Filtering Spirits

[kwinchee]

hi everybody
i was just wondering weather on not i need to filter spirits
like is it a sterilization thing or is it just for tast




drink up :chug: :chug: :chug: :chug: :chug: :chug: :chug:

 

[roach]

it is largely for taste. in general terms unfiltered spirit is undrinkable. likely to make you crook as well.

 

[Slight]

Even if you have a high distillation purity rate?

 

[roach]

Slight,
hence my qualification "in general terms", if your purity rate is high then it might be acceptable. however i would always filter with activated carbon to get it as 'clean' as possible. just tasting it will tell you straight away whether it needs filtering

cheers
roach

 

[Justin]

Even with a good reflux still with a long column you'll get some flavours and smells carrying over unless you are really meticulous with temps and take product really, really slowly. None of them will make you sick (as long as your not being too greedy and your making the cuts at the right places-read easy to do) but your product will still be a little smelly. You could do a double distillation (ie. run it through again) or let it sit on carbon. In my opinion it's far better to let the spirit sit on the carbon than filter it, it just basically comes down to how carbon works, it's about contact time. The longer the spirit is in contact with the carbon the more time it has to soak up smells and off flavours. Two weeks usually does it.

I add a good tablespoon per litre straight into the bottle, however firstly I will boil the carbon in water on the stove then pour off the excess water and then add it. This just drives off any off flavours that may already be in the carbon and rehydrates it so it's ready to get to work.

Read www.homedistiller.org for all the info you could want in all aspects of distillation.

Cheers, JD

 

[kwinchee]

ok kewl but wat can i use to filter it i dont want to spend 70 on a z filter
so is there something els

 

[roach]

you can place the unfiltered spirit in a bucket and add the tablespoon of acvtivated carbon per litre as Justin suggests(rehydrate it first tho). Give it a good stir twice a day and after 2 weeks it will have cleaned it up a fair bit.

then you could pour the spirit off the carbon into your your own homemade type z filter, and there are plenty of links/suggestions on www.homedistiller.org. Justin is the guru when it comes to essential oils

 

[roach]

ps - should water down the spirit to at least 50% abv first so the carbon can do its work

 

[kwinchee]

well ok kewl thanks im not using a still coz i dont wanna spend 200 im tight so il just make 20% and justin how do u make essential oils