Rum Talk......

[rtalbigr]

Went out lookin' for somethin' to keep my dunder pit in today. Finally ended up at the brew shop and he had a 24 gal container. Asked him if it was HDPE and he said "Huh, what's that?" All I had to do was pick it up and I knew it wasn't. He did say it was food grade plastic and it is transluctent white. Anyway I got it. The handles hold the lid on but it doesn't seal air tite. Now I gotta go to Lowes and get some stuff for taps and a filler tube. Want to put a tap a few inches above the bottom for drawin' off and a filler tube goin' in about a third a the way up then 90 up and extend above the top to add new dunder.

Started a wash last weekend to start my pit but it hasn't fermented out yet. It's stopped bubblin' the air lock but the Sg was 1.012 this morning and I could taste just a little sweetness. I figure it'll finish up in a day or so and I'll run it next weekend. Anyway, I got enough all barley wort to do a couple strippin' runs and enough low wines to do a spirit run, so I got plentey to do.

Big R

[HookLine]

Been ageing some dunder for a while now.

Coming along nicely, doing everything it is supposed to. The white furry phase is a bit funky, not exactly rotten and stinky, but you wouldn't want to be sleeping next to it.

I have two batches ageing, right next to each other. One went through maybe 30 ferment cycles, and the other had only gone through 6 or so. The older dunder had much more flavour to it before ageing started, much richer and more complex. Be interesting to see what difference it makes to the outcome between the two.

Just using plain stainless kegs, with a fine but tough nylon mesh tied over the opening, and a bit of wood placed over the top of the keg to let air through but keep most dust and gecko shit out. No fancy middle third extraction system yet. Just gonna carefully siphon off what I need when the time is right.

[rtalbigr]

Got my pit put together today. I have one tap as close to the bottom as I can get it for pullin' off drub from time to time. About a third a the way up I got a "T" going in at the 5 gal level. Going down I got a ball cock to drain off dunder for mashin' and goin' up is my filler tube. Started runnin' some molasses wash today so I can get started. I'll have about 15-16 gal of dunder agin' in a few weeks.

Big R

[rtalbigr]

I got my pit started about a week ago, have about 7.5 gal in it. Went up to look at it today and it's already fuzzed over on top. Didn't expect that so soon Got about 10 more gal of wash to strip to add to it. Lookin' forward to this experiment.

Big R

[kenfyoozed]

My pit is corney keg. I keep it sealed but it still gets the white mold to it. It smells like a dark roasted chocolate and imparts some of that flavor as well. Is this normal? I like it but just trying to compare notes. I usually add the hole 5 gallons to a 20gal batch, then top up the dunder pit with new backset after its cooled. Never washing out the pit, so as to keep some mold spore in there. Am I doing it wrong?

[LWTCS]

No no no no yer doing it all wrong

We don't really know ken

Temp differences,,,,,, base material,,,,, water,,,,,,,replenishment?????????

So far the rule of thumb we have been able to establish is,,,,,(correct me if I'm wrong),,,if it smells reasonably good then it is good.....If it smells like the dump (literally) dump it.

Beyond that,,,, we are all flying by the seat of our pants.

Sounds like your on the right track.

[rtalbigr]

Finally got the last of my molasses wash run today so my dunder pit is now full, 15 gal. It has a nice dark brown mold (or whatever) on top. My tap/fill port is at the 5 gal level so I'm thinkin' I will be able to draw off 6-8 gal w/o disturbing the top mold.

The container has a lid that just sits on top but there is full contact. I took and old bed sheet and put it under the lid so hopefully that will keep any bugs out.

I figure about Jan/Feb maybe Mar next year I will start usin' it. I'm already excited about the prospects.

Big R

[sparky marky]

Hey guys! Quick question, quick answer type thing...
I got 30 liters of low wines to run but I also have 5 liters of failed oaky rum that I'm thinkin of tossing into this spirit run.
It's not over oaked, it's just right! But i was experimenting with adding a little bit of late heads to my hearts for aging and 8 months later it still tastes like something I clean the kitchen with (think I'm a hearts kinda guy)
I know I can get rid of the heads taste but will re running already oaked rum contaminate my batch?

[rtalbigr]

In my opinion I don't think it will hurt anything. Water is pretty good at cleanin stuff up so I'd dilute it down to maybe 30-35% if it was me.

Big R

[LWTCS]

+1 to what Big R said

[blind drunk]

I did something similar once and the woodiness stayed behind in the boiler. Th boiler juice was particularly foul for that run. Woulda been the tails if I kept collecting ... I think, though not 100 % sure. Good luck.

[LWTCS]

I remember you postin about that BD.

Difference here is that he didn't over oak.....Just too much heads to polish out.

[blind drunk]

Thought he was asking about the oak contaminating his run. Must be all the cool weather that's getting to me

[sparky marky]

actually thats exactly what i was asking bd.
will my whole run come out tasting slightly oaky? i have heard that over oaked spirits can't be cleaned up by re-running so i was wondering if i might get a little woodyness coming over....
i don't want my white rum straight off the condenser to be all contaminated and tasting like oak. i like to do a few other things with my rum that don't involve wood

[LWTCS]

Gonna make a hat outta this stuff and work in the yard with it

Liquid beneath was clean and smelled quite nice.

White pizza anyone??

[blind drunk]

Mine never looked that good.

[rtalbigr]

Very interesting LW. I like the hat idea but the pizza seems somewhat unappealing.

Big R

[LWTCS]

I shoulda snap'd a pic a few weeks ago.....At every phase of growth the liquid always smelled good.
This is an experimental batch separate from my regular pit......My regular pit is insulated.....I'm inclined to think that the hot hot climate is best. Gonna move to an uninsulated vessel.

This batch was lightly aerated after cooling, caped and left in the garage heat.....

[LWTCS]

Ok So a couple lil clumps of the mold structure kinda broke off and went into the boiler...3-4 peices abount the size of a half dollar or so... Ifigger'd what the heck can it hurt?

Cleaning out my boiler this morning,,,,,,,pour'd off what I was going to save and it just smell nice and rummy but also kinda like a hint of chocolate.....Pour the remainder down my drive way and just smelled like chocolate rum beer..... Dunno what any of this means BTW. I hope I can replicate this.

The distillate smelled really good but I can not detect any of this chocolate at all....It was a strip. I saved a center bit to see how it tasted but it only came off at 50ish.....usually too harsh for me.
After airing a day,,,,,couple drops of water and its not bad....at all. I'll save this center bit and let it sleep.

[rtalbigr]

Out of curiosity LW, how long had that dunder been aged?

Big R

[LWTCS]

Bout a month,,,,,,,,I think. Im terrible at takin notes. Not more than two montjs though

[rtalbigr]

Ok, thx LW

Big R

[Suburban Guy]

Very pleased to finally be able to say that I now have a good sipping quality rum.

I am generally not concerned with accurate measures and quantites.

3 liters @ 65%:
2 alligator chared oak sticks
zest of one orange
4 or 5 dried cots
4 or 5 dried pineapple chuncks
teaspoon black tea
teaspoon whole peppercorns
teaspoon vinilla extract

Age till ?
Dilute to 45%
Add 1 table spoon molassas per (I used 750ml) bottle.

Sorry to barge in, but I’m finally to a point where I may have something that I can age and spice a little bit. After reading a few recipes I have decided to go with LWTCS’ version above, it seems simple enough for me, which is ultra important at this stage of the game. I don’t think I’m quite ready for a dunder pit, but in time, perhaps.

I just have three quick questions:

1- what are “cots”?
2- can I use charred oak chips instead of sticks?
3- would there be any benefit to tying the spices up inside a cheesecloth?

Thanks guys!

SG

[LWTCS]

1- Apricots
2- course ya can
3- Great Idea...would make straining a lot easier.

By the way,,,not barging at all.......
Good luck with your version

[Suburban Guy]

APRICOTS, Bwaaahaaaahaaaa, I was thinking it was a type of spice that I hadn’t heard of, I need to think more literal sometimes!!!

Thanks!

SG

[The Baker]

'3- would there be any benefit to tying the spices up inside a cheesecloth?'

Good idea.
Speaking of which.....

I have some reasonable (almost) vodka and I have put a measured amount of carbon in each bottle to clean it up a bit and maybe improve the mouthfeel a bit.
There are say 6 x 2-litre bottles and there is one and a half litres in each one to allow for some air in the bottle.
I wanted to wash the carbon first (supposed to be the best way to do it) but did not, mainly bacause of the messing about there would be to measure the wet carbon.
So....
Next time I will measure the dry carbon into several cheesecloth 'bags' (NOT plastic, real cotton ones, a square of cheesecloth folded loosely around the carbon and tied with COTTON at the top).
Then I will wash the carbon in hot water, IN the bags.
Then put one of the BAGS in each bottle; that should help keep the vodka clean when later I take it off the carbon...

[Suburban Guy]

Well cool, glad I could bring something to the table!

[orpheus16]

Do you find the molasses makes your rum cloudy?

[LWTCS]

When adding a final amount to your finisned spirit? Yes.
you can cold crash it and see jow well it settles out. The commercial operators likely filter it.

[blind drunk]

One observation with my rum (limited experience) is that the awesome butter scotch notes are closer to, or in the heads and the floral notes are closer to, or in the tails. Is it just me? Say it ain't so.