Why?

[YHB]

Why does the Rum at the bottom of my bottles, taste better than the Rum at the top ?

My Rum is aging and changing for the better, but the biggest improvement comes as a result of having a bottle open for a week before drinking, and gets even better when the bottle is half empty, or, perhaps half full with air depending on your perspective.

I can't remember having to "Air" a commercial product. Am I missing a vital step out of my procedure? Am I bottling too early? Am I imagining it?

[Keystone]

Oxygen is reacting with congeners in the rum to effect an accelerated aging of the rum. The same thing happens with red wine, for example; but the window to enjoy that red wine is much shorter than that for the rum.

[chill]

What are you aging it in? Does it have access to air? I age mine in 4L glass jugs with wood in them. I periodically open them up, introduce some fresh air (oxygen!), seal, and shake them vigorously.

Chuck

[YHB]

This is more noticeable in the white rum. it was one of my earlier efforts and I was keen to get it on show and bottled it within a couple of weeks, it has not been opened since.

The Golden Rum was only slightly longer in getting into the bottles, but I have to confess that during the short Oaking period I topped up the jars to keep out the air, a leftover habit from my winemaking days.

I think it goes without saying that I shoud have added another stage into the process to allow the "Oxygen to react with congeners to accelerated the aging of the rum" - I must try and remember that, thanks Keystone.

Is there any rule of thumb as to how long the rum should be aged, aired, allowed to breath or how many times it should be shaken before it is bottled? what do you do?

I am in the middle of a production run and have stripped 5 out of a planned 8 rum ferments and hoping to get a couple of spirit runs completed over the new year holidays - so any advice on aging would be greatly appreciated.

[Capt-Cudellez]

YHB, I only put 4L of white rum in a 5L DJ. I swap out the air 2-3 times a month and give it a shake. I do include a little late heads in the rum, and its really not that refined a drink till about 6 weeks down the line, then its very tasty.

If ageing for a shorter period, you can cut narrower and its nice sooner, but there is a lot of flavour in those late heads that I really like so its worth the wait for me.


I also think its better to age in bulk rather than in the bottle, I have no scientific reason for this, it just seems to work better for me. Hopefully someone will let me know why this is.