Bubbles!

[Dancing4dan]

This is weird...ish.

After proofing rum to 124 proof I added a small amount of French oak chips. It started to make bubbles. Like nucleation was causing bubbles to form.

Any ideas what is causing this?

[Bradster68]

Some kind of co2 reaction? I'm totally guessing. Did it last.long?

[Dancing4dan]

Some kind of co2 reaction? I'm totally guessing. Did it last.long?

Well over an hour.

Not sure how Co2 could end up in the distillate after a spirit run.

[Bradster68]

Some kind of co2 reaction? I'm totally guessing. Did it last.long?

Well over an hour.

Not sure how Co2 could end up in the distillate after a spirit run.

Well Dam......science is cool.
Iv added oak chips to a few spirit's now. Mostly I use oak dominoes,but have used the chips. Never had that happen yet. But im still new at this. I'm sure someone on here will answer your question.

[Stonecutter]

That is some weird shit D4D. were these chips from a batch you have used before? There’s got to be something in there making them react like that. Could something have possibly spilled, leeched or grown on them prior to going into the pool?

Edit: I’m thinking maybe some moisture got into the container and mold colonized just a bit causing a reaction.

[acfixer69]

Maybe Oxygen exiting the oak. I know they should float but how dense is french oak.

[greggn]

Do they do that in plain water ?

Do you know the source of your chips ? Makes me wonder if they're pressed rather than actual chips.

[jonnys_spirit]

Wow! That looks syrupy or something?

When I put oak in a carboy full of wine and vacuum seal it I get tons of bubbles. But there’s a vacuum pulling air out of the oak- at least until it’s saturated with wine.

Something like that would be my guess. Not sure why it sank either. That usually takes a few days…

Cheers!
-j

[zed255]

I see bubbles all the time when proofing down. I suspect it is just dissolved gasses being forced out of solution due to the temperature increase and the change in the overall mixtures capacity to hold dissolved gasses.

[still_stirrin]

Maybe Oxygen exiting the oak. I know they should float but how dense is french oak.

Yep. That’s it.

Oak wood has “tubes” in the direction of grain. These form the cell structure of the wood and is why the staves in a barrel are always cut along the grain. If cut transverse, the barrels would leak.

But these “tubes” are like straws. They will hold moisture, or air if the wood is dried. As the wood soaks in the spirit, the air will bubble out and float upwards. The bubbles will be very small because the “tubes” are so fine. But don’t worry because as the wood is rehydrated as the spirit soaks in and the “tubes” are filled, then the bubbles will stop forming. Warming the spirit (in the jar) will help expedite this process too.

And sometimes these “tubes” can also hold resins which will enhance flavor and color.

I like to shake my jars periodically and smell the progress of maturation. Bubbles don’t alarm me anymore.
ss

[Dancing4dan]

I’m not sure what was going on but it lasted for two hours +. Seems like to much air to be coming out of the chips. I’ve seen that action before but it never looked like this.

I have used this batch of chips before. They are stored in a zip lock bag and very dry. Last time I did rum I used a carboy and did a mace ration at same time. May have happened but didn’t see it. Carboy was in a plastic tote on the floor.

It really looked like nucleation. Have a look at the bit of the video that shows the bottom of the jar. Huge amounts of gas coming off the chips

Before I added the chips there were a few nucleation sites in the jars. Not a lot but enough that it made me take a look. Never thought much of it until I added the oak.

[Ben]

Kind of looks like an acid base reaction. Is it possible the chips had carbonate in them? Or that the ph between the previous spirit the oak chips were in was dramatically different from this one?

Cool either way

[Salt Must Flow]

Oak chips are totally dry. For them to become saturated, air must be displaced. Once fully saturated the bubbles will stop.

[squigglefunk]

i have a couple of those oak spiral aging sticks, I noticed the same bubbling action, it lasted days...