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Jonnythesock wrote: ↑Mon Oct 21, 2019 10:45 am Think making rum in winter is easier. When the mash is done I can wheel it outside over night for the yeast to crash: )

I'm not a fan of clearing rum unless it is for continuous distillation, which can't happen using the equipment in my shed.

Yesterday, I took my 95F (35C) washes straight from the fermenters to the pot and preheater. It saved on the initial warm up cost and enabled the preheater to get rid of the foreshots and produce the first liter before charging the main pot.

What's the difference in your opinion Chis? To me, I'd think it would be more important to clear for a pot still then a column still.

Clarification removes components that deposit on the column and plates in a continuous still. There are no plates to get blocked in a pot still.

Of course that's true but what might get "blocked" on the column could get passed through on the pot still giving poor flavors.

Hence my question as I think anything "foul" will always show up quicker and easier on a pot vs column.

You could also speculate that these components could have beneficial flavors and are one of the reasons pot stilled rum has better flavor than column stilled.

Remnants of molasses clarification:

"...and no doubt inhibits fermentation"

It only looks like that because it has been centrifuged into a gooey mass. The crap that is centrifuged out of milk for cheese making is even more solid than that, but it doesn't inhibit bacterial mobility and vigour any more in milk than that goo in molasses would inhibit yeast and bacteria in a ferment.

Iirc Arroyo didn't think it inhibited fermentation but produced off flavors. Guess I won't find out for myself anytime soon. I don't see a centrifuge fitting in my stilling space.

Hi guys,
So I made a batch of rum from molasses and it has been in a once used 50 litre American white oak cask since October 2019. I cracked it open yesterday to have a wee taste... and it tastes like whiskey which I kind of get seeing as its been in a bourbon cask. I was surprised though as I thought there would be more of a rum note. It went into the cask at around 60.8% and over the last 9 months has dropped to 58.3%. Its also a little hot so I'm guessing that my cuts may have been a little wide into the heads. I went quite deep into the tails on the run to pull some sweetness and flavour out which is there. I love vanilla which Im sure will be there in abundance once I get below 54% .

So, is it "normal" for a proper rum to taste like a whiskey?
Should I re-run it and remove more of the heads?
Will the hotness go if I keep it in the cask?

It has some good flavour there so it might be ok, just wondering what some of the rum experts recon?

Cheers

Don't re-run it.
Don't be impatient.
Smack the bung in firmly and don't pull it out again for at least a couple of years.

Hey Chris,
You recon that hot will go then and it will take on more of a "rum" taste than a whiskey?
Hope alls well with you cuz. Jealous you guys are allowed back into the pub now haha!

I didn't watch you make your rum or smell your barrel so I'm only guessing, but I do know that it is very young for a rum.

I have tasted a very expensive rum that had been in so many different used barrels that I wouldn't have known it was rum if the bottle wasn't labelled, so I guess it is possible to overpower the molasses if you do all the wrong things.

Hey guys have a look at this vid and let me know what you think seems to be able to remove all solids very rapidly at a decent flow rate, I understand that it may not be ideal for extracting flavor but my interest lies in neutral spirits for gin and vodka and Im a sucker for building another gadget