Activated Charcoal for Medicine smell

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atek

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Hi guys, have a quick question. I have what I'm pretty sure was a brett infection on one of my meads, an apricot mead to be exact where I missed a step in sterilization.... I know... the cardinal sin... Anyway, It has a medicinal smell and taste to it now. According to Jack Keller this is typically a sign of brett, which he recommends using activated charcoal to remove the smell, then filtering. I realize that this may not remove the associated taste as Jack warns but I figure its worth a shot rather than dumping. What I could not find were clear instructions on how much to add, how long to wait before filtering, where to get said charcoal(carbon)? I was hoping someone here would know. I'm also open to other suggestions. Thanks!
 
Some water filters contain activated charcoal. Other than that maybe a drugstore or some kind of chemistry shop. Mite ask at your local school if you can't find it anywhere else. I don't know, but I don't think our home brew stores carry it, I mite be wrong. Good luck with it and let us know how it works. Arne.
 
I know you can get small boxes charcoal at pet stores. People use it for aquarium filters.
 
Hmm, well I'm not sure about charcoal from a pet store. I have thought of using brita filters but am not sure how many filters I would need for 5gal. I suppose I could run it all through one filter and if its still problematic run it again through a new filter...
 
I tried a Brita filter when I had a brett infection, but it clogged early and often. I saw a bulk bag of activated charcoal at my LHBS, so you might try your's. How to contain it for filtration is a separate subject since it was a bulk bag that I saw...maybe a large funnel lined with cheescloth and then the charcoal. In any case, get some k-meta in your wine asap, if you haven't already, because the infection will only continue to grow. Then go to work with the charcoal. My story didn't end well, but hopefully you caught your issue early enough. Good luck!
 
If I could find it in bulk I would simply mix it in then 3 step filter with my minijet. This particular mead has been sitting for quite some time and has been filtered once. The fermentation is quite done and the whole this is quite clear. There's still a small amount of precipitate that has settled on it so racking it through a Brita should be feasible. I'll check my lhbs though just to me sure. Having had the problem and let it run its course it's most likely that this is non recoverable no?
 
I was hoping it would age out... It's been 6 months. Still terrible lol, gorgeous... But awful....
 

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