Hook Rum

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MyUncleMo
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by MyUncleMo »

Asedefecio wrote: Anyways, it says it uses 20L. So you get your dunder from the still and throw everything away but 20L?
Some folks keep that extra stuff in a DUNDER PIT and let it mature - lots of good reading here!!
This Hook recipe is great. My next run will be generation #2 with feints and dunder from the previous runs and fresh molasses.
The more you push the ingredients forward the more flavor end up in the final product.
read on!
My Uncke Mo taught me how to make apple Jack when I was in 6th Grade.

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Re: Hook Rum

Post by Asedefecio »

Well, I read all the thread and WOW.
So much info here. And I thought that I could make booze by just mixing sugar and yeast, waiting and distilling.
I also thought that making a still would be cheap.


Anyway. How much difference will it make to use a pot still on the final run?
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by moosemilk »

Just picked up some blackstrap and have some being clarified, hoping to start my first rum ferment tomorrow. Not a rum drinker myself, but a friend who did me a favor is so figured I'd do something for him. I'll wait for probably third Gen before I give him to get some good flavor. His favorite is cockspur. Never tried it, but hope what I make is comparable. Any suggestions?
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by moosemilk »

Took me longer to get going than thought. Turned out my feed grade blackstrap contained propionic acid and had to get some sodium hydroxide and clear it up. All in all, did a run yesterday on a five gallon batch using fancy molasses while I wait to get more cane sugar for my blackstrap ferment. I am not a rum fan, but was this ever good! Collected deep into tails since I plan on doing more now and saving up feints. Even the deep tails weren't too bad. Collected down to about 15% abv. Thanks for the recipe!
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by shinendine »

So I picked up 15 gallons of blackstrap from the local refinery for only $10. I'm mixing with panela from sugardaddy. Can you rum guys tell me how long this will take to finish fermentation? I only get 2 weeks home at a time from working offshore.
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by moosemilk »

shinendine wrote:So I picked up 15 gallons of blackstrap from the local refinery for only $10. I'm mixing with panela from sugardaddy. Can you rum guys tell me how long this will take to finish fermentation? I only get 2 weeks home at a time from working offshore.
Can't speak for others, but mine took about ten days. Temp, ph, nutrients, how much sugar is all going to play a factor.
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by MyUncleMo »

Gearing up for Generation #2 of this Hook Rum Recipe and method.
I saved a bunch of dunder from Gen#1 in the freezer and a bottle in the fridge...
Just got back from Cash and Carry with a few gallons of Molasses.
Then off to the regular grocer I use to get the blackstrap and other sugars. I can see how easy it would be to puck up a few 50# bags of sugar at the C&C for a larger ferment. But I am looking for some different flavors that may or may not come from different cane sugars and evaporated cane juices. Smaller batch stuff.
The weights and proportions are about the same as Hooks original recipe, just scaled down for my smaller ferments. I may go the full monte this round.
I also have my feints from the last run to add to the spirit run. Yum!
Gonna need a bigger still!
My Uncke Mo taught me how to make apple Jack when I was in 6th Grade.

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Re: Hook Rum

Post by MyUncleMo »

Gen#2 started.
Modifications...
Dunder - I saved 3 quarts from Hook rum Gen#1.
Larger ferment - 7 gallons each with the goal of 2 stripping runs per ferment. push forward about a gallon into the next ferment.
Using organic fair trade raw sugar from Malawi - the cost is not prohibitive and it smells amazing. I put in some Turbinado also.
Bakers Molasses and a few small bottles of blackstrap.
I mixed the ingredients last night and topped with water and pitched the bakers yeast at 7am - just got home from UPicking with the family and it is bubbling away.
I hope to get 4 stripping runs... adding feints from Hook Gen#1 to this spirit run with some fresh wash and creating a similar product to the Hook Gen#1 with a heavier flavor. I will also keep more White than I did for Gen#1. The White has carmel vanilla like smells without any aging in barrels = only time on glass.
Thanks HD for the inspiration
My Uncke Mo taught me how to make apple Jack when I was in 6th Grade.

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Ignor the ignorant
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by Ignor the ignorant »

Been running a slight variation on the basic Hook recipe with good results, ferments out within 5 days at approx 9-10% & ready to run 2 days later, great for a weekly brew to get the stocks up but It's nice to have a Sunday off at last :ewink:
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by Rum Monkey »

HookLine wrote:A flow chart (plus notes) for my basic rum process.

Can also be adapted easily to other flavoured spirits (except gin).
Rum Production Flow Chart.pdf
This sheet needs to get stuck into the Tried and True Recipies thread for hook Rum, would have saved me a lot of time drawing the same thing many times over to try and get the flow right.

Thanks Hook
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by p-funk20 »

I've made 5 batches of rum and am giving Hook Rum a try. I am fermenting in a 6 gallon bucket and expect to do about 6 ferments before I do my spirit run with my 5 gallon pot still. It's day 4 of my first wash already tastes done. My hydrometer reads 1.01, but I know that a molasses wash reads high. Does this sound about right for a 10% potential ABV wash, fermenting in the mid 80's F? My main question deals with the use of dunder and generations. Do you usually carry over dunder generations from one spirit run to the next? Do you think that the final product is much better when the first ferment of a cycle uses old dunder instead of water? All my other wash batches will begin with the recycled dunder. Thanks for the help.
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by MyUncleMo »

Gearing up for Hook Rum Gen #3
Modifications:

Dunder - I saved a 2 gallon demijon full of Gen#2 dunder. Kept it dunder pit style instead of in the freezer. It has a nice funky mold layer on top and the bottom has a nice layer of sediment from settling. That middle layer of dark/clear goodness must have created some heavy esters that will hopefully add something to this already wonderful Line of Hook Rum.

I'll keep the ferment size the same.
I'll keep the ingredients the same except add MORE blackstrap. Hopefully it goes on sale. Less Turbinado and more Malawi.

This has been a wonderful experience and has allowed me to share something special with the people I am close with.

Using Hook Rum as a platform to practice and learn the Craft and Mechanics of Distillation and Fermentation is laying the groundwork for more complicated Tried and True recipes and advanced distilling techniques.

Thanks Hookline for the recipe and thanks HD for allowing me to be me!

MyUncleMo wrote:Gen#2 started.
Modifications...
Dunder - I saved 3 quarts from Hook rum Gen#1.
Larger ferment - 7 gallons each with the goal of 2 stripping runs per ferment. push forward about a gallon into the next ferment.
Using organic fair trade raw sugar from Malawi - the cost is not prohibitive and it smells amazing. I put in some Turbinado also.
Bakers Molasses and a few small bottles of blackstrap.
I mixed the ingredients last night and topped with water and pitched the bakers yeast at 7am - just got home from UPicking with the family and it is bubbling away.
I hope to get 4 stripping runs... adding feints from Hook Gen#1 to this spirit run with some fresh wash and creating a similar product to the Hook Gen#1 with a heavier flavor. I will also keep more White than I did for Gen#1. The White has carmel vanilla like smells without any aging in barrels = only time on glass.
Thanks HD for the inspiration
My Uncke Mo taught me how to make apple Jack when I was in 6th Grade.

Questions? Read this first...
http://ww.homedistiller.org/forum/viewt ... 15&t=52975
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by MyUncleMo »

p-funk20 wrote:I've made 5 batches of rum and am giving Hook Rum a try. I am fermenting in a 6 gallon bucket and expect to do about 6 ferments before I do my spirit run with my 5 gallon pot still. It's day 4 of my first wash already tastes done. My hydrometer reads 1.01, but I know that a molasses wash reads high. Does this sound about right for a 10% potential ABV wash, fermenting in the mid 80's F?

Yes. I let mine go longer for flavor


My main question deals with the use of dunder and generations. Do you usually carry over dunder generations from one spirit run to the next?

I added the dunder from spirit run to the dunder pit I started using last Gen. I save fresh wash to put into my spirit run - just a tiny bit to balance proof to keep it at about 30%ABV


Do you think that the final product is much better when the first ferment of a cycle uses old dunder instead of water? All my other wash batches will begin with the recycled dunder. Thanks for the help.

I have not done enough side by sides to discover that.
I do find the overall quality of the next generations is higher and I can only see it getting better
.
My Uncke Mo taught me how to make apple Jack when I was in 6th Grade.

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Re: Hook Rum

Post by HookLine »

In my Rum Production Flow Chart notes I said
There are a range of sugar cane based products that can substitute for molasses, in any proportion, to give a different flavour profile. These include fresh cane juice, and various forms of cane based sugar, plus sugars from other plants, like palm sugar.
Needs some correction.

Palm sugars are typically high in salt and that can be a problem for the yeastie beasties. These sugars can be used, and have their own unique flavour, but have some limitations and have to be used carefully. You can't use them in any proportion you want, and can't keep just recycling the backset and adding more palm sugar.

See this thread for more info. (If I was doing it again, I would go with 1/3 palm sugar, and the rest plain or raw sugar.)

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 11&t=22289
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by Bushman »

HookLine wrote:In my Rum Production Flow Chart notes I said
There are a range of sugar cane based products that can substitute for molasses, in any proportion, to give a different flavour profile. These include fresh cane juice, and various forms of cane based sugar, plus sugars from other plants, like palm sugar.
Needs some correction.

Palm sugars are typically high in salt and that can be a problem for the yeastie beasties. These sugars can be used, and have their own unique flavour, but have some limitations and have to be used carefully. You can't use them in any proportion you want, and can't keep just recycling the backset and adding more palm sugar.

See this thread for more info. (If I was doing it again, I would go with 1/3 palm sugar, and the rest plain or raw sugar.)

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 11&t=22289
Hookline, we can update your original post if you tell us exactly how it should read.
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by HookLine »

Updated version of the Rum Production Flow Chart. Mainly just fixed the palm sugar notes.

Can the mods please edit a copy of the PDF link back into the original post in the original thread, at the top of the post just above the word FERMENT, and also into the pinned edited version of the thread.

Thanks. 8)
Rum Production Flow Chart - Ver1.1.pdf
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by S-Cackalacky »

I just started a first ferment of this using a modified version of the recipe. I'm doing a 12 gallon ferment split into 3 five gallon buckets. I'm also doing a few substitutions. Here's what I'm doing:

Ingredients (for each of 3 five gallon buckets) -
6 lbs/ea - dark brown sugar
1 16oz bottle/ea - store brand table molasses
1 Tbls/ea - tomato paste
1 Tbls/ea - lemon juice
<1/2 tsp/ea - Epsom salts
2 tabs/ea - B complex vitamins (crushed)
2 Tbls/ea - Red Star active dry yeast

I put all the ingredients, except the yeast, into the 3 buckets and added about 1.5 gallons of boiling water to dissolve the sugar. I added enough cool well water to bring it up to about 4 gallons, checked the temp, aerated with an air compressor, pitched the yeast on the surface of each bucket of wash, and covered loosely.

I didn't take an OG because everything I read says that it wouldn't be accurate anyway. The 3 buckets are in a hot box with a 60W light bulb for heat. The temp controller is set to maintain 80dF. The one thing I'm a little concerned about is that I may not have left enough head room for foaming. The level is at about 2" from the top of the buckets.

I did a lot of substitutions. Hope it ferments out OK.
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by S-Cackalacky »

S-Cackalacky wrote:I just started a first ferment of this using a modified version of the recipe. I'm doing a 12 gallon ferment split into 3 five gallon buckets. I'm also doing a few substitutions. Here's what I'm doing:

Ingredients (for each of 3 five gallon buckets) -
6 lbs/ea - dark brown sugar
1 16oz bottle/ea - store brand table molasses
1 Tbls/ea - tomato paste
1 Tbls/ea - lemon juice
<1/2 tsp/ea - Epsom salts
2 tabs/ea - B complex vitamins (crushed)
2 Tbls/ea - Red Star active dry yeast

I put all the ingredients, except the yeast, into the 3 buckets and added about 1.5 gallons of boiling water to dissolve the sugar. I added enough cool well water to bring it up to about 4 gallons, checked the temp, aerated with an air compressor, pitched the yeast on the surface of each bucket of wash, and covered loosely.

I didn't take an OG because everything I read says that it wouldn't be accurate anyway. The 3 buckets are in a hot box with a 60W light bulb for heat. The temp controller is set to maintain 80dF. The one thing I'm a little concerned about is that I may not have left enough head room for foaming. The level is at about 2" from the top of the buckets.

I did a lot of substitutions. Hope it ferments out OK.
I'm about 24 hours into the ferment and it seems to be going well. I checked it after about 3 hours and it had started to fizz almost like soda pop with no signs of foam or a cap. The ambient air inside the box swings from 75 to 80 dF. I have the temp controller set to 80dF - that is, the 60W light bulb goes off when it reaches 80dF and comes back on when it drops down to 75dF. I opened it up a couple of hours ago and it was still bubbling as before and still with no cap.
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by S-Cackalacky »

S-Cackalacky wrote:
S-Cackalacky wrote:I just started a first ferment of this using a modified version of the recipe. I'm doing a 12 gallon ferment split into 3 five gallon buckets. I'm also doing a few substitutions. Here's what I'm doing:

Ingredients (for each of 3 five gallon buckets) -
6 lbs/ea - dark brown sugar
1 16oz bottle/ea - store brand table molasses
1 Tbls/ea - tomato paste
1 Tbls/ea - lemon juice
<1/2 tsp/ea - Epsom salts
2 tabs/ea - B complex vitamins (crushed)
2 Tbls/ea - Red Star active dry yeast

I put all the ingredients, except the yeast, into the 3 buckets and added about 1.5 gallons of boiling water to dissolve the sugar. I added enough cool well water to bring it up to about 4 gallons, checked the temp, aerated with an air compressor, pitched the yeast on the surface of each bucket of wash, and covered loosely.

I didn't take an OG because everything I read says that it wouldn't be accurate anyway. The 3 buckets are in a hot box with a 60W light bulb for heat. The temp controller is set to maintain 80dF. The one thing I'm a little concerned about is that I may not have left enough head room for foaming. The level is at about 2" from the top of the buckets.

I did a lot of substitutions. Hope it ferments out OK.
I'm about 24 hours into the ferment and it seems to be going well. I checked it after about 3 hours and it had started to fizz almost like soda pop with no signs of foam or a cap. The ambient air inside the box swings from 75 to 80 dF. I have the temp controller set to 80dF - that is, the 60W light bulb goes off when it reaches 80dF and comes back on when it drops down to 75dF. I opened it up a couple of hours ago and it was still bubbling as before and still with no cap.
It's been about 5 days. After about 2 days, I noticed that my hot box wasn't maintaining the temp range I had programmed into the temp controller. I changed the high temp setting to 85dF. It gets as high as about 81.5 and kinda hovers there, which is probably a good temp to be at. It would seem that I need to insulate the box or get a higher watt bulb.

Anyway, I checked the buckets today. They still seem to be fizzing as they were in the beginning. I checked the sg of each bucket just to get some idea of where I am. The gravities were as follows:

Bucket 1 ---- 1.014
Bucket 2 ---- 1.024
Bucket 3 ---- 1.018

I'll give it a couple more days and check it again.
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by moosemilk »

SC: I wouldn't be overly concerned about your ferment temps. I have done several hookrum ferments of five gallons each and my temps are between 70-80. I use ordinary bread yeast. Might take a day or so extra to finish at cooler temps but otherwise it's been a non issue for me. Just stripped off 5 gallons yesterday and a sample from hearts was amazing. Have another 5 to strip and ten more gallons I'll be starting to ferment tonight. Done this recipe with both blackstrap (not feed grade, found a local source of food grade for an acceptable price...had feed grade before, but the hassle of clarifying the propionic acid used as a mold inhibitor wasn't worth the pain, so passed the remainder to a friend with horses). And done with fancy molasses, which has a little lighter flavor.

Surprisingly, I like the single distilled with blackstrap more. Surprising because I was never a rum fan. I also age on oak, and a handful of raisins and vanilla been really add to it. this is something that pretty much needs aging.

And watch for the heads cut when blending. It's easy to slip in there and just a little will give it a harsh bite.
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by S-Cackalacky »

Thanks for the advice Moose. I did the dark brown sugar substitution and added a 16oz bottle of table (fancy) molasses for the added flavor. It was a little difficult to figure the amounts to use based on the original recipe. Matter of fact, I may have gone a little far off the original with my substitutions. Possibly far enough that it's not the Hook Rum recipe anymore. I used the B complex vitamins and the epsom salts because Hookline recommended extra nutrients if using brown sugar.

Anyway, maybe I'll get something close to rum. Sure smells good.
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by S-Cackalacky »

S-Cackalacky wrote:
S-Cackalacky wrote:
S-Cackalacky wrote:I just started a first ferment of this using a modified version of the recipe. I'm doing a 12 gallon ferment split into 3 five gallon buckets. I'm also doing a few substitutions. Here's what I'm doing:

Ingredients (for each of 3 five gallon buckets) -
6 lbs/ea - dark brown sugar
1 16oz bottle/ea - store brand table molasses
1 Tbls/ea - tomato paste
1 Tbls/ea - lemon juice
<1/2 tsp/ea - Epsom salts
2 tabs/ea - B complex vitamins (crushed)
2 Tbls/ea - Red Star active dry yeast

I put all the ingredients, except the yeast, into the 3 buckets and added about 1.5 gallons of boiling water to dissolve the sugar. I added enough cool well water to bring it up to about 4 gallons, checked the temp, aerated with an air compressor, pitched the yeast on the surface of each bucket of wash, and covered loosely.

I didn't take an OG because everything I read says that it wouldn't be accurate anyway. The 3 buckets are in a hot box with a 60W light bulb for heat. The temp controller is set to maintain 80dF. The one thing I'm a little concerned about is that I may not have left enough head room for foaming. The level is at about 2" from the top of the buckets.

I did a lot of substitutions. Hope it ferments out OK.
I'm about 24 hours into the ferment and it seems to be going well. I checked it after about 3 hours and it had started to fizz almost like soda pop with no signs of foam or a cap. The ambient air inside the box swings from 75 to 80 dF. I have the temp controller set to 80dF - that is, the 60W light bulb goes off when it reaches 80dF and comes back on when it drops down to 75dF. I opened it up a couple of hours ago and it was still bubbling as before and still with no cap.
It's been about 5 days. After about 2 days, I noticed that my hot box wasn't maintaining the temp range I had programmed into the temp controller. I changed the high temp setting to 85dF. It gets as high as about 81.5 and kinda hovers there, which is probably a good temp to be at. It would seem that I need to insulate the box or get a higher watt bulb.

Anyway, I checked the buckets today. They still seem to be fizzing as they were in the beginning. I checked the sg of each bucket just to get some idea of where I am. The gravities were as follows:

Bucket 1 ---- 1.014
Bucket 2 ---- 1.024
Bucket 3 ---- 1.018

I'll give it a couple more days and check it again.
It appears to be finished - 4 days since my last update. All 3 buckets were down around 1.000. One bucket may have been closer to 1.001. I was a little surprised it went so low. Molasses is notorious for having unfermentable sugars. I shut down the hot box and will let it sit for a few days. I probably won't get to the stripping runs before early next week. I plan to do 3 stripping runs in one session. I'm hoping I can do all 3 strips in my 5 gallon pot still in no more than 6 or 7 hours. I'll add to this when I finish the strips.
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by S-Cackalacky »

S-Cackalacky wrote:
S-Cackalacky wrote:
S-Cackalacky wrote:
S-Cackalacky wrote:I just started a first ferment of this using a modified version of the recipe. I'm doing a 12 gallon ferment split into 3 five gallon buckets. I'm also doing a few substitutions. Here's what I'm doing:

Ingredients (for each of 3 five gallon buckets) -
6 lbs/ea - dark brown sugar
1 16oz bottle/ea - store brand table molasses
1 Tbls/ea - tomato paste
1 Tbls/ea - lemon juice
<1/2 tsp/ea - Epsom salts
2 tabs/ea - B complex vitamins (crushed)
2 Tbls/ea - Red Star active dry yeast

I put all the ingredients, except the yeast, into the 3 buckets and added about 1.5 gallons of boiling water to dissolve the sugar. I added enough cool well water to bring it up to about 4 gallons, checked the temp, aerated with an air compressor, pitched the yeast on the surface of each bucket of wash, and covered loosely.

I didn't take an OG because everything I read says that it wouldn't be accurate anyway. The 3 buckets are in a hot box with a 60W light bulb for heat. The temp controller is set to maintain 80dF. The one thing I'm a little concerned about is that I may not have left enough head room for foaming. The level is at about 2" from the top of the buckets.

I did a lot of substitutions. Hope it ferments out OK.
I'm about 24 hours into the ferment and it seems to be going well. I checked it after about 3 hours and it had started to fizz almost like soda pop with no signs of foam or a cap. The ambient air inside the box swings from 75 to 80 dF. I have the temp controller set to 80dF - that is, the 60W light bulb goes off when it reaches 80dF and comes back on when it drops down to 75dF. I opened it up a couple of hours ago and it was still bubbling as before and still with no cap.
It's been about 5 days. After about 2 days, I noticed that my hot box wasn't maintaining the temp range I had programmed into the temp controller. I changed the high temp setting to 85dF. It gets as high as about 81.5 and kinda hovers there, which is probably a good temp to be at. It would seem that I need to insulate the box or get a higher watt bulb.

Anyway, I checked the buckets today. They still seem to be fizzing as they were in the beginning. I checked the sg of each bucket just to get some idea of where I am. The gravities were as follows:

Bucket 1 ---- 1.014
Bucket 2 ---- 1.024
Bucket 3 ---- 1.018

I'll give it a couple more days and check it again.
It appears to be finished - 4 days since my last update. All 3 buckets were down around 1.000. One bucket may have been closer to 1.001. I was a little surprised it went so low. Molasses is notorious for having unfermentable sugars. I shut down the hot box and will let it sit for a few days. I probably won't get to the stripping runs before early next week. I plan to do 3 stripping runs in one session. I'm hoping I can do all 3 strips in my 5 gallon pot still in no more than 6 or 7 hours. I'll add to this when I finish the strips.
I did the 3 stripping runs yesterday. Pulled about 8oz fores from each strip. Each wash charge was about 4 gallons. I got about a gallon of low wines from each run - 3 gallons total. I went very deep into the tails. I also pulled about 4/5 of a quart from the middle of each strip. The 3 quart jars will be used in an experiment to make a light rum. This will be my final post in this series. The experiment will continue in another thread, found here - http://ww.homedistiller.org/forum/viewt ... =4&t=54894" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow .
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by Rum Monkey »

@hookline and others some questions for you if I may.

I recently made about 200 litres of wash in two batches. Both of which I used Dunder as about a third of the wash by volume. I stripped that all down in run #1. Now I am running spirit runs (I can only run 11 litres at a time in my wee boiler) and I am using about 1 litre of fresh dunder in each spirit run. My low wines with Dunder in it are running about 40% ABV before I distill it in the spirit run.

I have been making my cuts, pulling out the fores for shop cleaner, reserving heads and tails for the feints jar and getting the hearts into my 5 Gallon glass carboy for Oaking. My hearts run from 80% ABV down to about 55% ABV. For Oaking I have some shaved French oak barrels, I also have some Jack Daniels Smoker chips made of chipped JD barrels and finally I have alligator skin charred American white Oak strips I made myself.

My question is, do you Oak your rum with a bit of Dunder in the cask, or do you add some Dunder after oaking before bottling?

Thoughts Gang?
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by RumRun4 »

My first try at Hook Rum seems to be coming along well. I have 2.5 Liters of distillate after my spirit run, ready for some spice and aging. Your post says you use a double coffee filter (with rubber band) on the aging container. My question is: doesn't some of the product evaporate away during the two month wait period? I have a feeling the loss is minimal, or you wouldn't be doing it this way. But would appreciate any info you have on this from your experience.

Thanks!
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GrassHopper
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by GrassHopper »

Did my first rum wash. Didn't go well at first.

Followed the recipe for a 16 gal ferment per Hook recipe except for a few minor details.

Used some 15-40-15 fertilizer in place of the DAP (didn't have it)
Used two teaspoons of lemon juice for the citric acid (didn't have it)

Description:
Dissolved 11.3 lbs brown sugar in 1 gal water and poured into 15 gal well water. Added two gals food grade molasses. Dissolved the fertilizer and added to ferment along with 2 teaspoons lemon juice. Did a yeast starter in a quart of water with a bit of wash with 150 grams of Red Star bread yeast and added to ferment. Took a gravity reading of 18 brix (10 % ABV). Ph of 6.5. Temp of 78 degrees F. Stirred up the whole thing good and covered. Yeah, I know you can't get an accurate SG reading because of the molasses, but what the hell. Just keeping records.

Next day. Nothing. Not even a bubble, no cap. Dead. WTF!
Retested the PH, 6.5. Must be too high. Two more teaspoons of lemon. No change in PH, so went to pharmacy and got some citric acid. Added a heaping teaspoon and stirred in and let sit. I also added 150 grams of distillers yeast. It took off like a banshee and was done in
36 hours. Final SG was under 1 so I was happy. Final PH was around 5 ( a little high, but I didn't have any dunder to start. Tastes a little sour, no sugar so I racked it off and am ready to run tomorrow.

Moral of this story is.......I still don't know what went wrong at first. I changed the PH and the yeast. One or the other, or both? I don't know.
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der wo
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by der wo »

I think your first yeast was dead. The ph was not the problem. It is absolutely no problem for yeast to ferment in neutral ph.
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GrassHopper
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by GrassHopper »

Thanks Der Wo,
I am leaning toward your consensus as well.
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by iwine »

RumRun4 wrote:My first try at Hook Rum seems to be coming along well. I have 2.5 Liters of distillate after my spirit run, ready for some spice and aging. Your post says you use a double coffee filter (with rubber band) on the aging container. My question is: doesn't some of the product evaporate away during the two month wait period? I have a feeling the loss is minimal, or you wouldn't be doing it this way. But would appreciate any info you have on this from your experience.

Thanks!
In my opinion only use the coffee filters on your separate jars when on the spirit run to air them out for 24 to 48 hours. before your cuts. then flavor or oak as you like then seal the jars, No coffee filters. if you age for lengthy time with coffee filters you will end up with empty jars and happy angels.
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iwine
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Re: Hook Rum

Post by iwine »

GrassHopper wrote:Thanks Der Wo,
I am leaning toward your consensus as well.
Sounds like bad yeast to me or too high of a temp when you pitched your yeast.
I always start with a mixing bowl with about 2 cups of my wash I add 1 pinch epson salt, 1 pinch DAP and 125g of bakers yeast make sure temp is not over 100dF. And watch it grow. This is to make sure the yeast is viable.
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