"Why, well, the high proof hooch just dosent work well with carbon - cant remember exactly why right now but cutting to 120 or so is what I have always done and even if theres some water left in the column once you start to filter your hooch it should still come out at 100-110 proof.

Most of the water will come out before you filter your hooch but of course there will be a little left behind but if you go with the 120 proof the first time you'll know for sure, but my opinion is no higher than that.

Not sure what you mean by reclaim but --(i think yo mean clean it) again in my opinion you could run 100 gallons through it if you put quality hooch through it and not heads and tails, my reason for that is I have a water treatment system and we only change that carbon once a year - how much water goes through that in a year???????"

"

Well what they are trying to get you to do is fill the tube completely (no voids in the layering) and the water will help settle all the carbon in the tube and get it packed nice and snuggly all the way through the tube. You'll see if the carbon is dry it will be dusty so by adding water to the tube and then adding the carbon it will fill the tube and as you drain it off it will pull all the dust with it. If you dont pour water through it several times all that dust will end up in your hooch.
What I found is to boil the carbon for a while and then lay it out on a cookie sheet to dry. Then add it to your tube and pour water through it until it runs clean.
As far as never letting it get dry, I've never heard that and I never worried about mine getting dry and it still seams to work. But thats just me."

do a test with just water and see how much liquid comes out before you start getting the filtered alcohol-- once you know that, you can change receiving vessels at close to the correct time.

Ok, I pulled the trigger and here is what happened.

I followed the instructions from the book with the exception of the abv that I was pushing through the filter. The first thing to note is that paper tears when there is a column of water on top of it. I used two of the pieces that came with my kit from BH. I filled the column and was tipping the pot to start adding the activated carbon when the paper ripped and filled my kitchen with water. (SO glad it went before I added the carbon).

Round two... I added 4 coffee filters and two more of the ones from BH. Added a column of water and waited for it to drain completely. Filled the column with water again (tempting the thing to break again). I let that drain, then filled again and added the carbon. Everything held and I was nervous. But I didn't have any more problems with it. I then added two liters of water and waited for it to go below the carbon and I added my 65% mix.

Fear beat me down for the next 15-30 min as I tasted only water coming out of the filter. I figured it all mixed and would never taste correct (kidding, but it did take a long time to get my product to start coming out) I did notice that the product went through the whole contraption faster than the water did. Once it started to come out, I collected in a new jar and kept track of how much went in and how much was coming out.

It took several hours to get it all through, but once the product fell below the carbon at the top of the column, I added a liter of water and waited until I got close to the same amount of product reclaimed as I had put in. It was a little less when I started to taste a mix of the water and product. At first it was so minor I thought I was just imagining it, but it quickly proved that my taste buds were not lying to me. I kept collecting, but did not add this to my stronger stuff. The later stuff ended up being about 35%, but with the water I added, I didn't like the flavor. I put this in a jar and will add it to another run of the still.

I ended up with a little less than I put in, but it came out at 64%. I did like the difference in the product afterward. The taste was the same (to your point heeler, it won't make toilet water into Jack Daniels) but, it DID have a distinct smoothness that it did not have before. And the smell was non existent in the final product.

Here are some things I will do to make it better next time.
1. I will use distilled water to prep everything. I didn't think of the effect of tap water in this whole process, but think it will improved with distilled water.
2. I like the way it turned out, so I may get the stainless setup instead of this flimsy plastic thing I got in my kit. ( I ended up having it tied to my cupboards with twine to level it and keep it from flopping around.
3. I want to create a cap to go over the end to support the paper filters. (Keep them from tearing and dumping everything out.)
4. Take heeler's advise and quit over thinking it so much (Have more fun with it )

I was going through the product list today and saw what you were talking about. I never received that with my filter set up. I didn't even know it existed until today when I ran across it.

When I first received mine, I didn't get the two couplings and silicon to put it together. All I received for the filters was the paper and the hose clamps. I didn't receive the end cap on the replacement that they sent me. Although there was a hose in it. (I have been wondering what it was for!!) This is what caused it to tear. The filters were supporting all the weight. When I only had water in it, I would imagine it was a bit worse since there was no support from the compacted carbon supporting some of its own weight.

I got the valve from Rick. There is a recommended rate which I don't have in my head but I will look.

I seem to remember 650ml/HR. I cant remember where I read it.

the rate i'm getting is about 240 that seemed to be a little slow.but what do i know,its my first try.
after i started getting product my first jar proofed at 86 my second at 88 and i started at 100.
thanks, for all