Rum: Taste Contribution

[wjsliman]

Hello all,
Long time reader, but new to the forums.

Been very interested in Rums as of late, and wanted to get some input from you guys on how certain production aspects affect the final taste of Rum. More specifically, I am interested in producing a really smooth, yet flavorful white rum; something that you could sip on and enjoy straight, yet mixes well if you want to go that route (for the ladies haha). Thanks in advance for the help, and here goes the questions:

A) Sugar Vs Molasses vs Cane Juice: How does either of these wash ingredients affect the final taste of the rum? How does the flavor compare for each?

B) Wood Aging: How long do you recommend aging in order to smooth out a white rum?

C) Filtration: From what I recall, there are different filtration methods are available for removing impurities, color, and smoothing out liquors, etc.. What is the most cost effective form of filtration in your opinion? or is it even needed?

Thanks a ton guys.

[Braz]

Hello long time reader. Here's some more reading for you. http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 91&start=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow Many of your questions will be answered there.

[wjsliman]

I appreciate the response, but the topic you linked was regarding a sipping rum recipe that used flavorings, and was not a white rum due to the added molasses.

Like I said, I have read quite a bit of the information on the site; however most of it is based on recipes and small observations for the more advanced distiller.

I am just looking for some basic guidelines to determine how the final taste will be affected by the aforementioned factors.

Thanks again, and I apologize if I came across as more of an experienced distiller. I am just looking for some "rule of thumb" advice so to speak, on they key factors influencing the taste of plain white rum.

[Dnderhead]

what does not ferment gives the final product its flavor.
so the more refiend the "sugars" the less flavors your finel product will have.
so all molasses will have more flavor than molasses/sugar.
and cane juice will be different than both as it still has all the
minerals etc.

[wjsliman]

Dnderhead, thanks for the response.

Makes sense... I know molasses contains most of the nutrients so if you even wanted to go the refined sugar route you would have to add nutrients as well. Seems like pure molasses would be cheaper, and taste better. Have you ever used cane juice to make rum and compared the taste to molasses based rum?

If we follow the same logic it seems that the more "raw" the ingredient is, the more flavor it will impart to its final distilled product. So would it be safe to assume that cane juice would impart the most flavor, followed by molasses, then plain sugar?

Thanks in advance again... and I would love to hear your thoughts an aging as well... I have seen a lot of your posts recently and you seem to know your stuff haha.

[LWTCS]

So would it be safe to assume that cane juice would impart the most flavor, followed by molasses,

Don't think so really. Molassas is a condensed material and has more potential to render flavor. But you can also force flavor into the other mediums depending on how you are reusing your spent wash and and yeast selection,,,and all the other things that go into preparing any given recipe.

Cane juice likker would typically be rhum agricole. Often we hear rhum agricole desciptor words like "grassy". Rhum agricole is typically much lighter than say a navy rum. But with the use of dunder and multiple generations you can force much flavor into the lighter ingredients too.

So many ways to do the rums.

[Prairiepiss]

Hello all,
Long time reader, but new to the forums.

B) Wood Aging: How long do you recommend aging in order to smooth out a white rum?

Thanks a ton guys.

Then it would no longer be a white rum. It would take on colors and flavors of the wood.

[Dnderhead]

"Then it would no longer be a white rum."
Id have to disagree with that,some white rum is aged in wood for years,
then filtered to remove color.but most is not,it is aged in stainless tanks
open to atmosphere.rum is a odd spirit it has no regulations other than being
made of sugar cane products.

[LWTCS]

Can also be aged in spent barrels that impart little to no color.


Agree with Dnder about the rum classifications.

You can yank it,,,,spank it,,,,,,smack it on the bing bong and it is still called rum.

[Dnderhead]

"Can also be aged in spent barrels that impart little to no color."
yes I agree .Iv seen some that brag on how old their barrels are
some are 100 years or even 200years old.with a average of say 5 years
of aging that is a lot of use.

[Prairiepiss]

"Then it would no longer be a white rum."
Id have to disagree with that,some white rum is aged in wood for years,
then filtered to remove color.but most is not,it is aged in stainless tanks
open to atmosphere.rum is a odd spirit it has no regulations other than being
made of sugar cane products.

Interesting! I always thought white rum was just that. White rum! Thanks for that tidbit of info Dunder. So how would you filter out just the color and leave the taste behind? I'm assuming they would want the flavors or they wouldn't use a wood barrel.

LWTCS What does a rum Bing bong look like? I new the only rule when it comes to rum was it has to be made from a sugar cane some how. Tell you the truth I thought white rum was like vodka. Bottle and ship. Didn't know they aged it.

[Prairiepiss]

"Can also be aged in spent barrels that impart little to no color."
yes I agree .Iv seen some that brag on how old their barrels are
some are 100 years or even 200years old.with a average of say 5 years
of aging that is a lot of use.

Ok that make since to me. Wouldn't need much of any filtering.

[LWTCS]

Tell you the truth I thought white rum was like vodka. Bottle and ship. Didn't know they aged it.

That perhaps is why rum may never have the same esteem as the scotches or the bourbons..

Not enough structure'd dogma assigned to what constitutes rum (good, bad or indifferent).
There are assigned catagories but still doesn't seem to carry the same kind of weight...

No matter to me...

[Dnderhead]

at one time I had a real good site for rum ,from start to finish but lost in the maze
of web. but this mite help.best I could fiend at this time.
http://www.therumelier.com/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[Prairiepiss]

Good read. Thanks Dunder.

[Fastill]

I have never made a good white rum....
I have made white rum, and time has made it good, some of it I would call great.
And I only have rum that is just under a year old.
I age on a few white oak chips, raw oak, no toast, no charr...
I am sipping on one now that was horrible when made, tasted chemical, almost industrial, and after aging on raw oak and some homemade charcoal at 180 proof for 10 months, the chemical smell turned floral, almost like a mild purfume, sweet and sexy!!!
Diluted to 30% drinking on ice the flavor is almost undescribable, floral and sweet but natural and clean. There is nothing on the liquor store shelves that comes close...
Its too bad but I am afraid that I may not be able to reproduce it, but who knows, my next batch may be even better.
Start making and start aging, the only way you will find YOUR favorite rum is when you taste it when it hits that flavor in its evolution in aging. The one thing I do know is that aging rum is always changing.. That is the coolest part of this hobby!

[LWTCS]

Thats a good perspective Faststill.

Just gotta keep makin and tweeking and twist it as many ways as you can...Thats the fun of it for me.

I am a big fan of my rums off the still. Funky ass wash strictly stilled is clean , crisp and lots of rum notes.

Can't exactly say how my long term goals may suffer from the lack of heads or tails for flavor.
But so far my rums at just a few months old (they never last long) are better than quite a few of the top shelf offerings.

Having a blast.

[wjsliman]

Thanks a ton guys, this is exactly the type of conversation I was looking to start...

Wood aging, from everything I have read, not only allows volatiles to evaporate out through the porous wood, but adds vanillins and tannins to the liquor.

Thats part of the reason why I was asking about filtration... I read on this site that you can use filtration to remove color from aging (even if using uncharred barrels, i would imagine you would still get some coloration), but the real question is, at what price?

I believe carbon filtration can be used to remove color, but at the same time you would also be removing many other "impurities" that add to the flavor. So I wonder which filter could be used to optimize this tradeoff; clear the liquid, but not necessarily remove all the flavor.

Fastill that is a really great comment you made, and really shows how important aging is. I am curious though if you could do it for a shorter time and still get the same result... I would guess, based on some mass transfer concepts, that most of the smoothing out occurred in the first few months, and maybe even less if the temperature was nice and warm.

Thanks to everyone for the great responses.

[Prairiepiss]

Wjsliman unless you are going to use a barrel? you mite try some larger pieces of oak chunks not the chips. But forego the first batch and drink it as a brown sipping rum. then reuse the oak chunks for your subsequent batches. like the way they are reusing the barrels.

[Dnderhead]

for the most part adding wood/wood chips in glass/stanless will not age,
its more of flavoring/coloring.ageing is just that,,,time,,