Triple distilled Rum still going cloudy

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Hogo
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Triple distilled Rum still going cloudy

Post by Hogo »

Hi All,
Just going to throw this out there into the cosmos of distilling (and fermenting)...

The problem is the spirit run is turning cloudy when diluted past 45%...
The first pass was a fast pot still strip run.
Then all four batches together for a spirit run with five plates.
Ran reflux for 30mins, took fore shots off and compressed the heads, after heads were gone turned off the reflux and ran the column in 'pot mode' until the very start of tails when reflux was started again...
Aroma and flavour were great, but diluting down past 45% made the spirit cloudy.

Ran for a third time in pot mode taking heads cuts and tails cuts and STILL went cloudy when diluting past 45%. It still retains aroma and flavour...
Possible reasons:
Not completely clearing the yeast before distilling?
Retained to many heads?
Retained too many tails?
Diluted with carbon filtered water? not distilled.
Diluting too quickly? over a day or two.

Advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
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Saltbush Bill
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Re: Triple distilled Rum still going cloudy

Post by Saltbush Bill »

My guess is you dragged tails through once you turned the defleg off and ran in pot mode.....cant see any other reason for it.
Why are you running low wines through 5 plates for rum ?......a still like that should be good for one run and done with rum wash or alternately some low wines and some wash.
Seems to me your causing your self a lot of extra work doing it that way..
StillerBoy
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Re: Triple distilled Rum still going cloudy

Post by StillerBoy »

Hogo wrote: Sun Mar 07, 2021 1:30 pm after heads were gone turned off the reflux and ran the column in 'pot mode' until the very start of tails when reflux was started again...
How were you able to determine that the body was done and were at the start of the tails..

Mars
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still_stirrin
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Re: Triple distilled Rum still going cloudy

Post by still_stirrin »

I don’t have a plated column, so I am no expert on it’s operation.

But, I agree with Saltbush Bill that you have drug your molasses oils throughout the run, such that dilution below 45% causes it to “haze”, or louche. If the product smells and tastes good, ie - big “rum flavor”, then why fret over a little louche when diluted? Chances are you’ll add other cocktail ingredients anyway, so the appearance shouldn’t be such a factor.

If you really want a “white rum” with no louche, then you’ll probably need to sacrifice some of the flavor and aroma by running it through a different type of reflux column. Even multiple passes through a “potstill” likely won’t get all the haze out.

To me, it seems like you’re worrying about the wrong things. If you want a commercial white rum, then you’ll need to understand more about how they are produced. But, if you enjoy the flavor of your product, then why worry about the appearance? Just enjoy what you’ve made.
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Hogo
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Re: Triple distilled Rum still going cloudy

Post by Hogo »

Hi,
Thanks for the replies.
So this is a process that I've been using for a while to create a clean white rum that still retains a lot of flavour and have had good outcomes. This seems to be a one-off (or two)... I usually take it down to 43% as Louches at 40%.
So once the hearts are nearing the end and the first signs of tails are there, the dephleg is cracked open again allowing to dive deeper into hearts without the destroying the flavour. This has worked in the past to create a great white rum. And yep, was was added to low wines on a few runs with great results.
Mars, by smell and taste, spirit here is almost sweet and defiantly helps with mouth feel... and yes, I may have dug too deep on this batch.
still_stirrin, defiantly rum oils coming through and can even see them coming to the surface... ,maybe this should have been left at 62% and put into a barrel.
Q:Is there anything wrong with calling it a Hazy White Rum???
Q: If the yeast hadn't fully clarified before distilling, would boiling the yeast create more oils than usual?? I'm trying to narrow it down to things that were different this time.
Thanks again for the advice!
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NZChris
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Re: Triple distilled Rum still going cloudy

Post by NZChris »

If you make up prospective blends and leave them in the fridge overnight, you might find out which jars you have to leave out to keep it clear.
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Saltbush Bill
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Re: Triple distilled Rum still going cloudy

Post by Saltbush Bill »

What rum recipe are you using? How much sugar how much molasses?
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Re: Triple distilled Rum still going cloudy

Post by LWTCS »

Whenz the last time you cleaned your outfit?
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MartinCash
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Re: Triple distilled Rum still going cloudy

Post by MartinCash »

In addition to the excellent suggestions and questions, sometimes just letting time pass will help with louching.
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fisics67
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Re: Triple distilled Rum still going cloudy

Post by fisics67 »

I just had my first batch go hazy. I think I can definitely say that my tails cut wasn't where it should have been. It could be because I ran this run a little quicker and possibly smeared the tails a little bit. Or it could be because my taste and smell were off a tiny bit while doing cuts. Either way it's all back in the still with some wash from another batch, hopefully I make better cuts next time.
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MartinCash
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Re: Triple distilled Rum still going cloudy

Post by MartinCash »

Personally, I wouldn't re-run gin just for louching. There is nothing wrong with cloudy gin in G&T, I've even had a couple of commercial ones that do it.
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Re: Triple distilled Rum still going cloudy

Post by Butch27 »

MartinCash wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 1:13 pm Personally, I wouldn't re-run gin just for louching. There is nothing wrong with cloudy gin in G&T, I've even had a couple of commercial ones that do it.
I thought we were talking about rum. :wtf: :wtf:
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MartinCash
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Re: Triple distilled Rum still going cloudy

Post by MartinCash »

Hahah oops. I've been reading too many topics about gin. Let's pretend I didn't say that! :oops:
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NZChris
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Re: Triple distilled Rum still going cloudy

Post by NZChris »

Some of my wide cut rums go cloudy at 40%, but they taste great and I only make rum for myself so I don't have to explain why it's cloudy to anybody. It's a compromise. Do I want the robust flavors that I prefer, or do I want clear whiskey, rum, gin, etc. in my glass?
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ParrotHead
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Re: Triple distilled Rum still going cloudy

Post by ParrotHead »

I was getting ready to approach this very topic. So glad someone else has already gone there and I love the feedback. Making a silver rum with black strap and raw sugar (~1.080 final, 11 gallons wash). I recently ran 3 bubble plates in a 4 plate column no dephleg (Previously stripped in copper alembic pot). Came off at 89% and went into my keeper cuts at low 86%, and found my tails cutoff at 74%, which is conservative for my system. My final blend was at 79% and I diluted down to 40% with dH2O (~5100mls). When I do the dilution I swirl first and then pour in the distilled water at a pretty rapid pace. The heavy cloud of white bubbles occurs and slowly clears to completely clear. As we know it's an exothermic reaction when diluting EtOh and the glass container got pretty warm. After about 5 hours later I noticed the mild haze had formed, where it was completely clear most of the day. I have seen this before but like a month later when in the bottle. Is there any correlation to the rate of dilution to a haze formation? If I were to add water much slower and in intervals would it decrease the haze formation? Just thinking about the exothermic reaction rate here and if it played into it? But yeah I agree, I really don't care if there is a haze because it tastes better than anything on the market with ZERO effects the next day, so clean, so clean. Thanks!
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Hogo
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Re: Triple distilled Rum still going cloudy

Post by Hogo »

ParrotHead wrote: Fri Jul 23, 2021 8:38 am I was getting ready to approach this very topic. So glad someone else has already gone there and I love the feedback. Making a silver rum with black strap and raw sugar (~1.080 final, 11 gallons wash). I recently ran 3 bubble plates in a 4 plate column no dephleg (Previously stripped in copper alembic pot). Came off at 89% and went into my keeper cuts at low 86%, and found my tails cutoff at 74%, which is conservative for my system. My final blend was at 79% and I diluted down to 40% with dH2O (~5100mls). When I do the dilution I swirl first and then pour in the distilled water at a pretty rapid pace. The heavy cloud of white bubbles occurs and slowly clears to completely clear. As we know it's an exothermic reaction when diluting EtOh and the glass container got pretty warm. After about 5 hours later I noticed the mild haze had formed, where it was completely clear most of the day. I have seen this before but like a month later when in the bottle. Is there any correlation to the rate of dilution to a haze formation? If I were to add water much slower and in intervals would it decrease the haze formation? Just thinking about the exothermic reaction rate here and if it played into it? But yeah I agree, I really don't care if there is a haze because it tastes better than anything on the market with ZERO effects the next day, so clean, so clean. Thanks!
It is also related to heat. it would have been clear when warm and then when it dropped back down to 20degC it would have clouded.
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Re: Triple distilled Rum still going cloudy

Post by Hogo »

My final verdict...
Is to leave it at 48-50%. The oils in solution are flavour and aroma, at this percentage it has an amazing mouth feel too!
Cheers
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