Jamaican inspired rum

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Bolverk
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Bolverk »

Ran the batch off today, I did 2 stripping run and the spirit run was what those low wines and what remained of the wash.

I've got to say it was surprisingly good and way funkier than I imagined. Close to an all molasses but missing that vegetal note. I'm pretty happy with the results.

I should note that I may have tainted the batch a little as I always recycle my feints from the previous run and for me my last feints were from my run that had a gallon of vinegar... so there is a notable fruitiness to it that is/was a pleasant surprise.

Next batch will be using the dunder from this one, more unrefined cane sugar and vinegar. I'll put the recipe together tomorrow.
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Bolverk
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Bolverk »

2.0

4g dunder
4.3lbs (10c) unrefined cane sugar
3g water
1g blackstrap molasses (50% +/- sugar)
2 crushed multivitamins
1 pitch of epsom salt
1 heaping tbsp of yeast

Starting dunder: sg 1.045  pH 4.24
Dunder after sugar: sg 1.093 pH 4.24
Molasses/water mix: sg 1.105 pH 5.1

Add dunder and sugar to fermentor. Stir vigorously. Buffer up to pH 7 with CaOH (For me this was 9 tsp). Add molasses and water to fermentor (use hot water), stir vigorously. Adjust pH back down to 5.8 with H2SO4 (for me this was 5ml). Add nutrients (multivitamins, epsom salt) stir vigorously.

Starting wash Sg 1.101 pH 5.87 81.2f

Pitch at 80-90f (rehydrated for 15 min prior).

Ferment at 90f +/- (Potential 7% abv if this ferments down to 1.045)

On day 7 I'll add vinegar (I'm using 1000ml of Silver Swan cane vinegar %4, not affiliated)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00XVQP7 ... prod_image
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Bolverk
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Bolverk »

Quick update:

Day 7 the ferment is at Sg 1.064 pH 5.14 and it's still bubbling away.
I really though primarily fermentation would have been done by now.

Anyway... I added the 1l of 4% cane vinegar. It had a pH of 2.39 which dropped my overall pH down from 5.14 to 4.91. I desolved 2 tsps of CaOH into 16oz of water and added it back to the fermenter. I'll give it a couple of hours to marry and I'll recheck the pH.

An aside, the Swan brand cane vinegar despite being 1% less acid then the Steen brand I used in a previous batch was noticeably more bitter tasting than the Steen.

More to follow later...
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Bolverk
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Bolverk »

Well the pH is back up to 5.05 and and fizzing away like it was before... I'll let it ride and make any pH corrections if needed.
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Wildcats
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Wildcats »

It'll be interesting to see how this turns out. Have fun and stay safe.
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Bolverk »

Wildcats wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2023 3:10 am It'll be interesting to see how this turns out. Have fun and stay safe.
Thanks,

There is definitely something to this. I don't know if it's the higher gravity, higher acid, the vinegar or a combination of all three but the last batch I did with the vinegar (viewtopic.php?t=90013) was delicious. It was fruity and aromatic, it hit all the buttons of lower ester medium funk Jamaican, without all the things I don't like, like the barnyard and vegetal notes. My biggest concern moving forward is how much the gravity of my dunder (stillage) will start to stack up.
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by kennstminet »

Bolverk
I'm afraid you have successfully removed all the vinegar by adding CaOH. Vinegar and CaOH reacted and produced Calcium Acetate. This is a salt with an odd taste.
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Saltbush Bill »

Bolverk wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2023 5:02 am but the last batch I did with the vinegar (viewtopic.php?t=90013) was delicious.
How can you judge a Rum when it is so young, it could be completely diffferent in a year or two after being oaked.
Or is the plan to drink it white and pretty much straight off the still?
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Bolverk »

kennstminet wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2023 5:08 am Bolverk
I'm afraid you have successfully removed all the vinegar by adding CaOH. Vinegar and CaOH reacted and produced Calcium Acetate. This is a salt with an odd taste.
I don't know enough about organic chemistry to comment on this.
I'm just kinda winging it based of what I've read/understand of the process. Should I have waited until the ferment was complete so I didn't need to make any pH corrections before adding the vinegar?
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Bolverk
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Bolverk »

Saltbush Bill wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2023 5:27 am How can you judge a Rum when it is so young, it could be completely diffferent in a year or two after being oaked.
Or is the plan to drink it white and pretty much straight off the still?
Yes I agree it would/will be completely different after some time on wood.

Right now I'm working off the white, if it's good white it "should" be good with some age on it. I'm making tight hearts cuts and only adding measured amounts with good smells/tastes from the heads/tails. Once I get the white recipe where I want it I'll put it on wood for future evaluation.
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Bolverk
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Bolverk »

kennstminet wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2023 5:08 am Bolverk
I'm afraid you have successfully removed all the vinegar by adding CaOH. Vinegar and CaOH reacted and produced Calcium Acetate. This is a salt with an odd taste.
So I did a bit of reading... let me preface with I'm entirely prepared to be wrong.... But I don't think I converted all my vinegar into calcium acetate, yes they way you make calcium acetate is by adding the two together and dehydrating the solution. However the proportions of CaOH to CH3COOH are no where near in the quantities needed for them to bond and fall out of solution. Yeah the precursors are there and maybe even a few molecules did bond but they are both diluted in 8g of partially fermented wash... hell the wash is at 5% alcohol it seems more likely I've got eythl acetate than calcium acetate.

Please educate me if I'm wrong, like I said I'm just winging this shit.
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Chauncey
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Chauncey »

Interesting thread. I'll be watching and reading
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Bolverk »

Well she's done.

Sg 1.054 pH 5.0 (6.06% abv), has been holding steady for about 3 days. It tastes dry and is pretty close to where I had expected it would finish. It's been interesting seeing my final gravity slowly creep up... im looking forward to seeing what the gravity is of the dunder after I run it.

It smells incredible! Deep fruity notes similar to a blackberry or stone fruit wine. I'll try to run it this weekend... every generation is getting better than the last. I'm excited for this one!
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Bolverk »

Quick update: I decided to hold off running this... I've got a new 10l keg on it's way that I first want to make a thumper out of, it won't be here until early next week.

The eventual goal is a double retort so I can do this in a more traditional way.
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by PLAYMP »

Bolverk wrote: Fri Jun 16, 2023 5:10 am The eventual goal is a double retort so I can do this in a more traditional way.
Love it and everything you're doing here. As much as it's an experiment I'm finding it really valuable learning for some rum I'm hoping to do over the summer. Will be staying tuned.
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Bolverk »

PLAYMP wrote: Fri Jun 16, 2023 6:56 am Love it and everything you're doing here. As much as it's an experiment I'm finding it really valuable learning for some rum I'm hoping to do over the summer. Will be staying tuned.
Thanks, I appreciate that!
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Tōtōchtin
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Tōtōchtin »

Hola
Did your other rum washes without vinegar take as long to ferment out ?
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Bolverk »

Hey, no they all seem to finish in about 5-7 days. With vinegar they they are taking 12-14 days so far.

Edit to add: I have been under pitching much more than usual, I'd say I'm adding half the I amount I should be in order to help with ester production, so that may be a big reason for the slow ferments
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by bluc »

@bolverk are you ferments still going dry?
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Bolverk »

bluc wrote: Fri Jun 16, 2023 9:07 pm @bolverk are you ferments still going dry?
Yep, I just think the higher gravity is due to the accumulation of unfermentables from the molasses stacking up from continuous reuse of the dunder. I don't think I'm too far away from finding the point where the ratio of new wash to dunder finds a kind of balance.
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Bolverk »

I stripped half the wash yesterday and out of curiosity I pulled a small sample of the dunder to take a gravity reading. I waited until it had cooled to room temp and it was sitting at 1.050. That's only .005 higher than the previous. It'll be interesting to see how the dunder actually creeps up in the next several batches.
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Bolverk »

Well my keg for the first retort is delayed another week so proceeded without it. I added the 1g of low wines to the rest of my wash (3g) with feints from the previous run (1g) and ran it as a 1.5 with a single retort.

I added 1 tsb of vinegar salts, 2ml of butyric acid, 10ml of 50% heart cut and 2ml H2SO4 (smelled like tropical fruit w/ blue cheesey under tone). Desolved as much salts as I could then filtered it through a coffee filter then added liquid to the retort.

During distillation I let the majority of head bypass the retort and as I started getting into my first heads jar I diverted the vapor through the retort and WOW tropical fruit and young banana and pineapple! Not a huge ester bomb but very noticeable.

I'll blend it tomorrow. I'm super excited about this batch.
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Yummyrum
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

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Bolverk wrote: Sat Jun 24, 2023 10:01 pm Well my keg for the first retort is delayed another week so proceeded without it. I added the 1g of low wines to the rest of my wash (3g) with feints from the previous run (1g) and ran it as a 1.5 with a single retort.
I’m confused , do you mean your keg for the second retort was delayed and you proceeded with only one .

Retort is usually the name given to a Thumper in regards to Rum .
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by NZChris »

I'm confused too.
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Bolverk »

Yummyrum wrote: Sat Jun 24, 2023 11:40 pm
Bolverk wrote: Sat Jun 24, 2023 10:01 pm Well my keg for the first retort is delayed another week so proceeded without it. I added the 1g of low wines to the rest of my wash (3g) with feints from the previous run (1g) and ran it as a 1.5 with a single retort.
I’m confused , do you mean your keg for the second retort was delayed and you proceeded with only one .

Retort is usually the name given to a Thumper in regards to Rum .
I have 1 retort/thumper currently setup.
The new keg that I have on order will eventually be number 1 in the setup, and the current one will be number 2.
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Yummyrum »

Bolverk wrote: Sun Jun 25, 2023 4:44 am
Yummyrum wrote: Sat Jun 24, 2023 11:40 pm
Bolverk wrote: Sat Jun 24, 2023 10:01 pm Well my keg for the first retort is delayed another week so proceeded without it. I added the 1g of low wines to the rest of my wash (3g) with feints from the previous run (1g) and ran it as a 1.5 with a single retort.
I’m confused , do you mean your keg for the second retort was delayed and you proceeded with only one .

Retort is usually the name given to a Thumper in regards to Rum .
I have 1 retort/thumper currently setup.
The new keg that I have on order will eventually be number 1 in the setup, and the current one will be number 2.
Cheer for that . As you were .
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Bolverk »

As a side note, as I was letting my dunder from the stripping run cool, but before locking the lid down and my kid (3yr old) tossed a handful of dog food in my bucket so I had to dump it... I saved the dunder from the 1.5 run to use in the next batch.

The gravity of the dunder from the stripping run was 1.050, and this dunder from the 1.5 run is 1.030... this could be a way to keep the gravity in check.

Once I get both retorts operational I won't be doing single stripping runs anymore... more experiments to follow.
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Bolverk »

3.0

4g dunder
4.3lbs (10c) unrefined cane sugar
3g water
1g blackstrap molasses (50% +/- sugar)
2 crushed multivitamins
1 pitch of epsom salt
1 heaping tbsp of yeast

Starting dunder (this dunder was from a 1.5 run): sg 1.039  pH 4.42
Dunder after sugar: sg 1.109 pH 4.42
Molasses/water mix: sg 1.100  pH 5.02

Add dunder and sugar to fermentor. Stir vigorously. Buffer up to pH 7 with CaOH (For me this was 6 tsp).
Add molasses and water to fermentor (use hot water), stir vigorously.
Adjust pH back down to 5.8 with H2SO4 (for me this was 5ml).
Add nutrients (multivitamins, epsom salt) stir vigorously.
Once temp of wash is at 80-90f pitch 1 heaping tbsp of yeast (rehydrated for 15 min prior).

Starting wash Sg 1.103 pH 5.83  85f

Ferment at 90f +/- (Potential 6.83% abv if this ferments down to 1.050)
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Bolverk »

Help me decide how much vinegar to add and when... I've added a gallon at the beginning of the ferment and had nothing but trouble but the acetic acid esters were great, I've added 1/2g at about halfway through fermentation and had no problems but had no noticeable ester bump. Should I add a gallon to the end of my ferment? Should i try adding a gallon to my spirit run? Ive also noticed no notable difference between good expensive cane vinegar and regular store brand distilled vinegar.

So those of you following along, What are your thoughts?
Is there something you'd like me to try?
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Re: Jamaican inspired rum

Post by Yummyrum »

Bolverk wrote: Sun Jun 25, 2023 6:45 pm Ive also noticed no notable difference between good expensive cane vinegar and regular store brand distilled vinegar.
Funny you said that .
The other day when you mentioned you were going to try white Vinegar , I got all smart and was going to take pics of the labels of our White Vinegar .
Now , as a Lab Tech I am always looking at ingredients and I remembered clearly that the Vinegar we used at work ( which was just regular Supermarket White Vinegar ) had "Made from Cane Sugar" written on it .

Alas , it does not say that anymore . In fact I googled the Labels of several White Vinegar's hoping to be the Wanker with the Pics......, but they all just now say "made from distilled Vinegar" .so I gave up :?

However , despite finding no evidence , I am still standing by my very clear memory that white Vinegar is made from Cane Sugar ....at least in Australia ....and so, I totally agree with you when you say , you couldn't tell a difference .

regarding your experiment , I got nothing to add .....other than enjoy the ride :thumbup:
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