My first....Rum!!

[piperdave]

6 L molasses, 5 kg brown sugar 1 tbs DAP 45 g bakers yeast up to 50 L. One week to ferment, 3 strips in a 5 gallon pot, about 2.5 gallon of 38 % low wines, ended up 5 L of 63% aging on JD chips after cuts and dilution.

[HDNB]

good work! looks like a real nice drop!
you may want to try charring some chips for a darker color...actually i'd even say try some different wood, those JD chips make stuff taste like...JD.
lot of the BBQ places have ex-bourbon barrels and ex-rum barrels that work nice too.

[corene1]

Looks really nice! Did you save any of your dunder to start your next wash with? I too am just learning about rum and have heard that using the lees and some dunder from the previous wash to start the next wash will increase flavor in the final spirit.

[piperdave]

HDNB...yeah, just using what I had. I probably should have roasted those chips a bit or go source some proper oak.
Corene1... Yep kept some back for the next batch. Hopefully bump the flavor in the next batch. Still have 3/4 of a pail of molasses left. Maybe an all molasses batch. What I really want is to add a thumper to my setup for rum.

[moosemilk]

Nice work. I just finished up and have a little more than a gallon @ 55% abv of hookrum on medium toast/char oak and some raisins (they add a nice flavor imo).

Bit different protocol. I stripped 15 gallons of wash, then added that (about 3 gallons) to a fresh 5 gallon and did a slow spirit run.

Let it age for at least three months if you can keep your hands off it. Rum needs it to smooth out. That's why I did it first this year. Half gallon for a camping trip this summer, half gallon to be held off till Christmas, and a quart I have set aside to send to a friend along with some whiskey once I run that.

[Saltbush Bill]

I think you might find the finished product will be a lot better if you were to put medium to heavy charred American Oak sticks in your Rum.
Those chips really wont do what you have made justice

[S-Cackalacky]

That seems like a lot of final product from just 2.5 gallons of low wines. I have 3 gallons of rum low wines waiting for a spirit run and would feel lucky to get 3/4 gallon of final product. I ran pretty similar to what you describe, but deep into tails.

I've always had good results with JD chips. I use about 1oz per 4/5 quart, nuke it for 3 cycles, strain it, and age it in 1 gallon pickle jars for at least 2 months. Each nuke cycle includes about 3 to 4 hours in the freezer after reaching room temp. It's good after 2 months, but even better with additional time. I can taste the difference because I draw it out of the aging jar as I need it - 750ml at a time. As I reach the bottom of the aging jar, it becomes very good.

[corene1]

That is good to hear time will mellow it out a bit as mine is sitting on the counter airing out from the run last night and it is a bit harsh.

[HDNB]

That is good to hear time will mellow it out a bit as mine is sitting on the counter airing out from the run last night and it is a bit harsh.

another trip thru knocked off some of the corners for me and still has tons of molasses flavour.

[S-Cackalacky]

Well as usual, I let my fingers run a little ahead of my brain. I'm in the midst of my first rum. The nuking and aging I was speaking of has only been for SF and brandy. Just ASS-U-ME it will work as well for rum.

I've always used JD chips straight from the bag and have seen no reason to do otherwise. I just recently came upon some very old white oak that I plan to cut into sticks, toast, and char. It will be interesting to compare the difference.

[piperdave]

I left out a few details. I added about a gallon of heads and tails from previous run of a DWWG and that bumped up the total volume. Thats why it seemed to be a little much product for what i had for low wines. It will be "interesting" to see what the combo of rum and some dwwg feints will be with bourbon barrel oak. Guess i will find out in a couple months.

[moosemilk]

Cack, I've nuke aged some of my rum. Three cycles. It mellowed the bite a little, but doesn't seem to mellow as much as nuking uj did for me. It does pull a lot of flavor from the oak faster though. I have no problem aging rum as I only enjoy a sip now and then.

His numbers aren't too bad depending on how you like your rum. Personally, I am a little tighter on cuts. Oh, HDNB, you mentioned you didn't have that "sweet" that commercial has when we chatted. You can attain that by adding a bit of the heads to your blend. I saw it somewhere in the forum here, tried it, and a little goes a long way. You can sweeten it up nice with just a little of the heads, and still have a nice rum, especially if you let it age.

[bads197]

Your post makes sense to me but let me summarize what you said to see if I understand what you did correctly. I've read and read and read but honestly questions are going to come out and your post clicked in my head as I read it.

You made 13 gallons of fermentables and distilled 3- 5 gallon runs to process all 13 gallons (topping off that 5 gallon "boiler" with what you had left in the fermenter)

Thus ended up with 2.5 gallons of 38 % total after the 13 gallons was processed.

Added that 2.5 gallons to a gallon of heads/tails from those three runs.

Then distilled that one final time to get, ended up 5 L of 63% Rum

Cut that down and put it in bed to age.

I really hope I understood that correctly.

so...

If what I understand it accurate, then what would the result be if you did the first step, using 2 --13 gallon cans (26 gallons) of fermentables and then used what was collected to do the remainder of your steps?

Would you get more of the volume at the same 63%, say 4.5 gallons before doing the distillation run w/ the extra gallon or two heads/tails? All conditions being equal (same starting alcohol content, atmospheric conditions etc..)

OR

Would you get a higher % alcohol content (over 63% which would be diluted down to correct proof) but the same 5 liters you ended up with?


If I did as you have done, In my case I would be a 13 gallon boiler, 3" reflux column, run only using the lower condenser and minimal copper mesh packing.

Thanks for any advice.

[piperdave]

Depends on a few factors...quality of molasses, type of sugar, type of yeast, temp of ferment, type of still, etc. i am by no means an expert I just was reporting what my experience was. This was my first rum and it seemed to go well. I expect you should get similar results using the method I described. If you want I can check my notes and give a more detailed breakdown of the procedure I used..

[piperdave]

The rum is aging right now but a 40% abv sample tastes good and I expect to get better. I am still working on getting my cuts a little tighter but that will come with more experience. I just finished my second run using the same recipe and the results were very similar except this time I added rum feints to the spirit run which should make a difference.

[bads197]

Thanks for the reply.

If I get 5L of drinkable spirits... we'll lets just say 5L of rum will last me a while unless I share it with close friends.