Pugi's Rum or "Pugirum"

[maka]

bcboys I am assuming you are from BC.

I used 11 lbs of fancy mollasses
4.5 lbs of dark brown sugar
7 lbs of white sugar

S.G. was 1.096
F.G. was 1.001-2

ABV was 12.5

it did take 9 days to finish though.

I will strip tomorrow and keep 3 gallons of dunder to start my next wash. All mollases. I work for a very large hotel chain and get the mollases for ery cheap.

[bcboyz86]

Was that for a 20gallon batch? That seems like a ton of sugar for such a low SG. I was using a gallon(about 7.8lbs worth of sugar)of fancy, 2lbs of golden brown sugar and my SG was around the 1.160(way way way too high) but it sounds like you got yourself a good batch going. What kind of yeast did you end up using?

[bcboyz86]

I don't know how many of you have seen Fight Club, but that last post kinda reminded me of that movie "i work for a very large hotel chain" ...sometimes I wonder if we meet people from day to day that secretly have the same hobby, but aren't allowed to talk about it outside of close circles...

[maka]

Actually it was closer to 12 gallons by the time I added my yeast bomb. I only pulled off 10 gallons though. I left the rest in the barrel for the next wash. I only mentioned where I worked cause that was my reasoning for getting Fancy instead of Blackstrap. I have 10 kg of blackstrap for my next wash though. It was even cheaper. I am almost done stripping now. It is down to 42% as I type this. I am on my 8th litre. Taste is so good. Even the ails are very drinkable.

Very happy today.

[maka]

OK

So stripping run is done and it has been 24 hours. I gatta tell ya, it is taking alot of restraint to not just drink this stuff as is.

i took off 250ml of fores
collected 11 litres from 69% down to 20% in 1 litre jars

jars 2-7 have a very pleasant light molasses sweet smell and a sweet taste that is amazingly drinkable at full strength. my wife can't believe how smooth a 65% rum can be. I have my second wash on now and it is exactly to pugi's spec. I really like the smell of the blackstrap over the fancy molasses. It is fermenting alot faster as well.

I am very impressed to say the least.

Thanks all

[maka]

Soooo

I started my second batch on Friday.This time I followed the recipe to a "T"

I used DAP and blackstrap. Now this seems to be halted at around 1.030. I am curious if this is because the amount of unfermentables in the blackstrap. It went from absulutley crazy fermentation down to a couple of bubbles every 10 seconds or so.


Your thoughts would be welcomed.

Thanks

[bcboyz86]

I would give it time to keep working untill it settles out. I've noticed my washes will keep going untill its done, then it will seperate out from a murkey tan color to a very noticeable dark brownish-black liquid on top, and yeast cake on botto-(ligjter tan) I dunno if it would be different for you, but that's how mine have gone. But I also use fancy instead of blackstrap too...

[condo33]

I have gotten low ABV washes (6.6) with my washes with it finishing out at 1.030. Only have done two washes to date, following the recipe to a "T". It's ferment is crazy busy I think if you attached a trumpet to the bubblers you'd get music. But it stops at around 24, or less, hours each time. It also tastes dry to me. I've tried raising the pH on this last batch with Calcium carbinate and repitching some baker's yeast, but no joy.
I'm wondering if my feed grade molasses is just low on fermentable sugars and I'm getting everything it can give. Again, there is no sweet taste. I had great luck with UJSSM and love Rhum too and was hopeing for the same results. I may try a food grade molasses sometime soon as I have a large Amish grocery within driving distance. Buying fancy molasses would be cost prohibitive for me. Thoughts appreciated.

[bcboyz86]

I personally use fancy molasses in my washes, but I would say add dark/holden brown sugar to supliment the other 2-4% of ABV and see if that works. So use the formula os 17grams of sugarXtue number of percent you want of alcoholX Tue liters your using, so an additional 4% of ABV per 5 gallon wash would be: 1.224kg or 2.7lbs of sugar. If that doesn't work maybe try fancy I stead of feed grade molasses for the change?

[condo33]

Thanks bc, working backwards I see that I'm only getting a 1/2 % of ABV from my molasses. I did use 4lbs of brown sugar in my wash and it appears that's where all my alcohol from. Seems I should be getting a lot more from the Molasses. It will at least be contributing to flavor, but something must be wrong. I think I'll go find some food grade molasses. The fancy in my grocery is about 3USD per/pint. Maybe I'm being cheap.

Looking back I used only one gallon of molasses for the 10 gal batch. I'm doing two 5gal buckets and just had a mental mystery.

[bcboyz86]

Yea, the molasses deffinatly gives off a ton of flavor. My next wash I think I'm going to step my molasses back by a fair amount. I'm thinking half gallon of molasses per 5 gallon wash and supplement the rest with golden brown sugar. The stuff I got is pretty good, just a very very dark flavor. But the molasses alone has about 8lbs of sugar per gallon. And I tho k that's all you would need to get enough ABV for the wash... But $3/pint would be about $24 a gallon....kinda a lot, for that price I think it would be cheaper to buy crappy rum and re-run that stuff. I just wish my sugar washes would hurry up Nd be done. Been waiting for them for a long time

[maka]

So I am in the middle of my stripping run now. I am collecting in 500ml jars and putting 450ml in each jar. Over the first 12 jars the ABV never went below 83%. I was surprised by that considering I am using a basic pot still. I am running at about 50ml per minute. Is this normal. I am starting jar #17 at 77%. I was surprised at the taste as well. I found the jars directly after the fores to be very pleasant. Then really bad for a few jars but know running smooth and sweet again. We'll see tomorrow after they air out for a bit.

Does any of this make sense.

[bcboyz86]

Wow, 17 pint sized jars is a lot... How big of a boiler do you have? On my 5 gallon stripping runs I ussually get 13 jars. 2 or 3 heads, 5 or so jars of hearts, 2 or so jars of tails, then 3 or 4 jars of rum oils(...if you take those out) wo guessing yours is at least a 10 or 15gallon, I would just say tripple or double your yield. But that's my washes, done my way. But I did get pretty consistent results from all 6 stripping runs. And I NEVER used any of my heads, went from hearts to a little tails, then saved all the rum oils and did a slow spirit run with just hearts and oils. I've had a LOT of this rum at 87% and never had any sort of a hang over. I'm kinda attributing it to not using any heads with those nasty alcohols. Buy sounds like your getting some good stuff out of it so far.

[maka]

BC

Yes I have a 15 gallon boiler. This run though was two 10 gallon stripping runs put through as a spirit run 27 litres of 33%. I am airing it out now but from what I can tell right now I will probably end up with 4-5 litres at around 80%. This is my first real spirit run so I am going to be a little conservative on the cuts. I am at work so I can't really remember but I think i ended up with 24-25 jars with 450 ml in each jar from 85% - 40%. I also collected almost 2 litres of rum oils.

I believe i got 3-4 litres of heads though. I thought that was alot. As i said though i couldn't believe how nice the first couple of jars after the fores were. Then the real heads taste started to come on and lasted forever. Then it cleaned right up. I only got a couple of litres of tails. Rum oils smelled great and tasted like krap. Pretty happy over all though. Maybe I will try to take out the heads on the first stripping runs next time.

[bcboyz86]

So do you do your stripping runs and take all of your yield from heads to rum oils and toss it all in for your spirit run? I do mine a little bit differently, but I don't suppose either way is wrong. I just did my stripping runs and took the heads and tails and set them aside. This way when I did the spirit run I only threw in hearts and rum oils with some dunder from my last run. So when I did my spirit run I only had maaaaybe 1 or 2 pints from the very first I tossed as a precaution. And kept pulling untill about 40% leaving all the rum oils I added in the dunder and put back in the dunder pit for later harvesting. But I suppose taking the heads out on every stripping run, or taking them all out in the spirit run is up to you. I just liked seperating them out and stashing them away for a feints run. Which from the rum washes and a couple sugar washes I ended up with almost a half gallon of 180proof. Not too shabby for refined scrapps that would be otherwise tossed... ran them through a Brita filter to clean up any residual taste and got some pretty decent neutral. Don't know yet what I'm ganna do with it, but I have it now.... Might make some kaluha or whipped vodka.... Oh, the possibilities....

[TOAD]

Second time trying pugi rum. Second time my still puked. ... So much frustration. 9gal of wash in a 15.5gal still, a 1/4keg thumper with 2gal water. And she puked like a frat boy at homecoming. I think my definition of "hard and fast to force flavor over" differs from yours.

[bcboyz86]

Did you use olive oil? I use between a dabble and dallop in my washes and it doesn't foam up one bit. And that's a 5gallo- preassure cooker with about 4.9 gallons of was in it....4tbsp is all ya need and it works awesome! Just be carefull when gettingdudhnder out, ya wanna keep as much lil out of it for your next wash as possible :/ but other than that it works awesome!

[TOAD]

Olive oil huh? .. . Im building a 1/2 gal mini still for just such experiments. I'll start a new thread with results. Science!

[bcboyz86]

Yup. Olive oil is the key to no foam explosions! I love it!

[wheresthereef]

I started with the basic Pujirum recipe a little over a year ago. Made it, read some more, adapted it a bit, and now have a rum I really like (as do my friends). I pretty much do the whole process exactly as Puji said in the beginning. I use a slightly different recipe to fit my taste, but that's the only difference.

I did actually start the whole process off with a "Yeast Bomb" but have since just been adding yeast nutrient.


My 12 gallon recipe is:

1 gallon Black Strap ($2.50 a gallon)
14 lbs light brown sugar ($0.65 a pound)
4 gallons of dunder
2 teaspoons calcium carbonate
1 Tablespoon yeast nutrient
Fill the rest of the way with good water
I have not added any more yeast since the beginning. I just make sure I take good care of them little guys.

2 strips, and a spirit with "rum oils added", just as Puji described.

I have, on a number of occasions, stripped out a Pujirum, stripped out an equal amount of Uncle Jesse's, put those two together in my still and done a spirit run. Kind of my own version of a sweetfeed whiskey. And I must say it comes out extremely good.

Thanks to all the folks that share so much. I usually just sit back, read, and learn. Thought it was time to say thanks and share my successes.

[WYTDAWG]

Hey All
Been a Hobby Stiller and "Lurker" on this site about a year now, and have primarily been working with a "Sweet Feed" recipe i kind of derived... 5# of 33/33/33 (percents) Corn, Oats, and Barley and 10# to 2# White to Brown Sugar ratio...per 6gal batch.used different "Still Spirits" Turbos( Favorite being there Triple Distilled) and running through a Still Spirits T500 setup(I know, I know...but it was given to me). I can't seem to keep the stuff around though, Really Good, so something must be right. Most say it reminds them of a silver tequilla, but i want to broaden my horizons a little...Rum is next on the list and just had a couple of questions.

1. The yeast bomb. You call for 5tsp of 20-0-0 fertilizer. I was wanting an opinion though. I have a garden store and carry a Weed blocker made from 100percent Corn Gluten. It also has 9percent nitrogen, and 1 percent phosphorous. What would you think about just doubling the dosage of this for my nitrogen instead of 20-0-0?

2. I read up on de-tuning my column for stripping runs. but wasn't sure on a couple of key points. When you strip, how far down ABV do go? And...Should I run a temp control on boiler now? My SS T500 has a 1800w burner, So will I need to slow it down now that i won't be controlling temp at top of column with water.

3. For my Spirit Run, would you suggest leaving column de-tuned or run it normal, and reflux.

4. I have had good luck with the Turbos, but they don't seem well received here, why is that? Most of my washes are 7-9 day ferments, and have no problems with quality of finished...and my yields are great...usually about 2.8-3.0L of 92ABV.

Thank you for any insight and advise...This site is a wealth of knowledge and everyone on here seams to have a great attitude and lots of good input.

[wheresthereef]

I used a 10-0-0 fertilizer that was made from beet molasses. I used 7 tsp instead of 5.

I strip down to 10%. I have a 1500w and a 1650w. I use both to get up to temp, then I run on the 1650 wide out. You want to run it as hard as you can as long as you are knocking down all your vapors. Keep everything, don't worry about fores or cuts, you'll do that on the spirit run.

I'm pretty much a pot stiller so the only thing I have in mine is some copper mesh.

On my spirit run, I don't go by temp, I go by the size of the stream coming out of my still. I try to pretty much keep it at a broken stream making all the cuts as Puji described.

[bcboyz86]

There's a whole bunch of different ways to go about rum. I've done a few ways with all molasses(darkest flavor), so a ton of molasses and some dark brown sugar(a little lighter flavor), to mostly brown sugar and some molasses. The less molasses you use the lighter the flavor will be. I've made a batch with just brown sugar and cane juice sugar once and it wasn't bad either. And with the nutrients I don't even mess with fertilizer, maybe its just around here where's there's so many farms and different chemicals they spray all the time I just have an unreasonable bias against them. But I use DAP which I'm pretty sure is close enough. I also boil half a cup of yeast/10gallon batch. The PugiRum recipie is really pretty good. I only substatute black strap molasses for half gallon of fancy molasses since I get it pretty cheap here. When I do stripping runs I still cut the fores and a good chunck of heads out, along with the fussil oils. If your going to re-use the dunder for your next washes you could keep the oils in there and stop stripping at 40%, or keep going. To me that's just more time and energy to take oils out...just to add them back in later. I don't reflux anything ever with rum. Even for the spirit run I just run it really slow and don't reflux or pack my column. It turns out to be about 90%ABV if your taking your time and all the flavor comes with it. So after I collected everything from my spirit run I go through and make cuts just because you will have some bad stuff in there from the stripping runs....it will just happen. I personally like Carmel and vanilla in mine so I cook up some Carmel with brown sugar and un-refined cane sugar. I "burn" the Carmel a bit and it tastes like Carmel corn.... Really really good. Toss it in the rum and filter out the Sediment after its dissolved and your golden! (no pun intended)

[bcboyz86]

And with turbo's, I think people mostly get quantity over quality alcohols... Like say you get a gallon of good 80pf rum out of a 5gallon wash. Good quality tasting smoothe rum. A turbo might squeeze out another half gallon for ya, but it won't be a good smoothe kind of alcohol. True, there's more alcohol...but its a lot more heads and tails in ratio to the total amount of hearts your pulling out. So instead of half of the stuff you pull off being good, it might only be 40% of the stuff you pull being good. Sure there's more volume, but less % of the liquid is a good quality. If that makes Sence?

[WYTDAWG]

Okay So I got a chance to "Drop the Bomb" on a wash of PUGIRUM Last Night...10 gals Per instructions except My vitamins were 1-a-days with B1,2,6&12, and my Fert was a Corn Gluten Based 9-1-0 that i Doubled...Yeast was Fleischmans Active Dry. My Starting SG was 1.080. It was all together at 5:00 last night and was looking good, showing sign of taking off by 6:00 when i left "still site"...I got back this morning about 10:00, and things were not as active as i might have thought with every ones description of rapid fermentation...I checked my SG and was down to 1.030 already...Did I just miss the fireworks or has something stuck...My Fertalizer at second glance was insoluble nitrogen, so My first thought was no nutrient for yeast, but this is my first attempt at the rum so i didn't know how dynamic the ferment from beginning to end. The SG drop seemed pretty substantial for 16 hrs, but again not sure.

Any input, Suggestions.

Will check again in morning, want to be around 1.01 to 1.00 right.

thanks

wytdog.

[bcboyz86]

Well, I don't know which of your variations might be the coulprate. But my guess would.be the corn glute. All my ferments always pan out well. Possibly your molasses was high in un-fermantables? That would throw off your SG readings and make them seem higher than they really are. That's a small downside to molasses washes... They are sneaky like that. But that's just my guess...

[runsonbundy]

Hi all,

A week a go I started a ferment of 1/2 of the recipe (19L) and OG was at 1.063 which i thought was a bit low, im guessing my molasses is shit I let it run and just checked the gravity today and its down to 1.032 and has been stopped since 3 days ago i believe.

I have 4% .. I don't think i'll even bother running it, might have to start over and try source molasses straight from the sugar mill rather than feed store.

Anyone got any suggestions?? is it possible to add more brown sugar this late into a ferment? I'm a little demotivated at the moment as i was keen to do a stripping run this weekend..

edit: dam it... thinking back i think i shorted the sugar a kg... more yeast and sugar?

[cappymrgn]

Hi all,

A week a go I started a ferment of 1/2 of the recipe (19L) and OG was at 1.063 which i thought was a bit low, im guessing my molasses is shit I let it run and just checked the gravity today and its down to 1.032 and has been stopped since 3 days ago i believe.

I have 4% .. I don't think i'll even bother running it, might have to start over and try source molasses straight from the sugar mill rather than feed store.

Anyone got any suggestions?? is it possible to add more brown sugar this late into a ferment? I'm a little demotivated at the moment as i was keen to do a stripping run this weekend..

edit: dam it... thinking back i think i shorted the sugar a kg... more yeast and sugar?

I am a total newbie so take this with that in mind. I dont see any problem with adding more sugar at this point. I have read where someone does this to increase the abv without shocking the yeast. I guess you could add more yeast but I think you would be fine adding some dissolved sugar and aerating. Pitching more yeast may speed it up but i doubt you will be ready to run this weekend either way. Sorry

Also, in the Panela thread they shoot for about 1.06 for starting SG so i wouldnt worry too much about that number

Hope this helps and i am sure someone who knows a lot more than me will come along and comment.

Good luck!

[bcboyz86]

Yea, I would just toss in more sugar. The yeast will eat it up and make more booze for ya. Even white sugar with some citric acid would work. That way you don't get an overpowering flavor when you do run it.... but its up to you. that's what I would do.

[tom sawyer]

I ran my first 6gal rum wash over the last few days (3gal pot still) and during the stripping runs I could smell a wonderful buttery rum oil aroma. But when I ran my spirit run and tried to collect the rum oils to save, they smelled more like bacon. The spirit itself smells pretty good though. Is this normal? Do you think I burned the spirit or something?