Should you filter your liquor? Charcoal vs Activated Carbon

[@BeardedBored]

Awesome test, broer! I've never seen a side by side like this to get a definitive result. Thanks for answering a question I've had for a long time:-) Also, CONGRATS ON BREAKING THROUGH 10,000 SUBSCRIBERS!!!👍👍🍺🍺

[@BEAVERDIY]

Thanks brother, so glad I broke the 10k mark, thanks for all the inspiration. Yeah, the charcoal vs carbon thing comes up alot so Thought a test will be good to try...

[@jeraldt1649]

Yes, a preparing charcoal video would be GREAT!!!!!

[@AgeWhiskey]

Great video Beaver! Yes please make the video on lump charcoal filtering.

[@BEAVERDIY]

Awesome will do thanks brother

[@RiggerBrew]

I know Jack Daniels uses charcoal, would be interesting to see how you prep store bought lump coal and prep it for filtering.

[@realCriticalthinker]

JDaniels does filtering before aging which is where the charred barrels flavor the whiskey

[@jschreiweis]

It would be good to see more about carbon filtering and fusal alcohols/oils. Every homebrew shop I have been into says, "yes! you MUST carbon filter ALL your spirits for safeties sake!" Whilst there is good merit for what they are saying, it definitely leaves a lot out of the argument.

[@eva03200]

Please do a video for preparing charcoal for filtering, thanks.

[@Frogmobile52]

Great vid! Luv your accent Where from??

[@stevenkeogh]

Yuh

[@tedbullpit6164]

So I have a question for you about ageing I've made rum with molasses and have now put someone barrel Timber by sliced in with it how long will it take do you think to come good and occasionally open the lid and is that all I really need to do to make a good run

[@StillBehindTheBench]

Great video, I like how you did a comparison to normal charcoal as well. It really shows how effective activated carbon can be.

[@tomchristensen2914]

I have cleaned my activated charcoal about 15 times heating it, draining it and rinse and still clouds water... is there a. Enter way to get it clean

[@stillworksandbrewing]

Hey Beaver great info and congrats on the 10,000. cheers

[@BEAVERDIY]

Thank you brother you are close too...

[@thealembicdiary1814]

Thanks for the knowledge. All you guys are helping me learn my way around this craft!!

[@BEAVERDIY]

Thank you David

[@mohammedabushoog4898]

Do charcoal video preparation please

[@ds9902]

How you prepare your charcoal please show a video

[@paulsapper]

Hey Beaver great video, I’ve been wondering about the charcoal filtering also. I would be interested in a follow up video of the correct way to prepare the charcoal. Thanks bro and have a awesome day

[@BEAVERDIY]

Thank you Paul Will get video out ASAP

[@paulsapper]

@@BEAVERDIY No rush Beaver Congratulations on the 10k milestone, your channel has a lot of awesome videos and information. I see things are getting wild over there. Stay safe bro

[@workhardplayhard801]

Surface area of activated charcoal in a single teaspoon is equal to 300 ft by 150 ft or a football field

[@FEROCIOUS60]

thanks for the video .. great content ..... r u from boston ? i seen u in that tv show .. breaking bad .... and some comedy specials.... very funny ...

[@evatatus]

Taste and smell is relative*

[@Suzukidave]

I followed George’s advice and purchased several pounds of the 20/50 carbon and it works great 👍🏻

[@orientalmagitheartofninku7888]

I am working on flavoring Cannabis plants. So I am using coal to filter preservative poison. I put my flavor into white distilled vinegar and shake and let sit for a few days to a month. Then I put coal into a bottle and fill that bottle with my flavored vinegar solution and let sit for one to three days with a closed lid. After the soak I then put a hole in the lid and squeeze out all of the solution. I hope this to be a preservative and fake sugar poison erase solution. 😊 Or at least to reduce. My current projects are Root beer Afghani, Green Apple Sherbert, Chocolate GMO Cookies, and Cherry Alien. And with this solution a measurement of one tablespoon to one gallon brings about a 6.5-6.2 pH

[@quatre1559]

Hope your safe brother. Keep at the craft, loving your videos as always.

[@BEAVERDIY]

Thanks brother

[@HuntingHeresy]

Charred oak spirals work beautifully on cheap whiskeys to mellow out the harshness but retain the flavor. Just pop one in a bottle and let it sit a week. The longer you let it sit, the mellower it gets. It's surprising how quickly it works.

[@diederikmader2946]

If I make brandy and filter it, won’t it remove most of the flavour? Is it worth the smoothness? Do you filter your grape juice and raisin brandy? Do you know if richelieue is filtered? I am trying to replicate richelieue, but the french oak gives it a diff taste. Natural french oak Aged at 54% Your brandy recipe with raisins and grape juice A bit too much raisin flavour. Will leave more tails next time. Have you gotten close to richelieue? Any tips?

[@BEAVERDIY]

Hi Diederik, The rich smooth taste of Richelieue, is hard to get to the closest I have come was with 25% white raisins and 10% black, with grape juice and no sugar, did not boil the raisins before hand and aged on AM oak and FR oak,

[@diederikmader2946]

@@BEAVERDIY thanks. Do you mean instead of sugar and water you just add juice to fill to 20l. If you say 25% and 10% raisins, is that 25% and 10% of what?

[@BEAVERDIY]

@@diederikmader2946 the volume of wash

[@imadhowayek6124]

Great informations can u please tell us how to prepare the charcoal

[@gerhardferreira9302]

Baie geluk met jou kanaal 10 000 👍👍👍. Is nice om 'n Suid Afrikaner te he op you tube met soveel kennis.

[@BEAVERDIY]

Dankie my vriend

[@stevevet3652]

I filter my tails with the activated charcoal. After it's clean, I then use the fluid to cut my proof.

[@digitaldominatrix]

cool idea! I'll give this a shot on my next run.

[@charlesdovey9449]

Hi Beaver. Would love to know how to prepare normal braai charcoal. Interesting to see Bearded & Bored is here.

[@robertfontaine3650]

The idea of using a not terribly efficient filter (charcoal) to clean up something a little bit is smart. It's certainly easier than running it through the pot still a second time. On the other hand I'd probably just put it aside and throw it back in the pot the next time I made the same style of whiskey rather than trying to filter it down to a flavor. This definitely gives you another set of levers to use when trying to achieve a flavor though and maybe someone much smarter than me, Jack Daniels, can make it into something that is great.

[@ulises.valdez]

charcoal is for bbq. and likker is for drink. please make me change my mind. second video great job

[@soniarani3123]

how to prepare my charcoal plz make video

[@smrettpecca]

Great Content as allways! Even If i don't like filtered likkers. 😎😂😂😂😂. You should give a Life sing more often. Stay safe, Matey. 🍻😉👍

[@BEAVERDIY]

Thanks Pecca, Yeah don't filter either, but the question comes up alot, looking at doing a live stream soon.

[@keenanwilliams2657]

Great video brother!!! I just saved, liked, and subscribed off this one vid. Very informative & detailed. Thanks for the knowledge!!!!!

[@BEAVERDIY]

Thanks Keenan

[@ahmeddwella5279]

Please tell me if we can remove tyramine from local liquors

[@BEAVERDIY]

Ahmed, Not 100% sure about that did some research and the size of the Tyramine should be captured in the stone carbon media.

[@mackemsruleFTM]

I'd like to see how you prepare your charcoal. but you filter it before aging

[@BEAVERDIY]

Hi Michael Yes absolutely I just filtered the aged to add a visual effect for reverence

[@Ansis99]

Hi, Beaver! I use "drip" filter. 1-2 drops per 1 second method. Of course I use activated carbon. I know - American moonshiners use charcoal for filtering and like in your video they drip on to the carbon when product comes out of condenser. P.S. I think "drip" method is much better! 🥃

[@BEAVERDIY]

Yes the slower you filter the better the end result.

[@Ansis99]

@@BEAVERDIY :)

[@ShibuDarren]

could you please provide the link for the charcoal preparation video?

[@MB120478]

Thank you for a great explanation.

[@HodgyE5]

Great video thanks. I hope you and your family is safe. Thanks again, Cheers

[@BEAVERDIY]

Thank you Hodgy.

[@yoguimasterof69]

Maybe would be a good idea to mention that filter should be done before "aging".

[@BEAVERDIY]

True that, sorry should have said that

[@zacharyhottell8251]

Yes let us know how to do it.

[@stamsmile3541]

ผมมาจกไทยแลนด์ สรุุป แบบไหน ดีกว่ากันครับ ฟังแล้วแปลภาษาไม่รู้

[@mikeanzarouth518]

Thanks for the instruction.

[@tomblankendaal3228]

Good Info to have. Nice, short and to the point. More tools to add to our list. And yes, it would be great if you could share how you prepared your charcoal.

[@BEAVERDIY]

Will do thanks

[@marcelcrous1141]

Awesome video!

[@hannesdewit6340]

Wys ASB how bery jjy die charcoal, thanks

[@BEAVERDIY]

Shap sal een maak

[@StarChildX8]

I heard you can only filter 100 proof or lower with activated carbon. Is that true?

[@BEAVERDIY]

Hi Xavier, True and false, this will depend on what you are trying to filter out, heavier oils will be filter out at higher ABV, Higher ABV will allow you to take some of the spiky flavor out and keep the deeper flavors.

[@timothyjones9430]

Im struggling with the "need or desire" to filter a distilled spirit.... What undesired particles are you are you trying to extract from the spirit? I do agree when you say "If you over shoot your flavors" that would be an example to filter. But otherwise? It would seem to me, your filter process only extracts desirable flavors. A smoother whisky could be made by adding a little glycerol.. Filtering out the flavors seems counter productive to me. Good video though. Gave me some food for thought.

[@BEAVERDIY]

Hi Timothy, I completely agree with you on the filter, I have yet to have had the need to filter my product, I think if I were to attempted a vodka that has no flavor it might be an option.

[@timothyjones9430]

@@BEAVERDIY OK.... now im wondering how filtering a non-flavor vodka helps to filter for flavor. A "carbon" filter removes particles. Ethanol is our target distil by temperature. Its not a particle. Particles are the impurities in the distillate that adds the flavor... how does filtering an unflavored vodka improve the taste? IM an engineer that is probably an expert on filtration.. BUT I am not an expert on distillation of spirits .So when I ask questions... I genuinely dont know the answer...lol..... Im just asking to learn from someone with more experience. So I humbly ask what you think when you say filter if no flavor.. Because I dont get it. Than you. PS: I also understand there is an art process here that I may never understand. Art and engineering dont always agree. So I am all ears...

[@BEAVERDIY]

@@timothyjones9430 when distilling a vodka the aim is to get it as pure as possible, distilling it to as close to Isotopes as possible, zero flavor, but no matter how well you your setup can strip flavor you will always have some flavor compounds pushing into the final product, as one can only really distill to around 95% so to remove the last remaining flavor brands like Absolut filter the spirit 3 times once even chilled to below freezing, this removes all flavor and leaves a product that is devoid of flavor.

[@timothyjones9430]

@@BEAVERDIY Vodka is primarily a potato mash where as a distilled sugar wash is primarily a target neutral sprit. Are you saying..... that in a perfect world . there would be no difference between a potato mash vodka and a sugar wash? IM saying IF ....the world was perfect and target distillation was perfect? All conditions perfect... The target distillates from a potato mash and sugar wash would be equal? If your answer is yes... Its going to kill my thoughts on using sweet potato's for my next batch. lololo . May as well dump pure sugar. Its simpler and cleaner. Damn it.. I just planted a 1/4 acre of sweet potato's to make vodka.!

[@BEAVERDIY]

@@timothyjones9430 yes and no, Vodka was made with a Potato based mash, but the vast majority of vodka is now distilled from Grains much easier to convert starch and can be stored in large volumes for long periods of time, however potato based vodka is still a thing but mainly as a nostalgic type of spirit. To answer your question regarding a sugar v a convert product, it will come down to more factors than just flavor, in labs when the test for flavor change they use a neutral wine I.E. sugar wash but mainly dextrose super clean ferment easy sugar for yeast to consume. So yes if you are going for flavorless a sugarwash will get you close quickly, but for mouth feel, texture and over all drink ability a convert will beat a sugar wash easy, so no you did not waste your time on the sweet potato it will give you a far better product than a sugar wash.

[@digschopper9321]

Well done!

[@tamertamer4930]

Does Activated Carbon effect the alcohol percentage with wine ?

[@BEAVERDIY]

Yes the ABV does drop if you filter.

[@tamertamer4930]

@@BEAVERDIY thanks 👍

[@dopstjom701]

R.I.P. peated whiskey 😞

[@mauistevebear]

Doesn't filtering not only strip flavors but also lower the ABV?

[@Suzukidave]

It does seem to remove a bit of taste and maybe a point or so of abv but in return it makes your product so smooth .

[@SamoesADIY]

Nice video. Ek het altyd net activated carbon gebruik. Sal bietjie charcoal ook probeer. Thanks man.

[@BEAVERDIY]

Dankie my friend, wag vir jou volgende een

[@Suzukidave]

Jack Daniels has been charcoal filtering there product forever .

[@BasharatHussain-md3ge]

It's always important to filter the moonshine not the aged whiskey