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Apologies as the quality was too poor in previous post, will try this again.[IMG]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202011 ... 6e9861.jpg[/IMG]

<r>Just to throw a spanner in the works but reinforces the use of double retorts. <br/> <br/> Posted by Richard Seale, an analysis for one of his cane juice rums where the fermentation was allowed to sour a great deal and it gave Hampden DOK levels of ethyl acetate but without the use of the cousins...

Should be interesting for then.

A lot of the esters will be in the usual heads cut so don't be worried about making wide cuts.

Going by the first post it sounds like you're making a fruit brandy rather than a rum? It's mostly rum low wines, heads & tails, and dunder. Only a small portion is with fruit, and it's a small sugar and molasses ferment( I forgot to write in molasses in my first post) with the fruit added to i...

Going by the first post it sounds like you're making a fruit brandy rather than a rum? There's plenty of threads on ways to go about it but there's a big difference between high ester rum and a flavoured rum. For the vinegar side, the majority of esters in a high ester rum is ethyl acetate from the ...

I'd chuck the lot dude. Mold growth is a big no-no and totally different to a pellicle growth

Cheers for that. It's crazy what you pick up after revisiting articles even though you've read many times before! The part where the muck goes to a cistern to free the acids is another nugget, I guess it's where they filter off the solids from fruits etc before adding to the wash. I'm curious how th...

Hey Salty, Do you have any more info on the aeration part that Hampden does and its purpose? I know Hampden do use lime treatment or salts but I couldn't get any more info out of them on it since I guess its technically "trade secrets". As for the muck pit I definitely second the need for ...

Jeez Salty, those are some hefty figures ;p I've just been going on ph levels when working with the lime salts. One way to go about it is to utilize the pent lees from the spirit run or retorts as Salty says but another way is to run the muck/dunder by itself through the still. Plenty of acids will ...

Great wee write up and glad to see you're embracing the infected dunder too! You must get a fair amount of gypsum precipitating when changing the ph levels from calcium and sulfuric acid? Have you tried stripping the infected dunder by itself so the water and the fatty acids come through and leave t...

Yeah just add to whatever, dunder or a sugar source. The packets says it'll 500 litres, I added a sprinkle then put the rest of the packet in the fridge. A good tip for your dunder is buy some oyster shells (pets at home £1) to act as a ph buffer and also add a wee bit of nutrients like DAPs or boil...

I'm hoping the battery acid was bought fresh for filling and not emptied out of a battery! Good that you're seeing some results from the infected dunder. I ran a batch last night funnily enough and a lot of the funk/fruit comes through in the heads Have a look online for propionic acid bacteria as w...

There's more than one way to skin a cat as it were plus it's more than just butyric acid that will be in bacteria fermented dunder. I've ran pure muck/dunder through the still purely for the acids to carry over with the water and leave the solids behind. it was pretty damn smelly, but then adding th...

Good haul on the molasses, I use the stuff from Ragus but usually have to buy it in 25kg buckets. There's nothing stopping you make the rum in your own way/style (single run or not) but if it's just a simple pot still then it makes it quite difficult to make your cut points on a single run be it whi...

Its been absolutely ages since any activity on the thread but felt like posting an update if anyone is still into this. I've had quite a bit of success in having a constant vinegar batch, having stock taken for distillations and replenished with a weak molasses or muscavado wash. Originally started ...

Totally forgot about it as I rarely post pictures on here.

Post edited and trying to resize images

Fresh (or not so fresh) attempt at the muck pit. Treated the dunder with lime to raise ph, added some yeast extract for nitrogen, added some oyster shells for a ph buffer and finally inoculated with a proprionic and clostridium cultures. After a few weeks the pellicle developed quite nicely and arom...

Cool stuff man! I find the Ragus molasses closer to NAF than black treacle flavour wise and looking at the tech specs the different between the molasses and treacle is the ratio of molasses vs added invert sugar to up the % sugars. I think the burnt rubber probably would of came from scorching the r...

Hey man, I use Ragus cane molasses from Bako and probably available from other catering supply companies.
Not sure how much they'd charge for small volumes but should be in the region of £25-30 per 25kg. They're about 60% sugars but defo more flavour than black treacle.

Surprisingly those notes can be found in Jamaican rums, acetone notes and pineapple aroma are quite common.
I would chuck this distillate in with another batch, re run it and watch your cuts as it sounds like a short heads cut made it very hot to drink.

A good way to start is to look at the copper alembic pot stills.
They can be bought for a few hundred bucks to a few thousand depending on the size you require.
I would have a look at Haitian rum called clairin as their processes are old school, using home made pot stills and make some fine rum!

Looks like a can of worms has been well & truly opened... With mention of the maple rum and whatever other kind of syrup that you use to make rum, rum must be made from a sugar cane source else it ain't rum! No need to clean the still unless you're switching from say gin to rum or a peated whisk...

Most Martinique rhums are made on column stills. I would check with the regulations on Martinique regarding rum production as they have tight rules similar to Whisky with the AOC I think it is called.

Just a quick post and question about nutrients as I think it's a topic that is very much skimmed over when it comes to fermentation. After doing a fair bit of reading I keep finding contradicting claims about nitrogen sources for the yeast metabolism as well as the other vitamins and minerals. Some ...

I think it depends on the spices you want to use as some can be really easy to go too much with and the extract/tincture route is best for this with things like cloves.

It's not that simple I'm afraid, ph is not linear so the amount to take it 1 point crom say 3.5 to 4.5 is not the same as 4.5 to 5.5.
I would start with a teaspoon (2.5g?) and check ph level when it is dissolved and go from there.

Both won't affect flavour in the quantities you'll use, you'll use much much less compared to calcium carbonate.

I would use calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide to bring the ph up. A little can go a long way as its a powder and may not dissolve all at once

Detroit, you didn't mention Ph of the wash after adding the infected Dunder? You might have enough acids or bacteria in there to make it difficult for the yeast to get a footing.

I think the quote regarding the use of ripened Dunder is more about yields. You trade alcohol yield for flavour.

Also got to try Saltys Rum using the cousins process. Definitely going in the right direction when comparing to a few light Jamaican rums!