Activated charcoal filtering - before or after wood aging

[doug293cz]

What are your thoughts on the best time to filter distilled spirits thru activated charcoal? I've only experimented with using a Brita filter (new) post oak aging, and it reduced harshness noticeably. What are your experiences, or general wisdom. about whether it is better to filter before or after oaking?

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[Paradactal]

On a commercial level we will filter through after aging and cut to at least 90 proof

 

[brewbama]

About an hour north of here they distill, charcoal filter, then age in oak barrels. They call it the Lincoln County Process.

 

[bracconiere]

not sure if it actually made a difference, but i charred my oak stick for aging with a torch over a steam bath.....so that the oak was activated carbon? think i saw that how JD chars their barrels or something.....

edit: i believe 'activated' just means more surface area, and charring the oak in steam, creates more surface area, so my vote is during aging.....

 

[Toxxyc]

Won't a charcoal filter change the colour of the end product though? I've bought activated charcoal powder that I used before, but the distillate got pitch black, clogged up a coffee filter and I had to distill the whole shebang again because it was a dark grey colour. Not really appealing.

Will it make a difference if I use one of those water jug filters? Or charcoal bits? Maybe rinsed in water beforehand?

 

[doug293cz]

The water jug filters don't seem to affect the color much.

How long did you wait for the charcoal powder to settle out? Where did you purchase the powder? I would expect charcoal powder sold by distillery suppliers would be size so that it would settle out in a reasonable amount of time.

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[Toxxyc]

It was sold by a LHBS, yes. It is a super, super fine powder. I added the powder to the distillate and let it sit for a week. Then I cold crashed the distillate because it didn't settle out. A week there. It didn't work. Then I fined it with gelatin in order to speed up the settling. Another week. Nothing better. The powder is literally like a powder. A super fine powder. I think it's supposed to be used between the stripping and the spirit run, actually, considering that's how I managed to get it out. Made a mess in the still though.

Hey maybe I'll do my current distillate with it. I have to distill it again anyway.

 

[Jayjay1976]

Did you try something like polyclar to drop the carbon? I havent bothered with carbon at all, a few weeks aging on a bunch of toasted white oak seems to mellow things out to me, and adds tons of smooth flavor as well. Some might say its over oaked but I enjoy it that way.

I did manage to scorch an AG batch a while back, I believe it was because I used a beer yeast which left some sugars behind, also I wasn't patient enough to let the it clear on its own, then to top it off I wasn't careful enough when racking to the boiler which all added up to a cloudy mess and a strong burnt flavor that will likely never age out. Its been on a bunch of charred oak for several months now, if that doesn't clean it up I'll try carbon filtering. If that doesn't do it I guess the toilet can have it.

I'm on to LME now, fermented with premier blanc and then polyclar.

 

[Toxxyc]

I tried a few fining agents, but none removed that fine charcoal powder. So I distilled it out.

I have to be honest though, I'm not sure how much need there actually is for the carbon. I distill pretty well now, and my spirit is pretty smooth anyway (I cut quite wide for the foreshots and heads). Think I'll try it anyway, but with bit and pieces of carbon this time, instead of the fine powder.

Or I'll try the fine powder before the spirit run, after the stripping run. Yes, that sounds like a good idea. Powder between strip and spirit.

 

[Uncle Tom]

I used carbon when I first started many years ago. But after years of learning to make good cuts I no longer filter. I age on french oak chips in 5 gallon glass carboy at 120 proof . I filter through a coffee filter to get any debris out, then cut to 80- 100 proof depending on taste. When I did use carbon I boiled on stove put it in a funnel with screen poured water over it then would let that sit overnight before using.

 

[Snickers]

In my experience I have resolved to use charcoal/activated carbon in every run through the still when making neutrals and/or whisky/bourbon. I fabricated a filter funnel basket that hangs under my condenser output. I do this for both stripping and spirit runs. I'm assured a pretty clean outcome. Also I prefer to age in the jar as apposed to the barrel. Results are faster and can control color easier. The only times I don't filtet on the still is 3rd runs for creating flavored batches through the thumper, but that's just me.

 

[doug293cz]

In my experience I have resolved to use charcoal/activated carbon in every run through the still when making neutrals and/or whisky/bourbon. I fabricated a filter funnel basket that hangs under my condenser output. I do this for both stripping and spirit runs. I'm assured a pretty clean outcome. Also I prefer to age in the jar as apposed to the barrel. Results are faster and can control color easier. The only times I don't filtet on the still is 3rd runs for creating flavored batches through the thumper, but that's just me.

I like the idea of a filter column on the still output. Saves having to do a separate operation.

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