Charcoal Filtering

[islandrunner]

Thinking about making enough oak charcoal to put in a 1/2 gallon SS pot with holes in the bottom and running my product through it. Will this do anything or not, Thanks

[Dnderhead]

charcoal can reduce hardness with out removing too much flavors.
if you dont rinse it good it can add a bit of"smoky" flavors
I would suggest not to drill to many holes in bottom
as you want product to stay in contact as long as possible.

[Bagasso]

I use charcoal to filter and it does make a difference. I read a military manual that said that if activated carbon was not available that ground charcoal could be used to filter water but it needed to ba a much larger amount.

I use about half a cup of charcoal that I have put through a corona mill with about 2mm gap at the plate per liter. It is messy but I think it is worth it. Also you don't need to drill holes in a good pot. Just dump the charcoal and stir a couple times a day for a couple of days. Then just let settle and take off the top.

It would probably be a good idea to wash the charcoal in a kitchen sieve or something like that to get rid of the fine dust because it seems to just hang in the liquid. I usually filter my low wines so I don't bother because the likker run takes care of that.

[islandrunner]

2MM must almost be dust, Am I right on this. Thanks for the help.

[Bagasso]

I do get alot of dust because charcoal is soft but most of it ends up looking like corse sand. Since you will be running finished likker throught it I would suggest you wash it out until all that is left is granulated. I have poured unwashed charcoal dust and all into low wines and the finer stuff never seems to fully settle. Not a problem with low wines because the spirit run leaves all the dust in the boiler but not something you would want in your finished product. Also I get just the slightest hint of color, like a light chamomile tea.

I have also regenerated it by heating in a toaster oven until it reaches about 600ºF but it makes a big stink as it releases everything it has taken out of likker and was asked why I didn't just by fresh charcoal.

Like I said I use it cause I don't have activated carbon available.