jasonc2861 wrote:Quote "Another method I have tried is woodchip on finished spirit in a carboy so it goes a whiskey colour (a week is all that's needed if ample chip is used).
Mark,,what woodchips do u use for soaking this mate,?,would like to try it,,doing a weetbix special today from ur recipe.thanks heaps. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
The wood chip goes by the name English Oak, or European Oak, or French Oak. The botanical name is Quercus robur. It's a common street tree in the older streets of Canberra, and I've seen it in Melbourne too. If the council does the street tree work keep an eye out as the heart wood on docked limbs is what you want provided it has seasoned (dried out). The brew shops sell it as chips in packs too.
On a smaller run 3 table spoons of chip can colour up 5 litres of ~50% abv in about week. A handful would do it in 3 days. You want a mix of watered down spirit so it can dissolve out a wide spectrum of the wood's organic compounds. You can recycle your chip if you add some more new chip. But be aware that used wet chip can leach a lot faster than new dry chip which may take a day or more to sink and then leach. If your aim is carbon colour stripping then over-wooding is unlikely to be a problem, as opposed to wooding a spirit base for essence use.
On new carbon first rinse it under the tap in a stainless steel colander to wash the dust out before sitting the whiskey coloured spirit on it. Otherwise you'll have a huge task later on running it all through no end of coffee filters or cotton balls removing the carbon dust load. Next, add the wet rinsed carbon to the carboy so make sure the spirit is not too dilute.
Don't agitate the carboy or you'll create a fines/dust problem by excessively breaking up the carbon. Leave the carboy alone and wait. You will first see a clear vodka layer form above the carbon sediment and slowly this will increase to the surface until the whiskey colour is gone. When colourless pour off slowly (to avoid stirring up the carbon layer), or rack, to another carboy. Then filter through coffee filter paper in a stainless steel funnel to catch remaining carbon fines. It's a long process taking months to clear but this makes superb vodka.
To recycle/recharge the carbon, wash it in hot water through a stainless steel colander and then pressure cook, rinse, repeat. After 2 pressure cooks and rinses, drain and load to a baking dish left in the sun to dry, or place in an oven on low. Fan forced oven is best. Store in an air tight sealed container to avoid it absorbing airborne odours. Buying new packs is unnecessary. Stone carbon can be recharged indefinitely, or at least until the particle size breaks down to unusable fines.