Fermenting and Distilling Rum Spices…

[7bruno7]

Hey all,
Starting to develop my rum recipe and wondering if anyone has any experience with adding the desired spices…vanilla, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, orange zest, etc. etc…to the fermenter to steep/macerate during the molasses and cane sugar fermentation, then put everything in the still boiler…fermented molasses/cane sugar and all spices…during distillation?

If so, what were your experiences and did the flavors of the spices carryover to the distillate after distillation??

I have a Bain Marie still system with an agitator, so scorching should hopefully not be an issue…

[NZChris]

I doubt many here have tried it because it's too wasteful, much of their flavors will end up in the foreshots, heads, tails and backset.

[Saltbush Bill]

As above.....it's easier to make the Rum, then spice it.
You will also gain more control of flavour that way.

[7bruno7]

What about putting the spices in a gin basket? Would that be more effective or would that still provide diminished results when compared to adding the spices after the rum has been made?

[NormandieStill]

When you infuse spices (botanicals) in low wines, you're going to lose flavours with the cuts (unless your not making cuts, in which case you may not want to drink what you make). When making gin (essentially what you're proposing here) you start with a clean neutral so your cuts are simply to control the flavours that come over during the final distillation. If you do that with your low wines (or your wash) then you still have to select your hearts cut to get rid of the nasty stuff in the heads and tails, but there may be flavours from the spices in those cuts that you'd like to keep.

You could perhaps make a strong rum (From what I've read, if you don't dilute the low wines in Buccanneer Bob's recipe you get a very "twangy" rum), make you cuts and then redistill it with the spices as if it were a neutral and you were making gin.

But why? What are you aiming for?

[NZChris]

You could put them in a gin basket when you are confident you are in hearts. A properly designed Carter Head would be best as they don't return anything to the boiler.

What I have done, is take some middle hearts and run it with botanicals in a mini gin still to make an essence that can be blended to get the intensity I want.

[Trapped-in-Oz]

I have added 100g of Naked Ginger to 3.2 litre spirit run of molasses, the distil was clear, went cloudy when diluted to 40%.
A remarkable taste, probably preferable as white rather than oaked.

https://www.buderimginger.com/naked-ginger-200g/

[Saltbush Bill]

The more I think about this the more it seems like a completely arse backward way of making spiced Rum, the more I think the more problems I see.
Why not just do it the normal way, Learn to make a good drinkable Rum, then Oak it , then spice it......or possibly spice and oak it at the same time.
Just a couple of things that spring to mind .
If you make the wash with added spices and single run it , its going to be a pretty rough sort of Rum, and as has been suggested, your going to loose a lot of the flavour of the spices when you toss the fores , heads n tails out. Also bear in mind that the individual spice flavours will come over at different temps / stages of the run......so you might end up with a lot of one flavour and none of another...or very little, once you make cuts.
On the other hand,If you make the wash with added spices and strip that wash to get the low wines , .....then spirit run that lot, you might end up with a smoother and less rough rum, but you will loose even more of the spice flavours.

[Dancing4dan]

The more I think about this the more it seems like a completely arse backward way of making spiced Rum, the more I think the more problems I see.
Why not just do it the normal way, Learn to make a good drinkable Rum, then Oak it , then spice it......or possibly spice and oak it at the same time.
Just a couple of things that spring to mind .
If you make the wash with added spices and single run it , its going to be a pretty rough sort of Rum, and as has been suggested, your going to loose a lot of the flavour of the spices when you toss the fores , heads n tails out. Also bear in mind that the individual spice flavours will come over at different temps / stages of the run......so you might end up with a lot of one flavour and none of another...or very little, once you make cuts.
On the other hand,If you make the wash with added spices and strip that wash to get the low wines , .....then spirit run that lot, you might end up with a smoother and less rough rum, but you will loose even more of the spice flavours.

I’m not a rum fan and don’t know anything about making it.

What would a gin basket do rather than adding the spices to the wash add them to a gin basket?

Don’t know anything about making gin either.

[7bruno7]

Sounds good guys....I think I'll just spice the rum after distillation...lol.. Thanks all!!