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Absinthe and Herb Spirits Filtering


Absinthe Pete

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Those of you making absinthe or herbal spirits what kind of filtration system are you using? How much filtering are you doing?

I made a filter out of some 1 1/2" tri clover fittings and then used some cut up Plate filter pads and then used it with a pressure system (two corny kegs and nitrogen). It worked but clogged up in about 30 seconds. Obviously this was just a test system for using with test batches. What I didn't realize is after the coloring step there are tons of minuscule particles in the absinthe. Usually when I make it I use a passive gravity system but for production that's not reasonable.

So what I want to know if what kind of filter system should I be employing and what mesh would filter that small particulate out? I figure I could sieve it with some super fine mesh to remove most of the stuff then run it through a modified plate filter system?

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Those of you making absinthe or herbal spirits what kind of filtration system are you using? How much filtering are you doing?

I made a filter out of some 1 1/2" tri clover fittings and then used some cut up Plate filter pads and then used it with a pressure system (two corny kegs and nitrogen). It worked but clogged up in about 30 seconds. Obviously this was just a test system for using with test batches. What I didn't realize is after the coloring step there are tons of minuscule particles in the absinthe. Usually when I make it I use a passive gravity system but for production that's not reasonable.

So what I want to know if what kind of filter system should I be employing and what mesh would filter that small particulate out? I figure I could sieve it with some super fine mesh to remove most of the stuff then run it through a modified plate filter system?

We use a standard wine 12 plate filter, with 100, then 50, then 20 micron pads. Anything less than 20um and you drop colour.

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What kind of shelf life are you looking for?

Are you measuring the turbidity, going through a filtration process, or just going till it looks ok? The more you filter the longer it will stay bright and clear on the shelf, but the more flavor you take out. you have to weigh the flavor vs. appearance stability length. bottle color and label size can help. large labels and dark glass can help cover floculation issues.

To prevent premature filtration failure I ran product through a steel mesh than several layers of cheese cloth. this pulls out the big stuff and keeps the filters running longer. Stuck with 20 micron plate and frame.

Etohchem

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FYI, absinthe does not behave the way whiskey, vodka, or even beer does in terms of sedimentation. You can have a perfectly brilliant filtrate on the day you bottle .... and have a mm or two of sediment at the bottom of the bottle after it sits for a few weeks.

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I agree with Denver distiller, which is why i suggest using turbidity measurement for a better guage of your filtration efficiency. Although I have seen some successful herbals promote their sedimentation with"shake first before pouring" and pointing out that the sedimentation is flavor.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for all the replies. Since the new forum switched over I didn't realized I wasn't get notifications. That should be solved now.

I took my plate and wine filter, checked the internals of the pump to make sure they were high alcohol tolerant, and they were. Everything's polypropylene and epdm. I changed the hoses to PP as well. The smallest pads I have on hand are 8 micron. I'm going to try that today and do a taste test.

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