Butter Rum

[Shine0n]

The shell surely won't hurt any, being in the mid 90's you'll probably finish in 4 days.
FYI, that moll has crap for sugar content! it says 43 but it's more than likely not all fermentable. That's the main reason I used db sugar with it.
Look for sugar inverted that will give you the real amount of fermentable sugar. You may want to add 6 lbs of dB sugar to this one.

As DD said this doesn't foam like crazy, just fizzing like coke cola.

Good luck with it, let me know how you like the Butter Rum!!!

[Shine0n]

I'm also going to knock down a ferment today, Hopefully be ready on the 4th to run in the am.

[hellbilly007]

I just checked on my ferment. It's roughly 36 hours in, and slowed down to what seems half the pace it was yesterday. These temps and using nutes, I belive, will have this ready to run Wednesday. It smells awesome, with hints of plum and black cherry.

BTW, I used 16 lbs Zulka sugar. It's a unrefined sugar, light tan in color

[JohnsMyName]

Just did 20 gal ferment on Sunday too, we can all have a race!

Shine, I'll be trying your butter method on this batch. Did it with one of my strip runs last week, but not sure the effect. Wasn't overly buttery, but I ran it with another non butter strip for a spirit run yesterday. I'll be doing this next batch per your method and single distillations, but with my recipe (uses bakers yeast).

Unless I'm rushed for time, I generally bring up my temps very slowly. I've definitely gotten some very butterscotchy flavors before, but I am excited to try your full butter I've been hearing about.

I'll post results. Cheers brother.

[Shine0n]

Bread yeast-Bakers yeast I honestly don't know if mine says bread or baking. lol

I'm sure it's the same species.

Lemme know!!!!!!!!

are you using a thumper?

[JohnsMyName]

No thumper. I'd like to add one eventually, but haven't messed with it. I usually do a very hard fast strip and then run two of those strips with some dunder slowly for a spirit run. About 20 gal wash will yield me about 3 gallons of around 138 proof rum.

Bread/bakers same thing right? I just meant I'm using same yeast as you, because there was some discussion as to whether that made a difference in your findings.

[jon1163]

I'm getting ready to run this rum wash. Do you think that if I stripped it through my pot and Thumper and then ran is Spirit run through a simple pot that it would strip the butter flavor?

[JohnsMyName]

I don't know for sure as I haven't messed with it, but I would think it would be fine. Once you create the "butter" it should transfer over as it would in any other run, albeit maybe a bit lighter, but not lost. Shine can probably tell you more definitively one way or the other. Also do some reading on diacetyl, this is for eliminating it in beer, but very thorough https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jib.84" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

On another note, I think my ferment has gotten started
https://youtu.be/rjNypJ4P2dM" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[distiller_dresden]

JFC!! John, what temp or what's going on? My ferments NEVER look like that, EVER

[Celis]

Wow, I now understand why my ferment is taking so long. It is no way near as active as yours. But it is almost finished, so I will be doing the full butter treatment somewhere next week!

[Shine0n]

Jon1163, as said that it may be lighter on the spirit run. Take a jar of hearts for your enjoyment with the stripping run. I think you'll enjoy it as is without a spirit run.

I like the potstill and thumper, it has its faults but I like to exploit them and so far I've done a good job of it.

I read alot of that link and damn it's looong, very informative about this subject! At least the removal of it but me... I'm trying to have it blast you in the mouth with butter, butterscotch, toffee, and it sooo compliments the molasses like no other rum I've tasted.

I've had one ferment finish in 36 hours before without the addition of vitamins and whatnot, for the most part it's 4-6 days.
None of my ferments go violent with activity but it still does its thing and quickly.

Johnsmyname, without a thumper huh... do the butter treatment and strip a few runs, keep some wash to add to the low wines for the spirit run and you'll be fine I'm sure.

Thanks guys for giving this a go, enjoy!!!

[JohnsMyName]

JFC!! John, what temp or what's going on? My ferments NEVER look like that, EVER

I'm experimenting with warmer ferment temps. I usually ferment at 70F and it takes 4-6 days, I don't really monitor it that much, just get to it when I'm free. I have a temp controlled workshop, so I decided to bump it up to 80F. For molasses, I always have vigorous ferments, but this is even a little strong for them. Usually the entire surface is dancing and some waves, but this one is a hot tub.

My recipe is:

4 galllons fancy molasses @ 8.5 lbs sugar per gallon
12 gal. well water
4 gal. dunder
3 tbsp 21-0-0 (nitrogen)
1/2 tsp epsom salt (magnesium)
4 B multi vits
1/2 c oyster shell
1 cup bakers yeast

Comes out at about 10-11%

Edit: I missed a few ingredients in my recipe, since added.

[Shine0n]

JohnsMyName, holy crap that things rolling. You'd have to use a 2" blow off tube for that if you capped it.

[distiller_dresden]

Wow - my current fermenting rum is:

4.75 gal water
3 lbs malted red wheat
1 lb honey malt
.5 gal hq molasses
6 lbs dark brown sugar
Few drops olive oil
Servomyces capsule (1)
5g Fermaid K
21g Red Star baker's yeast (3 packs), 85F ferment

This took off within 4 hours of pitching, because I'd had the yeast in water with some brown sugar for about 8 hours, blooming and goin' nuts, but nothing like yours. Probably something to do with volume, too, I'd bet. But I've just never had a ferment be so aggressive, even my 90F ferments. Maybe instead of Fermaid K I should switch to vitamins?? I try to be so scientific about everything, like I'm in a lab. That's said without any comment on people using vitamins or anything else, I am just kind of anal about process and have documented nearly every single ferment I've done since I started in Jan, if you follow and track back through my threads. I'm not retentive, just anal lol - so I want to do it a certain way, and record it, but after it's done I'm cool, I don't need to control things throughout, I wish this chaos of your ferment would takeover one of mine.

Anyhow; this Friday I'm buttering up this batch because it'll definitely be done, I started it last Monday evening, it's about done now, maybe was done yesterday, but I am leaving it just a bit more and I stirred it last night like zapata talked about, to get any last stuff worked through and out. Friday I'll 135F for 2 hours and let it cool, and Saturday morn I'll distill it, then Sunday I'll do the recipe over again, for a double batch. I need 1.4L or just under of 120 proof to fill my new BadMo barrel which is soaking up some Zaya rum (3 parts) and some Appleton Reserve (1 part) deep into the wood. These rums will be kept white, after I've made cuts, then I'll drain the barrel and they'll go in, to age at least 8-12 mos. Can't wait for the other side of that, I expect this to be a fantastic dram, gonna age it off in my hot, steamy, miserable garage.

[JohnsMyName]

Shine, thanks brother. I loosely leave the cap to that drum on it, and I'm half expecting to just see it floating over the barrel

dresden, your nutrients look similar to mine, just "prepackaged". I've never seen the wheat and malt before though. What's your thought/observation on that in the rum?

[distiller_dresden]

I haven't seen it before either, but I'd been considering some type of thing like this for some time. If you ask around, or go through my threads, you'll hear/see that I LOVE experimenting a lot. When I make brandy washes I'm all in on various fruits, I like throwing a gallon of pineapple juice in my rum ferments, especially if it's a fresh/new one with no dunder to use, then I will even get two gallons and simmer 'em down to 1.5 for density and have more flavor/acidity plus sugar in the liquid.

But a member round here, corene, she's got a status of 'distilling goddess' which I think might be unique to being a lady and having contributed some funds and having a lot o' posts, is becuase she knows more about distilling - the building of stills, cooking of ferments, cutting, blending and aging- than any mortal man. But she was doing some of these experiments I had in my mind. Rye and molasses, and wheat and, and such. She was telling me about the malted red wheat and molasses and how it came out almost tasting kind of like vanilla rum - so off was born my attempt to whittle it down from her original recipe. You can find her whole recipe in my post here: viewtopic.php?f=101&t=71226

Then I got thinking about Shine's butter treatment, and it became Vanilla Butter Rum. Now, I knew you can add some honey malt to something for a taste of honey on the front when you're sipping, so was born Honey Butter Vanilla Rum. Then I've been wanting to make my own hazelnut rum ever since hearing Mark and Digger (my dad and I still together, and also love the shiners to laugh at that crap and reminds us of my grandpa who was a basement shiner in his basement, as well as my great-grandpa, both on my dad's side; he'd tell me stories of around Xmas as a kid his dad and grandpa would be in the basement cookin' shine up for presents) mentioned and made some. SO was born my grand plan for Honey Butter Vanilla Hazelnut Rum!

[ShineonCrazyDiamond]

But a member round here, corene, she's got a status of 'distilling goddess' which I think might be unique to being a lady and having contributed some funds and having a lot o' posts, is becuase she knows more about distilling - the building of stills, cooking of ferments, cutting, blending and aging- than any mortal man.

Fixed that for you.

DD, your enthusiasm is apparent in what you do. But so is the speed at which you are trying to fly through your adventure in this hobby. Slow down and learn.

Giving money (although appreciated) and flapping your jaw are not things that earn you respect and a special title around here. Corene is an invaluable asset here, that gained her knowledge from experience instead of regurgitating paraphrases of things she scanned on the forum. This is how she earned her title.

[distiller_dresden]

I apologize, I meant zero and no disrespect, and I don't think any disrespect came through the text of what I said... It was just what I thought. I stand completely corrected, and apologies again. I said 'lady' and used the endearing term because meant it, have respect for all our members.

I don't know what this is, "regurgitating paraphrases of things she scanned on the forum." I'm sorry that I have offended by describing her recipe?

[Shine0n]

Back on topic, I knocked out a 45 gal ferment yesterday and when I left for work this am she was going like mad, not quite like Johns but going none the less.

I'm hoping it'll be close tues night or weds morning but if not I'll heat it up Friday and run Saturday.

This oaked rum is growing on me by the day so this batch minus a quart will go on twice used oak for a year. (HBB and infected dunder rum) So I hope it'll give it some serious character and compliment the butter!

[distiller_dresden]

I've never had any ferment finish in 3-4 days, even my 85-90F ferments take 7-8 days. Even when I follow a recipe that others have take 4 days, mine take longer. ?? 5 gallon ferments maybe?

[hellbilly007]

ShineOn, are you still using the Evolved Habitats molly or are you buying your molly in bulk?

I've got a Southern States co-op about 35 minutes out from me that sells in bulk. I think it was $18 to fill a 5 gallon bucket. I'll follow up on that price, going there this weekend.

[JohnsMyName]

I've never had any ferment finish in 3-4 days, even my 85-90F ferments take 7-8 days. Even when I follow a recipe that others have take 4 days, mine take longer. ?? 5 gallon ferments maybe?

What’s your water source, just for curiosity sake? Also thanks for link to the ladies thread, I’ll read on. Trying to respond on phone now is tough.

[JohnsMyName]

Back on topic, I knocked out a 45 gal ferment yesterday and when I left for work this am she was going like mad, not quite like Johns but going none the less.

I'm hoping it'll be close tues night or weds morning but if not I'll heat it up Friday and run Saturday.

This oaked rum is growing on me by the day so this batch minus a quart will go on twice used oak for a year. (HBB and infected dunder rum) So I hope it'll give it some serious character and compliment the butter!

I love my rum oaked, on used heavy toast. I’d sip on it all day, after meal, with a cigar, etc. it takes the place bourbon once filled.

Run NEEDS to lay down in my opinion too. I let mine sit a year before drinking. Depending on barrel about 6-8 months on wood and rest in glass. I would prefer to go longer in wood, but depending on age of wood and barrel size, it can def over oak. I like a mature spirit, but not woody.

[distiller_dresden]

Hey John - she'd just shared in a long convo thread her experiments and the recipe, it wasn't 'her thread', and in my thread I linked with my own recipe I summed her comments with direct quotes from her comments. Here's her original convo we had: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=40118&start=5400

I like my rum oaked, long, but not oaky. My favorite rum to date is still Pampero Aniversario Reserva Exclusiva -- balanced oak tannins but not bitter, leathery, vanilla, buttery, toffee, rummy, just delightful to me. My bucket list for rum still has Zacapa XO on it, I need to find a bottle.

I really can't wait for this weekend after I've buttered up my ferment, and to get a taste off the worm of this butter rum. I'm going to pack my thumper too -- unless Shine you think something different here? I have a gallon thumper I normally charge with 32oz of wash and then get 64-65oz out of it, we'll call them lees I guess, after I'm done with a run. So whatever I put in doubles, and that's also my flavor-giver, so I want to put 45oz in the thumper, ending with 90oz, still leaves me with 38oz of head room so I shouldn't have any problems with coughing I shouldn't think...

Does a bigger thump charge affect my heads/hearts cut in any way, do you know Shine? I've never changed the thump charge from 32oz, but I know the higher ABV of the thumper the higher my distillate starts and longer the higher stuff lasts, so conceivably I get more hearts out with more ABV. I could up the charge with say 36oz of wash and 8oz of something I have made up which is half 120 hearts and half dunder - which is basically Buccaneer Bob's black rum booster/flavoring...

[Shine0n]

DD, I'd put rum feints in there with wash if you have that option, I don't always have "rum" feints and with as much flavor as you'll be getting I think any kind would be ok. Just make sure you don't flood the thumper.

A higher abv in the thumper (40%) will boil alot faster than say just wash so just be careful in what you do. Safety is key and I'd rather you have less alky than hot ass liquid blowing all about.

[hpby98]

OK did my stripping run and let it air out for a few days.

Butter bomb indeed!

Time to rerun it a second time for cuts but the only concern I have is that I have about 1 gallon - 5 litres - from this run and it won't cover my element in my keg

Suggestions?

[jon1163]

So to document my attempt at Shine's Butter Rum:

I run a 15.5 gallon keg boiler, a 5 gallon thumper, and copper piping as shown below. I use two 110v electric elements.

I followed the recipe set forth except that I ended up with about 18 gallons for ferment. The yeast I used was Fleischmann's active dry yeast. After ferment I ended up with a starting gravity of 1.09. I kept a portable heater in the laundry room with my ferment to keep the heat up as it is 72F in my house.

06/24 - ferment began 1.09SG - 80F (active within two hours)
06/25 - 1.072 - 85F
06/26 - 1.040 - 88F
06/30 - 1.016 - 79F
07/01 - 1.014 - 73F

On 07/02 I poured my wash into a 20 gallon pot and slowly heated the wash using propane. I kept the temp. "roughly"
135 degrees for about two hours. Sometimes the temperature fell to 130ish sometimes increased to 145ish.

After two hours I put the top on the pot to keep the bugs out and let it sit overnight. When I left it for the night
it smelled like hot dunder, somewhat acitic. In the morning it was....buttery! What the hell?!

My calculations were as follows (correct me if my math is wrong)
1.09SG - 1.014FG = .076
.076X131 - 10% wash
16 gallons at 10% - 1.6 gallons of 100% liquor

In the morning it was about 100F. I racked about 14 gallons into my boiler and about 2.5 gallons into my thumper. Heat up was quicker than normal because the wash was starting at 100F. I threw away the first pint and collected 19 pints before shutting down.

Pints
0 - threw away
1 - 70%
2 - 70%
3 - 70%
4 - 68%
5 - 68%
6 - 67%
7 - 65%
8 - 64%
9 - 62%
10 - 61%
11 - 57%
12 - 55%
13 - 50%
14 - 46%
15 - 40%
16 - 35%
17 - 30%
18 - 25%
19 - 20%

This averages out to 54% over 19 pints, so, 1.6 gallons potential X 54% = 2.45 gallons of collected potential.
19 pints is 2.37 gallons. Being that I threw away the first pint and left a minute amount of alcohol in the boiler
this pencils out to me.

I covered the jars with paper towels and aired for about 36 hours. After airing I lined them up to make cuts. I started in the middle, of what I knew was hearts, and worked up toward the heads first. After finding my cut point I began at the middle jar and worked my way down toward tails. The following is what I got - making cuts is the hardest part for me still so...

1 - chemical smell
2 - chemical smell
3 - chemical smell
4 - chemical smell
5 - chemical smell
6 - headsy smell with slight butter. Bitter on the sides of tongue
7 - Slight headsy smell with softer buttery notes. Little bite on taste but not bad
8 - Buttery with a smooth taste
9 - Buttery with a smooth taste
10-Buttery with a smooth taste
11-Less buttery than toffee with a smooth taste
12-Musky smell. Slight butter taste
13-cardboard smell
14-some floating sheen on top but clear distillate - tailsy smell
15-cloudy distillate with some sheen on top
16-cloudy distillate with 1/2 top covered with sheen
17-cloudy distillate. top completely covered with sheen
18-cloudy distillate. top completely covered with sheen
19-cloudy distillate. top completely covered with sheen (smelled pretty horrid)

I kept jars 8-11 for white rum and diluted them back to 42% with distilled water. I kept jar 7 and put a home made medium toast/char oak stick in that pint to age.

Jars 8-11, once proofed, yielded three fifths plus 200ml of 42% rum - or 2,450 ml - or .6 of a gallon.

Two of the fifths I kept white. I took one of the fifths and added 5.7 ml of natural pecan flavoring because who doesn't like butter pecan? In the end I kept all the jars that didn't make the cuts and dumped them into my new rum feints carboy. I also saved about five gallons of dunder in hopes of doing something with that as well.

Also, the price for all these materials came out to an even $50, not at all bad for three fifths of high quality rum . I did not try to save any money by finding deals on the Molasses or brown sugar. If I had I probably could have easily saved 20 or 30%.

This has been a great experiment and, even though I am a newcomer to rum, a complete success. The rum white is fantastic and wonderful to sip. Thank you for an excellent recipe.

[jon1163]

OK did my stripping run and let it air out for a few days.

Butter bomb indeed!

Time to rerun it a second time for cuts but the only concern I have is that I have about 1 gallon - 5 litres - from this run and it won't cover my element in my keg

Suggestions?

When running my last gin I had success putting some washed river rocks, or some other clean non-permeable weighted object, into liter mason jars and placing the jars inside my boiler to displace liquid. This allowed my elements to remain covered with little effort.

edit: goes without saying - leave the tops off of the mason jars or boom.

[distiller_dresden]

Hey Jon/Shine - with the butter, does the rum flavor still come through the butter? I never thought of asking this but with all the talk of butter and John's description of dunder at night, all butter in the morning, did the rum/molasses flavors disappear?

[jon1163]

Hey Jon/Shine - with the butter, does the rum flavor still come through the butter? I never thought of asking this but with all the talk of butter and John's description of dunder at night, all butter in the morning, did the rum/molasses flavors disappear?

it's rummy. I never got overpowering buttery notes it just Blends really well