DistillingSafari

Thank you all for you replies. The dilution water is demineralized water that we've been using for a few years, so should be ok there. We're actually using a combination of filters: 5um Pall nylon 30" depth cartridge style, followed by a 0.45um plate, with no charcoal at all. These filters are installed in series, in-line between the tank and bottling machine. They were pre-treated with peroxan and rinsed before passing the rum (first few liters of product are rejected). The blackstrap does seem a likely culprit, which is unfortunate because it played three roles at once - color, sugar and flavor. The spice maceration was done in rum that had been diluted to the final 35% ABV.

We've redesigned a spiced rum for a client and are running into issues with flocculation (white flakes) appearing in the bottle after 3-4 months on the store shelves. Wondering if anyone has seen/solved this issue before. Fabrication process: The base is a light rum (3 years in ex-bourbon) that has been used without issue in other products. We added our mixture of natural flavoring, real spice macerations (macerated in the same rum), liquid sugar and blackstrap molasses. Proofed to 35% ABV then rested in stainless for 3 weeks. Filtered through 0.45um before bottling. Product is all clean and clear at this point. Three months later, we get a call from a distributor saying that 120 caisses have white flakes in them. We checked our inventory and 75% of bottles have the issue as well, to varying degrees. Haven't seen this in any of our products before, or since. Any ideas?