Just got my first batch of Rum on Oak

[Anavrin]

Hi Guys

Finally got around to running all the mollasses I fermented, stripped and then spilt all over my guarage!

Anyway I've got 3.8 litres at 65% on some StillDragon french oak no4, I wanted to add 20gr per litre but the bigger chunks wouldn't fit through the hole in the top of my demijon, in the end the small bits added up to 45g in total.

Didn't have time to chop them up cos I'm getting ready for a busy week at work, plus I've just had the snip 6 days ago and didn't fancy the sawing motion!!!!

Not sure on the cuts I've made, they were all from a very narrow band 90%-87% and I allowed 2 jars of obvious tails in there, hoping the oak will mellow them out, the %'s are quite high as I run 30% strip through 6 Baby CD bubble caps, I'm possibly going to carbon filter this aftward to remove the colour and some flavour in an attempt to copy Bacardi, but it all depends how it turns out.

The two pics were taken about half an hour apart, you can see colour coming out of the oak already




I've now also got a few litres of rum feints, any suggestions on the best time to use them, would you add them to a wash when stripping, or low wines for a spirit run, I'm thinking the latter but some advice would be helpful

[Admiral Toad]

Sounds like your cuts are more painful than normal. Ouch

Sorry

[Anavrin]

Hi AT

I must admit to being a bit slow, I've only just twigged your comment about the painful cuts

A very unpleasant experiance, my advice to anyone would be never let a man with a scalpel anywhere near your bollox!!!

Anyway, the Rums been on oak for 4 weeks now, it's a lovely colour, I'm going to proof it down to 40% and have a taste, see how it is, I'm not big on dark spirits but I appreciate the effect and benefit of aging on oak, so I might run it all though a filter, at least most of it anyway.

[Anavrin]

It's not really very dark when proofed to 40%, I'm going to run the lot though the Essencia with only the carbon filter fitted, It'll be white rum again in a few hours.

[Anavrin]

It's now been though the essencia carbon filter twice, it's pretty fast without the ceramic filter fitted, the first pass took most of the colour out, the second pass took a little more, I collected samples of each before the filter, I'll taste test them tomorrow, I couldn't really tell much between them tonight, but I have had a few sherbets

Here's the rum before filtering at 40%



Now after filtering once




After twice through



It still tastes a little sharp but tastes great with coke, I've filled a 5lt demijon and put a litre through the essencia with both the ceramic and carbon filter fitted, just out of curiosity, I'm expecting this to be crystal clear and much smoother tasting, but has it lost too much flavour??? We will see!

Here's a pic of the jars between filtering and the 5lt after two carbon filters.

[Anavrin]

Ok so I got round to having a little taste of my rum tonight, it's a success in glad to say

I ended up with 5 litres that had gone through the essencia carbon filter twice and another litre that had also been through the carbon filter twice that I put through the essencia again, this time with both the ceramic filter fitted too.

I also had 3 x 250ml jars, one was straight off the oaked rum, and one after each pass of the carbon filter.

The one straight off the oak smells the best, the most rum like, it tasted a bit a little sharp neat, but with coke it was quite smooth, not perfect but smells and tastes nice enough.

The second small jar after one pass of the carbon filter, when tasted neat was a little sharper than the unfiltered stuff, and had lost most of its rum smell, with coke it was actually not pleasant at all, can't describe the smell but it did put me off drinking the sample I made.

The third one that had been carbon filtered twice, had a much shaper taste neat, getting closer to sugar wash neutral, it didn't really smell much of rum, but tasted great with coke, SWMBO said it was just like Bacardi and coke, I liked it too but it was still not clean tasting enough that I would feel happy drinking a good few glasses of.

Now the stuff that was put through the essencia with the ceramic filter and carbon filter fitted, after already being carbon filtered twice, it's crystal clear doesn't really smell of much but does taste nice neat, not quite as sharp as the others and has a nice heat in the mouth feel, also with coke it is proper quaffable, for me at least it's a lovely smooth white rum when mixed with coke.

And I'll be surprised if I don't give the other 5 litres the full essencia treatment.

As it goes, I'm happy with my first rum experiment, im not a fan of dark spirits so going forward it'll be a case of refining the process, I used all 6 plates in my Baby Crystal Dragon and probably lost too much flavour during the spirit run, filtering does take some flavour away and the ceramic one certainly takes away most of the smell,

The washes I used were two consisting of 5 x 740gr jars of molasses and 3kg of Demerara sugar, plus a wash made from only Demerara sugar (6kg)

Next time I will use 3 or 4 washes, all with 5 jars of molasses and 3 kg of sugar but might swap some or all of the Demerara for white sugar.

As for running it, I'll strip to 30% and only use one plate (my SD Torpedo) during the spirit run to carry lots more flavour over, then oak it again for a month before a single pass of the essencia with both filters, so far so good, I'm happy with what I've made and have learned a lot

I remember making my first neutral and thinking how great is was, only to discover after some more experiance it was probably not too clever after all, so I'm looking forward to improving it and getting better results next time

[Mash]

Good news.
Might it be be worth doing a series of different filter levels before the oak.
..... and then oak lightly after that.

I can't help but think you are putting oak in only to remove later.

[Easydrinker]

I am pleased that you have obtained a good result.
Mashy may have a point,for me Oaking is about colour and taste.
For me aging is allowing the loss of higher alcohols,it works in an oak barrel,and it seems to work if you don't stopper your bottle or demi john too tightly.
Whatever,keep having fun!

Robert.

[Anavrin]

Hi Guys

The point of the oak was to age slightly, especially the higher alcohols in the tails but I'm trying to make a white rum, I want it clean tasting and crystal clear, Bacardi is aged on oak for 12 months before being filtered to remove the colour, it need to be aged first, then filtered to get back to white, all the benefits of an aged spirit but polished up.

[Easydrinker]

Don't forget mate that while it "ages" in a barrel,it is breathing,wood is permeable.
Just saying.
Good luck.

Robert.

[Anavrin]

Yeah, I agree it should be able to breath, as I don't have a barrel, maybe I need to make some sort of charred oak lid for my 8 litre Kilner jar, if I made one that was the same size as the original kilner lid, it could clip shut using the original kilner clip.

[Easydrinker]

That is some pretty neat thinking.
Not seen that idea before.
Maybe just don't close it off too tight.I am a believer in the "loose bung".
Robert.

[Mash]

I leave mine in the clip on but not nipped up position.

The other choice that works well is to remove the rubber seal, lay over a clean face flannel or a double layer of J cloth and then fully close. This will leave a small air gap but keep any debris/flies out.