Filtering near-pure alcohol - suggestions?

[tbessie]

Hi all...

I'm not a distiller, but am making some home liqueurs from 95% alcohol (Everclear) and herbs/spices.

I have a need to filter my concoctions to remove fine particles, and have been looking around; I saw various wine and beer targeted filtering systems, and ended up getting this one:

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/vintage- ... ilter.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

However, I was wary of the plastic it was made from, so I tested it by dumping a cup of alcohol into the main container and letting it sit for a couple of days.

After evaporating the alcohol, I found some plastic residue left over - so it had been dissolved. I contacted the distributor (The Vintage Shop), and they said they didn't recommend it for this use (which I don't think is mentioned on any website).

I also contacted the maker of the Buon Vino motorized filtering machines, and they told me they also couldn't guarantee pure alcohol wouldn't damage the plastic/rubber parts inside it (valves mostly), nor that sparks from the engine might not set the alcohol on fire.

Can anyone recommend a good way of filtering out particulate around 20-50 microns from pure alcohol in a way that won't dissolve anything?

- Tim

[ga flatwoods]

Refrigeration than a coffee filter.
Ga

[tbessie]

Refrigeration than a coffee filter.
Ga

I may try the coffee filter option again - I last tried it before I filtered through cheesecloth after some sediment had dropped, so it might be more easily filterable now. Still, it would be nice to have an option that didn't take many hours like coffee filters have for me.

Why the refrigeration?

- Tim

[kekedog13]

I stuff cotton balls into the neck of a funnel then slowly pour you're product through it. Experiment with how tight to pack it and cotton is cheap so repeat if necessary.

[ga flatwoods]

Refrigeration causes the particles to settle. Be careful pouring it off and all sediment will stay till the last little bit. Has worked for me before.
GA

[tbessie]

Thanks folks - I ended up using an industrial sized coffee filter in a big cone-shaped colander. It still took quite awhile to get it all through, though having previously filtered through fine cheesecloth seems to have sped it up a bit.

Still, some kind of pumping filter would be great if I could find a cost-effective one that was safe.

- Tim

[Prairiepiss]

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 90&start=0

[tbessie]

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 90&start=0

Ahhhh, lovely! Now I just have to build the thing.

I was hoping for some kind of pre-built system with fancy filters, but it looks like that would do. I might even be able to re-use some of the filters that came with the alcohol-soluble-plastic-(FAIL) filtering system I bought. :-/

- Tim

[TDS]

The particles might be too fine for this but you could probably modify it.

http://texasprocesstechnologies.com/sto ... ct200.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[tbessie]

The particles might be too fine for this but you could probably modify it.

http://texasprocesstechnologies.com/sto ... ct200.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Hmm, interesting. Yeah, it looks too big (unless there is a filter that fits into that contraption that is finer). But thanks for the idea!

- Tim

[Shae]

I know this is a late response, but I once worked in a lab where we had a vacuum pump to suck moisture out of a paste on top of a paper filter. The pump hooked up to an erlenmeyer flask with a port near the top for the vacuum tube. With a well designed cap of some sort and a large enough flask (not sure I'd trust a carboy), you should be able to make something similar work to pull the alcohol through the paper filter, leaving the sludge behind.

This has a hand pump (http://www.amazon.com/Filter-Set-Up-Vac ... B007RO22QM), but should work fine, since the funnel is ceramic, not plastic.