My first batch of rum taste like rumquila

[JeeterBee]

Hello all,

I finished my first batch of rum through my pot still. It all went as planned. My recipe was:

1 gallon black strap molasses
10 pounds brown sugar
1 ounce of DAP
3 small packages of red star baker's yeast
1 tablespoon of acid blend
a pinch of epsom salt
Topped up to 8 gallons with spring water

Starting gravity 1.100
Final gravity 1.000
13.13% ABV

I was surprised it fermented so low. I was expecting it to finish with a higher ending gravity. I was okay with that level of abv.

I ran my still slow and pulled the 1st 500 ml aside as foreshots. My alcometer said it was high 80's. I pulled off a quart of heads. Then once it got under 80% I filled several 500 ml jars and numbered them until I got down to 60%. I considered everything from 60 to 40% tails. The last jar I collected was from 40 to 20%. I was trying to collect some rum oils.

I aired the hearts jars out for a day and a half. I was very happy with the taste, but I noticed a familiar small and flavor that I couldn't quite put my finger on. My dad came over and tastes a little of each jar. He said that it tasted and smelled like a tequila. That's when I realized that it does taste and smell like a tequila. It doesn't taste bad at all but I was going for rum.

I am going to have some buddies over this weekend and I am going to see what they think I made. I am going to have them guess what kind of alcohol it is. I am pretty sure they will say tequila.

I started another batch and used some fresh dunder. I also started a live dunder pit for future experiments. This current batch is fermenting like crazy. This batch is 13 gallons.

Has anyone's rum ended up tasting like tequila? I searched the forums and didn't find much. I am thinking that it could be my recipe or the molasses I used. It was golden barrel. Seems like a commonly used brand.

Again it tastes pretty good but tequila was not quite what I was shooting for or I would have used agave.

Rum is my alcohol of choice and I have had lots over the years so I know what a run should taste like. However this is my first batch of home distilled rum so maybe that's just the flavor.

Any thoughts on why it tastes like that?

Thanks

Jeet

[SaltyStaves]

Did you do a stripping run?

[jb-texshine]

Heads smell and taste like most tequilas to me...

[Yummyrum]

Heads smell and taste like most tequilas to me...

That was my thoughts to JB

Rum fresh off the still tastes nothing like Rum . It needs to be aged on some American white oak for a while to develope the Rum charactor . Its almost impossible to comprehend when you are making your first batch but it really needs to be aged for at least a year . Sure it gets drinkable after a few months but it takes time to get that Rum charactor .
Best stuff I’ve tasted come from barrel aged as aposed to stuff aged n a glass jar with sticks of oak in it .

Also most commercial Rums have caramel and or sugar added .... not to mention the stuff they add to spiced Rum.

I’ve been makeing Rum for a few years and tasted a lot of other Home distillers Rms and none of it really has that commercial Rum taste . Some comes close but its still way off the mark IMO
Its a unique beast .

[rubelstrudel]

I'm stripping my first molasses rum run right now. At the moment it is difficult to imagine the stuff I am getting will ever be anything but paint thinner.

I have to keep the boiler under 400w on a 50l wash. Horribly slow stripping to avoid puking. Hopefully there'll be some magic when I do my spirit run.

[The Baker]

Heads smell and taste like most tequilas to me...

That was my thoughts to JB

Rum fresh off the still tastes nothing like Rum . It needs to be aged .....

Thanks, yummyrum.
I haven't done any rum yet apart from a bit of a try years ago and that is important to know.

Geoff

[JeeterBee]

I did not do a stripping run. I will try that in future batches including my wash I have going currently. I thought I was really conservative on my cuts. I hope to get better with more practice. I am rolling right into a UJSSM after this rum wash gets done.

[Saltbush Bill]

I agree totally with Yummy, Rum straight off the still tastes nothing like the product that you end up with after it has been oaked and aged. Why do people think it should ?
Does bourbon straight of the still taste anything like it does after its spent 3-4 years in a wooden barrel?
Time, oak and the angels work wonders on any brown spirit.

[SaltyStaves]

I did not do a stripping run. I will try that in future batches including my wash I have going currently. I thought I was really conservative on my cuts. I hope to get better with more practice. I am rolling right into a UJSSM after this rum wash gets done.

Think again if you believe you are taking heads hearts and tails from a first run through a pot still. Its one smeared mess and slowing it down won't make it any cleaner.
Sugar washes like rum are even worse because you are concentrating Ethyl Carbamate in that first run.

[Beerswimmer]

Sugar washes like rum are even worse because you are concentrating Ethyl Carbamate in that first run.

I've never heard of this, could you please explain?

[SaltyStaves]

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