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I hae been trying to get rid of the charcoal from two gallons of vodka. I bought activated charcoal from a brewery supplier and it works great at getting rid of off tastes but the vodka is still black.
I washed the charcoal in a bucket with a hose running through it for almost a half hour, Looked like all the fines were gone.
I put it all in a gallon jug, approx half full of the charcoal, added the vodka to it, swirled it for a few minutes and poured it off through a double layer of coffee filters, (twice).
The vodka is so black you can't see through it. After sitting for a week, there is a fine layer of black on the bottom of the jug but it is still as black as ever.
I am debating with myself over getting a plastic 40 dollar wine filter, (how would it react to 40% ABV?) or using a brass, pressurized filter from work that has a 3 1/2 inch hardened paper filter. It only does 350 ml at a time so it would take a while.
No one else seems to have this problem. What am I doing wrong? Too much charcoal?
Nemo

I do not use charcoal, so it's hard to advise, I was of the opinion that the spirit was passed through the carbon to filter out impurities, not putting carbon into the spirit container, but its my bet that it wasn't rinsed properly to get rid of all of the residue. If you put the carbon into a cotton bag and wash it through with a hose pipe until all the residue has gone and the water is running clear, then you will have less a risk of doing the same as you have been doing

OD

let it sit. it will settle out. it may take some time, a week or more, maybe. just don't touch it for some time.
it will clear.

then decant.

as for your charcoal... i had the same problem. i don't use storebought charcoal now. i just don't need it. The booze I make now is plenty good without it. but if you want to use activated charcoal then maybe... fill a gallon jug 1/4 full of the charcoal and then fill the jug with warm water. shake the crap out of it. did it turn black? if so, pour off the black liquid and repeat as necessary until it is clear. you will remove all of the smaller particles that way.

But in a "chimney" or pipe type carbon filtration system, it would not matter so much. So I'm told because I have never had one.

I know it will settle out but maybe you can get instant gratification by increasing the effeciency of your filter. perhaps cotton between the paper filters? a paper towel instead of one of the paper filters? obviously the coffee filter weave is too big for the fine carbon.

Maybe someone else here can tell us the best ABV to add charcoal to. I'm thinking that you should clean and polish it before you cut it with water. in other words, polish it at higher proof.

Fester

As Fester says. Granulated activated carbon is good for suckin out things at high ABV and the best way to filter is to let it settle and then decant.

1. There's no better filter than letting it all settle out over a few weeks and then decanting.

2. The pre-preparation of the carbon can be done in conjunction with 1. Let those micro carbon particles do their work and then filter them off all in one go at the end.

Unscented 2 ply toilet paper 10-12 layers lining a funnel fill it let it drip refill till done can't get shit thru it but you can get clear thru

I'd go with SC, especially the unscented bit. I fell for that trap many years back and it finished up being the most horrible half gallon of perfumed likker imaginable.

I forget what I did with it, probably tossed it. It was vile!!!!!

blanik

Heh, had a chuckle over this. Told my wife and she said, "Mmm...Absolut Charmin*"


*for non-mericans, Charmin is a popular TP brand, to localize the joke, insert your favorite brand, maybe "Absolut Sorbent"?

Thanks guys,
I am on the way out of town for two weeks soon so I will check on it when I get back. If not acceptable by then I'll try the toilet paper filter. I have a large funnel lined with fiberglass screen just for that. I aso have a 3 foot piece of 1.5 inch PVC pipe I have been meaning to dump that carbon into. It may help prevent future problems.
I'll let you all know how it comes out.
Nemo

I don't use charcol filtering, neither Turbo yeasts.

I learned from this forum that your booze have to be good enough after stilling, if you need to carbon filter you made something wrong during fermenting or distilling.