Rum Recipe Discussion

[RuddyCrazy]

Well just checked the SG and it is down to 1034 :handgestures-thumbupleft: so by adding that bit of bread yeast may of done the trick and decided as I have a heap of those homebrew beer can yeast used 2 of them and gave the ferment a good minute or more mix then heard a sound I had heard before where my hydrometer died :scared-eek: but it was the oyster shells moving around :laughing-rolling:

So looks like I better get a move on as got a 20 litre 90% hearts by hearts run to do which will be the last time my bubbler will be used in that configuration and the plate tree is getting a citric bath :handgestures-thumbupleft: just stick a 4" end cap on one end then fill it from the other end. Leave it for a week and keep remembering to give the tree a shake everyday has worked in the past where it goes from nice and shiny to a nice patina look again until the next clean :laughing-rolling:

I am on thinking just how much I am going to get out of this 25Kg tub of molasses as I will be setting my 4" pot still so my inline thumper and the onion then everything from my RC up for the pot still configuration.

Then keep making generations and see just how big of a barrel I will need to buy

Cheers Bryan

[RuddyCrazy]

Well keeping going on the timeline of this ferment decided to finally get some DAP from the shop and it got here yesterday but didn't get home from work in time to pick it up, so rang my daughter this morning and she grabbed it for me and in return she can have a chupa chup :laughing-rolling:

So with the temp sitting on 20C and it is clearly 1040 added 5 tea spoons of DAP and gave it good mix for a minute ensuring the trub was mixed in then wacked the heat belt on for the night so it can warm up. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I will see how it's going after lunch tomorrow and with a bit of luck that DAP may do the job but time will see....

[The Stig]

:music-deathmetal:

[TheRealMrMessy]

Had the first taste of my rum run from the year in the usa oak from Adelaide wine barrels. Only barrel prep was soaking it to prevent leaks. Went in 01/09.

Very, very resinous is all I can say haha. It's the only flavour I can comment on because its so overpowering. I know some amount of resin flavour is expected especially in a virgin barrel, I'm just very hopeful that settles in time, it'd be a heck of a shame if it was poorly prepped wood and ruins 28L at 65%...

[bluc]

Is it virgin oak? I generally only use it for burbon. Reclaim(french is my fav) for rum..heavy toast, love it.

[TheRealMrMessy]

Yeah its virgin oak, but I've used a few virgin barrels for rum before no problem (couple weeks with some port getting sloshed about first). Got a ex bourbon usa here for some more rum, but haven't got it rolling yet. Really should get onto that haha.

edit: know its super early so not like I'm gonna pull it out and dump it. It's getting as long as it needs in there, thinking 2-3 years.

[WoodyD40]

Had the first taste of my rum run from the year in the usa oak from Adelaide wine barrels. Only barrel prep was soaking it to prevent leaks. Went in 01/09.

Very, very resinous is all I can say haha. It's the only flavour I can comment on because its so overpowering. I know some amount of resin flavour is expected especially in a virgin barrel, I'm just very hopeful that settles in time, it'd be a heck of a shame if it was poorly prepped wood and ruins 28L at 65%...

I have found the same issues with virgin usa oak barrels. I'm reasonbly certain the french oak barrels i've bought from adelaide barrels are 2nd use - so i am hoping that all the rum i have put into them will not have the same issues as the first use barrels.
The new 25 litre usa oak barrel is a new barrel (will be used for whiskey), so it will need a lengthy age before i'll be able to drink it.

[TheRealMrMessy]

Fingers crossed Woody. It'll mellow, but i never had that hit from any badmo barrels. Wood ratio is different i guess.

Not saying the resin is BAD its just the strongest flavour by far at this stage.

Gotta get my ex bourbon barrel filled yet - still not got to it but happy for a little separation on the start times too.

[Puk]

Thinking out loud:
Would it help to intensify flavour in a rum of only 3 generations faster if I were to make a first generation 25 litre wash of just molasses (no sugar), and then use the dunder from the stripping run from that to start my next generation, which would then be a normal MacRum that included sugar?

I bought a 60 litre fermenter, and did my last batch with one 25 litre wash in a smaller fermenter (molasses and sugar), and then only 2 x 50 litre generations in the 60 litre fermenter to cut down on time. but it wasn't as nice, complex and flavoursome as the one before it that had 5 generations x 25 litres. (Even after 6 months on oak). Also, for some reason it didn't darken up on the oak very well.

I don't want to mess with dunder pits and don't understand rum oils....

Just a thought anyway....

[TheRealMrMessy]

Heya Puk.
Sure you can do all-molasses and swap to Mac. From a single generation it won't add complexity, probably better to think of it as adding a stronger flavour hit. Not sure any of us are truly running dunder pits these days, but some have done it in the past. Just seems like a bridge too far for me haha.

Rum oils... well that's easy (?) to explain. Short attempt is that they exist in rum ferments, tend to appear when your offtake is getting a little under 40%, and are worth capturing and chucking back into the boiler for each run. They get stronger and stronger.

If you were blessed with a bubble plate still, you could reflux at around 90% offtake until you get to tails, cut the reflux condenser and run it out as a pot still. Really condenses the rum oils - basically, the offtake turns cloudy for a while. Yours profile says alcoengine? I imagine you are running the pot still for rum? I'll be real, I don't have much experience with pot distillation for drinkable product as the bubbler is my cheat code. One of these days I'll use the plates to condense the heads and run something out in pot still mode and see how that improves (?) flavour.

[RuddyCrazy]

MrMessy well that confirms it this first molly wash bubbles for days after I give it a bit of DAP and yeast but the hydrometer still states it's on 1040 so as my still is setup for 4 plates this molly can go thru the bubbler. Now my bubbler lets me know when tails are coming on as the site glass's do start to fog up and depending on what I'm running it could be any plate :scared-eek:

Now when I set it to pot still mode 200ml or less it's on 20%

I do remember reading molly wash's love to puke so yes when the third plate gets warm time to switch down to 4psi to avoid pukes, so this weekend may be on the cards to run this first molly wash so transfer the wash over on Saturday arvo before the yard arm gets here and do the run on Sunday while I'm paying penance for the night before :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

Cheers Bryan

[TheRealMrMessy]

Think you used blackstrap right, Bryan? Less sugar in that than the refinery stuff I was using. Might well mean a whole lot more of unfermentable stuff too, hence the high gravity? Strange you were getting more activity but no gravity change - perhaps just degassing gradually on you?!

Good luck running it, be ready to clean the elements up afterwards. I ran the macrum enough times that I could tell when tails would start from the boiler temp. That FG is probably gonna affect your boil temps somewhat. Pretty much as soon as my column temp wavered upwards I'd watch for tails as they weren't far off. Fogging, temps, lots of warnings in a bubbler! Cut that RC when its tails time and collect them oils!

Since I did 9 generations, I did a final run of the feints and oils. Ended up with almost a whole extra batch that tasted grimy as. Blended it all and still tastes gross - but my last rum run before said that aged nicely. Fingers crossed on this one!

[howard]

I don't want to mess with dunder pits and don't understand rum oils....
Just a thought anyway....

rum oils isn't too hard.
this is what i do, the following is an excerpt from pugidogs in his pugirum recipe.

"Collect the 40% ABV down to 20% ABV in seperate container. These are your RUM OILS. Handle them with care and treat them special. Always add them to your still when you do a SPIRIT run and always collect them from the spirit run. The more times you use them the more concentrated they become. It wont take long and they will overflow into the hearts. This is the KEY to My rum"
the full post here..........

rum by poster Pugi.docx

[RuddyCrazy]

Well ran that rum ferment today and with the high gravity got a much lower yield than I expected :scared-eek: So 2.8 litres which includes a 600ml moccono jar of 60% down to 20% and man did the shed smell reak today when the still was heating up but is one I can get used to as a wiff of the hearts did tell a nice tail where there is promise :laughing-rolling:

Now with that 60% to 20% cut jar well it's got a tinge of blue and compared to the other cut jars this is something different. I'm going to let the angels have a drink and see if there is any solids or it could be just manky tails :laughing-rolling: if there is something there I'm going to setup my lab still for a vacuum distill going into a 250ml seperatory funnel and see if that rum oil claim is there or not.

Inverted 4Kg of brown sugar into about 4kg of warm molasses as I did put the 25 litre drum on my trailer to heat up at 9am, now filled the stock pot to about 8 litres of backset and did find this raw sugar didn't invert fully then after 4kg the SG 1050 :scared-eek: so used some more backset to invert 3kg and the SG came in at 1080 :handgestures-thumbupleft: Checked the PH and it a tad around 6 so give the wash a dose of citric acid gave the wash a good mix with my blender and lets see if there is action tomorrow night.

[Puk]

This is probably more of a procedural question rather than a recipe one:

but does anyone clear their MacRum wash before the stripping run to keep sediment in their boiler to a minimum, and if so, can the remaining trub still be used for subsequent generations?

If it IS possible, what would be the best method? (Cold crashing, gelatin, turbo clear, etc? )

[howard]

This is probably more of a procedural question rather than a recipe one:

but does anyone clear their MacRum wash before the stripping run to keep sediment in their boiler to a minimum, and if so, can the remaining trub still be used for subsequent generations?

If it IS possible, what would be the best method? (Cold crashing, gelatin, turbo clear, etc? )

time
i just leave it until it's 'clear' and the trub is a just a layer of gloop on the bottom of the fermentor.
i just syphon off the wash into the boiler.
i have loads of time. :smile:

[TheRealMrMessy]

I always cold crash. Pulls so much more yeast solids out. I still get a small mount of scorch every time though.

[Puk]

I always cold crash. Pulls so much more yeast solids out. I still get a small mount of scorch every time though.

Does the yeast survive this seeing you don't go below zero, and the yeast can therefore get going again when the next generation of ingredients are added?

[howard]

I always cold crash. Pulls so much more yeast solids out. I still get a small mount of scorch every time though.

Does the yeast survive this seeing you don't go below zero, and the yeast can therefore get going again when the next generation of ingredients are added?

yeast are a resilient bunch.
as far as i know...........
yeast love their correct temp and environment.
they get very sleepy when the temp goes down.
a soft crash at 10C, or cold crash at 0 - 2 c, yeast will go dormant.
they will survive being frozen.
AFAIK they will only die if temp gets too hot.

[TheRealMrMessy]

I've not intentionally reused yeast, but can confirm when I cold crashed, racked AND used (too little) metabisulphite in a mead a few years ago, the yeast soldiered on.