Buccaneer Bob's Silver, Gold, and Black Rum Recipe

[Black Eye]

Thanks Bob.

Run went well over the weekend. Ran 10 gallons. Got (5) 750ml jars of good hearts and I put a solid gallon of feints in the jar for later. Got 2 aging for dark spiced 1 aging for gold all at 120 proof and I have 2 jars of silver aging at 94-96 proof. Plus a jar of dark spiced essence cut with some hearts at about 130 proof ready to spice it up.

[Buccaneer Bob]

Thanks Bob.

Run went well over the weekend. Ran 10 gallons. Got (5) 750ml jars of good hearts and I put a solid gallon of feints in the jar for later. Got 2 aging for dark spiced 1 aging for gold all at 120 proof and I have 2 jars of silver aging at 94-96 proof. Plus a jar of dark spiced essence cut with some hearts at about 130 proof ready to spice it up.

Super cool, Black Eye.

One tweak I have thought about doing on the original recipe is recommending a bit of shaking on the silver rum. The gold and black rum don't need it because they go through a couple extra steps, including racking. But the silver rum doesn't go through those steps, so it benefits from a few good shakes of the bottles over the first few days.

There's something about those bottle shakes that opens up the flavor of the silver rum. Of course, if you can wait a couple weeks, the oxidation will occur naturally over time. It's just that my wife and her sister are always waiting with their glasses ready for the next batch of silver rum, so I have to rush it with a few bottle shakes.

[Black Eye]

I like to give my oaked bottles a shake. I'll give that a try with the silver too. But I hid that stuff so I'd forget about it. The big unveiling is going to be August 10th out on the boat, shark fishing.

That silver has a STRONG sweet sugary molasses rum smell just like you could smell off the still. That might be a little of the good tasting tails I cut in. Very little. Nice smooth taste though, I'm liking it. I saved the extra that wouldn't fill a full bottle for tasting.

[Black Eye]

BOB! BOB BOB BOB!!!!!

I just bottled a gallon of rum 1 bottle silver, 1 bottle gold, 2 bottles dark and let me tell you how happy I am. For the short time I've been aging this it's OUTSTANDING, although i can still taste where I can make an improvement with experience. I may never buy another bottle of rum again. That's a lie, I sure do love to sample the strange and out of the ordinary likker I find when exploring. Truthfull this stuff is outstanding, even for my first run. I'll admit I tasted that rum essence by itself and it was pretty terrible. I trusted your recipe and added the exact amounts you suggested for the Gold and the Dark and HOT DAMN was it delicious right at the mix. As I said, I bottled up this stuff this afternoon and its going to age another month before I really crack into it on our vacation. Fortunately I still have a 600ml of silver I saved in a mason jar for sneak previews. Then there is the stuff that wouldn't fit in my new bottles. Thats what I'm drinking as we speak. luckily there was about a shot of each of the 2 dark and 1 gold jars. They were oaking at 120 proof so I cut it when it went into the bottle leaving me a little for a quiet Saturday evening. I'm going to go out on a limb and say, this is the best rum and coke that I've had in recent memory. Better than a coke with Captain, Sailor Jerry or The Kraken. Tonight I'm thinking of you and your family, in what ever third world, sugar producing country you're calling home and I'm raising a glass in your honor. Thank you for all your hard work and time you took to share your recipe with us all. I feel this is definitely a candidate for Tried and True, hopefully others follow me and try to make this.

On another note, I'm on to my second generation tonight. Right now I'm waiting for it to clarfy. In another hour, hour and a half I'll be getting ready for the next step. Cant wait to see how this improves now that I have some nicely aged dunder to work with. Also scored a deal on some raw sugar, which will improve on what I worked with last time. Cheers to you Bob.

I'm going to share a picture below. They're going to look a little cloudy. I don't know if its the picture or if the heat from the sealing wax clouded them up, but they were damn clear ealier while I was waiting for the wax to melt.

I'll report again, with the feed back I get when we cracked into these bottles while we're reeling in the sharks.

[Buccaneer Bob]

Black Eye, I have written and re-written this reply several times, but words simply fail me.

I don't know what to say, other than thank you.

Thank you so much for your kind words.

And thank you so much for trying this thing.

I can't tell you how happy I am that you're liking the rum. I'm ecstatic, really. I actually had to snoop around on the internet to find the right emoticon, because none of the regular emoticons said what I was feeling.



My friends and family have certainly been enjoying it, but I really wanted to get it out to a wider audience in the hopes that other folks in other parts of the world would try it and like it as much as we do.

And I believe that your willingness to give this rum recipe a shot will go a long way towards getting others to take the plunge, as well.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[Jimbo]

HAHAHA Cheers to helping out hooch'n brethren, good rum and appropriate emoticons

[Jkhippie]

Bob......I LOVE that emoticon! That's great!

I have to say that after following this thread, I'm definately going to give this a go as my first attempt at rum, and I mean first - I'm still waiting to get the element in my boiler. So it'll be a while, but I will absolutely PM you when the time comes. Thank you, sir.

[midwest shinner]

Well this recipe has definitely made it to my to do list. Gotta get myself some blackstrap though as i believe my GFS molasses is the fancy type. I am a huge fan of rum and generally the darker the better. I love the idea of the dunder essence, i have used a mix of rum wash and dunder in the past for flavoring and was pretty pleased. Thanks Bob for all the hard work and time you devoted to developing this recipe, hopefully it makes its way to the tried n true section eventually. Its funny that you mentioned your lady bitching bout the smell of molasses Black Eye, mine does the same, especially when I'm using panela. She claims it smells like cat piss to her. Anywho, it may be a lil while cause my to do list is getting rather lengthy, but i am looking forward to giving this recipe a go. Thanks again Bucaneer Bob. I will certainly let you know how it goes when i get to this

[Buccaneer Bob]

Thanks, guys.

Jkhippie, definitely let me know how it goes. Also, if you have any questions, or anything seems confusing to you, I'll do my best to explain things, once you're ready to get started.

Midwest Shinner, I'm sure you could make a good rum with the fancy molasses, but it's hard to pass up using feed-grade blackstrap if you can buy it locally at an economical price. Yeah, I'm a big fan of rum, myself. It's just that it mixes so well with everything, especially if you have the right rum for the right drink, you know.

[midwest shinner]

Bob I'm usually just such a big fan of the darm rum that's what i usually go for, but i have found that other types go better with certain drinks. Although if i do purchase commercial stuff its always Zaya and that i haven't found anything that's not fantastic in. When i do make up.your recipe i want to do it right so i will get myself some blackstrap

[Black Eye]

Mine was packaged by Blue Seal but I'm not finding it listed anywhere. I stopped at the feed store a few times and they kept telling me they carried it in 5 gallon buckets but they were always sold out. I eventually gave up and just asked them to put me in an order and it was in within days. It was relatively cheap too; cost me $25 for the 5 gallon bucket and they were even nice enough to label it. 5 gallons @ 56 lbs so you can kinda guestimate how much sugar your getting.... How thoughtful.

The beginning part of the recipe works great. Boil up the water / dunder and dump it in with the black strap, add your lemon/lime juice stir and let set. It does a nice job of pulling some of the solids and sediment out. It's like the easy bake over man, no boiling on the stove, no burnt crap on your pot all that crap sits in the bottom of the bucket.

The one thing I'm debating on now is my dunder essence. I have quite a bit left over from the last run. I'm debating if I dump it in the boiler with my next wash, or if I just start over. I spent the time racking it to remove sediment, I'm wondering if be better aging or using the new dunder outta the boiler, since it going to have a little more characteristic to it? I might have to do a side by side on this one.

[midwest shinner]

Yeah Black Eye, I'd definitely try both and see which one you prefer. Certainly not gonna hurt anything to try it out .

[Black Eye]

Finally back from the vacation....1 day break and I think I'll be back in the boat for a shark trip before the work storm breaks.

Rum was a HUGE hit out on the beach. The bottle of silver had a huge sucking sound coming from it as the mojitos drank it dry. I think it lasted about 3 hours? I got 1 drink out of it. Every time I turned around there was a glass stuffed in my face waiting for another drink. The wifey killed 5 herself before napping in the sand. I have to thank a woman at work for supplying a paper grocery bag full of fresh mint.

The gold and black rum were also a big hit. Some soaked in mint and ginger ale and some bathed in coke. I tucked a bottle away for me so I could enjoy the fruits of my labor, once everyone else got toasted up. Difinitly added bright spot on a sunny week. I have 3 more jars that have been aging for a month, 2 gallons of feints and I do believe there will be another 10 gallon wash going in the next few days. Seems to be a big hit... This stuff doesn't seem to sit around like the whiskey does.

Cheers Bob.

[Jimbo]

Wlecome back Black Eye. Congrats on the hooch hit. You know youre on to something good if you can get wifey nappin in the sand. We're fixing some fresh mojito's ourselves right now with fresh mint and some panela rum. Cheers

If you got whiskey sittin around I know someone in Chi town who will relieve you of it. Whiskey bottle never gets dusty in this house

[Black Eye]

I wouldn't say the whiskey sits around... It gets consumed, but we killed 4 bottles of rum 6 bottles of vodka and countless beers in 5 days. The 4 bottles of rum were gone in 2 days. It was some pretty fantastic drinking.

Wife won't drink whiskey, but she was lovin rum the rum drinks. I might have to start ramping up production. I made the mistake of telling my old man about the rum and he's been sniffing around too. I might start bottling in commercial bottles to keep people out of my stock.

[rad14701]

I wouldn't say the whiskey sits around... It gets consumed, but we killed 4 bottles of rum 6 bottles of vodka and countless beers in 5 days. The 4 bottles of rum were gone in 2 days. It was some pretty fantastic drinking.

Wife won't drink whiskey, but she was lovin rum the rum drinks. I might have to start ramping up production. I made the mistake of telling my old man about the rum and he's been sniffing around too. I might start bottling in commercial bottles to keep people out of my stock.

If you have a drinking or sharing problem, address it...!!! You should only be producing enough for personal consumption for yourself and one other family member... We're really trying to make an effort to prove that we are a self governing web community and can follow close to what wine and beer making guidelines are currently in the US... Sounding like either a liquored up drunk or producing for sales is not part of that scenario... If you can't abide by that then perhaps HD is not the site for you... I'm sorry but your post is totally out of line in more than one way...

[Black Eye]

The 6 bottles of vodka were store bought, I never made it, never posted about it. This was only concerning the rum. Apparently I've neglected to provided other details of my vacation, which were previously shared in a pm some time ago. Any ramping up in production would be for an extra bottle or two for the wife. thanks for the concern for my health and well being. Perhaps I could have added the amount of people we had in our party or a few more details. I'm sure I'm not the only one here that's share a little stock with the family.

Feel free to delete the post if you don't approve of it no worries.

As far as selling, never have. I'd be lucky to pay for lunch for the week with the amount of alcohol I make in a month. Retail was never a career option.

[Buccaneer Bob]

Awesome, Black Eye! Glad to hear it!

Yeah, my wife and her sister can go through some mojitos, as well.

If you have a drinking or sharing problem, address it...!!! You should only be producing enough for personal consumption for yourself and one other family member... We're really trying to make an effort to prove that we are a self governing web community and can follow close to what wine and beer making guidelines are currently in the US... Sounding like either a liquored up drunk or producing for sales is not part of that scenario... If you can't abide by that then perhaps HD is not the site for you... I'm sorry but your post is totally out of line in more than one way...

Not really sure where this is coming from Rad.

Black Eye didn't say anything about selling, that I can tell.

And the "one other family member" rule is news to me. Are we putting that in The Rules by Which We Live? Or somewhere else on the forum?

And implying that people have a drinking problem and calling them "liquored up drunks"? I'm pretty much at a loss for words, there.

And suggesting folks leave the forum if they don't live up to these new lofty standards?

[fre2fall5]

I think someone's past his bedtime!!!

[Buccaneer Bob]

[chocdoc]

Bob,

Reading through the PDF of your method I'm noticing that you take your live dunder and boil it before adding it to the ferment. Other reading I've been doing led me to believe that some folks are infecting their ferment for 24 hours with the live dunder before adding the yeast to overwhelm the bacteria.

Any thoughts on this?

[Buccaneer Bob]

Bob,

Reading through the PDF of your method I'm noticing that you take your live dunder and boil it before adding it to the ferment. Other reading I've been doing led me to believe that some folks are infecting their ferment for 24 hours with the live dunder before adding the yeast to overwhelm the bacteria.

Any thoughts on this?

I think where the live bacteria work best is on a shorter ferment.

A lot of recipes are fermenting in the 7-10% range, and the ferments usually run their course in 2-3 days, so the bacteria don't have a whole lot of time to do their worst.

But I've been fermenting to around 14%, which takes a bit longer to go to completion, usually 10-14 days, depending on ambient temperature.

Well, one of the things I figured out, rather early on, was that I needed to keep my live bacteria to a minimum starting out on these longer ferments.

If I didn't, my rum would be so twangy by the end, it was almost undrinkable.

So what I tried to do was harness the congeners created by the bacteria during the dunder aging process, but kill the actual bacteria prior to fermentation to limit their effect on the fermentation process.

Ideally I am getting the flavors created by the bacteria, but it's limited to something I can live with.

Does that make sense?

One other nice benefit to killing the bacteria prior to fermentation is that they aren't eating sugars before the yeast can get to them and effectively robbing me of alcohol in the process.

[heartcut]

Been mixing infected dunder 25-75 with 160 proof, letting it sit a few days and using it in the finished product, seems to work well. Thanks for the inspiration, BB.

[chocdoc]

Bob,

Reading through the PDF of your method I'm noticing that you take your live dunder and boil it before adding it to the ferment. Other reading I've been doing led me to believe that some folks are infecting their ferment for 24 hours with the live dunder before adding the yeast to overwhelm the bacteria.

Any thoughts on this?

I think where the live bacteria work best is on a shorter ferment.

A lot of recipes are fermenting in the 7-10% range, and the ferments usually run their course in 2-3 days, so the bacteria don't have a whole lot of time to do their worst.

But I've been fermenting to around 14%, which takes a bit longer to go to completion, usually 10-14 days, depending on ambient temperature.

Well, one of the things I figured out, rather early on, was that I needed to keep my live bacteria to a minimum starting out on these longer ferments.

If I didn't, my rum would be so twangy by the end, it was almost undrinkable.

So what I tried to do was harness the congeners created by the bacteria during the dunder aging process, but kill the actual bacteria prior to fermentation to limit their effect on the fermentation process.

Ideally I am getting the flavors created by the bacteria, but it's limited to something I can live with.

Does that make sense?

One other nice benefit to killing the bacteria prior to fermentation is that they aren't eating sugars before the yeast can get to them and effectively robbing me of alcohol in the process.

I spent part of the day looking through the thread where you worked your way through the development of your recipe - so now have much better idea of why you do what you do.

Only just figured out that live dunder is different than rum backset - so will have to find a warm spot to inoculate the backset I saved from my last rum batch. Perhaps at my elderly father's house where the temperature is always over 80 F!

[Buccaneer Bob]

Been mixing infected dunder 25-75 with 160 proof, letting it sit a few days and using it in the finished product, seems to work well. Thanks for the inspiration, BB.

Thanks Heartcut. I'm glad to hear that using dunder as a "flavoring" is working for you.

Yeah, I would always get a taste of the original wash when I was siphoning it into my still, and I kept thinking: "If only I could get more of that original wash flavor to carry over into my distillate..." But no matter how I distilled it, I could never get that sort-of chocolatey, black coffee-ish flavor to carry over.

But adding a bit back in later certainly does the trick, doesn't it? Plus, it seems like a pretty legitimate way to "flavor" the rum, since it's a natural byproduct of your overall process. To me, it's not really even "flavoring" so much as it is "blending": it's blending some of the original wash / dunder flavor back into the finished rum.

I spent part of the day looking through the thread where you worked your way through the development of your recipe - so now have much better idea of why you do what you do.

Only just figured out that live dunder is different than rum backset - so will have to find a warm spot to inoculate the backset I saved from my last rum batch. Perhaps at my elderly father's house where the temperature is always over 80 F!

Super, sounds like a plan. Yeah, I'm sure you'll pick up plenty of nice bacteria if you give it a little time.

Oh yeah, I touched on this replying to Heartcut, but a third benefit to killing the biggest part of the bacteria prior to fermentation is that it allows you to take a little taste of the wash during the fermentation process without having to worry about spending three days alternately sitting-on / hugging the toilet.

[eVenom]

Oh yeah, I touched on this replying to Heartcut, but a third benefit to killing the biggest part of the bacteria prior to fermentation is that it allows you to take a little taste of the wash during the fermentation process without having to worry about spending three days alternately sitting-on / hugging the toilet.

Sounds like the words of experience!

[heartcut]

You know you're travelling too much if a pail or garbage can is already strategically placed by the toilet and the lomatil is within reach.

[Buccaneer Bob]

Oh man, been there, done that.

[mAShMaN1]

I am trying this recipe for the first time and I just have a question about the black rum. All the pics I see on here it looks really dark. mine is fermenting now and it looks like a light milk chocolate color I wanted to know if the essence is all you use to get that color or is something else added to get that deep color

[badbird]

When you distill your wash the distillate should be crystal clear, its the essence (and maybe some oaking) that gives it the colour.

Buccaneer Bob, I have to compliment you on just how well your recipe works. I haven't quite got the dunderpit bit right yet, (SWMBO tipped the last one out when i wasn't looking ) but the essence along with a little bit of oak does a great job.
Unfortunately there's a surprising amount of resistance to the idea of adding dunder to spirits from most of the other distillers i know. Anyway the proof for me is in the flavor.