Okay I agree with what 5Star said here earlier. Carbon filtering should in no way be used to cover up poor distilling.
I have used carbon filtering before, but now I am much better with my distilling and find that it is absolutely not needed in your hearts, as they should come out of a reflux without a smell at all..
I do however still use this sometimes, so will share what I use. I have done a few runs where the couple of bottles either side of the hearts are pretty good, just a very slight smell to them, but as I make the cleanest vodka I can, they don't make my cut. So I keep those late heads/hearts mixes and carbon filter them, which then gets used for fruit infusions for liqueurs and the like.
Pretty much all of the filters that people seem to use are plastic or have plastic parts. Even that SS one shown at the top of this thread has a plastic tap does it not? It may just be my jumping on the bandwagon with all the old timers, but no matter the extent to which it has been proven, I don't want my drink touching anything apart from copper, stainless or glass...and that even includes 5 seconds through a plastic funnel as some people don't seem to count as "touching"...
The filter that I use, is the Fuselex spirit filter. It is available in Aus for around $180 mark which is a lot when as most people say, you shouldn't really need it. But if you decide to purchase one like I did earlier on, and aren't worried about the cost of good materials, this is completely stainless all the way through including valves and internal mesh screen.
filter1.jpg
filter2.jpg
The actual column is a bit over a metre long. I buy my Granular Activated Carbon from Clarence water filters, however their spirit filter is basically entirely made of plastic...
I wash it in a big saucepan about 5 or 6 times, until there is no longer any carbon dust.
Then I half fill the saucepan up with water and leave it to soak for 48hrs (24hrs is usually what is recommended).
After this, I drain the water and prepare the filter for the carbon. The small piece at the bottom which contains the valve has a ss mesh screen at the bottom, but I fill this part with the white filter wool stuff, and then on top of that I take about 3 or 4 coffee filter papers and lay over the top.
This part then gets screwed onto the bottom of the column. Holding upright, I pour the wet carbon down the tube until it is filled to the top. It is caught at the bottom by the series of filter papers.
The 3.5L reservoir then screws on top of this, and I usually pour any leftover wet carbon into the top of this reservoir just for that slightly longer contact time, and beats throwing the leftover stuff away...
I position this in the shed onto a hook to hold the weight, and a series of cable ties in different directions to keep it perfectly upright and aligned in all directions (stop channelling down the wall I guess?).
The bottom valve is closed at this point, and the 4 or so litres I leave in there for a few hours or sometimes overnight, where that spirit in the tube is sitting in contact with a tube full of carbon.
The next morning, I crack the tap slightly and pull it out at a slow speed (like 1 or 2 drips per second...into a GLASS container). Each drop from the tube is obviously replaced by one from the top reservoir, so even the stuff that hasn't been sitting in contact overnight, will still probably take 6 - 8 hours to reach it's way to the bottom.
This does take a while (hours, usually overnight or through the day), and I usually put the batch through 3 times, but that's just me and I choose to do it.
I will say that if you have those "close to head cuts" that arent completely perfect and you want to clean them a little, this method is very effective. Although it does reduce the smell and taste of these impurities significantly through the process of adsorbtion, I am fairly sure that any hangover/headache effect will not be removed, so you still want it to be very clean...
Again the stuff I put through like this is still fairly clean, I hold my nose over the jar for a minute working out if I want it or not in my hearts cut....if you can't hold your nose/face over the jar you're thinking of carbon filtering because it burns all the senses in your face...
it's a jar full of liquid shit, so throw it out, or keep it aside to throw in with low wines in the next run, and don't make people drink your fire water. :puke-huge:
All of this aside, nothing beats my hearts cut from the reflux still for a clean vodka. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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