Some scientists claim that the water used in on distilling has little to no effect on the taste. In my opinion these people have no idea what they are talking about. Most distillers and hobbyists alike agree that water does make a difference in flavor. Most of the liquor that is sold in stores is 40% alcohol. This means that 60% of the liquid is water. Choosing what water to use is especially important when you are cutting your spirits down to a more palatable percentage. I would recommend using bottled water when it comes to cutting your spirits. Some tap water can cause your whiskey to become cloudy. This however will not affect the taste of your whiskey. You may want to first test the water on a small glass before adding it to your entire batch.

Unlike corn or rye mash, malt mash is not fermented with the grain still in the mash. The grain in a malt mash is strained out and rinsed before fermentation, much the same way that beer is made.

Malt mash is made just lie an all-grain beer except there are no hops and no kettle boil. However, since there’s no kettle boil, sparging, a process usually employed when making beer (this is done by straining and rinsing the grain in hot water), runs the risk of over diluting the mash, so rinsing the grain must be handled carefully. One precaution would be to limit the over all amount of mash water that’s used in the entire mash cycle.

The following  is a single infusion-mash method for making an all grain malt mash.

One consideration when it comes to making a malt whiskey mash is that a whiskey mash typically has an originating SG between 1.06 and 1.07. This is a little difficult to achieve with straight infusion mash with no kettle boil, so this recipe is formulated to yield a SG of 1.06 or a little higher, based of a modest mash extract efficiency of about 72%.

Mash extract efficiency is a measure of how well the brewing operation extracts the carbohydrates from the grain and renders them to the finished substrate for fermentation. Ideally, a brewing operation would extract 100% of the carbohydrates from the grain, but various inefficiencies in the process, such as rinsing the grain, result in some of them remaining in the spent grain.

Home operations tend to not be as efficient as commercial operations, so the modest mash-extract efficiency assumed for this recipe is 72%.

All grain whiskey ingredients:

25L tap water
2 tsp Gypsum
1 litter of backset if you have it. (backset it the liquid that is left in the still after your beer striping run)
14.5 lbs of crushed 2-row barley malt
1 package of whiskey yeast

Steps for making all grain whiskey mash:

Prepare 25L of mash water by thoroughly mixing 2-tsp of gypsum into the water and adjusting the pH to about 6.0 with acid or backset.

Place 17L of the mash water in a large pot on the stove, and turn the stove on high. Cover the pot, and let the water heat up to the conversion strike temperature of 160 F. Periodically, you will have to stir the water thoroughly and check the temperature as the water heats up until the strike temperature is reached.

When the water is at the strike temperature, turn off the heat, and stir in the 14.5 pounds of barley malt. The temperature should come to rest at about 150 F or higher. Stir the mash for about 5 minutes.

Cover the mash pot and leave it for 90 minutes for the starches to convert to sugar. It’s helpful to stir the mash every 15 minutes or so during this conversion rest. The temperature will start out around 150 F and will drop to about 140 F throughout the 90 minutes. This is just about right sing the ideal conversion temperature is about 145 F, which is about midway between starting and ending temperatures.

Toward the end of the conversion rest, place 4L of mash water in the smaller pot and heat it almost to boil. This will be used shortly after the conversion rest is complete.

Next the mash must be strained into a fermenter using a strainer of a straining bag. After this, return all the grain from the strainer of straining bag to the mash pot, and add the 4L of hot water from the smaller pot. Mix the grains thoroughly in the hot water, and strain it again into the fermenter. Return the grain to the mash pot again and repeat this rinsing process once more with another 4L of near boiling mash water.

Once the grain has been strained and rinsed into the fermenter, the mash should be chilled to yeast-pitching temperature which is around 75 degrees F.

You will want to avoid using more than 25L and water. The more water you use, the lower the SG will be. You do not want your SG to be below 1.060.

Rye malt is available at homebrew shops as a specialty malt, and it has a very high diastatic enzyme count that’s similar to that of 6-row barley malt, so rye malt is very well suited to making whiskey mash in general and is worth experimenting with for other recipes as well as 100% rye whiskey.

Rye has an interesting property to is in that straight un-malted rye grain contains alpha-amylase enzymes. Theses are the enzymes that “liquefy” mash. The liquefaction phase of the mash cycle is the phase where the long-chain insoluble starches, which make the mash thick lie a porridge, are reduced to short-chain soluble starches, hence liquefying the mash. These enzymes can be activated by a mash rest between 149-158 degrees F.

It can be somewhat difficult to take advantage of these enzymes. However, there should be enough enzymes in the grain to do the mash conversion. If you are mashing flacked rye then the initial rest at 155 F, after the flacked rye is added to the 165 F mash water, will effect a liquefaction rest during the period before the malt is added. This rest is not at all important to the mash cycle, but it does give the malt enzymes a good head start.

If you re mashing non-flacked rye such as rye flour or rye meal, which requires infustion into the mash water at near boiling temperatures and then a rest for 10 or 15 minutes to disperse the starches, them this liquefaction rest becomes impractical. The near boiling temperatures would denature the enzymes, so they would not be active by the time the mash cooled to 155 F. However, commercial distilleries do take advantage of these enzymes when mashing rye because they can actually reduce the over-all amount of energy used in the process.

In order to use these enzymes when mashing none-flacked rye they have to employ a step-mash regimen rather than doing a straight infusion mash. To do a step-mash procedure, the grain must be added to 165 F mash water for 10 to 15 minutes and then resting at 155 F until the mash liquefies.

Freeze distillation: As you probably well know, alcohol freezes at a lower temperature than water. Historically Applejacks could only be made during the winter (for obvious reasons). During the colonial period producers would leave Apple cider out in the cold. Every morning they would go out and wipe off all the ice that had accumulated. The colder the apple cider got, the more it would freeze. The more ice they took out, the higher the alcohol content. Due to our modern technological advancements in freezing, you can produce Applejacks all year round without a still. All you need is access to a large freezer.

Steam distillation: Many modern distilleries use stills and the process of steam distillation to produce Applejacks. As opposed to freeze distillation, steam distillation is done by heating apple cider. Alcohol evaporates at a lower temperature than water. As such, the alcohol evaporates first. With the use of a still, one is able to condense and the vaporized alcohol back into its liquid form.

Applejacks is a truly great liquor that can easily be produced at home. I personally believe that Applejacks is perhaps the most under rated spirit being produced in America today.

As previously stated, Applejacks can be made either by steam or freeze distillation. For the purposes of this article, I will be discussing the process of freeze distillation. If you are interested in steam distillation, please check out the article on “how to make moonshine.” It’s the same process as making moonshine, except that you use apple juice instead of grain.

In order to make Applejacks, you will first need to make apple cider. If you are really ambitious, you can press your own apples.

Apple cider 5 gallon recipe:

gallons of apple juice/concentrate (5 gallons = 18.9 litters)
Yeast nutrients (you can pick it up at your local home brew shop)
2 pounds of sugar (depends on how much sugar is in your apple concentrate)
1 packet of yeast ( you can get wine yeast either at a home brew shop or online)

What you need:  (click here to buy home brew kit)

Alcohol hydrometer (it is best if you have both a beer and liquor hydrometer)
Carboy
air lock
5 gallon bucket or kettle (really anything that has a wide top and is food grade plastic)
Large freezer if you are doing freeze distillation
Still (only if you are doing steam distillation)

Step by step directions on how to make Applejacks:

Step 1 Sanitation: The first step is also perhaps the most important and will be repeated throughout the process. You will want to make sure that you sanitize everything that comes into contact with your cider. This includes your hands, carboy, and stirring stick. You don’t want to sanitize everything. I once attempted to make homemade wine. Some bacteria got into it and my wine turned into 5 gallons of vinegar.  I cannot stress the importance of sanitization.

Step 2 Preparing Ingredients: The apple concentrate should already be sanitary. However, if you are really paranoid, you may find it advantageous to boil the concentrate while you stir in your sugar. This is especially important if you pressed your own apples. You can also just mix your apple concentrate and sugar in your sanitized carboy.

Step 3 Fermentation: You will want to use a high alcohol producing yeast. Preferably a high yielding beer yeast, wine yeast, or distillers yeast. You do not want to use Turbo yeast. You will want to add your yeast when your carboy is around 75-80 degrees F. You packet of yeast should tell you the temperature range of the yeast. After adding your yeast, you should begin to see signs of fermentation within the first 12 hours. If you don’t see any signs of fermentation after the first day, you may either not have enough sugar, or your cider is to cold.

You may find it advantageous to add a pound or two of sugar after the first couple of days. This will help increase the alcohol content of your cider. The more sugar you have, the higher your alcohol content. However, if you add to much sugar your yeast will get stressed and produce off flavors. There is also a limit to how much alcohol your yeast can survive in. Much of this is dependent on what kind of yeast you use. A beer hydrometer will tell you the alcohol content of your cider.

After your first week you will see the yeast start to settle to the bottom of your carboy. At which time you will want to rack (transfer) your cider into a second fermentation vessel. You will want to make sure to leave the settled yeast behind. This is best done with the use of a small hand pump. These can be purchased either online or at your local home brew supply store.

Step 4 Freeze Distillation: You will be ready to distill your apple cider after about 10 days of fermentation. You will either want to use a food grade plastic when freeze distilling, the reason being that the alcohol will eat away at said plastic. If it’s winter you can leave you container outside and let it freeze. However, if it’s summer you will obviously need to use a freezer. Most of freeze distillation comes down to common sense. You cider will expand as it freezes. You will be aware of this if you have ever left a can of soda in the freezer for too long. As such, it is preferable to keep your container either uncovered or partially empty. Alcohol freezes at -173 degrees F, whereas water freezes at 32 degrees F. The proportion of water to alcohol will affect the temperature at which the beverage will freeze.

You will want to syphon out the liquid from the ice once a day (depending on how impatient you are). The more ice you remove the higher the alcohol content. The higher the alcohol content the longer it will take for your applejack to freeze. The biggest limiting factor when it comes to the alcohol content of your Applejack is cold your freezer is.

I have heard off the alcohol content getting as high as 45% alcohol (90 proof). You can use your alcohol hydrometer to check the alcohol content of your Applejack. However, you will want to make sure that your Applejack is around 60 degrees F when you use your hydrometer. The reason for this is that the temperature will affect the hydrometers reading.

If you have a still, you may prefer to simply distill your alcohol as you would with any other distilled spirit.

Step 4 Aging: This step isn’t necessary, but can improve your Applejack After you have distilled your cider you will have Applejack. At this point you can choose to either drink or age your Applejack. It’s up to you. Ageing your Applejack with toasted oak chips can add some great flavors. You will want to put your Applejack into a glass Mason jar with your toasted oak chips. After sealing your Mason jar, you will want to keep it in a warm place and let it site for a week. The warmer the environment the more flavors it will extract from the oak.

Video on how to make apple cider:

Video on making Applejack: 

Apple Brandy
Rectified spirits ….. 10 gallons
Glycerine…………. 4 ounces
Tartaric acid ………. 2 “
Apple essence………1 “
syrup………………. 1 pint

Essence d’Absinthed.

Wormwood herb . . .1 pound.
Oil of wormwood . . . 1/2 ounce.
Simple syrup . ½  gallon.
Rectified spirits . . . . 2 ½ “

Put the finely divided herb with the spirits for two
weeks, filter, and add the oil dissolved in 1/2 pint of alcohol ; add the syrup, and color green with a few currant leaves.

Mint Cordial. (Huile de Minthe.)

Oil of peppermint . . . ½ ounce.
Alcohol . . . . .1 pint.
Syrup . . . . 5 ”
Rectified spirits . . . . 10 ”

Ginger Beer.

Concentrated essence of
Jamaica ginger . . 2 ounces.
The juice and rind of . 4 lemons.
White sugar . . .2 pounds.
Water . . . . 1 1/2gallons.
Yeast …. 1 tablespoonful.

To be kept in a warm place for about two days, when it is strained and bottled if not wanted for present use.

Mead.

Honey ……………… l gallon.
Light-brown sugar . . .4 pounds.
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 gallons.
Essence of lemon . . . 1/2 ounce.
Essence of almonds . ½ “
Yeast 1 gill.

Let the flavors be rubbed up with a portion of the sugar, when mix and ferment.

Use 1 and a half pounds of malted Barley for every gallon that your fermenter will hold.
Used 1/3 pound of Cain sugar for every gallon.
Add gypum depending on size of fermentation. Your local brew supply shop should have some.
After your mash has cooled down to 70 degrees you can pitch you Prestige distillers yeast.

Remember that the bigger you fermenter the more yeast you will need to use. The reason for this is that your yeast will be competing with bacteria and wild yeast that may make it into your Mash. Remember to keep your mash covered. You can save some of your mash since it will have live yeast in it and apply it to a new batch. This is a great way to save money on yeast. However, you only want to do this one or twice at the most. This is due to that fact that your yeast will evolve and change. Along with the yeast there will also be bacteria and wild yeast in the mash that you reuse. So don’t recycle it more than twice.

Just to state the obvious, you will want to apply a liter or so of used Mash to a fresh new match. You are recycling the yeast, not the nutrients.

6 gallons of water.
7 pounds of corn meal.
7 pounds of Cain Sugar.
Distiller’s Yeast. I would recommend Prestige.

I would recommend putting the corn and sugar into your fermentation vessel than adding water that has been brought to a light boil. Thoroughly stir as the corn will have a habit of clumping together.

After you do you beer striping run you should keep a liter or so of whatever is left in the still and add it to your next match. This will help balance out the ph and add nutrients.

It is important to make yourself aware of the laws concerning the distillation of alcohol. Distilling is legal in some countries such as New Zealand. However, it remains illegal in many parts of America and Europe. Many states will allow you to distill alcohol if you are using if for fuel, but you will need to get the required permits.

moonshine

Moonshine is illegally distilled whiskey, usually clear with a very high alcohol content. It got its name due to the fact that it has historically been distilled at night “by the light of the moon.” Moonshine, white lightning, white dog, hooch, white whiskey, and rot gut are all terms used to describe high-proof un-aged spirits. Moonshine is traditionally made with a combination of processes sugar and corn meal. Moonshine is illegally distilled alcohol. Many liquor stores and distilleries marker their product as being moonshine. However, this is nothing more than a cheap marketing ploy. If you can buy it in as store, than it’s not moonshine. It’s marketing.

Moonshine has historically been a large part of life in rural Appalachia. Backwoods distilling culture was largely introduced to the area by Scottish and Irish immigrants. These immigrants combined their distilling knowhow with locally available crops. Distilling alcohol quickly took over the frontier. Farmers quickly learned that making whiskey was an easy way to use up leftover grain. It was also easier to transport and fetched a higher price. It wasn’t long until white whiskey was flowing from the mountains.

Whiskey was so profitable that even George Washington decided to get into the distilling business. At one point Washington owned arguably the largest distillery in America. It also didn’t take long for the newly formed American government to decide that they wanted a piece of the action. The U.S. government decided that they wanted to start taxing distilled spirits. This new tax gave birth to the first moonshine movement. Farmers and rural settlers started taking their operations deep into the back woods. They also gathered up their guns and started raising hell with the revenue officers. This all culminated into an event that is popularly referred to as “The Whiskey Rebellion.”

The most important thing to consider when making moonshine is safety. When making moonshine you should only use copper, stainless steel, food grade plastic and wood.  Lead poisoning is a major health risk involved with making moonshine. Most of the stills that are sold online are safe. Especially if you buy them from New Zealand where home distilling is legal. When it comes to fermenting your mash, you will want to be careful to use food grade plastic. You can easily find a food grade fermentation vessel either at your local home brew supply shop or online.

It would be difficult to produce enough methanol to cause blindness or death.  Typically the foreshots have the greatest concentration of methanol. The foreshots are the first couple hundred ml to come out of the still. How much foreshots you produce will depend on the size of the still. You will want to throw out the first 200 ml if you are using a 5 gallon still.

Here is a simple moonshine recipe that is perfect for any beginner who is interested in making moonshine. This recipe is for a 5 gallon mash. You can modify the recipe depending on the size of your fermentation vessel. You will need the following for this moonshine recipe:(click here to buy distilling yeast)

6 gallons of water.
10 pounds of corn meal.
7 pounds of Cane Sugar.
2 tsp Gypsum
Distiller’s Yeast, I would recommend Prestige.

Step 1 Preparation: You will first want to weigh out all of your ingredients beforehand. Once you have weighed out your ingredients, you must make sure that all of your supplies have been sanitized, most importantly your fermentation vessel.

How to make moonshine

Step 2 making moonshine mash: You will want to heat a large kettle of water to 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Once your water reaches 150 degrees you are ready to add your corn meal. You do not want the temperature to go over 165 degrees. The reason for this is that the hot water will help turn starch into sugar. When mashing corn you will want to make sure that you constantly stir it for a good 30-40 minutes. Unlike other grains (such as barley) corn will sink to the bottom where it will clump together and burn. Burning your corn is one of the easiest ways to ruin your batch.

Step 3: After sufficient time has passed, you will want to add your sugar and put your kettle someplace where it can cool. Once it has cooled down to 80 degrees, you are ready to add it to your fermentation vessel.

Step 4: Previous to distilling, the processes of brewing and fermentation are necessary. After you add your ingredients to your fermentation vessel you will want to fill it the rest of the way with water and add your gypsum (gypsum is not required, but recommended). You will want to then stir your mash in order to get it well oxygenated. Remember that the above recipe is enough to make 32 quarts. You will want to edit the amount of ingredients you use depending on how much you intend to ferment.

Fermenting moonshine

Step 5 Fermentation: You will want your mash to be around 75 degrees Fahrenheit, although the optimal temperature will depend on the kind of yeast that you are using. I would recommend using prestige distillers yeast. You will want to use more packets of yeast if you are fermenting a higher quantity. The reason for this is that the yeast will have to compete with any bacteria of wild yeast that has found its way into your fermentation vessel. Also, the more yeast you add, the faster it will ferment.

You are ready to add your yeast once the temperature is at or around 75 degrees.  Place your vessel of mash in a warm place for several days. The fermentation process can take anywhere from three days to one week. You may find it a advantageous to use a heating pad and blanket to keep your mas warm. You will also want to keep your fermentation vessel covered at all times. You may also find it advantageous to add a couple pounds of sugar after the first two days. This added sugar will help increase the alcohol content. However, if you add too much sugar in the beginning the yeast can become stressed out. Too little sugar and your fermentation may become stalled or fail to begin.

Step 6: You should start to see a foamy head appear within a few hours after adding your yeast. If you don’t see any foam or bubbles after the first day, than you have a problem. This could be caused by several factors. The most common are that you either don’t have enough sugar or the temperature is to hot or too cold. You are ready to start distilling once your mash stops foaming and the yeast has settles to the bottom.

Step 7 Distilling moonshine: The most important thing to know about distilling is safety. First and foremost, you should not drink any alcohol while your still is running. Also, alcohol is highly flammable, so treat it as such. There is a common myth that stills will blow up. This is mostly a myth, but it’s still possible. The biggest cause of this is having a condenser that is too small. If there isn’t any way for the steam to escape, pressure will begin to build up and cause your still to blow out. This is an incredibly rare occurrence that most often happens with poorly made home produced stills.

Another important thing to note is that distilling can take hours, and you don’t want to leave your still unattended. Distilling can take anywhere from 3 to 9 hours depending on the size of your still. You will need to have few distractions during this time.

After your mash is done fermenting you will be ready to make your first run. If you are using a pot still (the most commonly used) you will need to do two runs. The first run is called the “beer stripping run.” After your first run you will have what is called low wine. Low wine will be around 40-30% alcohol. Check the alcohol content with an alcohol hydrometer until the alcohol content drops below 20%.

You will have to do several beer striping runs until you have enough “low wine” to do your final run. You final run is called the “spirit run.” The spirit run is where you will make your cuts and decide what to keep and what to re-distill with your next batch of low wine.

If you are using a 5 gallon still, you will have to do around 4-5 beer striping runs until you have enough to do your spirit run. Unless you are using a larger still for your beer striping run and a smaller still for your spirit run. However, you can also add the heads and tails from previous spirit run. If you choose to do this (most do) you may find it advantageous to water your low wine down to 40 percent.

When you do your spirit run you will want to make your cuts. Making cuts refers to deciding what you will want to keep what you will want to redistill. Making good cuts is one of the most important aspects of making good quality moonshine.

Alcohol hydrometer

Step 8 making cuts: Perhaps the most important part of distilling is making the right cuts. Cuts refer to the alcohol you keep and the alcohol you throw out or re-distill. There are three parts to making cuts. These are the Heads, Hearts, and Tails. The Heads are what comes out first. The Hearts are what comes out midway through the run. And the Tails are the last to come out. The Heart of the run is what you will want to keep. You do NOT want to keep the Heads or the Tails.

So how can you tell the difference between the heads, hearts, and tails? For this you will need your sense of taste, smell, and an alcohol hydrometer.

For a 5 gallon still you will want to throw out the first 250 ml that comes out. The first alcohol that comes out is poisonous and bad for your health. You do NOT want to keep of drink it. The next thing you will want to do is to store everything that comes after this into small Mason jars. Keep these jars lined up from the first alcohol to come out of your still down to the last.

After you have all the jars filled and lined up, you will be ready to make your cuts. After doing several runs, you will be able to make your cuts based on smell and test alone. Until then you may find it advantageous to use an alcohol hydrometer. An Alcohol hydrometer tells you the alcohol content of your mason jars.

The Heart of your run (the part you keep) will be between 80-60% alcohol. This can vary depending on many factors. The Head of your run will taste and smell incredibly harsh, but as you get into the tails, the alcohol will begin to feel oily and sell somewhat like wet dog. Be sure to water down the alcohol as you taste it. You may think that your Hearts taste and smell too harsh, but remember that everything smells and tastes harsh when it’s 70% alcohol. Typically people will stop distilling once the alcohol coming from the still drops down to 20% alcohol.

After you have made your cuts, you can save your heads and tails to re-distill with your next spirit run. You can mix them together with your low wine and dilute it down to 40% percent.

Step 9 Bottling and Aging:   Once you have collected the hearts of your run, you are ready to bottle your moonshine likker. You will want to dilute your moonshine down to 55-40% alcohol. Your moonshine will begin to mellow out and change over time. The best way to age moonshine is in a small oak barrel. You should be able to find a small oak barrel for as little as $100. You can also age it in Mason jars with toasted oak chips. For more information, check out the article on flavoring and aging.

How to make moonshine

Rum is made from sugarcane byproducts, such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice. Rum first started being produced on Caribbean plantations in the 17^th century. Run is commonly associated with the British Royal Navy. This association began in 1655 when the British captured Jamaica.

How to make rum

Yeast needs sugar nutrients in order to multiply and produce alcohol. Different regions of the world produce different grains and produce that can be used for fermenting alcohol. Distilled liquors get many of their distinct characteristics from the ingredients that are use. This is why there are so many different kinds of distilled alcohol.

The Russians would use potatoes to make vodka.  The Scotch would use barley to make Whiskey. The Americans used corn to make corn whiskey and moonshine. The French would use grapes to make brandy. And the Caribbean plantations would use sugarcane to make Rum. Each spirit has its own distinct flavors and characteristics that are attributed to the distinct ingredients that are used, as well as aging process.

The distinct flavor and characteristics’ of rum come from the sugarcane that is used in fermenting, as well as the oak that it’s aged in. As such, when making rum you will need to use sugarcane byproducts such as cane sugar, molasses, or brown sugar. You will also need some toasted oak chips to age your rum.

Recipe for 10 gallons:

2 gallons of feed molasses
4 LBS of brown sugar
8 gallons water
Yeast: I use typically use a packet of Prestige distillers yeast.

You may also find it advantageous to substitute a gallon of water for a gallon of what was left if your still after your last run.

Pot still

Step 1: Dissolve the sugar and molasses in a large steaming pot of water. You may have to use several pots if you don’t have one that’s large enough. You also want to be careful not to burn the molasses. You can avoid this by constantly stirring it.

Step 2: Pour your solution into you fermentation tank and let it cool down to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. You can add some cold water to help speed up the cooling process. One it has cooled down to 75 degrees you are ready to add your yeast.

Step 3: The fermentation process for this recipe should only take a couple of days. You can tell when the yeast is done fermenting when there ceases to be any bubbles emanating from your fermentation tank.  You will want to wait for the yeast to settle to the bottom before adding it to your still. Remember that you don’t want to transfer the entire content of your fermentation tank to the still. Rather you will want to leave the yeast that has settled to the bottom. Distilling yeast can add some unwanted flavors.

Step 4: The distillation process for making rum is the same as any other spirit. See post on distillation. As with other spirits you will want to make your cuts. The cuts refers to the process of deciding what spirits you want to keep and what you want to throw out or redistill. See post on making cuts.

Step 5: Flavoring and aging: It is best to age your rum in an oak barrel. However, most people have neither the barrel nor the patience for this. As such, you should be able to get some toasted oak chips from your local home brewing supply shop. If not, you can find some oak and toast it yourself. I typically toast the oak by sprinkling a little distilled spirits on them before setting fire. I prefer using distilled spirits over other flammable products. No one wants their rum to be aged with gas infused oak chips. As with most things, moderation is key. You want to toast the oak chips until the edges are burnt.

After toasting your oak chips, you then will want to add them to you rum in a sealed Masson Jar. The warmer you keep the jar, the faster your rum will extract the flavors from the wood. You can try putting your jar of rum in the sunlight or by a heater. But be warned, distilled liquor is highly flammable. You may also wish to add a dash of brown sugar and/or cinnamon sticks to your run.

You will want to filter your rum in order to get rid of any oak residue before bottling or drinking it.  For this you can either use a clean tee-shirt, cheese cloth, or a coffee filter.

Recipe taken from  book published in 1829.  Instructions on how to make rum:

To Make Jamaica rum.

To make Jamaica rum, it is necessary to procure some of the tops, or other parts of the sugar canes, and to put them in a still, in the proportion of a pound weight to two gallons of pure flavourless spirit, and one gallon of pure water. The distillation may be carried on by a brisk heat, provided there is a quantity of common salt, (in the proportion of an ounce to each gallon of liquid in the still), to prevent the mucilaginous matter from arising with the spirit. The product when rectified and coloured by burnt sugar, will possess every character of excellent rum.

To obtain rum from molasses.

Mix two or three gallons of water with one gallon of molasses, and to every 200 gallons of this mixture add a gallon of yeast. Once or twice a day the head as it rises is stirred in, and in three or four days, 2 gallons more of water is added to each gallon of molasses originally used, and the same quantity of yeast as at first. Four, five, or six days after this, a portion of yeast is added as before, and about an ounce of jalap root powdered, for in winter one ounce and a half), on which the fermentation proceeds with great violence, and in three or four days, the wash is fit for the still: one hundred gallons of this wash is computed to yield twenty-two gallons of spirit from one to ten over proof.

How to make rum