don’t like the word “resin”. Here is what I found on the Internet about the resins:

”Ion exchange resins exist in the form of cation exchange resins and anion exchange resins. The BRITA water filter cartridge is filled with cation exchangers. These replace positively charged ions such as calcium, magnesium, lead, copper with positively charged hydrogen ions. Anion exchange resins replace negatively charged ions from tap water (e.g. nitrate, sulphate and phosphate) with negatively charged chloride or hydroxide ions. These are primarily used as nitrate filters.
Ion exchange resins are synthetically manufactured, insoluble artificial resins used in granular form. They can take certain ions from tap water, and release an equivalent quantity of other ions into the filtered water. The objective is to replace undesired ions, such as lead or copper against hydrogen ions.”

What do you think guys about this?

[Dnderhead]

It sounds like Greek to me,but maybe Ill understand better If I have another shot of the lepricons gold.

[Vodka_Master]

Resin = plastic = bad.
"Most typical ion-exchange resins are based on crosslinked polystyrene."
Polystyrene is a type of plastic, so i doubt it's gonna be any good. But don't take my word on it, it's only what i found on wikipedia, but i wouldn't try using it.

[pomiataa]

I was happy with single refluxing my sugar wash and carbon filtering as above, but my activated carbon no longer filters.

Question 1: Should I by a bag of carbon from brewhaus, or strip and then reflux.

Question 2: Why my filtering system is working when they say I need 1.5 meters of filtering tube?

Quewtion 3: Dnderhead, did the shot of the lepricons gold help with the Greek?
This might be another universal problem solving method.

[Ayay]

Put your hooch into a glass carboy. Throw in 1 Tablespoon of activated carbon granules/litre of high-proof. Let sit for a few weeks, siphon off the clear liquid leaving the settled carbon sitting at the bottom.

Ingredients'n'apparatus:

1 Glass carboy.
1 Bag of activated carbon.
1 Tablespoon.
1 Racking cane that fits thru the carboy neck.
2 Weeks of time.

This is my best filter and it fits through a beer bottle neck if needed. If there is any sediment on the bottom after a week... this will get rid of it. Filter paper is sooo iffy. Settling and racking is far much better.

5/16" Or 8mm copper. Bend as much as you dare...not much, then cut and paste to look like this!

[rad14701]

<drift>
Ayay, that's how I made my racking cane except mine is just the end which attaches to the hose rather than the whole length being copper... At some point I plan on making one like yours because the end can be a bit hard to control with wiggly hose only... Until then I've wound copper wire around the hose for better control...
</drift>

[pomiataa]

Are there hoses safe for alcohol? For the fermented stuff I also use a hose, but for the high proof alcohol mixed with activated carbon I should probably make something similar to the copper pipe at the top of this posting.

I like the Ayay’s lower end of the racking cane. Mine was always sucking the deposits from the bottom of the fermenter even from 2 inches distance (like a vacuum cleaner).

[rad14701]

Hoses are fine for racking low wash but for filtering you're better off with all copper or stainless...

[pomiataa]

I’ll just try to modify mine (at the top)

[Ayay]

The racking cane posted above does have a plastic hose (PVC I think). I'm happy with it only for racking which takes a minute or two per 5 litres, at a room temperature, 65% alc.

The main point is I use this apparatus for my booze after oaking/carboning and filtering through a coffee filter. When settled for a few days there is a sediment layer in the bottle. This cane will leave the sediments behind.

The remaining sediments are poured into a 'sediments' bottle. When full and completely settled, the sediments bottle is racked again for another dose of pure ultra-filtered hooch!

I now skip the coffee filter and prefer settling and racking straight off the oak or carbon.

Rad...true about thread drift My drift is there may be a better filter than a coffee filter in speed and/or effectivenness. Carbon needs time and soaking. Filtering through carbon is more about soaking than filtering because I don't have a carbon 'filter'. I have soaked on carbon and oak more'n a few times and the filtering is another process.

[Mark Ducati]

Not trying to stir the pot... but I complete understand using food grade 5 gallon HPDE buckets that are safe(r) than a utility bucket you might purchase from Home Depot.

I saw picture here where someone poked some holes the cap of a 2L plastic coke bottle, then fastened that through and to a quart mason jar lid... cut the bottom off the plastic bottle, fill with charcoal and then filter.

The kind of plastic in a Britta Water Filter contains a lot of monomer resin, kinda like what we use in dentistry in our disposable impression trays... when you heat it up, you ought to smell the chemicals coming off...

My question is, just cuz I saw someone here use a Coke plastic bottle to hold the carbon and filter... is that okay? I've seen Schmirnoff Vodka jugs that were made of plastic, so I'm thinking that it might be safe????

The rules we live by frown on plastics and rubber, but it does not mention absolutes...

[Dnderhead]

the plastic bottles are coated inside(coating depends on use), they have limited life spans.

[MuleKicker]

Hear we go.

It seems at least once a month someone starts a thread on "active carbon" when it has been said over and over that proper cuts and "stillmanship" would eliminate the need for this process. I used it back in the beginning, before taking the leap and learning the craft....the right way. Yes, I fucked up alot, and I didnt learn overnight. But, now that I can run a batch that tastes better un filtered than the stuff I used to filter. Its worth it. Take the plunge, learn your cuts, and proper still operation. You will thank yourself.

[Barney Fife]

Plastic liquer bottles have a hard coating on the inside of them to make them safe. Otherwise, no plastics should come ion contact with high test alky. That's quite absolute, yes?

For y'all that want to filter, why not get a foot long length of 1" copper, put a 1" to 1/2" reducer at the end, stuff it with a short but tight wad of SS scrubber(to hold the carbon) and fill it with carbon. Make a nice stand for it(might want to make something that looks like a parrot's beak) and just run your spirits through that. Nice and safe, inexpensive to make, and would look rightly sharp, too!

[diesel4ever]

Here's my carbon filter. takes a couple of hours or so to run a fifth through but results are phenominal. I only use stone carbon. I get it from mile high distillers.

[rubber duck]

Mark, I can't tell you that all plastic is 100% unsafe, but I can tell you that I don't know if it is safe. Because I don't know I would error on the side of caution and stay away from it.

Just because someone else is using it doesn't necessarily make it safe, although it is used, in some forms by the big distillers, I'm not a big distiller so I don't use it.

My two c RD

[Braz]

the plastic bottles are coated inside(coating depends on use), they have limited life spans.

The "general purpose" (whatever is on sale) 80 proof vodka swill that my wife buys comes in plastic bottles. I thought I could use the empties for the 80 proof "good stuff" that I hope/intend to make. Should I reconsider this? I don't ever plan to put high ABV alcohol in them.

Braz

[Dnderhead]

I myself whould not do it as most are made to use once, and have a limited life.the coating on the inside deteriorates over time.

[prospector86]

Today I bought some carbon from the brewstore in town just to try it, see how it turns out and everything. I have heard you need to wash it off first to get the dust off, my question is how do you know that the carbon is ready to be used to clean your spirits. Also I have heard of useing a coffee filter with it, does that make a diffrence? Can I use cheese cloth as well? If the spirits that are ran through the carbon come out darker does that mean the carbon isn't clean enough?
Thanks for the help.

[blanikdog]

The search function is sometimes a bit difficult I will admit, But the parent site is shit easy. Took me less than a minute to find this http://homedistiller.org/polish.htm#carbon" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow and I never use carbon. There is a wealth of information available here. It just means looking for it and you learn a lot of other stuff.

[MOUSE]

The search function is sometimes a bit difficult I will admit, But the parent site is shit easy. Took me less than a minute to find this http://homedistiller.org/polish.htm#carbon" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow and I never use carbon. There is a wealth of information available here. It just means looking for it and you learn a lot of other stuff.

And just look at all those plastic tubes being used.

The first time you use the carbon, wash it first with warm water.
If you don't your alcohol will turn black from all the carbon dust created by the granules grinding together.

[blanikdog]

Well I'll be buggered!!!! Plastic every where. I'd never taken much notice of it before cos I never use carbon, but I knew it was in the parent site and may help with cleaning the stuff. Gawd!!

How terribly embarrassing

[Samohon]

Take the plunge, learn your cuts, and proper still operation. You will thank yourself.

MuleKicker +1

Plastics are a bad idea. Always run with the majority, that gives way to debate.
As the majority on HD are of the same opinion where plastics are concerned, I'd edge on the side of caution when wanting to use them. I had a friend who kept his hooch at 45% abv in a Heavy plastic .5 liter old consentrated fruit juice bottle. You could actually smell like a burned rubber from it. He has now switched to glass. And he makes a lovely Rye Whiskey.

Barney Fife: Great tip.... If I was going to carbon filter...This is the way I'd go.

But for now I'll learn to make the cuts, recording everything in the hope that, if I do get an exceptional batch, I can at least try and replicate it.

Just my $0.02c worth guy's...

S

[diesel4ever]

I never pre wash my carbon. I just use a natural coffee filter over the mouth of a quart mason jar I use to collect. With my system I leave the coffee filter on the first bottle and that seems to remove all the carbon dust.

[ozone39]

Hate to have my whiskey get replaced with hydrocarbons. , I use carboys that are inverted upside down with an adjustable copper pipe that I can slide to the level I want (out of the sediment) and let gravity do the work.

[drunkmore]

For y'all that want to filter, why not get a foot long length of 1" copper, put a 1" to 1/2" reducer at the end, stuff it with a short but tight wad of SS scrubber(to hold the carbon) and fill it with carbon. Make a nice stand for it(might want to make something that looks like a parrot's beak) and just run your spirits through that. Nice and safe, inexpensive to make, and would look rightly sharp, too!

Theres a small problem with this one barney file
that is that your copper tube is a little on the small side. Your tube needs to be 38mm minimum to beet the "wall efect". what will happen if your tube is too narrow your alcahol will run down the sides of the tube, bypassing the carbon, and as such not getting filtered.
I was hoping to cut and paist my evidence and source but its a protected book.it is a free download tho.
Activated carbon for purification of alcahol book (if you copy and paiste that into google search it comes upas the first result)

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