powder or granulated carbon?

[detroitdistiller]

what are the pros and cons of using granulated or powder carbon for filtering vodka?

[Doug MacKenzie]

We use granulated. It's messy enough, so I'm sure the powdered is even worse. I think the granulated gives a little more control as well. I fabricated a bucket within a bucket that screws into the lid of a bottling tank and we use a small pump to circulate distillate through. I can usually get two or three 50 gallon batches out of a bucket of carbon.

[coop]

We use granulated. It's messy enough, so I'm sure the powdered is even worse. I think the granulated gives a little more control as well. I fabricated a bucket within a bucket that screws into the lid of a bottling tank and we use a small pump to circulate distillate through. I can usually get two or three 50 gallon batches out of a bucket of carbon.

We use granulated also. I built a filter out of a 55 gallon drum with a screen in the bottom. We use small diaphragm pump to circulate the alcohol. Taking the gpm on the pump to calculate how many times it passed through the carbon. It has 104# in it with a spinning head to disperse the alcohol on top. How much does your filter hold? This would give me an idea how long ours will last. coop

[Doug MacKenzie]

Our filter holds about 2 gallons of carbon. I should clarify my answer from above: the 50 gallons is 190 proof taken down to 120, so it's actually about 80 gallons. We filter to taste but I've calculated that it passes through the carbon 4 to 6 times on average. I mix the carbon between runs (might be tough with 55 gallons) but you probably don't have to because of the spinning head.

[Rich Morgan]

what are the pros and cons of using granulated or powder carbon for filtering vodka?

We have tried both, and granulated is FAR superior in every way, plus you can recycle/re-activate granulated, but not powdered (easily).

Not to mention that powdered is such a mess to use. We only use powdered to correct the colour in some lighter brandies.

rich..

[Robert Cassell]

We have tried both, and granulated is FAR superior in every way, plus you can recycle/re-activate granulated, but not powdered (easily).

Not to mention that powdered is such a mess to use. We only use powdered to correct the colour in some lighter brandies.

rich..

What type of analysis are you using to determine when it is time to change your carbon? I do not have a GC on premise, does anyone know of a methods via spectrophotometer?

[daveflintstone]

I wonder why Norit recommends powdered carbon for spirits? They tell me in a batch process, powdered is the way to go. In fact, there online recommender thingy only indicates powdered.

I used some samples in a lab setting with a filter flask, and it works good. I think filtering with granulated for small test quantities would be difficult.

Does the scale up to 300-500 gallon batches using a plate and frame filter not work well? note--I have never used a plate and frame filter.

It seems to me that simply dumping in the measured amount of powdered carbon, circulating/agitating it, then filtering the carbon out would be easy. Then again, I haven't done it yet.

Am I missing something?