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rick, should we wash and boil new carbon purchesed from brewhaus???
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As all of our carbon is virgin, I would suggest that you wash with very hot water, but I would not boil it as this causes the carbon to get broken into smaller granules.
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rick, are you saying never boil it...even when we are rejuvinating it ???
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Boiling is generally done as an in-home type of regenerating of carbon, as it can be quite costly to build or purchase a steam regeneration system. This will tend to break the carbon up, though, so we find people usually only able to get a second, or sometimes third, use from the carbon.
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Rick, sounds like you might be one of the more experienced guys in the forum, could you shed some light on a questin for me? I packed my valved reflux column with copper pot scrubbers. I boiled them first to rid them of any oils, etc. The first batch came out with a bad taste. I think it was tails. - not sure. I got to checking though and the copper scrubbers were really messy with some rust in it. I checked and sure enough they were steel with copper coating. I have ordered some copper from Brewhaus for the next batch. The question: Could the steel/rust have caused a bad taste, or was it probably the tails?
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While a heavy metal should really not make it to the top of your column, with the scrubber being at the top it could very well have leached into the vapor on its way to the condenser, and at the very least added to the poor result that you ended up with. There is no question that you want to make sure you are working with pure copper.
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Chas, I had the same problem with my still using copper, pure copper also. I used scrubbers first and they are only copper coated and turned black and nasty. Got pure copper and it did not get quite so bad, but still had smell and taste problems. Several things cause, could, cause it, first the yeast you use. Make sure you let the batch open to the air for a while before putting it into the pot to let the gases blow off. secondly don't adgitate the batch putting it into the pot, if it looks like milk, let it settle or it will have a taste and smell, lastly, use the carbon filter, It will take all, ALL taste and smell out. I run very hot water thru it prior to running the product thru, let it drain for an hour or so until all the water is out. I have only boiled mine once sice i've started and boy howdy did it stink when it was boinling , a slow gentle boil,, That was the impurities and fussil oils gasing off. That tells me that it is working. Anyway that is what I do and it works for me...good luck. Jimbull....
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Thanks Jimbull, at least I can start with pure copper now. Since I can now remove the copper mesh easily now, I'm wondering if after each batch or series of batches one should take the copper mesh out and clean it really good. I'm thinking some hydrocloric acid, then rinse and clean after that to make it like new again. After this next batch and if it tasts good, I think it may be worth it.
Thanks again, Charley
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Charles, before you resort to hydrocloric acid, try some common household vinegar first! Just let it soak for 20-30 minutes and rinse thouroghly with clean water. Vinegar won't leave any smell, taste nor will it eat up the metal. It will be a bright, shinny copper color. Hydrocloric acid? Uh uh! I don't think that's a good idea, but maybe someone else feels otherwise. Anyway, try the vinegar first, it's also cheap!
Spiritmaker
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Lots of strong acids are used in the fermenting process, I suppose you could use hydrochloric acid on copper if you don't want to wait for the vinegar to work. Phosphoric acid seems to be used to acidify molases and sulfuric is used in lots of wine production. Personally I haven't but I am beginning to think about it.
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Hey I learned something new today. Thanks Whitewater, I appreciate your input.
Spiritmaker
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