activated carbon

Post by **Uncle Jesse** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 2:08 pm

from the old message boards:

Seadog
03/12/04 12:41 PM
subject: Activated Carbon

I've seen and heard quite a bit about commercial distilleries filtering with wood charcoal such as birch, other forms of carbon, or whatever.

How is this different then filtering with "activated" carbon? Is there such thing as deactivated carbon, or carbon which has not yet been activated? How would the carbon from my fireplace, or that which I specifically made be any different than the carbon I could buy?

Blanchy
03/12/04 01:29 PM
Re: Activated Carbon [re: Seadog]

The activation process involves blowing steam through the charcoal. It cleans it up and opens the pores to get more surface area. Regular charcoal will work to remove some flavors, mostly in the feints region. Activated charcoal does the same thing but more so. I personally add charcoal to the small kegs that I have for aging whiskey because I can't find small kegs with the interior charred. I make my own oak charcoal for this by taking oak chips, wrapping them in aluminum foil and cooking them outside.

Chuck

Tinman
03/12/04 05:22 PM
Re: Activated Carbon [re: Blanchy]

Chuck,
How big a cast you use? I have a 5 gal stainless (soda can) I was thinking of using to age the hooch. Do you think Royal Oak natural wood chip (already toasted) would work? If so, how many little pieces would one use for 3 gals at 80 proof?
late,
tinman

Blanchy
03/13/04 03:07 PM
Re: Activated Carbon [re: Tinman]

I don't know, I just chunk everything into a 2 gallon wooden keg and then add charcoal and wood chips until the flavor is right. If you're not in a big hurry, throw in about 1/2 cup of wood chips and some charcoal and then taste in a month. You can always add more.

Chuck