Rum clouding during dilution problem - SOLUTION

[Scienceguy]

Sorry some of the pictures are sideways. If you click on them, they open up, upright

It's not every time, but fairly often when I am diluting my rum, it gets all cloudy. I have tried adding distilled water to the rum, rum to the distilled water. I have tried going slow. I have tried using a stirring rod on a stir plate. I often still get cloudiness.

I bought a filter to polish some of my vodka. It is a filter that is operated using a vacuum pump. It allows me to use activate dcarbon and get zero carbon transfer into my final product. I did not buy mine from Amazon, but this is the one I have.

It has a 0.22 micron filter. I removed the carbon (so it would not affect the flavor of the rum) and ran the cloudy rum through the filter and it cleared up in one pass.

It may not be the most practical solution, but it is at least one possible solution.

[Saltbush Bill]

My guess, and it is only a guess is that you are not making good cuts...your leaving to much tails in the product.
Is the cloudiness worse when the jar and liquid is cold ....does it begin to clear when its warmer?

[still_stirrin]

Bingo. I agree with SBB, you’ve got rum oils in the product.

They add flavor but they also cloud, especially as the temperature and proof drops. Better cuts will minimize the carry over, but then again, you’ll sacrifice some of the more “rummy” flavor. And the filter acts as a “blotter” to absorb some of them especially at the lower proof.

If you’re mixing your rum with Coke, don’t worry about the cloud. If you’re shooting it “neat”, close your eyes. If you really want to get rid of the cloud, rerun the rum and make tighter cuts. I usually run my rum through 3 distillations anyway just to get it to the “white rum” condition.
ss

[NZChris]

My solutions:

Use a taller still head or run slower.
Choose a narrower cut.
Blend it with lighter flavored rum or neutral until the louche clears.
But mostly, I drink it how it is because I prefer the more robust flavors.

BTW, some of the commercial whiskys in my cellar are hazy. It isn't a flaw. Look it up.

[Scienceguy]

I thought i was making tight cuts. My final product was 185 proof. I ran this through my column sill with the valve wide upen so my final product would still tast like rum instead of vodka. I had just found this batch sitting on a shelf from 2 years ago. Last time I diluted it down to 80 proof, it didn't cloud at all. It's possible that my notes on this batch were incomplete and these were my tails, but at 185 proof (and based on smell and taste) It didn't feel like it.

Either way, I got the cloudiness to go away. Now it's on oak to sit for another year or so.

[bluefish_dist]

The cloudiness is probably tails/fatty acids. You can run a cleaner spirit or make tighter cuts to reduce them. Another option is to proof the final spirit above 90 proof. That will help keep them in solution.

Do a search for louching as that is what you have.

[Sunshineer]

I've noticed this also but mine usually clears by the next day so I'm thinking that it's just O2 bubbles on my end could be something else all together at yours but see if it will clear up by itself.

[NZChris]

Many times I put together a rum blend that is clear, but by morning when the temperature has dropped, it's gone cloudy. As I'm only making up blends for my own consumption I've never re-adjusted a blend to clear it and I don't consider slight haze in rum, whisky, or gin to be a fault. Most flavored products I make louche the instant they hit cold water or ice, even if they are clear in the bottle. I wouldn't have it any other way. If My Absinthe didn't louche when cold water hit it, I'd consider it a disaster.

Making gin, I sometimes deliberately choose a blend that is clear in the afternoons and cloudy in the mornings, then name it to reflect that.

[Saltbush Bill]

But some things are meant to louched Ouzo, Absinthe...and maybe even Gin because of the Juniper oils in it Other things like rum should not, I dont see adding so much tails to it that it has a haze as an impovement .....but then I hated tails and thats just my opinion.

[NZChris]

I hate the smell and taste of tails too. There is nothing more annoying than sneaking in an extra jar because you think it will improve with time, then a couple or three years later, you find out you were wrong.

[NZChris]

I just proofed a sample of a rum made out of tails and heads that had undergone a UV light and heat treatment three years ago and had been put back into my feints collection because it was still nasty after the experiment. It is very nice.

viewtopic.php?f=44&t=55301

[Birrofilo]

Some grappa producer have this problem, due to oils in the product.

If you keep it at 50%vol strenght it is not cloudy, if you dilute it to 40% vol it becomes cloudy.

The typical method is to refrigerate the spirit, this makes the oil components to precipitate, you then proceed to a filtering with some cloth (or cotton or paper filter etc. I would use something without whitening substances, such as a cheese cloth, but I never tried it personally).

Filtering can remove some flavour component so you should make some trial and maybe decide that haziness is a sign of good artisanal production instead of a defect

[NZChris]

An easier way to get rid of haze in Grappa would be to add some white brandy or neutral, plus it increases the volume rather than removing flavorsome oils. I've made sugar wash on the lees using backset and sugar, then adding the heads, tails and foreshots to the wash before stripping. It makes a lightly flavored grape spirit suitable for many purposes including diluting Grappa, base spirit for Ouzo, Raki, Absinthe, Gin etc.

[Scienceguy]

I am sure that the haze is developing because I am keeping too much of my tails, even though I think I am not. I guess it's all about where to draw that line. I Am drawing the line based on three factors, odor, taste and proof. I feel like I am pretty consistent, but I only sometimes get the cloudiness.

Either way, I prefer a clear as opposed to cloudy rum. I just wanted to let people know that there is a technique for clearing it up if you lack the skill to properly cut off tails like me

[Saltbush Bill]

If you go by taste and smell alone you shouldnt get any tails .....forget about proof.