Butter Rum

Anything to do with rum

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Shine0n
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Butter Rum

Post by Shine0n »

This is my process to making a very buttery rum.

This is for a 16ish gal ferment.

I run a 15.5 gal boiler and 15.5 gal thumper, with my setup I can do a one and done for this recipe. if running a potstill with no thumper I would recommend stripping this to low wines and do a spirit run.

Recipe is a simple wash with:
2 gal feed grade molasses
16lb dark brown sugar or turbinado sugar
1/2 cup bakers/bread yeast

Heat 5 gal of water to 150°f
While water is heating, add ingredients to fermenter.
Add 150°f water to fermenter and top off to 16ish gallons, I use a jet nozzle on a garden hose to aerate while filling.
Rehydrate yeast with 50/50 water and wash into a slurry and let it get going for 30 minutes.
Add yeast, stir and loosely cover

Ferment at 85-90°f until finished.

This is where I have to take an extra step but believe me it's well worth it!!!

Once finished, load the boiler with wash and heat to 135°f, hold 135 for 2 hours and cut off the heat and let the wash cool back down to room temp.

I know this may seem a bit strange BUT this is where the magic happens. I ain't no scientist so please don't go asking a bunch of sophisticated questions because I just don't have the answers. lol

The next day or however long it takes, heat up the wash and run as you would normally do. I run mine at a pencil lead sized stream, collect in pint sized jars, let you jars air out for 24 hours or longer if you like.

On white rum I keep very tight hearts cut but for anything going into a barrel I'll widen them a bit either side of the hearts.

I hope some of you will try this and post back your results.

Cheers, Shine0n
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jonnys_spirit
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by jonnys_spirit »

I’ve been looking for a good rum recipe and this looks just the majick I was lookin for with lotsa room for improv if you’re so inclined like i am :)

What is your typical og / fg and take?

Thank you ShineOn!
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i prefer my mash shaken, not stirred
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by LWTCS »

es·ter·i·fi·ca·tion
esˌterəfiˈkāSHən/Submit
noun
CHEMISTRY
a reaction of an alcohol with an acid to produce an ester and water.
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Shine0n
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by Shine0n »

I make 3 types of rum and this one is mixed in a very long thread and spaced out.

I honestly don't know the og/fg lol
The moll has 43% sugar, I don't know if all is fermentable, I doubt it, 16 lbs dB sugar would give me 25+- lbs total sugar for for the batch.

You could use a refractometer to check brix, also a hydrometer and a simple math equation og-fg×131 but the only way I know of to check if the ferment is finished would be to stick a finger in and taste it.
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by zapata »

Confirmation from me. Butter notes can certainly be found without the heat step, but this process undeniably makes delicious buttery flavors for certain. Think buttery caramel, butter scotch and bakery/ pastry notes to the underlying rum flavors. Pineapple becomes pineapple cake, mollasses becomes molasses cookies. Delish.

I didnt really follow the rest of recipe, though it was similar. So it should be decent test that it's the post ferment heat treatment at play.

For the record I suspect it's more about diacetyl or similar compound production than esters, though the heat treatment could theoretically increase esters too if carboxylic acids are present. Whatever, it absolutely works in a rum, where it would most likely be an off flavor in most other spirits.
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by Antler24 »

If you want butter flavour, try Ringwood Ale yeast. In the brewing world some love it most people hate it because of the butter flavour. If it's left on the yeast after fermentation finishes the yeast will clean up most of the diacytel and the butter flavours will fade. I'd suggest fermenting warm, and cold crash then rack it off the yeast as soon as fermentation is done. This is known my alot of brewers as a butter bomb so it might be worth a try. I plan to try it soon.
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by Shine0n »

I remember reading in a post about an ale yeast but couldn't remember where it was, thanks.

I don't clear my washes at all, in fact I dump the lot into the thumper, yeast and all.
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by zapata »

Just in case it's a variable, I don't intentionally really clear anything but neutrals. The butter rum I'm making was siphoned off a good bit of yeast prior to heating, but still had a fair amount in suspension. So not clear by any means, but I didn't use the whole yeast cake either.
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by Shine0n »

Bread yeast is so inexpensive I use fresh on this style of rum because it's completely fubar when I'm done. I'll keep a little in the fermenter just for extra munchies for the new yeast but not much because molasses has just about everything it needs on its own.

Soon as I get setup in my new barn I plan to make another 50 gal of ferment, I should be able to keep at least 3 gal of white keeper likker maybe 4 if oak aging.

I plan to make this rum for a long long time, the flavor alone plus the aromas that come with it. I can open a bottle and smell up the entire room with butter, warm sweet butter with molasses. Mmmmmm
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by hellbilly007 »

If things go as planned I'll be following this recipe this weekend. I'll be doing two 8 gallon ferments.

I've been wanting to try my hand at rum for quite a while.

Does this make for a violent fermentation like other members have experienced with other rum recipes?
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by Saltbush Bill »

ShineOn its good to see a simple recipe and method that gets the results you like, :thumbup: The KISS principle is often the best.
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by Shine0n »

Thanks SBB

HellBilly, not really a violent one but fast. Any temp above 85 I can have one finish in 3-4days. I don't add yeast bombs and a bunch of additives and such.

Good luck with it and let us know how you like it.
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by zapata »

So my 1st butter rum was a 1 and done reflux using half of a wash. Heated to 135 for a couple hours and left to sit overnight before running. The butter is delicious.

I just finished a strip run on the other half of the wash. It sat in the fermenter longer than the first one (obviously) but it also sat in the boiler for several days after the heat treatment instead of just overnight. I cant compare directly because the first was a spirit run and the 2nd a pot strip, but the 2nd was much less buttery than I expected.

I didnt do this on purpose, life got in the way. But it may be good advice for butter hunters to get on with it and not let it sit too long before running. I suspect the waiting after heating to 135 was the culprit, but it could also have been the longer ferment since Shine runs pretty quickly. He'll, it could've been something else, but for now I'm blaming it on the several days in the boiler.
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by Yummyrum »

Interesting Shineon .
I was cleaning up some estification experiments that had been sitting in our fume cabinet at work . They normally get made and tipped out pretty much straight away but these had been hanging around for some reason .
The smells were amazingly strong .... it wafted out of the prep room .... so strong that the guy that made them came running in and said how strong they were now having just sat there compared to when they had first made them .

So could it be that full refluxing the Rum wash and leaving it sit for some time before actally distilling it could bring out all these fruity buttery things that seem to be sort after :?:
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by Shine0n »

Yummy, that is possible I would think but until I finish my flute I won't know.

I do know my accident has landed me into a world of butter that compliments rum unlike any other process or yeast has done.
This is simply a butter bomb and following the recipe and protocols will produce a fine spirit.

Once I finish the flute I'll do some experimenting but anyone with one can try it and post results here. I would love to know more but for now a potstill with thumper works great.

Someone posted in another thread a yeast chart with temp and esterification of such yeast when heated to certain levels and butter was one of them. They posted after my findings in hope to clarify some of my myths and questions, I kept in in a file but have since deleted it because I no longer needed it because I knew now of what it was and why. Now I wish I would've saved it to post here but oh well.
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by vqstatesman »

I find this threat interesting. If you do find the chart Shine0n please do share.

My current still/boiler setup has 3 seperate 3600 watt elements. 2 run off a single electrical circuit and the 3rd element has its own circuit shared with my agitator and other devices... Anyway during a recent run, early on during the warm up I accidentally tripped one of the circuits without noticing. The result was an extremely long warm up period as only 1 element was working. For some dumb ass reason I didn't identify what was causing the long warmup until about 2 hrs into warm up (warm up normally takes 1.5 hours). I powered up all elements and ran the still as normal. After a week of airing I came back to do my cuts and WOW the flavour intensity of the spirit was like nothing I have ever produced.

So just to summarise the above paragraph, a very long and slow warm up produced more flavour.

My recent experience coupled with other threads including this one makes me believe there is something interesting going on here.

Let's keep this amazing thread going peps :)

Ps I'm totally going to have to give the 135F hold technique a go!
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by Shine0n »

Please do and I too believe that about the long heatup bringing more flavors plus it helps reduce puking expecially with rum ferments.

Let me know how you like it :thumbup:
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by zapata »

Shineon, have you noticed an effect on mouth feel, or "legs"? Had a pour neat and this butter rum seems to have legs beyond what it ought to, and a slick mouth feel reminiscent of a dose of glycerin. All of that in a good way, meaning its thick and silky smooth.
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by StillerBoy »

Just thinking, could this slow warn up and hold in the 135*F range then cooled down, also have some application on the whiskey side..

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Re: Butter Rum

Post by Shine0n »

I would assume so, if using Bread yeast that is. May be worth a try :thumbup:

Zapata, I did notice a good mouth feel and seems to linger for days. The first time I had a pour it was a shocker it has so much good flavor, you can taste it 2 minutes later if you can wait that long or another sip :thumbup:

God I can't wait to be home, this out of town work is killing me. lol
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by zapata »

Just my two cents, but this would be out of place in whiskey. Might be ok to some degree in a novelty desert whiskey, or even a really interesting specialty malt laden dram of some sort. But I think it would be pretty gross in a standard sour mash American whiskey, and overpowering in a typical malt whiskey. If I wanted to use it in a whiskey I'd start with just giving 1 wash out of three the butter treatment. Combine the strips, do a spirit run and see. A hint of it might be ok, but full on butter in most whiskies just wouldn't fit my pallatte.

Of course, the beauty is you make what you like. So if buttery whiskey sounds good, do it! It's also entirely possible that I'm wrong, it would be delicious, and my future self will mock my lack of foresight.
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Saltbush Bill
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by Saltbush Bill »

The method its self might not even give a buttery flavor to Whisky.....Whisky ingredients are completely different to rum, it quite possibly could give some other completely different flavor.
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by Shine0n »

That's one of those things that would have to be a trial basis type thing. I'm still not exactly sure if it's the bread yeast or a mixture of components in the molasses and just a combination of the two.

I'm not one for fruits in my bourbon but Crown apple flies off the shelf, each to their own I suppose. A little buttery mouth feel could compliment a nice bourbon with some caramel/vanilla flavors as long as not too much tho.

With this recipe the butter notes are very dominant in aromas and flavors and compliment the molasses very well.

I believe it's time to experiment with this, for a very near future project I'll do the following

Make 50 gal ferment and strip to low wines
Make another 15 gal butter rum ferment and put 10 gal in thumper for a spirit run and see what flavors come about.

I'll keep half of the keep white and the other I will oak with 2 types of oak.
1-med toast American white oak pure heart wood toasted and prepared by me at 400°f for 2 hours
2- same as above but one of the sticks will have a med char on one side only to try and bring out a bit of the burnt caramel/toffee and try to compliment the buttery flavors.
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by distiller_dresden »

Hey ShineOn, do you think this is because of the heat up to 135F and then cool, or because of the bakers yeast, or both? I'm wondering if with my current fermenting rum if I could do this? Put it in the pot but leave the top off and not build my whole still setup, pop the pot thermometer in, get the propane fired up low and temp up to 135 and hold it for two hours, then cut it, cook it the next day. I used Lalvin K1V-1116 wine yeast and a gallon hq molasses, bs molasses, dunder, pineapple juice, water, touch of apple cider backset, few other touches (you can check my fruity rum thread)... But if this works with any rum due to the molasses...

Or maybe it's a function of the dark brown sugar and the 135F 2 hour heat up, actually. That seems most likely, to me, than to be the yeast, really. Doesn't it to you, that it's because of the dark brown and the 135F heat up?

I guess it might be an interesting experiment to try this with my rum wash, it can't hurt anything at all. Maybe I can even put my wash in the pot, add some of my infected dunder, heat up to 135F for 2 hours, then let it sit over night. Then cook the next day with infected dunder, rum feints, and wash in my thumper, low/slow heat up. Hmm-- thoughts??
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by Shine0n »

It could possibly be a combination of all 3, yeast, molasses and the dark brown sugar I'm not sure.

I only use bread yeast and I had a chart about the esters that follow with heat up on "bread yeast" Someone shared with me but somehow lost it when I rebooted my phone. I guess I didn't have enough cloud space to save it.
I don't use dunder with this recipe, at least haven't as of yet. I'd like to keep this rum as is because I make 3 different types and all 3 have its special characteristics, maybe I'll do a blend of all 3 one day but for now this rum is special for its aromas and flavors.

I would assume the dB sugar doesn't have much to do with it tho, it's just white sugar with molasses,

This is a true butter bomb the way it's written and followed but if you do find the buttery notes when you run yours, please post here of you findings.
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by distiller_dresden »

Oh I'll definitely post results whatever I get. I was thinking it could be the dark brown because I've read/heard people say rums made from brown sugar tend to impart buttery flavors, so I thought maybe that was it.
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by Shine0n »

Maybe something like turbinado sugar or some sort of raw sugar and ale yeasts.

I do know that bread yeast does :thumbup:
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jon1163
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by jon1163 »

what's in your Thumper boss? more wash?
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by distiller_dresden »

I'm putting in my thumper -- I have a 1 gallon thumper and I charge it with 32oz of liquid prior to a run:

unsure of amounts just now, but--
infected dunder from my dunder pit (5 gal bucket been working off/being it's happy bacteria self for 3 months)
1-2 oz white vinegar
wash
rum feints (likely heads and some rummy tails from previous rum runs)
molasses
some yeast trub
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Re: Butter Rum

Post by zapata »

I used feed molly, white sugar and fleishman yeast. So it's not the sugar. I suspect it is the yeast freaking out in the hot bath. It'd be interesting to hear of other yeasts tested, I purposely used the same brand as shineon, someone else has done this too, what yeast was that?
But for sure testing this with other bakers brands, as well as wine, ale, etc would be interesting. For all we know it's a universal yeast response. Anybody ever bake bread at 130* overnight? Might not need to butter your rolls at all!

I'm also fully convinced it is diacetyl, and not an ester. Diacetyl is a known yeast product, is the classic butter flavor, and contributes significantly to mouth feel. And this stuff has legs it could stand on.
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