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