Butter Rum

[Pfretzschner]

ShineOn my hat is off to you for this recipe. I have been curious about the meaning of "butter" that you talked about, but Brother,, this run was amazing and I sure know what the "butter" smells, tastes, and feels like now. The long 3 week ferment sure didn't seem to be a negative because the 8 pints I took right out of the middle of the runs, are some of the best that I have made yet. Smooth, buttery, and tasty says it all. I got a total of 20 pints,, first run yielded 11, that ranged from 79% to 53%,,, the first 2 went back into the pot for the second run. The second one I got 9 pints that ranged from 80% to 49%. I took the best 8 total out of the middle of both runs, blended them, then dropped it down to 45% and ended up with 9. I am more than pleased with the outcome. I added fresh allspice leaves in one to see how it picks up the aroma because it should be perfect with the Rum. I put 6 pts in a small white oak barrel that I have just to see what will happen to it in 6 months or so. The rest I'll use in the next batch and to charge the thumper.

I have some other ideas for flavor, and all summer to play with the Rums before the Loquat trees start to produce again. I'll have another mash in the barrel tomorrow and this time I'll start with a couple gallons of dunder, and the bread yeast that I will activate for a several hours before I pitch it. I still have 2 gal of Fla. Molasses and 12 lbs of Fla. dark brown cane sugar left. We'll see if the ferment goes any quicker and if the taste gets any better.

Thanks to you and dresdin for all your help.

Have you tried to butter up any of the fruit brandys because if the process works the same as it does for the Rum, it should be a perfect fit and a great asset to use with the Loquats.

[Jimy Dee]

Shine On, this has the makings of a tried and true - mods please note. I have an all wheat and an all barley ferment down and once these are finished I am going butter rum all the ways.

Why do I feel like not only has Shine On changed rum for ever but his discovered protocol will hopefully be applicable to other types of likker. What an exciting new development for all of us.

Shine On - I might have missed but how did u discover this new protocol?

Thanks for sharing and to the contributors to date. JD

[zapata]

I freaking love this thread! Cant agree more its on its way to tried n true, this makes what 6 or more people who have tried it now?

Also love the way shine discovered it, but I wont steal that great discovery story so Jimmy you'll have to wait for shine or read his other thread where it happened.

Cheers to you new butter heads! Wait till the enthusiasm for the flavor wears off a bit and you marvel at the amazing mouthfeel this process creates, which IMHO is as phenomenal as the flavor profile.

[Shine0n]

Thanks Pfretzschner, I do appreciate it and I'm pleased you liked the results.
I'm not so sure about brandies as I use wine yeast for them. I've not used bread yeast but depending on the fruit or flavor profile I'm after I'm sure I'd experiment a little.

Jim, thanks buddy!!!

I had a malfunction with my aquarium heater and it heated the wash to 135ish degrees, I thought it was a loss but SCD AND a few others said run it anyway so I did and here we are now with a delicious rum.

I was about to toss the lot but I'm so glad I didnt.

Again fellas, thanks for the positive feedback

[Jimy Dee]

Zapata - I have been out of HD for a good while and am only really surf g again with the last few weeks so I am well behind the curve. Rather than indicate the other thread, for posterity Shine On might repeat it here and add as many embellishments (lies) as it takes to make a good story great! I think it's called artistic licence. Cannot wait to hear it. Lies and all! Why let historic fact interfear with a good story? It never stopped an Irish man telling a good yarn. The liars bench is full of it that's what makes it a great joy to read. JD

[Jimy Dee]

Shine On - sugar we posted together!

So let me get this straight - the aquarium heater shorted, killed the cow in your stilling barn, knocked out the power supply to the neighbourhood, which alerted the authorities who paid u a visit, which made you stop heating your wash at the early stages of a run, at 130 degrees and then what exactly happened????!

[Shine0n]

You're funny Jim, The heater shorted and elevated the heat well beyond what it should've and in the morning if was checking on the ferment and when I opened it steam hit me in the face. I dropped the thermometer in and it was 135ish.
I posted about it and checked the sg and according to someone it was finished so I ran it and found GOLD!!!

[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?

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.

Thanks jon - so used to using electric that I completely forgot I have a propane burner - for lesser runs - to fit the keg on.

Getting old - the minds the first thing to go...

I also have a proper 5 liter Erlenmeyer flask I could use but would need to make a wooden plug for the cap.

[distiller_dresden]

Thanks Pfretzschner it's my pleasure to help out!

And I have an idea how you could use this in brandy washes with still using an EC1118 or a fruit yeast; bear with me here...

Do your wash as you normally would, NOT using a bread/bakers yeast. Then you have two options in my 'idea':
When it is about 2/3 of the way through, depending what type of fruit it's based on -- let's just say apple. You have an apple wash. Put your baking yeast, for a 5-6 gallon wash use 3 packs and into a pint of half water half apple juice, warm/room temp, let them sit in there (big container to allow for blooming) for at least 6 hours, they're growing and making a nice big yeast pitch batch. Get yourself 4 cans of apple juice concentrate and let it thaw and come to room temp. Then dump it into your wash, and immediately after pitch that yeast batch. Now it was late in the ferment, which was about done so some sugar was left, AND you added more natural sugar of the same fruit so the baking yeast will be able to thrive and get a foothold, but MOST of the work and fermenting will still have been done by the fruit yeast. At the end you have your baking yeast in there though in a strong amount to do your buttering.

Other option is same, just wait until it's finished, then do the same, but maybe with double the cans of concentrate.

Mimic this with other fruits, so a cherry wash -- get some of that 'fruitfast' cherry concentrate which is completely all natural and zero sugar or preservatives, that's your sugar punch and food for the baking yeast. Most fruits should have a concentrate or 100% juice alternative you can use like this, or if not hopefully one of these concentrates that are available are complementary/close enough to your fruit to work. Conversely, you can always use a bunch of 'all natural' jam because there's a jam for nearly every fruit and there IS a ton of sugar in jam, but there's also a ton of sugar -- if you go jam route, remember a bit of pectic enzyme...

[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.

Thanks jon - so used to using electric that I completely forgot I have a propane burner - for lesser runs - to fit the keg on.

Getting old - the minds the first thing to go...

I also have a proper 5 liter Erlenmeyer flask I could use but would need to make a wooden plug for the cap.

Anything you put into your boiler to displace liquid do not cap. Anything you cap, once the air inside heats up could explode

[Shine0n]

Let's not cap anything in boilers folks, please

He said he has another boiler.

Also let's please stay on topic, thanks

[Pfretzschner]

Thanks Pfretzschner it's my pleasure to help out!

And I have an idea how you could use this in brandy washes with still using an EC1118 or a fruit yeast; bear with me here...

Do your wash as you normally would, NOT using a bread/bakers yeast. Then you have two options in my 'idea':
When it is about 2/3 of the way through, depending what type of fruit it's based on -- let's just say apple. You have an apple wash. Put your baking yeast, for a 5-6 gallon wash use 3 packs and into a pint of half water half apple juice, warm/room temp, let them sit in there (big container to allow for blooming) for at least 6 hours, they're growing and making a nice big yeast pitch batch. Get yourself 4 cans of apple juice concentrate and let it thaw and come to room temp. Then dump it into your wash, and immediately after pitch that yeast batch. Now it was late in the ferment, which was about done so some sugar was left, AND you added more natural sugar of the same fruit so the baking yeast will be able to thrive and get a foothold, but MOST of the work and fermenting will still have been done by the fruit yeast. At the end you have your baking yeast in there though in a strong amount to do your buttering.

Other option is same, just wait until it's finished, then do the same, but maybe with double the cans of concentrate.

Mimic this with other fruits, so a cherry wash -- get some of that 'fruitfast' cherry concentrate which is completely all natural and zero sugar or preservatives, that's your sugar punch and food for the baking yeast. Most fruits should have a concentrate or 100% juice alternative you can use like this, or if not hopefully one of these concentrates that are available are complementary/close enough to your fruit to work. Conversely, you can always use a bunch of 'all natural' jam because there's a jam for nearly every fruit and there IS a ton of sugar in jam, but there's also a ton of sugar -- if you go jam route, remember a bit of pectic enzyme...

This would pretty much replicate what I did with this run of Rum,,, only it will be intentional the next time. I started the Rum with EC1118 and then shocked it with bakers yeast and the outcome was just what you guys called. Being able to add this process to my Loquat brandy would really be a plus.

It was really funny but I left all of the pints from this last run, open to air on my kitchen counter, and before I was finished the whole house had that soft, sweet, pleasant, buttery smell. If I could add all those benefits to the brandy is would really be nice. I'm definitely going to try it. Thx.

[Shine0n]

I'm thinking that the use of the 1118 had something to do with not having the ever so dominant buttery notes, although you did finish it off with bread yeast maybe the 1118 already had an effect.
I use 1118 on fruit because it ferments clean and leaves the original fruit to dominate but the bread yeast does impart a bread-ee, yeast-ee aromas and flavors.

I think it's time for an experiment, but I plead with yall to start a thread of its own to let this one run its course.

I'm all about experimenting but each one I've done has its own thread.

Let's butter up some likker but leave this thread to rum and rum alone.

This is how we as a group learn and I really don't want a newcomer to read alot of off topic posts trying to learn this process.

I'm not set out on this becoming a tried and true but if it does get consideration I'd like it to be people trying this and saying that the recipe does in fact work as described.

Thanks again Jimy Dee for the vote of confidence in my recipe. You're a friend and I appreciate it.

Let's get on with buttery goodness!!!

[distiller_dresden]

Hey Shine - sorry I got off topic a bit responding!

This weekend I'm finally buttering then running my malted red wheat and molasses 'vanilla rum' ferment -- it took about 10 days to finish off at 85F. I can't wait to do this, I'm not sure if buttering will be Friday night or Saturday night yet, I'll figure out tomorrow if the best day to still is Saturday or Sunday from my pops since we still together. I'll be halfway to filling my new BadMo.

[Shine0n]

No prob DD, try and keep a pint of the hearts white.

If the bad MO barrel is new you may end up with a whiskey tasting rum?.?.

Is it char or toast?

[distiller_dresden]

It's medium toast; I am 'seasoning' it first, leaving a mix of Zaya rum, a bit of tawny port, a bit of Appleton reserve, a bit of Zacapa Solera 23, a bit of my own fruity rum, all that is probably 70% Zaya, and even parts the rest. Then of the whole liquid charge it's 65% in the barrel; then there's 17% cream sherry, 18% VSOP cognac.

Leaving that in the barrel, in the garage, for 2 months to take the edge off the oak, and to really really seep deep in there. Then I'll drain and leave the bung open for a day or two, in the garage, with a piece of cheesecloth over it for bugs, to dry out. Then I'll fill with 1.3-1.4L of my vanilla rum. It should take on all those flavors and the cognac and sherry are also what super fine sipping rums get aged in the barrels to take on their complexities and sweetness. The Zaya is purely for the vanilla notes since -- vanilla rum! And it'll be aged a year, but maybe a touch less, I'll check on it every month after 6.

[Shine0n]

IMO, med toast is what I use for my rums, no char!

Even char from a second time used barrel can be much but that's just me.

[distiller_dresden]

Yeah, no char; this new trend that's been popular of late of over-oaked more whiskey-like rums curls my lip and ruins the rum, covers up all it's wonderful rum character. It's why I'm even leaving a mix of:
Zaya, sweet sherry, cognac, port, Zacapa Solera 23, Appleton Reserve, my own fruity rum, and a touch of Auchentoshan Three Wood aging in my new BadMo barrel for two months to season it and take off some of the new oak tannin before I put my vanilla rum in there for a yearish (I'll be checking it after 6-7 mos every month, but I'd like to leave it a year, just don't want to over-oak it). Hoping that barrel seasoning will really impart firstly (it's about 65% Zaya) vanilla and caramel and plenty of complexity like a super premium sipping rum!

[distiller_dresden]

Hey I heated my wash last night Shine, but I got no butter smell this morning... Just wash/dunder/alcohol smell... Should it be buttery smellin?

Maybe I need to get the whole yeast cake/all the trub in there and try again? I stirred it first and there was a LOT of yeast in it already, just the really settled stuff on the bottom of the fermenter was left behind.

[Shine0n]

It happens in distillation, lol

My ferment stunk a little, very weird small until I ran it.

You'll see

[distiller_dresden]

Okay, awesome. I thought I did something wrong! I'm distilling in a bit; watching the DVR'd finale of 12 Monkeys lol.

[distiller_dresden]

Hey Shine - so I didn't get any butter. I'm crushed... I don't know if maybe it's because of the red wheat in the recipe? I used red star baking yeast, and heated to 135 the night before - actually hit 141 before it leveled off, but surely that didn't make any difference. It held for two hours, maybe longer, it was at least 2.5 before I went to bed and wasn't checking. I'm distilled now and the first heads had buttery taste but that's it, just the first two jars. My thumper wouldn't strip it out would it?

Now I'm strongly considering for the second batch, since I need another batch of rum to match this one to fill my barrel, doing a straight molasses and brown sugar on your recipe so I can guarantee butter because I really want butter!

[hpby98]

Hey Shine - so I didn't get any butter. I'm crushed... I don't know if maybe it's because of the red wheat in the recipe? I used red star baking yeast, and heated to 135 the night before - actually hit 141 before it leveled off, but surely that didn't make any difference. It held for two hours, maybe longer, it was at least 2.5 before I went to bed and wasn't checking. I'm distilled now and the first heads had buttery taste but that's it, just the first two jars. My thumper wouldn't strip it out would it?

Now I'm strongly considering for the second batch, since I need another batch of rum to match this one to fill my barrel, doing a straight molasses and brown sugar on your recipe so I can guarantee butter because I really want butter!

Mine didn’t start smelling hugely until I aired it out for a day after the stripping run...

[Shine0n]

DD, I don't know about the wheat taking anything from it but I DO use a thumper and it didn't effect mine.
Not sure if it's the yeast either, I'm also not sure fleischmann's and redstar don't buy and repack in their own labels the same yeast.

I'd have to go back and look at notes but I'm sure I mentioned about the speed at which I run my runs but I'll say it again here for ya.

I run at a medium pace, not stripping but pretty quickly so without a doubt I'm smearing the run. A potstill does this anyway.

Try on the next run not to deviate from the original recipe and see what you get.

I've made this recipe numerous times and it butter everytime I've done it.

Let the air get to it and see what you think then, sorry this time didn't get you what wanted.

hpby98, did you take a small jar from the stripping run? if not...DO and sip on it straight from the hearts.

[hpby98]

hpby98, did you take a small jar from the stripping run? if not...DO and sip on it straight from the hearts.

I didn’t make cuts, just ran it all into a 5l container

[Shine0n]

How much buttery notes did you get?

Mine is intense, I only do single thumper runs tho.

[Shine0n]

Also, for those of you that do stripping runs, how far down are you all collecting?

[hpby98]

Also, for those of you that do stripping runs, how far down are you all collecting?

I went to 20% on my stripping run, which is my usual

[GCB3]

Hey Shine.
Here is what I put together for heating your Butter Rum wash while still in the fermenter.

It’s a 110VAC, 1500 Watt bayonet element mounted in two pine boards with SS all-thread, nuts and washers.
The longer board spans my 16 gal fermenters. The shorter board secures the element and the allthread allows me to adjust the depth to keep the element rod fully submerged.

Maybe this will be helpful to you or someone else. I’ll let you know as soon as I get a chance to run it. If it works as planned, I’ll probably make new boards from oak.

[Shine0n]

Nice idea, I'd get an oak one soon tho as the pine may put unwanted flavors.