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I bought toasted oak chips for aging rum and get the impression that the clear spirit turns slightly cloudy, no off flavors, the rum tastes good. On the bag of the chips it says to bleach the chips out for 10 - 15 minutes in boiling water- I didn't do that. Could that be the reason for the cloudiness?

What is the proper use of these chips?

Chris

The reason for boiling those chips is to kill the germs that might be in them.This only applys to using them in wine.The booze will kill those germs,and boiling will remove some of the goodys out of the oak.

ok.. I dind't boil them because I thought it might wash out the flavor, as you say.... but why might have got the rum cloudy?... I know its not fusel oils, not contact with plastic and not any other flavoring agent that I used...

can it be the cloudiness is due to dilluting your spirit with water? instead of the oak?

I don't think so... I diluted a batch of the rum before putting it on oak with water down to 40% to try it out and it stayed clear... it is now aging at 60% ABV

Yesterday before shaking up the jars the rum was clear again., on the bottom was a brown sludge it looks like this did come out of the wood chips. I¡'m gonna decant the rum once it is aged... maybe next time I'll water the chip for couple of minutes on cold water

From my experience empty your oak chips in a strainer and rinse them good under cold water and get all the dust of of them. Rinse until the water runs clear and then add them to your spirits.

I rince mine also before using them to get the dust and charcoal off of them.I always have to filter mine after oaking,and time usually clears up any cloudiness.{unless its from too much tails}

that exactly what I'm gona do in the future...

I always have to filter mine after oaking

I'll tried this yesterday. I made out of copper a funnel with a SS mesh on the bottom, that I covered with cotton, but the finest dust went trough the cotton..

how do you filter?

I imagine if I would let settle down the dust for a weeks I could decant the the clean spirit and let settle the rest for a second time in a smaller jar.

Coffee filters.

thx wineo, I'll try that...

Coffee filters (unbleached) have fixed any fine sediment problems I have had. Sometimes you have to run it through twice (use new filters each time).

If you have any that the filters miss, you can always take a cottonball or 2 and shove it in the neck of a funnel. If you're going to do that, though, try to find a funnel that isn't plastic, because the spirit is going to be in contact with it for quite a while.

Yeah.. coffee filters will clear your spirit. I usually use the brown ones that are all organic. The ordinary white ones may leave an after taste since they are processed, bleached, by manufacturing process.

good luck.