Filtration Equipment

[George A]

Hello All,

I was wondering in someone could point me in the right direction on how to filter spices out of the bottom of large 3000 gallon tank. For my big run, I'm going to need to filter about 240 lbs. of spices that will be either suspended in or resting at the bottom of my liqueur. For my small run, I'll need to filter about 35 lbs.

I was thinking of using an eductor to mix the liquid and then filter it immediately after. Does anyone have any advice to offer? I've been doing a lot of research and it doesn't seem like micron filters will work in this instance. I realize I might have to bite the bullet and spend some real money on this filter, I just have no idea what will work for me.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to call me anytime. I'm located in Los Angeles.

George

310-751-8518

[Rich Morgan]

Hello All,

I was wondering in someone could point me in the right direction on how to filter spices out of the bottom of large 3000 gallon tank. For my big run, I'm going to need to filter about 240 lbs. of spices that will be either suspended in or resting at the bottom of my liqueur. For my small run, I'll need to filter about 35 lbs.

I was thinking of using an eductor to mix the liquid and then filter it immediately after. Does anyone have any advice to offer? I've been doing a lot of research and it doesn't seem like micron filters will work in this instance. I realize I might have to bite the bullet and spend some real money on this filter, I just have no idea what will work for me.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to call me anytime. I'm located in Los Angeles.

George

310-751-8518

I would suggest you allow the spices to settle out as much as possible first, the less you pass to the filter, the longer the filter elements will last before either cleaning or replacing. Obviously the coarser th grind of the spice the easier all this will be. To not be fooled in thinking that you need to grind your spices to a super fine powder to get complete extraction.

Depending on what you are trying to make, there are various clarifying agents (flocculants) that will aid settling, PVPP is approved in most countries for use in rum. But be careful, most flocculants or settling agents will also settle out some of the key flavour and colour components. I would then look to a plate filter, they are cheap to reload, effective and can handle a wide range of particle size. I suspect you will have to do several passes, each with a finer degree of element. 240lbs of silt is a lot to remove.

Another approach would be similiar to how the brewers remove the trub from a batch of beer wort. After the sparging, they allow the grains and trub to settle onto a false bottom (a stainless sheet covered with 1/4" holes), then drain the liquor from underneath that. The bed of settled grains acts like a filter membrane, progressivly trapping finer and finer particles as it builds up. This removes most of the particulate, leaving a relativly clean liqiour for the plate filter. I have seen false bottoms covered with two layers of fine muslin, to help the bed get started.

The very very best option (no money spared) would be a cetrifugal spearator, but I doubt your volumes would warrant this expense. I would avoid cartridge filters as they will block up under this load very quickly. DE filters will strip too much flavour components.

There are some really nice, and well priced stainless plate filters brought in from Italy for the small scale wine industry.

rich..

[rlichner]

I would suggest course filtering it then using a centrifuge to remove all particulate in one shot.

[Afilters]

Did you ever figure this out?

I just joined recently I found this thread.

Let me know if I can help.

Alex