# charcoal filtering-apple jack



## rocdoc (Mar 30, 2010)

I've been fractionalizing (freeze distilling) cider to an alcohol level of 25% and am interested in treating it with charcoal to reduce "impurities" and possibly mellow it a bit. Are there any suggestions out there as to how this might be done? Would charcoal water filters do anything? Thanks.


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## rawlus (Mar 30, 2010)

charcoal will remove pretty much everything, just so you know. taste, aroma, flavor, etc. if you are looking to create pure spirits, that's the way to go - if not, i would not recommend it.

one method if going ahead with it would be to use a charcoal 10" cartridge type filter in a typical 10" whole house filtration system setup - either push or pull the wine through that with gas or vacuum.


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## Mud (Mar 30, 2010)

Freeze distilling is a felony. It's moonshining, sir. Just so you know. 

Activated carbon is what's used in commercial vodka production to remove taste. Charcoal is a less effective material that does a similar thing. Neither will remove any of the lower alcohols that cause hangovers, but it should remove the apple flavor. I'd suggest making a good cider and fortifying with good vodka. 

By the way, apple is notorious for producing a lot of methanol and lower alcohols. Apple jack is going to give you a sore head if you drink much.


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## sjzalew (Mar 30, 2010)

rocdoc,
I've watched them charcoal filter Jack Danials at their distillary here in Tennessee, they have 1/2 cooper pipes criscrossed over a vat about 30ft in diamater and 20ft tall, the whiskey drips slowly from the pipes over the charcoal, after that they barrel it.


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## Luc (Apr 1, 2010)

Charcoal and active coal removes colour and acid.

I tried it because a winemaking magazine author suggested it for removing colour in a dark wine to easily test acidity. Another author spoke against it.
So I HAD to test it:

http://wijnmaker.blogspot.com/2009/02/zuurmeten-deel-3-aktieve-kool-measuring.html

Coal removes too much from a wine.

Not a good idea in my opinion.

However I have heard rumours that wines with a lot of alcohol are treated with coal to remove all colour, flavor etc, and are then infused with herbs. The result would be called Martini..........
Not sure how valid this is, it was something I read somewhere.

Luc


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