SBB's All Molasses Rum Recipe

[Yummyrum]

I would.

Me too . Sooner you barrel age it , the sooner it will be drinkable .

[MooseMan]

It starts to improve on Oak quicker than I expected based on what Bill said, do get it in a barrel or in glass with oak as soon as possible.

Now I've finally tracked down a cost effective supply of molasses, I'm going to be making much bigger batches of SBB, so I'll have a nice big ageing stock to dip into in a few years time.

I can see a solera of some kind in my not too distant future!

[WithOrWithoutU2]

Not a huge issue but I'm on my third batch and each one is taking about two weeks to finish. The first two I used a used an aquarium heater to keep temps about 95F. This third batch I decide to use an airlock as a visual on when it was finished and using a heating pad to keep temps about 87-90F.

The first batch I pitched DADY as I did not have bread yeast at the time. I then read that can ferment slower and for batch two and three I used bread yeast as instructions say. My PH has been good, and I've aerated with a aquarium air pump to ensure to input oxygen. It is by no means stalled as the airlock is bubbling fairly well. It is just taken a little longer than what others have reported.

I'm not too worried about it but it would be nice to drop start a ferment and run it and start the next ferment all in a week. Thoughts?

Thanks

[MooseMan]

It will be that temp difference. Bread yeast really likes it hot.
Can you add extra insulation to the vessel? Box it in?

[quadra]

I did taste it. I ain't new!
It's got a little ways left to go. I suspect it'll start to settle down in the next day or two. This evening the taste was reminiscent of alkaline battery acid on your fingers after pulling leaking batteries out of a lost and found flashlight. Still just a little bit of sweetness in there.
No hurry, I can't run it until next week anyway.

This might be one of my favorite posts of all time

[JustinNZ]

I'm not too worried about it but it would be nice to drop start a ferment and run it and start the next ferment all in a week. Thoughts?

Thanks

This might sound rude but how do you know it’s not finished? I don’t use a bubbler so if it looks dead-ish and tastes sour I tend to consider it done. Sometimes I use a hydrometer and it always reads in the range 1.045 to 1.050 - more or less - for a wash with dunder in it.

You seem to have good temps and technique so if you follow the recipe accurately I’d expect it to go about its business in about a week.

Different molasseses have different sugar content. I think if the sugar content is too high that could have an effect on yeast happiness. Most blackstraps are in the 45-50% sugar by weight range. Some, like Bundy, are 55%. One I’m trying this month is a whopping 60%. There’s a blackstrap at a local farm store at 65%!

I wouldn’t consider 2 weeks bad, but I realise a consistent 7-days is cool. Plantation Rum says 48-72 hours for some of theirs but I think they are quite low sugar ferments. Could be wrong though.

Anyway, let us know how you get on.

[WithOrWithoutU2]

I'm not too worried about it but it would be nice to drop start a ferment and run it and start the next ferment all in a week. Thoughts?

Thanks

This might sound rude but how do you know it’s not finished? I don’t use a bubbler so if it looks dead-ish and tastes sour I tend to consider it done.

With an airlock you can visually see the CO2 being off gassed which will tell you if the yeast is still working on converting sugar.

[WithOrWithoutU2]

It will be that temp difference. Bread yeast really likes it hot.
Can you add extra insulation to the vessel? Box it in?

I did put on extra insulation last night and temps are up to low 90s. But as mentioned, the first two batches had temps in mid to upper 90s (which is very good) and it still took about two weeks.

Again, not a big issue, but I'd love to get the results other seem be be getting.

[Saltbush Bill]

I wouldn't worry about a slow cool ferment, as long as it still finishes dry.
The more I read and learn about Rum making the more I believe a slower ferment is a good thing.
Lower temps are one way of achieving that.

[MooseMan]

It will be that temp difference. Bread yeast really likes it hot.
Can you add extra insulation to the vessel? Box it in?

I did put on extra insulation last night and temps are up to low 90s. But as mentioned, the first two batches had temps in mid to upper 90s (which is very good) and it still took about two weeks.

Again, not a big issue, but I'd love to get the results other seem be be getting.

I was talking just about the 3rd batch that you said was going slower than the first 2 and running at lower temp.

My own ferments tend to take 2-3 weeks generally as I like to let them fully finish and let the yeast drop out by themselves mostly.
But if you really want a weekly run, the simplest way is just stagger your ferments.
Start two, then start another one the following week and so on, so there's always one that's finished and at least one with a week to go.
If you're really determined to get ferments finished in a week, you can try several things.

Lower fermentables, so that the yeast don't have as much work to do, and can get started faster, try max abv of 5%
Make a very big liquid yeast starter before the ferment, so you are adding fully hydrated and massively multiplying yeast to the vessel. (re-pitching on washed trub is the best way I've found to get this)
Find the heat your yeast will be most happy at.
Find the pH range your yeast are most happy at.
Aerate, then aerate some more, before pitching yeast.
I'm sure there's plenty more tweaks.

[subbrew]

Aerate, then aerate some more, before pitching yeast.
I'm sure there's plenty more tweaks.

I want to add the aerate comment. First yes - so important. But if just using air, and doing a big ferment, i.e. targeting 8 to 12% it will not hurt to hit is with air again after pitching yeast. I have found for meads, big beers and rum that I pump air in for 40 minutes or so before pitching yeast but then 6 to 12 hrs later I will hit it again. The yeast is still in the propagation phase and will have used up most or all of the available O2. Pumping in air for another 20 to 30 minutes (this is a 40 gal ferment by the way) seems to really give the yeast an extra boost and since they are still propagating they will scavenge it all so no worries about oxidation. If you are using bottled O2 to aerate this may not apply as your initial O2 concentration in the wort will be much higher.

[Dougmatt]

This might sound rude but how do you know it’s not finished? I don’t use a bubbler so if it looks dead-ish and tastes sour I tend to consider it done.

With an airlock you can visually see the CO2 being off gassed which will tell you if the yeast is still working on converting sugar.

A ferment will continue to off gas trapped CO2 and keep that bubbler active long after the ferment is finished. Sometimes for weeks. An airlock is not an accurate gauge of fermentation state. The best test is a hydrometer reading that isn’t changing.

[fiery creations]

Mines only been on Oak for a couple months, but it is still nearly unbearable to drink. So much perfume, overwhelming flavor. I

. I’d like to get an idea of how far off my stuff is to alter it on the next go around.

If it's unbearable to drink then I think you've done something wrong, sure the new make can be a bit rough and funky, but I would describe it as "unbearable "
If it's that bad maybe your cuts are not up to scratch.
I tend to agree with the person who pointed out in one of your posts a while back that you might be trying to do to many things at one time and expecting to much to soon.
If I give people a sample in a blind test against 5 or 6 other rums ....without those sampling knowing what rum is what, mine usually comes around middle of the pack when scored 0 to 10.
When I get time I'll include a photo of the different rums used in the testing.
EDIT
20240628_105838~2.jpg
I'm not about to say any of those rums is best, I will say they are all different in some way.
If mine can be judged as somewhere in the middle of that lot then I'm happy.

Well I can’t believe I’m already coming up on a year. Where does the time go….


I think you’re right. I smeared it or something. It’s just now seeming drinkable, but it isn’t good. I could stomach it in coke. Be a shame to waste it, so I’ll leave it I suppose and see what happens in another year.

Can’t wait to try this again. I’m thinking one batch in pot still mode and one through 8 plates to compare.

[Sporacle]

Can’t wait to try this again. I’m thinking one batch in pot still mode and one through 8 plates to compare.

Fiery, try 4 plates and a wash with feints from your pot run.
Don't push the still to hard and be super tight with cuts.
I can drink my rum early and white with soda and lime, neat it's a bit rough but it's certainly not undrinkable.
Good luck

[subbrew]

Only speaking for pot mode, but to my taste this is not the recipe if you want to drink this early. Off the still was harsh. At a year it is developing some black licorice flavors I am liking. I have 2 badmo clones and a couple of jars of this. Might bottle a little from the jars at 2 years but I plan on leaving the badmos for 4 and 8 years.

A friend substituted fancy molasses for blackstrap and that was quite good at a year. An idea of you need something to drink sooner rather than later.

[subbrew]

Only speaking for pot mode, but to my taste this is not the recipe if you want to drink this early. Off the still was harsh. At a year it is developing some black licorice flavors I am liking. I have 2 badmo clones and a couple of jars of this. Might bottle a little from the jars at 2 years but I plan on leaving the badmos for 4 and 8 years.

A friend substituted fancy molasses for blackstrap and that was quite good at a year. An idea of you need something to drink sooner rather than later.

[liquid_chris]

I found it quite drinkable off the pipe, when mixed with coke or juice. But I recently tasted a jar I had put on toasted oak 8 months ago and was astounded how it smoothed out and developed. So much so I just bought another four buckets of cheap molasses. I'm thinking I'm gonna order up a toasted 5 gallon barrel and fill it this spring.

[Dutch41]

I found it quite drinkable off the pipe, when mixed with coke or juice. But I recently tasted a jar I had put on toasted oak 8 months ago and was astounded how it smoothed out and developed. So much so I just bought another four buckets of cheap molasses. I'm thinking I'm gonna order up a toasted 5 gallon barrel and fill it this spring.

LiquidChris, a few years ago I decided to try the rum chapter of this hobby. I made multiple batches of SBB's rum and it did not disappoint. I purchased a five gallon barrel/ toasted and charred/ from GIBBS. I had SBB's rum in there for almost a year and I was amazed at the results. As a matter of fact, my son and I went to a local distillery for a tour and taste testing. Their rum was $150.00 a bottle. When we sampled their rum, my son and I looked at each other with some big smiles on our faces because their rum and our rum tasted identical, it was amazing. Well, the SBB rum didn't last long, we shared a lot with family and friends but mostly enjoyed drinking it ourselves. I created a 50/50 Panela Sugar/Molasses rum recipe and when the we emptied the five gallon barrel of SBB's rum we filled it right back with my 50/50 rum. It's been oaking about six months now. We also filled a ten gallon whiskey barrel (once used) with my 50/50 rum but that one will be there a couple years if not more. SBB did a great job on sharing his rum recipe.

[liquid_chris]

I found it quite drinkable off the pipe, when mixed with coke or juice. But I recently tasted a jar I had put on toasted oak 8 months ago and was astounded how it smoothed out and developed. So much so I just bought another four buckets of cheap molasses. I'm thinking I'm gonna order up a toasted 5 gallon barrel and fill it this spring.

LiquidChris, a few years ago I decided to try the rum chapter of this hobby. I made multiple batches of SBB's rum and it did not disappoint. I purchased a five gallon barrel/ toasted and charred/ from GIBBS. I had SBB's rum in there for almost a year and I was amazed at the results. As a matter of fact, my son and I went to a local distillery for a tour and taste testing. Their rum was $150.00 a bottle. When we sampled their rum, my son and I looked at each other with some big smiles on our faces because their rum and our rum tasted identical, it was amazing. Well, the SBB rum didn't last long, we shared a lot with family and friends but mostly enjoyed drinking it ourselves. I created a 50/50 Panela Sugar/Molasses rum recipe and when the we emptied the five gallon barrel of SBB's rum we filled it right back with my 50/50 rum. It's been oaking about six months now. We also filled a ten gallon whiskey barrel (once used) with my 50/50 rum but that one will be there a couple years if not more. SBB did a great job on sharing his rum recipe.

Do you recall what char and toast level you have on that Gibb's barrel? And, What Proof did you have it at in the barrel?

[subbrew]

You are making want to go test. I have two badmo clones and two jars with fingers I filled a year ago. Was not planning on touching them for at least three years. Perhaps I need to go pull a sample.

[Dutch41]

I found it quite drinkable off the pipe, when mixed with coke or juice. But I recently tasted a jar I had put on toasted oak 8 months ago and was astounded how it smoothed out and developed. So much so I just bought another four buckets of cheap molasses. I'm thinking I'm gonna order up a toasted 5 gallon barrel and fill it this spring.

LiquidChris, a few years ago I decided to try the rum chapter of this hobby. I made multiple batches of SBB's rum and it did not disappoint. I purchased a five gallon barrel/ toasted and charred/ from GIBBS. I had SBB's rum in there for almost a year and I was amazed at the results. As a matter of fact, my son and I went to a local distillery for a tour and taste testing. Their rum was $150.00 a bottle. When we sampled their rum, my son and I looked at each other with some big smiles on our faces because their rum and our rum tasted identical, it was amazing. Well, the SBB rum didn't last long, we shared a lot with family and friends but mostly enjoyed drinking it ourselves. I created a 50/50 Panela Sugar/Molasses rum recipe and when the we emptied the five gallon barrel of SBB's rum we filled it right back with my 50/50 rum. It's been oaking about six months now. We also filled a ten gallon whiskey barrel (once used) with my 50/50 rum but that one will be there a couple years if not more. SBB did a great job on sharing his rum recipe.

Do you recall what char and toast level you have on that Gibb's barrel? And, What Proof did you have it at in the barrel?

The Gibbs #5 gallon barrel was a #3 Char and Medium Toast. When it was new I put SBB's in it. When I emptied the barrel of SBB's I quickly refilled it with my panela sugar/molasses rum. I tasted the refill just the other day after six months and it's coloring nicely and very tasty but not there yet. I've been putting my rum in at 62%.

[liquid_chris]

Thanks. I have been flipping back and fourth on whether to get charred and toasted or just toasted in ordering a 5g Gibb's for this years rum. My gut's been telling me to go with exactly the same you used.

[Dutch41]

Thanks. I have been flipping back and fourth on whether to get charred and toasted or just toasted in ordering a 5g Gibb's for this years rum. My gut's been telling me to go with exactly the same you used.

I'm glad I went with that especially that I can now put a whiskey in there (later) and have the finishing of the rum flavor but still having char and toast for the whiskey. Just my thoughts on it... I did put a rum in a once used whiskey barrel so it's basically the same angle of attack to greatness...