Carbon Filtering
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gtwarren1966
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- Posts: 15
- Joined: Sun Oct 09, 2011 7:47 am
Carbon Filtering
Is this really necessary?
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gtwarren1966
- Novice
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Sun Oct 09, 2011 7:47 am
Re: Carbon Filtering
myles wrote:NO
Ok, does it improve a neutral spirit enough to merit doing it?
Re: Carbon Filtering
Alright I will bite 
You only need to use carbon if you have done something wrong. If you do good cuts then you honestly dont need it.
I may be a cynic but it seems to me that the folks that advocate the use of carbon, also recommend turbo yeast and fast fermentation to high ABV. Under those conditions with stressed yeasts you will need carbon.
Gentle fermentation to 8 or 10% with any standard recipe will give you a clean fermentation with minimal off tastes. Conservative cuts will give you a high quality product. Don't bother trying to salvage every last drop of alcohol - far better to just ferment a second batch and be selective with what you wish to drink.
Worst case scenario - just collect everything, dilute it and run it again. It will only cost you a bit of wasted energy.
You only need to use carbon if you have done something wrong. If you do good cuts then you honestly dont need it.
I may be a cynic but it seems to me that the folks that advocate the use of carbon, also recommend turbo yeast and fast fermentation to high ABV. Under those conditions with stressed yeasts you will need carbon.
Gentle fermentation to 8 or 10% with any standard recipe will give you a clean fermentation with minimal off tastes. Conservative cuts will give you a high quality product. Don't bother trying to salvage every last drop of alcohol - far better to just ferment a second batch and be selective with what you wish to drink.
Worst case scenario - just collect everything, dilute it and run it again. It will only cost you a bit of wasted energy.
Re: Carbon Filtering
I have run sugar washes up to 14%, and probably higher a time or two, using bakers yeast, and have never had spirits that required carbon filtering... If my spirits were to ever come out nasty, due to improper cuts, from smearing due to running too fast, or for whatever reason, I'd just dilute and re-run... Water is the best and cheapest filter out there - which is the crux of distillation... If you leave the nasties behind in the boiler, or capture them by making proper cuts, then you've mastered stilling... Don't get comfortable using a crutch, activated carbon in this case, if you don't need it... Plus it's more fun to watch spirits drip out of a still than out of a filter... 