Buccaneer Bob's Silver, Gold, and Black Rum Recipe

[tjans]

I just ran a batch of this and did almost everything you said except I skipped the stripping run. I am really happy with the flavor. This was the best run I've done in a long time. Can't wait to add back some of the essence and see how she tastes. it's clarifying in the cold outside right now.

[DragonSouth]

Hi guys. I'm a noob and have really enjoyed reading all the information that everybody has posted.

This is the first recipe that I'm trying and I'm doing something terribly wrong. I'm following Bob's recipe to the T, even down to the "two hours, no more, no less." The only thing different is I am using the Red Star DADY yeast and I am getting this really awful smell. The only thing I can compare it to is nail polish remover. Could yeast be the problem?

I'm using a 13 gallon rig that I got from Olympic with a 3 inch column. Blackstrap molasses and cane sugar that I got from Webstaurantstore.com (I have an account there and it was fairly cheap). It was all fermented in 5gal, food grade buckets for 10 days at 75f.

I've run this 3 times now and still have the smell and not so pleasant taste.

Any suggestions or insights on where I'm screwing up?

Thanks a bunch.

[Sporacle]

Is the nail polish smell in the ferment, or the distillation, is it in all of the jars or just the heads? What is your collection rate? Couple of more details might help

[Saltbush Bill]

Sounds like you've either not made any cuts.......or if you have they are bad ones.

[still_stirrin]

Is the nail polish smell in the ferment, or the distillation, is it in all of the jars or just the heads? What is your collection rate? Couple of more details might help

There you go.
ss

[DragonSouth]

Thanks for the replies.

The smell is in the distillation. The ferment has a fairly sweet beer smell.

I’ve making cuts with 250ml glass jars and the smell goes through the entire distillation. I have even diluted with distilled water back down to about 35% and ran it all through a 2nd spirit run and the smell is still there. The taste isn’t horrible, but it’s definitely not the glowing reviews that I see posted here.

I’m running at a “slow and low” rate, a very slow trickle/fast drops coming off the condenser. I’ve set up a set of 8 water cooled CPU radiator/fans that keeps the water around 75F going in to the condenser.

I’ve read that adding baking soda to the low wines after the stripping run might help.

This weekend I’ll make another mash with regular bakers yeast and see if that makes a difference.

[still_stirrin]

I recommend a double distillation if you’re using a potstill.

Rum has a lot of aromatics and benefits from the refinement of a 2nd distillation. Definitely do a 2nd if you’re getting strong solvent smells (and tastes) throughout the run.
ss

[Saltbush Bill]

Baking soda method is only ever used when making neutrals using reflux stills......it's not a Rum thing.

[NZChris]

The only thing I can compare it to is nail polish remover.

Bob's method doesn't remove a foreshot from the stripping run, something I always do. The foreshot contains quite a bit of 'nail varnish', (ethyl acetate). That said, even without removing a foreshot, I would expect that ethyl acetate should drop enough during the run to give you a heart cut.

I also strip a lot further than Bob does and my low wines are usually around 27%, so ethyl acetate is more dilute in my low wines.

Ethyl acetate is an important component in the flavor of rum, so you don't want to completely eliminate it from the heart cut, but you don't want it to be 'in your face', either.

Ethyl acetate is the ester of acetic acid, (vinegar) and ethanol. Does your wash smell, or taste of vinegar? What is the pH?

[Yummyrum]

The taste isn’t horrible, but it’s definitely not the glowing reviews that I see posted here.

Straight off the still , Rum is rough and doesn’t taste like Rum . That starts to happen after several months on Oak . After about a year , it gets really good .

[DragonSouth]

Thanks for all the advice.

I'll run them all through again next week and then throw some oak in the jars and put them in the pantry to see how it mellows after a while.

I'm not exactly the most patient person on the planet so I'm sure that I was expecting something incredible right away.

There is a craft rum distillery here in town so I may go pick their brain this weekend.

[NZChris]

Thanks for all the advice.

I'll run them all through again next week and then throw some oak in the jars and put them in the pantry to see how it mellows after a while.

I'm not exactly the most patient person on the planet so I'm sure that I was expecting something incredible right away.

There is a craft rum distillery here in town so I may go pick their brain this weekend.

Some of my stockfood rums didn't start to come right until two years on wood, others made drinkable white rum just by taking a narrow heart cut. You should be able to guess how it might turn out by tasting the molasses. If it's nasty, you might be waiting years for it to become properly enjoyable, but it will probably be better rum.

If you put it on oak, it goes through a astringent, tannic, woody stage, that often has newbies making bad choices because they didn't expect that and didn't do any research. If you are the impatient type, make sure you have plenty of something else to drink while you wait for it to age.

[Sporacle]

I'm not exactly the most patient person on the planet so I'm sure that I was expecting something incredible right away.

Rum may not be your thing if patience is not a virtue

[Saltbush Bill]

Rum doesn't have to be something that takes for ever.....the first home distilled Rum I ever drank / tried was sent to me by a member of another forum......it was very nice rum , the first time i ever really took notice of the different flavors that homemade rum had....I could taste the Oak, vanilla flavors, it was only a few months old.....Never again has commercial tasted the same.....some commercials now taste of heads , others of tails.
My point is , you can make good Rum and drink it early, and it can be quite good, but it will always improve with age.
Sorry if Ive hijacked this a bit, didn't mean to , but felt it needed saying .

[Buccaneer Bob]

Hi guys. I'm a noob and have really enjoyed reading all the information that everybody has posted.

This is the first recipe that I'm trying and I'm doing something terribly wrong. I'm following Bob's recipe to the T, even down to the "two hours, no more, no less." The only thing different is I am using the Red Star DADY yeast and I am getting this really awful smell. The only thing I can compare it to is nail polish remover. Could yeast be the problem?

I'm using a 13 gallon rig that I got from Olympic with a 3 inch column. Blackstrap molasses and cane sugar that I got from Webstaurantstore.com (I have an account there and it was fairly cheap). It was all fermented in 5gal, food grade buckets for 10 days at 75f.

I've run this 3 times now and still have the smell and not so pleasant taste.

Any suggestions or insights on where I'm screwing up?

Thanks a bunch.

Hi DragonSouth, I don't have any experience with Red Star DADY yeast, so I skimmed through the Home Distiller archives to see what people think about it.

And I didn't immediately see any red flags about using it so maybe it's okay.

But it wouldn't cost you much to buy some bakers yeast the next time and see where that gets you.

However, two things you said do jump out at me.

You said that you are using a "3 inch column" to do your distilling AND that "this is the first recipe that I'm trying".

You know, running a pot still is about like working on the motor of a 1968 VW Beetle (shadetree mechanic type stuff).

And running a column still is about like working on the motor of a 2021 Toyota Prius (with computers and sensors and all of that stuff).

Is there any way you can run your rig as a pot still? Because that would help you in two huge ways.

It would be a heck of lot simpler to get a handle on the process, AND you would get some actual rum flavor, after all is said and done.

Because yeah, assuming you were running your column still correctly, you would only be getting neutral with a head-cut out of it.

Other than that, ditto what pretty much everybody else said.

Cheers!

[NormandieStill]

Damn you and your well written and appealing recipe! Everytime one of these rum recipes pops to the fore, I end up looking at the jug of blackstrap molasses on Amazon and wondering whether I should have a go. I've never even knowingly drunk rum... except maybe once in a mixer('ti punch) but I keep peering into this rabbit hole. Perhaps once I've worked off a little of my gin fever and I've got some whisky aging I'll have a go at making some rum.

[Reaverman]

Hi,

got a couple of batches coming up to finish. But thought I would knock out some questions, before finishing my rum. Just for the record, I'll be using a T500, with an Alembic head.

1.mentioned earlier in the posts, someone said you have to run it through the pot still at least twice. Is that including the stripping run, or on top of (meaning three times?)

2. Regarding finishing, I'm going to split the the batch into two parts. One part will include toasted Oak staves, intendeding to create a gold rum (and spiced rum). The second will have untreated oak staves, to create a white/silver rum. With the latter in mind, I was looking a the likes of Barcardi, and they use carbon filtering prior to barrelling. Should I do that, has anyone tried this?

[Sporacle]

I think the direction is for strip then spirit, on the carbon filter I wouldn't personally do that as it will remove a lot of flavor, that is the point of the pot still. Haven't tried to carbon filter a rum so can only offer up a bit of what I think you should do and I want a spirit that tastes good first, good luck

[Reaverman]

I think the direction is for strip then spirit, on the carbon filter I wouldn't personally do that as it will remove a lot of flavor, that is the point of the pot still. Haven't tried to carbon filter a rum so can only offer up a bit of what I think you should do and I want a spirit that tastes good first, good luck

You know I was erring that direction, thanks for comfirming my hunch!

[NZChris]

With the latter in mind, I was looking a the likes of Barcardi, and they use carbon filtering prior to barrelling. Should I do that, has anyone tried this?

They will use a specialized carbon, not what you get at the HBS. Granucol FA might work, but I've go no interest in making Bacardi style rum so haven't tried it.

[Yummyrum]

Saw a documentary on Baccardi once . They filter it through 15 different types of Charcoal .
Also IIRC, its distilled in continuous stills and the stuff they barrel is very high proof , not just pot still strength .

[Corsaire]

It's also aged in barrels for 2 years or something before it gets filtered.

[Reaverman]

I take it this scales up volume wise?

I have done two batches, producing 10L of low wines. When I do the spirit run, and dilute the low wines. I am right in thinking that the Foreshot/Heads cut is 2L?

Or is it advisable to run two seperate spirit runs?

[Sporacle]

Run them all at once, base your cuts on taste and smell not volume, if you haven't already, read Kiwis guide to cuts on the board index. Good luck
https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtop ... 0#p6801645

[Buccaneer Bob]

I take it this scales up volume wise?

I have done two batches, producing 10L of low wines. When I do the spirit run, and dilute the low wines. I am right in thinking that the Foreshot/Heads cut is 2L?

Or is it advisable to run two seperate spirit runs?

It's up to you. I've run double batches and ended up making my head cut somewhere in the 1.5 to 1.75 liter range, if I remember correctly. I believe we can pack more heads into that first liter, so we don't need the full second liter to remove the rest of the heads.

[Reaverman]

I take it this scales up volume wise?

I have done two batches, producing 10L of low wines. When I do the spirit run, and dilute the low wines. I am right in thinking that the Foreshot/Heads cut is 2L?

Or is it advisable to run two seperate spirit runs?

It's up to you. I've run double batches and ended up making my head cut somewhere in the 1.5 to 1.75 liter range, if I remember correctly. I believe we can pack more heads into that first liter, so we don't need the full second liter to remove the rest of the heads.

Cheers for that!

My only DOH! moment was diluting, and then oaking my product. I should have done it the other way round, oh well, I will just have to wait longer for the gold rum. White rum seems fine, looking forward to a drink in a few weeks. I'm making another few batches, so I'll learn from those mistakes!

[NormandieStill]

So I'm looking at doing a run of this if I can. I'll be making a dunder pit from the backset of a wheat whisky stripping run and I have a litre of the trub from the same in a bottle ready for use. The molasses have been ordered. Just going to have to accept that in order to do the spirit run, I'll probably have to do it on the hob as there's no way I'll have enough liquid to cover the element in my keg.

[Buccaneer Bob]

Sounds good, NormandieStill. Keep us informed.

[Reaverman]

So I'm looking at doing a run of this if I can. I'll be making a dunder pit from the backset of a wheat whisky stripping run and I have a litre of the trub from the same in a bottle ready for use. The molasses have been ordered. Just going to have to accept that in order to do the spirit run, I'll probably have to do it on the hob as there's no way I'll have enough liquid to cover the element in my keg.

Couldn't you just dilute the wash down with water, so that it can cover the elements?

[Reaverman]

So I'm looking at doing a run of this if I can. I'll be making a dunder pit from the backset of a wheat whisky stripping run and I have a litre of the trub from the same in a bottle ready for use. The molasses have been ordered. Just going to have to accept that in order to do the spirit run, I'll probably have to do it on the hob as there's no way I'll have enough liquid to cover the element in my keg.

Couldn't you just dilute the wash down with water, so that it can cover the elements?

I mean low wines