Book review – The Distiller’s Guide to Rum

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ruminant
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Book review – The Distiller’s Guide to Rum

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The Distiller’s Guide to Rum
by Ian Smiley, Eric Watson & Michale Delevante
(with contributions by Eric Zandona and Martin Cate)

Published by White Mule Press, a division of the American Distilling Institute
ISBN: 9781736980217 (Softcover) 978-0-9910436-0-6 (Hardback)
Publisher’s page: https://distilling.com/book/the-distill ... de-to-rum/
143 pages

The book is eclectic–an edited volume by multiple contributors–but is a very worthwhile read. I’ll try to sketch out the contents, diving deep into some of the sections which I think will interest members of this forum, and including an excerpt to give a feel for the writing. Since I'm trying to give potential readers an idea of the contents, my commentary will be in italics, with book structure in standard font.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to cast a distiller's eye on modern rum-making. While the chapters are a bit uneven, they assume an informed readership who doesn't struggle with Brix values, so you won't sit through yet another "introduction to fermentation". I found the book to be dense with information, likely to be accessible to long-time members of the forum but a bit tough for newbies.

Part One: Historic and Contemporary Rum Producers
  • 1. The Story of Rum (p. 5) – a brief overview of rum history and varieties
  • 2. On Site with New England Distilleries (p. 13) – site visits to Turkey Shore Distilleries, Ryan & Wood Distilleries, and Newport Distilling Company with descriptions of their facilities, product varieties, equipment, and “How Their Rum is Made”.

This last section is fascinating. We learn that Turkey Shore ferments Grade A molasses and carbon-treated water in 500-gallon SS vats kept at exactly 92F (33C) for 9-12 days, yielding a wash at 8% ABV. Their rig looks like a 330 gallon copper pot still from a Scotch distillery feeding into a wooden thump keg and a flake stand, but hidden under the copper goose neck is a column with four bubble plates. The first wooden barrel conceals a 50-gallon retort (bypassed in stripping runs) while the second barrel conceals a shell-and-tube condenser. Four stripping runs produce 80 gallons each of 32% low wines, which they will use for a 320 gallon spirit run.

This spirit run is so complex that my summary will be inadequate, but they start by charging the retort with the “first tails” from their last spirit run. Their spirit run starts with heads down to 82% ABV at the spout, then hearts are collected by taste – usually until 60%. (They will age and bottle hearts without blending any tails in.) After the end of the hearts cut begins their “first tails” phase; they collect a volume of 20 gallons, which is usually around 50%. “Second tails” runs down to 5% at the spout; these are mixed with the heads as feints for later rectification.

Aging and vatting are also covered in this section for each distillery, with full charts on cuts, photos of stills, and process descriptions.

At Newport Distilling, Thomas Tew Rum is aged at 55% ABV in used Woodford Reserve barrels, and is not vatted after aging; rather each barrel is regularly tasted, yielding spirits bottled from two years up beyond five. It’s then proofed to 42% ABV and put through a 1-micron fiber cartridge filter before bottling.

Part Two: How to make Rum
  • 3. Equipment (p.37): Fermentors – Stills – Barrels
  • 4. Raw Ingredients (p. 41): Sugar Cane – Flavor Effects of Various Sugar Cane Byproducts – Characteristics of Molasses – Yeast / Selecting a Yeast Strain – Yeast and Esters – Nutrients – Cane Spirit Caramel
  • 5. Molasses Pretreatment (p. 53): Sterilization – Mashing – Composition of Molasses Before & After Pretreatment
  • 6. Fermentation (p. 57): Steps for a Clean Fermentation – Suggested Yeast Propagation System for Small Distilleries – Maintain Sanitary Conditions – Fermentation Practices in Jamaica – Fermentation Results with Good Molasses – Calculation of Fermentation Efficiency
  • 7. Distillation (p. 67): Pot Distillation – Pot-Column Hybrid Distillation – Column Distillation – Dunder – Fusel Alcohols
  • 8. Batch Distillation of Rum Using a Rectification Column (p. 73)
  • 9. Maturation, Blending & Vatting (p. 81)
  • 10. Example Recipe for Amber Rum (p. 85): Ingredients – Equipment – Fermentation – First Distillation: Stripping Run – Second Distillation: Spirit Run – Barrel Aging – Bottling
Part Three: Rum Resources
  • 11. Rum Styles (p. 95): White Rum – Black Rum – Spiced Rum – Rhum Agricole – Barrel Aged Rums – Single Barrel Rum – Single Vintage Rum – Solera Rum
  • 12. Reinventing Classic Rum Cocktails (p. 101)
  • 13. Best Rum Bars in the World (p. 105)
  • 14. Rum Festivals (p. 109)
  • 15.Bibliography of Rum (p. 111)
  • 14. [sic] Rum Online (p. 117)
Appendix
  • Fundamentals of Distillation
  • Glossary
Excerpt from Chapter 4
Nutrients

Rum washes, whether made from cane juice, molasses, brown sugar, white cane sugar or some combination, are by nature lacking in nutrients and the bio-materials needed to nourish a healthy yeast fermentation A high sugar, low nutrient mash environment is very stressful for yeast and can create problems during fermentation. The total sugars should not exceed the ability of the yeast to convert these sugars to alcohol However, as we dilute the sugar content, we are also diluting the natural nutrients in the source of sugar. High test molasses is usually more deficient in nitrogenous and mineral constituents than low test molasses. If we are fermenting molasses with a low sugar content (at normal brix) we should avoid high initial sugar concentration since this also increases ash and non-sugar components. The increasing ratio of non-sugar to sugar concentrations, as fermentation progresses, inhibits the activity of the yeast. A pure sugar fermentation is not that simple since there are no nutrients (nitrogen) in sugar. Therefore, supplemental nitrogen and other elements must be added since a rum mash is deficient in the nitrogen supplying nutrients (macro-nutrients) needed in the production of yeast cells during yeast reproduction. Other nutrients (micro-nutrients), like vitamins and minerals, further enhance the health of the yeast and the quality of the fermentation.

There are many yeast nutrients available and all are intended to make up for the natural lack of nutrients in the mash. Not all are created equal however, so you need to delve into their specific compositions to determine what might work best with your yeast strain and fermentation base. A recent innovation has been nutrients that work throughout the fermentation in a time release fashion. They release certain nutrients at the appropriate time during fermentation which helps maintain yeast performance even in the presence of elevating alcohol levels.

The nutrient blends like Fermaid K can be an excellent mix for rum fermentation since they contain a blend of macro- and micro-nutrients. An excellent nutrient mix can be achieved by using the following regimen:
  • Mix 2.5 Lbs of Go Ferm® per 1,000 gallons of cane substrate with the yeast at yeast rehydration.
  • Add 2 Lbs of Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) per 1,000 gallons of cane substrate. This must be added directly to the full mash volume. It must not be added to the yeast rehydration as it is toxic to the yeast at such a high concentration.
  • Add 2 Lbs of Fermaid K® per 1,000 gallons of cane substrate after ⅓ depletion of sugar. For example, if the OG of the mash were 1.060, the Fermaid K® would be added when the SG was down to about 1.040.
If the substrate has the benefit of a good nutrient mix, the fermentation time can be reduced to 72 hours from 96-120 hours.
However, if such blends are not available then Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) can be used alone. DAP is generally very easy to find, however it is important that it be commercial-grade DAP and not agricultural-grade. The agricultural grade is farm fertilizer and is not purified to a level that is safe for any beverage or food application, so it must be avoided. While DAP will work well, the fermentation may take a day or so longer since the mash is lacking in the micro-nutrients necessary to fully nourish yeast.
This is my first book review for this forum. If you have questions about the book, or suggestions for the improving the format, please leave a comment.

Ruminant
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