Experiment in oaking rum

[lonestaraussie]

The saying about “standing on the shoulder of giants” could not be more true with this hobby/passion. Learning from legends that have gone before, I’m looking to put rum in oak, at 60% ABV. In my day job, I’m a Construction Estimator which means that I’m a 1’s and 0’s kinda guy.

I have been refining the rum recipe provided by my friend Derek and am very happy with the results. So, now to oak. Back to the 1’s and 0’s (my jam, happy place!). How much do grams per liter or different toasting temps impact on flavor? We will soon find out the result from this experiment.

Using American White Oak, I’m trying to extract the following flavors.
1. Oak derived by toasting oak at 250f/120c
2. Vanilla derived by toasting oak at 350f/180c
3. Toast derived by toasting oak at 430f/220c

I’m trying to determine two variables. 1. How many grams/weight per litre/pint. 2. What is the best Oak/Vanilla/Toast mix? I’m based in Australia so the following values are provided in metric (sorry Freedom Unit aficionados!).

1. My intuition that 20g per l could be very wrong that this is what I’m starting with but am trying 10g/1000ml, 20g/1000ml, 30g/1000ml side by side with the same mixture.

2. I am trying a variety of different ratios, this is what they look like at the start.

The photo shows the different results at 30 hours later.

[8Ball]

I’d use about a third to half of your oak chips in the middle row per 2 liters @ 60% abv. Being in the south east US, white oak is common and abundant. I literally use it for fire wood and cooking. I make approximately 0.75x0.75x6.0 inch oak bones out of the seasoned heart wood (with a hatchet) then slowly heat them up in a toaster oven until they start to smell real good, then stop. If I want to put a char on them, I make a little pile with the toasted bones and set them on fire for a minute or so. Soak them in water for a couple hours then or let sun dry for storage. For a rum, I recommend using previously used oak for aging rum.

[subbrew]

Have to agree with 8ball, use used wood. On my first rum I treated it too much like bourbon, put it on toasted and charred staves from a previously used whiskey barrel. The barrel had set open and dry long enough, I was not getting an whiskey from it. But the toast and oak overpowered the sweetness of the rum. It was not over oaked, at least not if you were talking bourbon, but it was too much for the more delicate rum flavors. A good drink, just not a good rum.

My next batch is coming along much better. I have it on smaller sticks and those are used wood, some from my first batch of rum and some from some UJSSM jars. The rum flavors are much more present.

[DAD300]

Try cherry or maple staves if you're trying to keep it sweet. Cherry in rum is crazy good! Maple is sweeter.

Cherry will lean towards a red color and maple to brown.

[OtisT]

Try cherry or maple staves if you're trying to keep it sweet. Cherry in rum is crazy good! Maple is sweeter.

Cherry will lean towards a red color and maple to brown.

+1 on using cherry for crazy good rum and that it adds a sweetness.

I like apple more than cherry, though it’s not as sweet as the cherry. For me it took more time for the apple flavor/smell to fully develop, while my cherry aged spirits seemed to develop in just days.

With both, my personal preference is to use raw wood but toasted is not bad. Charred wood of any type was too strong for my tastes in rum.

If you try either wood, I recommend using very little of either, only about 10-15 grams per liter. My experiments aging rum on various wood types were documented in the thread found in my signature below.

+1 to using previously used oak for aging rum. New oak makes my rum taste too much like whiskey. My oak barrel aged rum really improved on the barrel’s 3 use.

One way to get used oak without wasting a full batch is to fill a big jar as full as you can get it with Oak then top that off with barrel proof rum. Let that jar sit a year+ before pouring out the spent spirits. I’ve done this a few times and it really helps take some of the kick out of your oak.

Otis

[lonestaraussie]

Try cherry or maple staves if you're trying to keep it sweet. Cherry in rum is crazy good! Maple is sweeter.

Cherry will lean towards a red color and maple to brown.

+1 on using cherry for crazy good rum and that it adds a sweetness.

I forgot to include in my original post (had been sampling my own product…), I was using “Pure Distilling Bourbon Barrel Chunks” which means it’s already been treated.

[Timoun222]

Hello!
I would like to make a test of rum aging using some mango tree wood.
I’ve got some wood in my garden and I’ve found a piece that has been dried for at least one year outside.
I have chopped it in pieces and I have 300 G of it. I d like to make a test with an old 30 L oak barrel and using white molasses rum.
I was thinking about putting those pieces in aluminium foil in the oven for one hour (150°C) and then charring the pieces.
I have no idea about the time to leave them after in the barrel and if the size / shape of the sticks is important or not. I’ve chopped them as I could.
I think that using mango tree wood is okay as I’ve seen some distillery in Cape Verde using it for as a fermentation tank…
Anyway, if you guys have any suggestions, it would be more than welcome

[Tammuz]

Quote button is not working,

We have hundreds of mango trees on the ranch. Never used any wood for distilling. But certain varieties like the Honey (Ataulfo) and Kent produce a much stronger sweet aroma then all our other varieties. I suspect that might show up in the wood. Caution many of my neighbors are spraying their trees to combat pests.

I was googling around for different panocha/ molasses recipes and 8ball was well written up as a master rum maker so you might pm him.

[N00b]

Really curious to see your results.

[Timoun222]

I put 30 g of charred and toasted sticks of Mango Wood In 3 L of white rum (60 %ABV). After one day I already can see a layer of a beautiful gold color in my jar. I don’t have any new flavor yet but let’s see in a few weeks…

[Timoun222]

Here is the picture

IMG_3930.jpeg

[Timoun222]

Just a quick update …
I’m very surprised with the result of my infused rum using mango woods staves. After 5 days the color is already there and the flavors too. I really like that kind of new flavors that I don’t normally find in the aged rum using oak barrel. It’s very sweet and very pleasant. I don’t know how long I will let the mango wood infuse. After taking off the staves, I’ve planed to put the infused rum after in a used oak barrel for a few months. I don’t want to have a profile too “funky”!

[Yummyrum]

Looks good Timoun
Interesting how the colour has stayed up top and not diffused .

Plenty of Mango trees around here . Keen to hear how it ages out

[Timoun222]

This is the result after 10 days.
I will probably let the wood one more week before putting the colored rum in an old oak barrel. I’m already very happy with the result, it has some very exotic notes. I would be very interested in a 100% ageing with a mango wood barrel but I didn’t find someone who could have done that here… I’m in south east Asia and that’s not very common to make barrels here.

[MattHoll]

This is the result after 10 days.
I will probably let the wood one more week before putting the colored rum in an old oak barrel. I’m already very happy with the result, it has some very exotic notes. I would be very interested in a 100% ageing with a mango wood barrel but I didn’t find someone who could have done that here… I’m in south east Asia and that’s not very common to make barrels here.

Pretty cool, Timoud. Do you have any updates?

[Timoun222]

Yes sure!
I did three different jars with the charred pieces infused. After 10 days it doesn’t seem to change a lot. I still have one infusing for one month already but I don’t really see or taste any difference with the jars after 10 days.
I’ve decided to put this rum in a 30 L old oak cask which has been used for years already, I really want to keep this “mango style” that I had with the jars infused. For me it’s a very good result and I’m very surprised with the aromas and with the flavors. I will probably let the rum a few months here and still have some of the rum infused that I will use for the topping of my barrel.
As I said, the color comes out very quickly from the charred pieces of mango wood in a 60% ABV white rum. Same for the aromas. It’s very subtile and exotic, very different from what you have with new oak (French or US).
I would definitely love to have a whole barrel made with mango wood
Well, in conclusion, yes TRY IT!

[Tammuz]

Just a quick update …
I’m very surprised with the result of my infused rum using mango woods staves. After 5 days the color is already there and the flavors too. I really like that kind of new flavors that I don’t normally find in the aged rum using oak barrel. It’s very sweet and very pleasant. I don’t know how long I will let the mango wood infuse. After taking off the staves, I’ve planed to put the infused rum after in a used oak barrel for a few months. I don’t want to have a profile too “funky”!

What variety of mango did you use?

[Timoun222]

I d say Golek Mango but I’m not sure.

[MattHoll]

Yes sure!
I did three different jars with the charred pieces infused. After 10 days it doesn’t seem to change a lot. I still have one infusing for one month already but I don’t really see or taste any difference with the jars after 10 days.
I’ve decided to put this rum in a 30 L old oak cask which has been used for years already, I really want to keep this “mango style” that I had with the jars infused. For me it’s a very good result and I’m very surprised with the aromas and with the flavors. I will probably let the rum a few months here and still have some of the rum infused that I will use for the topping of my barrel.
As I said, the color comes out very quickly from the charred pieces of mango wood in a 60% ABV white rum. Same for the aromas. It’s very subtile and exotic, very different from what you have with new oak (French or US).
I would definitely love to have a whole barrel made with mango wood
Well, in conclusion, yes TRY IT!

Fantastic. Please keep us updated as things develop. It's fun to read this stuff. Cheers from the Balkans.