straining

[Shovelhead89]

I am looking for advice on straining my infused flavored booze. When I make my apple pie or pineapple coconut I'm left with alot of sediment in the jars after it cools. Some sinks and some floats. Could be bits of pineapple from the boiling and apple pieces from the cider. I tried a coffee filter but it took hours and hours to fo half a liter and was quite messy. Any tips?

[ShineonCrazyDiamond]

Paper towel. Cotton in a funnel. Vacuum filter.

[Expat]

I know what you mean re coffee filters. I didn't have much better luck with paper towel either. The best filtering results I've seen, regardless of filtering materials, was using my large funnel. The large throat made a huge difference, minutes rather hours. I coffee filter worked well afterwards. More open surface area I suppose.

[Bagasso]

Try a kitchen strainer before the coffee filter.

[jb-texshine]

Old pillow case or t shirt. Or don't add sugar to mixture until after you filter. The sugar makes it viscous and impedes filtering.

[HDNB]

try scott's shop towels. i use the blue ones and they work like a mo fo.

[NZChris]

Decant off the clear, filter the dregs through your liver.

[Teddysad]

I find the discarded cotton panties from the other half work well (washed and clean of course)

...but prepare for squawks if she is still wearing them

[Expat]

[S-Cackalacky]

Here are a couple of links to vacuum filters -
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 90&start=0
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =2&t=42414

I also like the idea of using a ss kitchen strainer for allowing more of the surface area of the coffee filter to be exposed. I've notice that when I use my ss funnel with a coffee filter that, if I lift up the edges of the filter, the flow increases quite a bit. So, providing more surface area might be the trick.

[Expat]

My experience with using a strainer wasn't as good as I had expected. More air surface area but the liquid didn't seem to want to flow, my guess at the time was surface tension. Of course your mileage may vary with sive and filter differences.

I was thinking to try a small collunder if I can find one. Theory being more larger air spaces will increase the flow. Failing finding a small collunder I'm thinking SS bowl and a 1/2" drill bit

[raketemensch]

How fine do you need to go?

http://www.amazon.com/Gallon-Strainer-F ... B002VM8Q56" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

You can find even finer with a good googling.

[Shovelhead89]

How fine do you need to go?

http://www.amazon.com/Gallon-Strainer-F ... B002VM8Q56" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

You can find even finer with a good googling.

That looks perfect, has anyone used one of these?

[Bagasso]

How fine do you need to go?

http://www.amazon.com/Gallon-Strainer-F ... B002VM8Q56" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

You can find even finer with a good googling.

But this is for a finished drop so, high abv, and that strainer is plastic.

[woodshed]

Stuff the spout of your funnel with cheese cloth. Leave it long enough to create a small bed at the top of the spout. Don't pack it too tight.
Easy to rinse and reuse. Have a few pieces and as they slow down replace it.

[corene1]

I also use the cheese cloth and funnel method, with just a little twist. I fold my cheesecloth to make 5 layers. It is the cheap stuff from Smart and Final very open weave. Then I have a screened sieve that fits my funnel perfectly. Lay the cloth in the sieve and pour the liquor through. It keeps the cloth from contacting the side of the funnel and helps move the process along a little quicker since there is more area exposed for the product to pass through. My experience with the coffee filters is that it sets against the sides of the funnel and only a small area passes the liquid.

[Shovelhead89]

How fine do you need to go?

http://www.amazon.com/Gallon-Strainer-F ... B002VM8Q56" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

You can find even finer with a good googling.

But this is for a finished drop so, high abv, and that strainer is plastic.

I think I'll try a couple of these in different sizes https://utahbiodieselsupply.com/filters ... bucket.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Anyone have any idea what size would be good? Maybe a 15 and 5 micron?

[Monkeyman88]

Two or three layers of paper towel in a sieve. Filters almost as fast as you can pour it. Filter into a SS pot, then tip into bottles.

[Bagasso]

Anyone have any idea what size would be good? Maybe a 15 and 5 micron?

Did you try just a mesh kitchen strainer with nothing in it?

I had a banana wash that I had to filter through a pasta strainer, then a mesh kitchen strainer to keep it from instantly clogging a coffee filter.

ETA: Coffee filters are supposed to be about 20 microns. Going smaller will just make it take longer.

[heartcut]

I use a large (Coffee filter size) ss strainer in the top of a 2 gallon Baine Marie (tall, skinny pot) with coffee filters, uses most of the surface area. Cheap filter papers for messy stuff, Chemex brand or lab filter paper for fine stuff like oak char.

[greggn]

When straining my limoncello, I find the trick is to filter into multiple containers in parallel. It's a linear equation ... if it takes 2 hours filtering into a single container then it only takes 1 hour filtering into two or 30 minutes into four.