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Here's something I just found about the actual chemistry behind the flavor of rum and other esters. It's a lab assignment, but gives good explanation of Fisher esterification, reflux, role of carboxylic acid, etc.........

http://courses.chem.psu.edu/chem36/Web% ... 2Syn06.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

ahhh......the mention of methyl salicylate brings me back to high school chemistry. I believe that ketenes are present in washes....

They talk briefly about resins. I took my organic chemistry from the dude who actually invented ion exchange resins when he worked for Dow. He's still alive. I consider him a living treasure.

schnell wrote:They talk briefly about resins. I took my organic chemistry from the dude who actually invented ion exchange resins when he worked for Dow. He's still alive. I consider him a living treasure.

That's cool.

Schnell (et al): I've read about the use of cation exchangers by distilleries for removing metals in distallate. Do you know anything about this? (I posted this question about a year ago, I think, with no replies).

I work at a place that uses cation and anion exchange resins. They essentially take out the positive and negative charged ions out of purified liquids. In our case we take city potable water and make demineralized water. I am not sure about distillery usage though.