A Rum Project

[dtrb]

Hello everyone!
I have always preferred Rum to other liqueurs. Of course that was based on what I bought commercially. Now that I can make my own, I am exploring a lot of different options. I have done some malt whiskey with LME, some Honey Bear Bourbon, turned store bought wine into brandy, quasi neutrals, and molasses/brown sugar rums. This project is to make five different batches of rum and turn a fresh Badmo barrel into an infinity barrel of sorts.

I am starting off with a double batch (14.2 US Gallons) of SBB using Blackstrap molasses (no dunder). After running that (which I will do in a few days as it is close to finished) I am going to save all the dunder and add 1 gallon of that to each of the next batches. The following batches will generally follow SBB's recipe, but with ingredient changes as follows.

Batch 2: All molasses using dark baker's molasses (4.2 gallons) with nine gallons of water and 1 gallon of fresh dunder.
Batch 3: One gallon of Blackstrap molasses, 12 pounds of panela, ten gallons of water, and 1 gallon of frozen dunder from batch 1.
Batch 4: One gallon of dark baker's molasses, 12 pounds of panela, ten gallons of water, and 1 gallon of frozen dunder from batch 1.
Batch 5: One gallon of light baker's molasses, 12 pounds of panela, ten gallons of water, and 1 gallon of frozen dunder from batch 1.

Once I have run everything and made my cuts I am going to dilute to about 60% ABV and blend equal portions of each batch for the infinity barrel and start aging the remainder. I suspect I will have quite a bit to age and can experiment with some different woods, (white oak, cherry, hard maple). I am also looking forward to making some spiced rums.

My calendar is filling up with future projects; after the rum, I am on to a bunch of all grain, well more HBB and single malt whiskey with red and white wheat malt.

Cheers everyone!
RB

[NZChris]

Good plan, both entertaining and educational.

I'm a great fan of doing different rums and/or tweaking the methods each time.

[MooseMan]

I'm sure I will be one of many here looking forward to reading your progress on this project!

[Saltbush Bill]

I look forward to seeing were this goes........interesting experiment.
Ive had one lot of rum all from the same distillation sitting in separate demijohns on 5 different types of oak now for 3 years or more.
just waiting for some impartial judges like Yummy to turn up to give an opinion.

[Steve Broady]

just waiting for some impartial judges like Yummy to turn up to give an opinion.

Is that an invitation?

[Saltbush Bill]

Is that an invitation?

If you want to come that far.

[Yummyrum]

just waiting for some impartial judges like Yummy to turn up to give an opinion.

Is that an invitation?

How can I say no
Mind you , if you happen to be coming up
this way and need a stop over

I remember … well vaguely …the last time Salty stuck 5 samples in front of me

LOL , I’m probably the worst person to ask for a description of what I’m tasting .
But if I remember when Salty gave me another blind test that included Several commercial Rums and his home made .
I picked his home made as my favourite .

Anyway , dtrb , hope your trials go well . It is really helpful in finding out what direction you want to follow , but as Salty eluded to , for each iteration of fermentation and distilling , the effect of aging said spirit will add yet another dimension . …it is said that most of the flavour a spirit gains is due to the aging process

[8Ball]

This is very similar to what I did on my third fill of a 5G Gibbs cask. Aged 30 months & it turned out very well.

[Bolverk]

Batch 2: All molasses using dark baker's molasses (4.2 gallons) with nine gallons of water and 1 gallon of fresh dunder.
Batch 3: One gallon of Blackstrap molasses, 12 pounds of panela, ten gallons of water, and 1 gallon of frozen dunder from batch 1.
Batch 4: One gallon of dark baker's molasses, 12 pounds of panela, ten gallons of water, and 1 gallon of frozen dunder from batch 1.
Batch 5: One gallon of light baker's molasses, 12 pounds of panela, ten gallons of water, and 1 gallon of frozen dunder from batch 1.

Sounds like a cool experiment.

I would recommend balancing the sugars between the batches a bit better. Otherwise, you're going to have to dilute more for some than others to get the same entry proof for aging.

Ie blackstrap is only approximately 50% sugar, where as baker's is typically around 65% sugar, so you should need about 15% less panela for the batches with baker's molasses. Or use 15% less baker's molasses if you want to keep equal amounts of panela... guess it depends on how you want to gear the experiment.

Personal opinion:
That's also a lot of sugar, 1.25-1.5 lbs per gallon is probably more typical in rum production

[dtrb]

Good plan, both entertaining and educational.

I'm a great fan of doing different rums and/or tweaking the methods each time.

I have already experienced some of the "entertainment". I have three wine kits going at the same time and had just degassed them. I had checked the rum wash a few days earlier and it was very sour, but also very carbonated. So after degassing the wine, I figured, degas the wash. I put the degassing mixer in and turned the drill on low and went for about 15 seconds before I got to experience a massive volcanic eruption. SWMBO is still laughing. The only saving grace is it was not sticky at all. I am running it tomorrow and starting the next batch.

RB

[Dougmatt]

Good plan, both entertaining and educational.

I'm a great fan of doing different rums and/or tweaking the methods each time.

I have already experienced some of the "entertainment". I have three wine kits going at the same time and had just degassed them. I had checked the rum wash a few days earlier and it was very sour, but also very carbonated. So after degassing the wine, I figured, degas the wash. I put the degassing mixer in and turned the drill on low and went for about 15 seconds before I got to experience a massive volcanic eruption. SWMBO is still laughing. The only saving grace is it was not sticky at all. I am running it tomorrow and starting the next batch.

RB

No need to degas things intended for the still. These days I usually don’t degas my wine either, but I leave it in bulk for a year or more and it naturally degases.

[Saltbush Bill]

Be careful of all washes , they can erupt without stirring , something as simple as adding a teaspoon of epsome salts or a few oyster shells ... other added substances can also bring on the wrath of the volcano gods........those who have been there will know.

[MooseMan]

Be careful of all washes , they can erupt without stirring , something as simple as adding a teaspoon of epsome salts or a few oyster shells ... other added substances can also bring on the wrath of the volcano gods........those who have been there will know.

Oh I know, damn don't I know! Hahaha!

Bottled cider and additions of sugar for carbonation...

[NZChris]

I'd never heard of degassing before I joined this forum and have never done it. I've always put my rum wash in the still and turned the heat on. It usually froths a bit, so I leave the still head off until it froths, then spray that down with water and put some butter in because I forgot to do that earlier. Slow learner I'll try to remember that trick next time.

[Saltbush Bill]

Chris splash it as hard as you can from the fermenter into a bucket or similar, then pour it hard n fast into the boiler ......you can then consider it degassed.

[dtrb]

Degassing is not something I have done much of. The instructions with the wine kits said to do it so i gave it a whirl. Literally, and I had read on some other forums in HD that is is useful on your wash as well. Normally, I do pretty much what Saltbush suggests above; I gravity drain into a bucket and pour into my boiler. Needless to say, I will not be giving any future washes a 'whirl' with the drill.

Something I noticed with this all Blackstrap molasses run that is different than the Blackstrap/Brown sugar runs I have done before is a much different smell. The Blackstrap/Brown sugar had an almost butterscotch smell throughout the hearts portion of the run. The all Blackstrap had a touch of butterscotch during the heads but changed to a kind of grungy smell throughout the hearts. I am not sure of a better description. Even after airing a couple of days it still has this grungier smell, though not a strong as it was right off the still. Anyway, the all baker's molasses batch is fermenting away and will "not" be degassed.

Cheers

RB

[Dutch41]

I look forward to seeing were this goes........interesting experiment.
Ive had one lot of rum all from the same distillation sitting in separate demijohns on 5 different types of oak now for 3 years or more.
just waiting for some impartial judges like Yummy to turn up to give an opinion.

Damn, if you were not so far away, I'd love to attend the taste testing. Your SBBs is awesome and I plan to do more. After multiple batches of SBBs AMR, I've experienced so much of the forums posts. Yes the rum that first came out was not terribly bad however it has changed dramatically in just five months in a toasted barrel. Great recipe and thank you...

[MooseMan]

I look forward to seeing were this goes........interesting experiment.
Ive had one lot of rum all from the same distillation sitting in separate demijohns on 5 different types of oak now for 3 years or more.
just waiting for some impartial judges like Yummy to turn up to give an opinion.

Damn, if you were not so far away, I'd love to attend the taste testing. Your SBBs is awesome and I plan to do more.

Oh, I read that post by Bill and thought exactly the same!
If only I were closer...

Currently sat in the sun on a short break with the wife, enjoying a nice SBB Rum with coke on ice, damn it's good!

[dtrb]

Hey everyone,
I just finished running the 5th batch (light bakers molasses and panela). Its airing out and I will be blending equal amounts of each batch and putting it in a fresh badmo by the end of the week. I will age the rest individually in glass. I'll also get two additional runs out of this project. Each ferment was at least 14 gallons and i only filled my boiler with 11-12 gallons so I have a little over 12 gallons of wash left over. I also have eight or so gallons of rum feints from this project and some blackstrap and brown sugar runs I did over the winter. I will split the wash and feints fairly equally and do two more runs this week. See how they turn out. Then it will be on to some wheat malt (Jimbo's recipe) ferments and runs!

Cheers

RB

[JustinNZ]

I’m enjoying your project, so thanks for sharing. I did an all feints run a year back (from SBB’s rum T&T) and aged the results separately from my other rums - and it’s tasting great. I’ll keep a bottle separate (eventually) and blend the rest.

I was a bit fussier with my cuts and I think it paid off. Slightly lighter style but definitely a tasty rum.

Looking forward to your tasting notes.