Palm Sugar Rum

[fusedlight]

(Moved by request from the "newbie" forum over to here...)

Took a break from work (a real sacrifice), headed down into the basement, and grabbed my notes:

Fermenting:
Bring 2.5 gal water to boil.
Add 10 pounds 10 oz Palm Sugar (aka. Gula Java). This is 10 of the packets I get at my local Asian market.
Stir until dissolved.
Add 1T yeast nutrient.
Using wort chiller (home brewer too, dontcha know!) bring down to 90F.
Pour into plastic tub primary fermentor.
Add water to make 5 gals.
Add 2 pkts. EC1118 yeast.
Seal up and add airlock.

Original gravity: 1.092 (12% potential)

At 4 days transfer into glass carboy. SG: 1.020
At 9 days transfer into distiller's pot. SG: 1.001

Distilling:
Save first 100ml for the alcohol stove.
Save 5 1-pint cuts.
Save 1/2 gal tails for future run.

Bottling:
Average was 130 proof (65% ABV).

Mix & jar:
1. 1 quart rum + charred oak + raisins
2. 1 quart rum + charred oak
3. 1 pint rum

Changed raisins after 4 days.

Costs:
Palm Sugar was around $21 for the 10 packets.
$2 for the yeast.
Raisins were raided from the pantry!

[LWTCS]

Thanks dude.
Will you be saving your spent rum beer for a dunder pit? I know I will.

[fusedlight]

Thanks dude.
Will you be saving your spent rum beer for a dunder pit? I know I will.

Next time...

[Prairiepiss]

Ok here's what I have to offer. I have found three different palm sugars available in my area. 2 come in a container and it is formed in little half balls approx 1 Tbsp each. The other is one big cake. They all are around the same weight total. I have grown found of the smaller ones. I started using it to sweeten my hot tea. The smaller ones are easier to just through 1 in the cup. Where the cake you have to try to chop off a piece. The smaller ones also seam to have more moisture content. They are not as hard and desolve much faster in the tea. The smaller ones ingredient list only says palm sugar. The cake one says palm sugar and something for a preservative. This mite hamper fermenting? The small ones are lighter in color then the cake. And lastly the smaller one has a much better flavor and sweeter then the cake. To the point I don't like the cake one at all. I don't have any on hand so I can give the names of the brands right now. But I will get some soon and report back with the different brands I talk of.

[LWTCS]

My palm sugar is from Thailand. Came in a plastic container. The top has a thin wax seal to protect the sugar (I assume).

Taste is really delicious. The buttery,,,,,,,,,butterscotch notes coming out of the heat up pot are really yummy.......
And man am I pissed off at myself for only buying 3 pounds. What a cheap skate idiot I turned out to be.........
So the plan was to go 3 lbs of palm sugar and 7 pounds of panela.

But now the plan should be to shoot myself in the head
Well,,,,I guess I'll go and add the panela now...

[fusedlight]

My palm sugar is from Thailand. Came in a plastic container. The top has a thin wax seal to protect the sugar (I assume).
<snip>
But now the plan should be to shoot myself in the head
Well,,,,I guess I'll go and add the panela now...

Yup... that's the way mine came. Cylinders, two per pack.

Oh, please don't do yourself ill! Dripping the red stuff in the mix gives it a really bad off flavour. Not a nice thing to leave your survivors!

[LWTCS]

Nkay so the color of the palm sugar deepend up a bit with the heat and the smell ranges from the butterscotch to,,mmm,, cinnamon and butter drenched french toast.......

Seems like a perfect candidate to top a nice cuban flan with.....

Adding the panela has some what drowned out a good bit of the buttery notes.....

I am not sure how to still this batch yet but I do hope when I do a 100% palm sugar batch that some of this butter comes over.....

If your not sure there is a god,,,,,,,,taste some palm sugar and you'll know God is alive and well.

[LWTCS]

Fusedlight,
I used the kitchen sheers to split my containers down the side and half way thru to the bottom. Then used a butter knife to skin the wax layer off then dump the contents into my pot.
Seem'd like a decent way to liberate the content from the container.......

I was going to remove the entire content with my tongue but was not sure about how easily I might lop off my tongue on the sharp plastic.

Wud you do?

[LWTCS]

Also thinking about making a wine/beer of sorts with this palm sugar now..

Perhaps fortifying the wine/ beer with palm sugar distillate? Or adding a bit sweet wash to the distillate...Or a smallish quantity of caramelized palm sugar to the distillate....

Do hope the beer /wine guys can add to this line of thinking at some point.

[fusedlight]

Fusedlight,
I used the kitchen sheers to split my containers down the side and half way thru to the bottom. Then used a butter knife to skin the wax layer off then dump the contents into my pot.
Seem'd like a decent way to liberate the content from the container.......

I was going to remove the entire content with my tongue but was not sure about how easily I might lop off my tongue on the sharp plastic.

Wud you do?

No wax on mine. It was in a wax-paper like sleeve. I just opened up the sleeve, took out the two cylinders of sugar per sleeve, and dumped 'em in the water. I was picking up a steak at the Asian market and took a snap. The ones I got are the white cylinders. Another form is to the left.

[fusedlight]

Also thinking about making a wine/beer of sorts with this palm sugar now..

Perhaps fortifying the wine/ beer with palm sugar distillate? Or adding a bit sweet wash to the distillate...Or a smallish quantity of caramelized palm sugar to the distillate....

Do hope the beer /wine guys can add to this line of thinking at some point.

Speaking for the beer guys (my porter won first place in the US around 15 years ago!), I think you would make an interesting brew if you put a BIT of the sugar into the wort. Too much and the molasses tones would overpower. It might be quite nice in a porter.

[Prairiepiss]

So I was thinking about this today. Technically a Rum is suppose to be made from sugarcane. Yes? So shouldn't we really call it Pum?

[Prairiepiss]

No wax on mine. It was in a wax-paper like sleeve. I just opened up the sleeve, took out the two cylinders of sugar per sleeve, and dumped 'em in the water. I was picking up a steak at the Asian market and took a snap. The ones I got are the white cylinders. Another form is to the left.

The cakes on the left of your pic are like the ones I didn't like.

[LWTCS]

call it Pum?

You sippin? Aincha?

Actually, I was thinking about this palm sugar. it is just so good compared to anything (sugar wise) that I have ever tasted....And I am pissed off that I never even knew what it was. Its like big american sugar mogals have deprived me of maybe the best dern thing ever and it's just not fare...........

I'm sippin too

[Prairiepiss]

call it Pum?

You sippin? Aincha?

Actually, I was thinking about this palm sugar. it is just so good compared to anything (sugar wise) that I have ever tasted....And I am pissed off that I never even knew what it was. Its like big american sugar mogals have deprived me of maybe the best dern thing ever and it's just not fare...........

I'm sippin too

I know! I found out about it just before I started digging real deep into this hobby. And I did many searches on here for palm sugar. With not much found. I thought how could this not be explored by someone here. So I put it on the back burner. I'm really glad fusedlight started this for others to find.

Now a little off topic. If you like hot tea? Get some Tai Tea they use it for ice tea. But make a hot tea with it and use the palm sugar to sweeten it. Oh it is so good.

[LWTCS]

Yes,,,,, I already know about Thai tea....I just never knew how they made it taste so damn good.

[blind drunk]

I know! I found out about it just before I started digging real deep into this hobby. And I did many searches on here for palm sugar. With not much found. I thought how could this not be explored by someone here. So I put it on the back burner. I'm really glad fusedlight started this for others to find.

I never heard of it till now and I quickly called one of my suppliers to see if they stocked it. Never had a request for it, she said. Well, it's going to be the next big thing, said I. No really, I said. Hopefully she'll be just worried enough to carry it ...

[Prairiepiss]

Well I hope she does decide to carry it BD. Because it is a wonderful type of sugar that I think everyone can enjoy. And everyone should at least try it at one point in their life. I'm just sory it took me so long to find it.

[fusedlight]

One of the great thing about living in <city name redacted> are the inedible number and diversity of the "ethnic" grocery stores and super markets. Heck, there are probably at least five BIG Asian grocery stores within 2 miles of my house. Where some folks have to worry about getting any cane sugar at all I can chose between five or six varieties. If I want to go the panela route I just have to go to a different neighborhood.

And, yes, I'm sipping. My step-son just called me up from Montana and wondered if the Empire Builder is running again so he can come back home by train instead of Craigslist car. It's not...still floods in ND. I told him how good the rum was. He said "I hope there will be some left for me when I get back." What could I say but "Maybe..."

[LWTCS]

The panela palm sugar ferment is bopping along and there is surely a better smell than purely panela would have.....

Like a combo between butter creme cake frosting and molassas.

Fusedlight have you completed a panela cycle?

[Prairiepiss]

Ok went down to the market today. I bought my favorite palm sugar its on the pricey side. $3.99 for 22.9 oz. I forgot how much it was. But they had 7 different palm sugars to chose from. They had one that is a 1 pound cake $1.99. A little better. So I bought one if my favorite and one of the cakes. I was hesitant to by this cake because of the experience I had with the other one. But I wanted to compare them side by side. Hands down my ol favorite has way more and much better flavor then the cake. Much more of the butter and butterscotch note you talk about LWTCS. Not that the cake didn't have any flavor. It does have a nice flavor. Just not as pronounced as the other. But still better then the one I had bought before. But man $4 for a little under a pound and a half for the one I like. It will cost me a small fortune for a batch. I will have to think about this a little. Maybe do a half and half? I took pics of the 2. The one in the can is the one I really like. Then the last pic is of the one on top of the other. Notice how much darker my fav is compared to the other. Like I stated earlier the cake has a lot less moisture and is hard as all get out compared to the other one.

[LWTCS]

Notice how much darker my fav is compared to the other. Like I stated earlier the cake has a lot less moisture and is hard as all get out compared to the other one.

Out of the 3 / 1 pound containers all produced by the same outfit,,,,,one of my batches was a little lighter......
I have noticed this with the panela also.....
Prolly can be explained by who was stiring the wok the day the content was placed in it's packaging.

I will have to think about this a little. Maybe do a half and half?

Thats what I was thinking before I actually tasted it......now I'm pissed that I was too chintzy.

Expecting a goodly check/payment for a big job............Guess the palm sugar gonna run me to the poor house?

Taste great raw, smells heavenly heating up,,ferment smells like desert,,,and chugs along nicely.......Only the beer and distillate to evaluate now. And if they are as superior,,,,,,,,I'm phuckt...Seeya in nah po haus

If anyone needs me I'll be outside jackin off my cocoa palms

[zouthernborne]

Seriously thinking of trying this one as my next rum batch. How many grams per package is this EC118? I don't have access to that exact yeast, so I don't know how many grams of my own to compensate with.

[HookLine]

My local Asian food store carries various palm/coconut and cane rock sugars, including jaggery, in half kilo packs, and they are next on my list of things to try.

[LWTCS]

Think those paks are 5 grams per zouth.

Dang that looks like a goodly sized pak there Hook
what is the jaggery derived from?

[HookLine]

Jaggery

Jaggery is just unrefined, dried cane sugar juice, far as I know. The cane rock sugar is a slightly refined version I think. Certainly different appearance.

Cane rock sugar

Coconut palm sugar - looks very similar to jaggery, bit darker maybe.

[HookLine]

5 grams per zouth.

???

[Prairiepiss]

Jaggery looks like its the same thing as panela. Except it can be made with both or either palm sap or sugar cane. What does it taste like? That's what I would like to know. I didn't see any of it at the market today. I will have to look for it when I go buy more palm sugar. They had a palm sugar that was almost that dark. But it was $3 for half a pound.

[LWTCS]

Seems as though the darker palm sugar has simply spent more time in the wok being rendered down.
How firm or hard is the jaggery?
These smaller independant suppliers are very cool and seems they can add a bunch of deversity in flavor profiles.
The panela video on the "lil bit about panela" thread talks about classifiing this type of product as a food rather than a sweetener. I hope this type of designation does not place a burden on the little fellers out there trying to scratch out an existance.

[HookLine]

What does it taste like?

But it was $3 for half a pound.

Cane rock is very sweet, mildly flavoured sugar. Probably make a nice light cachaça,
Coconut/palm & jaggery taste much stronger, much more flavour. The jaggery has a kind of spicey edge to it. The palm sugar has more conventional molasses-ey taste, but still quite distinct from other sugars I have tried. Prefer the taste of the palm sugar. But don't know how that will translate into the final spirit.

While since I bought those, but I think they were about $3 for 500 g, about the same as for you. Maybe 3 times more than plain white or raw sugar.

How firm or hard is the jaggery?

The lighter colour cane sugar is very hard, like rock candy. The lumps look like their natural form.

The jaggery and palm sugars are quite firm but slightly 'damp' and fairly easy to carve with a spoon. They have clearly been pressed into those shapes.

Left to right: Cane, Jaggery, Coconut Palm