Cloudy white sediment in BWKO

[5 o'clock]

Hi all,

I have just noticed a white cloudy sediment near the bottom of a bottle of BWKO.

Picture of it not great but best I could do with torch under the bottle.

image.jpg

.

For those with a keen eye it is a Bundy 5 bottle. If you haven't tried this stuff, take my advice and don't.

It was run in two spirit runs in early January, cuts made and then combined and aged in demijohns at 65% with bourbon barrel chunks from home brew shop and toasted strips from an old barrel I have had outside at home for years.

Filtered through kitchen paper and coffee filter paper about 3 weeks ago and diluted to 40%.

I am sure that the bottles were clean and rinsed well to remove any detergent residue.

There is the same cloudy appearance in the demijohn when I look closely but harder to see due to the oak still in there and the darker colour before dilution. The other demijohn from later cuts in the same runs has no evidence of the same (very glad because the second demijohn has the better gear in it).

It still tastes good because I had started sipping it before seeing the residue in the light as I was putting the bottle back up in the cupboard.

Has anyone else seen the same and any ideas on what it is?

Thanks for any advice.

Cheers,

Richard

P.S. If this is in the wrong section would a mod please move it for me?

[karrotbear]

Hey Richard,

I'm not a hundred percent sure what it is, but I have had it before too!

I did my rum strip run @ 4.8kW and collected 2 x 5L demijohns,

The last of the demijohns is riddled with what looks like phlegm just drifting around all chilled like (like yours)

I can only assume it has something to do with the tails end of the run?

[db1979]

What water did you dilute with? Was it bottle water, rain water or tap water? Probably a long shot that this is the cause. Calcium hydroxide (lime scale) is soluble to a small degree in water but insoluble in alcohol. If this is what it is it won't harm you to drink it. Can you filter it out?

[Sam.]

Glad someone else has seen it too Karrotbear.

I don't think it's tails though because it is from the early hearts cuts from each spirit run.

Db,

I diluted with tap water filtered through a brita water filter both in January when I started aging and recently when I needed to make up another bottle (when the previous one evaporated when the lid was removed too many times).

Glad you think it is safe because the first glass is empty now and I think I need to sample the bottle again to check.

Thanks for the advice.

[MacStill]

We call them jelly fish, I'm pretty sure it's a combination of unfermentables & tails coming through in your spirit....

I had them a couple of times in my early days, but with good cuts & clear wash I havnt seen em for a few years now.

[db1979]

Maybe we could test I to see if these jelly fish are due to calcium or not. I reckon you'd only need a small amount of calcium to cause it.

If you want to test to see if it is calcium hydroxide, try bubbling some carbon dioxide through a small amount of it and if it turns milky white than your mystery substance is calcium hydroxide. You can make carbon dioxide easily by mixing vinegar and bicarb.

[SBB]

I think Macs on the right track ...jelly fish... was gunna mention it before but had to many rums and thought Id keep me gob shut in case i was wrong

[5 o'clock]

Thanks mac,

To get rid of my jelly fish, can I filter them out (might need multiple runs through coffee paper) or do I need to add this demijohn back in with the next spirit run?

I have a wash down now so next spirit run not too far away, unfortunately my bubbler won't be ready when the wash is.

[kiwikeg]

The jellyfish will settle then carefully pour the clear spirit off.
I think gelly fish come from the tails, as I have only ever had them in rum and ujsm/bwko.
Usually I just drink the lot princess :icon-twisted:

[Sam.]

The liver is a good filter....

[MacStill]

Yeah 5' 0, just filter em out with coffee filters and you'll be fine..... ignore the smart arse comments as they obviously need to read the cuts thread if they're getting jelly fish too :laughing-rolling:

[5 o'clock]

Maybe we could test I to see if these jelly fish are due to calcium or not. I reckon you'd only need a small amount of calcium to cause it.

If you want to test to see if it is calcium hydroxide, try bubbling some carbon dioxide through a small amount of it and if it turns milky white than your mystery substance is calcium hydroxide. You can make carbon dioxide easily by mixing vinegar and bicarb.

Thanks for refreshing my chemistry db, last time I learnt that was 1990.

So I took a ziplock bag and put in some bicarb soda, cut off a corner then injected some vinegar and dropped the corner into a glass of spirit.

No obvious change. How milky might it have gone?

I now have a large glass to drink, when it is finished what is the experiment you want me to do with the next one.

[kiwikeg]

I think oaking may play a part in the formation of gellyfish as I have never seen them in unoaked spirit.
Has anyone ever seen them form in unoaked spirit?

[db1979]

Ok so it's not calcium then. If it was calcium it would have made calcium carbonate and have been milky. You've put that one to rest, well done :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[crow]

@ KK
yes but only in watered down spirit :think: guessing it has to do with compounds normally restricted to tails smeared into hearts

[MacStill]

I think oaking may play a part in the formation of gellyfish as I have never seen them in unoaked spirit.
Has anyone ever seen them form in unoaked spirit?

Yup!

[5 o'clock]

On Tuesday night I filtered and bottled some spiced rum.

It has been diluted to drinking strength for at least a month and the spices have been out of it for a week or so with just a small residue at the bottom of the jar.

Now the bottles have a fine mist suspended through them which if it is like my BWKO I expect will settle over the next few weeks so I have another jelly fish infestation.

My theory is that jelly fish come from the filtering process rather than anything else because they would have been there earlier if it wasn't the filter paper.

I have been using Harris coffee filter paper.

image.jpg

Anyone else only had jelly fish after filtering?

I am thinking it is time for me to start just straining through cloth to remove the tiny oak and spice particles rather than filtering. Coffee filters are a pain because it takes ages anyway.

Cheers,

Richard

[Brendan]

Probably not relevant, but I filter all aged spirits through those Harris coffee filters after dilution and before bottling. It does take a long time, but I set it up with a glass funnel, pour some in and walk away...have to keep coming back every couple of minutes to top up the funnel. Works great as a filter, but have never had jellyfish myself...mine are always clear? :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[5 o'clock]

I do my filtration similar to you Brendan, stainless funnel and top it up every 10 minutes or so, frustratingly slow.

With your experience I can't blame the filter papers.

I am certain the bottles are clean so it isn't them, sometimes I am filtering back into the same (rinsed out) bottles as I have stored the spirit in prior.

My frustration is "Why was there no sign of the jelly fish prior to filtering?"

Richard

[Sam.]

I find that oak will leave some "jellyfish" but I use the same filters and it clears it up nicely, might have to do it a couple of times though ;-)