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Asedefecio wrote: Anyways, it says it uses 20L. So you get your dunder from the still and throw everything away but 20L?

shinendine wrote:So I picked up 15 gallons of blackstrap from the local refinery for only $10. I'm mixing with panela from sugardaddy. Can you rum guys tell me how long this will take to finish fermentation? I only get 2 weeks home at a time from working offshore.

HookLine wrote:A flow chart (plus notes) for my basic rum process.

Can also be adapted easily to other flavoured spirits (except gin).

Rum Production Flow Chart.pdf

MyUncleMo wrote:Gen#2 started.
Modifications...
Dunder - I saved 3 quarts from Hook rum Gen#1.
Larger ferment - 7 gallons each with the goal of 2 stripping runs per ferment. push forward about a gallon into the next ferment.
Using organic fair trade raw sugar from Malawi - the cost is not prohibitive and it smells amazing. I put in some Turbinado also.
Bakers Molasses and a few small bottles of blackstrap.
I mixed the ingredients last night and topped with water and pitched the bakers yeast at 7am - just got home from UPicking with the family and it is bubbling away.
I hope to get 4 stripping runs... adding feints from Hook Gen#1 to this spirit run with some fresh wash and creating a similar product to the Hook Gen#1 with a heavier flavor. I will also keep more White than I did for Gen#1. The White has carmel vanilla like smells without any aging in barrels = only time on glass.
Thanks HD for the inspiration

p-funk20 wrote:I've made 5 batches of rum and am giving Hook Rum a try. I am fermenting in a 6 gallon bucket and expect to do about 6 ferments before I do my spirit run with my 5 gallon pot still. It's day 4 of my first wash already tastes done. My hydrometer reads 1.01, but I know that a molasses wash reads high. Does this sound about right for a 10% potential ABV wash, fermenting in the mid 80's F?

Yes. I let mine go longer for flavor


My main question deals with the use of dunder and generations. Do you usually carry over dunder generations from one spirit run to the next?

I added the dunder from spirit run to the dunder pit I started using last Gen. I save fresh wash to put into my spirit run - just a tiny bit to balance proof to keep it at about 30%ABV


Do you think that the final product is much better when the first ferment of a cycle uses old dunder instead of water? All my other wash batches will begin with the recycled dunder. Thanks for the help.

I have not done enough side by sides to discover that.
I do find the overall quality of the next generations is higher and I can only see it getting better.

There are a range of sugar cane based products that can substitute for molasses, in any proportion, to give a different flavour profile. These include fresh cane juice, and various forms of cane based sugar, plus sugars from other plants, like palm sugar.

HookLine wrote:In my Rum Production Flow Chart notes I said

There are a range of sugar cane based products that can substitute for molasses, in any proportion, to give a different flavour profile. These include fresh cane juice, and various forms of cane based sugar, plus sugars from other plants, like palm sugar.

Needs some correction.

Palm sugars are typically high in salt and that can be a problem for the yeastie beasties. These sugars can be used, and have their own unique flavour, but have some limitations and have to be used carefully. You can't use them in any proportion you want, and can't keep just recycling the backset and adding more palm sugar.

See this thread for more info. (If I was doing it again, I would go with 1/3 palm sugar, and the rest plain or raw sugar.)

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 11&t=22289

S-Cackalacky wrote:I just started a first ferment of this using a modified version of the recipe. I'm doing a 12 gallon ferment split into 3 five gallon buckets. I'm also doing a few substitutions. Here's what I'm doing:

Ingredients (for each of 3 five gallon buckets) -
6 lbs/ea - dark brown sugar
1 16oz bottle/ea - store brand table molasses
1 Tbls/ea - tomato paste
1 Tbls/ea - lemon juice
<1/2 tsp/ea - Epsom salts
2 tabs/ea - B complex vitamins (crushed)
2 Tbls/ea - Red Star active dry yeast

I put all the ingredients, except the yeast, into the 3 buckets and added about 1.5 gallons of boiling water to dissolve the sugar. I added enough cool well water to bring it up to about 4 gallons, checked the temp, aerated with an air compressor, pitched the yeast on the surface of each bucket of wash, and covered loosely.

I didn't take an OG because everything I read says that it wouldn't be accurate anyway. The 3 buckets are in a hot box with a 60W light bulb for heat. The temp controller is set to maintain 80dF. The one thing I'm a little concerned about is that I may not have left enough head room for foaming. The level is at about 2" from the top of the buckets.

I did a lot of substitutions. Hope it ferments out OK.

S-Cackalacky wrote:

S-Cackalacky wrote:I just started a first ferment of this using a modified version of the recipe. I'm doing a 12 gallon ferment split into 3 five gallon buckets. I'm also doing a few substitutions. Here's what I'm doing:

Ingredients (for each of 3 five gallon buckets) -
6 lbs/ea - dark brown sugar
1 16oz bottle/ea - store brand table molasses
1 Tbls/ea - tomato paste
1 Tbls/ea - lemon juice
<1/2 tsp/ea - Epsom salts
2 tabs/ea - B complex vitamins (crushed)
2 Tbls/ea - Red Star active dry yeast

I put all the ingredients, except the yeast, into the 3 buckets and added about 1.5 gallons of boiling water to dissolve the sugar. I added enough cool well water to bring it up to about 4 gallons, checked the temp, aerated with an air compressor, pitched the yeast on the surface of each bucket of wash, and covered loosely.

I didn't take an OG because everything I read says that it wouldn't be accurate anyway. The 3 buckets are in a hot box with a 60W light bulb for heat. The temp controller is set to maintain 80dF. The one thing I'm a little concerned about is that I may not have left enough head room for foaming. The level is at about 2" from the top of the buckets.

I did a lot of substitutions. Hope it ferments out OK.

I'm about 24 hours into the ferment and it seems to be going well. I checked it after about 3 hours and it had started to fizz almost like soda pop with no signs of foam or a cap. The ambient air inside the box swings from 75 to 80 dF. I have the temp controller set to 80dF - that is, the 60W light bulb goes off when it reaches 80dF and comes back on when it drops down to 75dF. I opened it up a couple of hours ago and it was still bubbling as before and still with no cap.

S-Cackalacky wrote:

S-Cackalacky wrote:

S-Cackalacky wrote:I just started a first ferment of this using a modified version of the recipe. I'm doing a 12 gallon ferment split into 3 five gallon buckets. I'm also doing a few substitutions. Here's what I'm doing:

Ingredients (for each of 3 five gallon buckets) -
6 lbs/ea - dark brown sugar
1 16oz bottle/ea - store brand table molasses
1 Tbls/ea - tomato paste
1 Tbls/ea - lemon juice
<1/2 tsp/ea - Epsom salts
2 tabs/ea - B complex vitamins (crushed)
2 Tbls/ea - Red Star active dry yeast

I put all the ingredients, except the yeast, into the 3 buckets and added about 1.5 gallons of boiling water to dissolve the sugar. I added enough cool well water to bring it up to about 4 gallons, checked the temp, aerated with an air compressor, pitched the yeast on the surface of each bucket of wash, and covered loosely.

I didn't take an OG because everything I read says that it wouldn't be accurate anyway. The 3 buckets are in a hot box with a 60W light bulb for heat. The temp controller is set to maintain 80dF. The one thing I'm a little concerned about is that I may not have left enough head room for foaming. The level is at about 2" from the top of the buckets.

I did a lot of substitutions. Hope it ferments out OK.

I'm about 24 hours into the ferment and it seems to be going well. I checked it after about 3 hours and it had started to fizz almost like soda pop with no signs of foam or a cap. The ambient air inside the box swings from 75 to 80 dF. I have the temp controller set to 80dF - that is, the 60W light bulb goes off when it reaches 80dF and comes back on when it drops down to 75dF. I opened it up a couple of hours ago and it was still bubbling as before and still with no cap.

It's been about 5 days. After about 2 days, I noticed that my hot box wasn't maintaining the temp range I had programmed into the temp controller. I changed the high temp setting to 85dF. It gets as high as about 81.5 and kinda hovers there, which is probably a good temp to be at. It would seem that I need to insulate the box or get a higher watt bulb.

Anyway, I checked the buckets today. They still seem to be fizzing as they were in the beginning. I checked the sg of each bucket just to get some idea of where I am. The gravities were as follows:

Bucket 1 ---- 1.014
Bucket 2 ---- 1.024
Bucket 3 ---- 1.018

I'll give it a couple more days and check it again.

S-Cackalacky wrote:

S-Cackalacky wrote:

S-Cackalacky wrote:

S-Cackalacky wrote:I just started a first ferment of this using a modified version of the recipe. I'm doing a 12 gallon ferment split into 3 five gallon buckets. I'm also doing a few substitutions. Here's what I'm doing:

Ingredients (for each of 3 five gallon buckets) -
6 lbs/ea - dark brown sugar
1 16oz bottle/ea - store brand table molasses
1 Tbls/ea - tomato paste
1 Tbls/ea - lemon juice
<1/2 tsp/ea - Epsom salts
2 tabs/ea - B complex vitamins (crushed)
2 Tbls/ea - Red Star active dry yeast

I put all the ingredients, except the yeast, into the 3 buckets and added about 1.5 gallons of boiling water to dissolve the sugar. I added enough cool well water to bring it up to about 4 gallons, checked the temp, aerated with an air compressor, pitched the yeast on the surface of each bucket of wash, and covered loosely.

I didn't take an OG because everything I read says that it wouldn't be accurate anyway. The 3 buckets are in a hot box with a 60W light bulb for heat. The temp controller is set to maintain 80dF. The one thing I'm a little concerned about is that I may not have left enough head room for foaming. The level is at about 2" from the top of the buckets.

I did a lot of substitutions. Hope it ferments out OK.

I'm about 24 hours into the ferment and it seems to be going well. I checked it after about 3 hours and it had started to fizz almost like soda pop with no signs of foam or a cap. The ambient air inside the box swings from 75 to 80 dF. I have the temp controller set to 80dF - that is, the 60W light bulb goes off when it reaches 80dF and comes back on when it drops down to 75dF. I opened it up a couple of hours ago and it was still bubbling as before and still with no cap.

It's been about 5 days. After about 2 days, I noticed that my hot box wasn't maintaining the temp range I had programmed into the temp controller. I changed the high temp setting to 85dF. It gets as high as about 81.5 and kinda hovers there, which is probably a good temp to be at. It would seem that I need to insulate the box or get a higher watt bulb.

Anyway, I checked the buckets today. They still seem to be fizzing as they were in the beginning. I checked the sg of each bucket just to get some idea of where I am. The gravities were as follows:

Bucket 1 ---- 1.014
Bucket 2 ---- 1.024
Bucket 3 ---- 1.018

I'll give it a couple more days and check it again.

It appears to be finished - 4 days since my last update. All 3 buckets were down around 1.000. One bucket may have been closer to 1.001. I was a little surprised it went so low. Molasses is notorious for having unfermentable sugars. I shut down the hot box and will let it sit for a few days. I probably won't get to the stripping runs before early next week. I plan to do 3 stripping runs in one session. I'm hoping I can do all 3 strips in my 5 gallon pot still in no more than 6 or 7 hours. I'll add to this when I finish the strips.

RumRun4 wrote:My first try at Hook Rum seems to be coming along well. I have 2.5 Liters of distillate after my spirit run, ready for some spice and aging. Your post says you use a double coffee filter (with rubber band) on the aging container. My question is: doesn't some of the product evaporate away during the two month wait period? I have a feeling the loss is minimal, or you wouldn't be doing it this way. But would appreciate any info you have on this from your experience.

Thanks!

GrassHopper wrote:Thanks Der Wo,
I am leaning toward your consensus as well.