Home Distiller

So, as I slowly gather all the parts I need for my pot still, I've decided that my first batch (after test run with water) will be some rum. Seems that the little lady and I, along with friends and family drink more of this then any other spirit I have in the house....

So, I've been jotting down notes and copying the recipies down from off this site. Only one problem I've noticed, while all the ingredents are listed, the amount of water usually isn't. Two recipies did, the last one using 15lbs of sugar with 24oz of molasses combined with 7 gallons of water. Another recipie mentioned 100L of water, but for my little 18qt pot still I think that recipie is out my scope for now. Would it be safe to assume that the other recipies in the rum section are using 7 gallons too? (1 gallon heated to melt ingredients together and 6 more gallons added to mash before yeast being added)

About flavoring... One person mentions flavoring 800mL of rum with certain spices. Using a converter that comes out to 0.21 gallons. How can I adjust this for the 1 gallon of estimated spirit I'll get from that last recipie on that page?

I'm also wondering if anyone has tried adding coconut milk or shredded dried coconut during the flavoring cycle?

Jaxx

I believe that most receipies involve adding ingredients and then adding enough water to bring the total volume of the wash up to a certain amount, usually around 5 or 10 gallons(20 or 40 liters)

Wish it was clarified a bit more in the wash section of the website. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the site. Nothing else like it on the net, believe me, I looked while it was down, so I could get a few questions answered. Perhaps in the future the powers that be could "standardize" the wash recipies a little bit more. It's not a big problem converting metric to standard, or vise versa, but what confuses the heck out of me, and I would say other newbies as well, is measuring liquids in using dry wieght measurements. E.G. my beer making books constantly say use 1lb of malt syrup...dang it all, how many cups is that!? LOL

Jaxx

If you have a large enough fermentor you can do back to back runs using the 7-8 gallon recipe. I am working on my first Rum wash as we speak. Using a 15 gallon fermentor, I used roughly 2 gallon feed grade molasses, 10 lbs raw cane sugar (unrefined) and enough water to get a S.G. of 1.090 (Maybe a little high for some, but it's all recipe development). This brought the level of the fermentor up to 13 gallons. I then added about a teaspoon per gallon yeast nutrient and four (5grm) packs of EC-1118 that I previously started on hour before on some of the diluted wash. I'm not yet sure how it will come out yet but to me it's all part of the fun. Just cut ingredients to your desired size, or maybe try something completely different. The basics are all here. Don't aim for perfection....aim for fun.

And remember, your first run should be thrown away. The alcohol is cleaning all the crap off your metal. You really shouldn't be drinking it.

Under the recipe development, I have a post "the best rum yeast trial" That recipe should work for you. My old still was a 20 qt pot. Looking at it, I also did not have a water quantity but it is roughly 2.5 gal. although you will not have dunder yet so add another gal.
I agree that the rum gets drank first!!!

Stinker wrote:If you have a large enough fermentor you can do back to back runs using the 7-8 gallon recipe. I am working on my first Rum wash as we speak. Using a 15 gallon fermentor, I used roughly 2 gallon feed grade molasses, 10 lbs raw cane sugar (unrefined) and enough water to get a S.G. of 1.090 (Maybe a little high for some, but it's all recipe development). This brought the level of the fermentor up to 13 gallons. I then added about a teaspoon per gallon yeast nutrient and four (5grm) packs of EC-1118 that I previously started on hour before on some of the diluted wash. I'm not yet sure how it will come out yet but to me it's all part of the fun. Just cut ingredients to your desired size, or maybe try something completely different. The basics are all here. Don't aim for perfection....aim for fun.

Mines similar I use 2 gallons feed molasses and 20 lb sugar in a 13 to 14 gallon wash.I like ec118 in cool weather for this but distillers yeast or bakers yeast in hot .I like mine single run and I don't add back the dunder to next wash.Seems rum varies more in the recipe dept then other likkers.

I do mine as a single run too, tater, but I'm trying the dunder recycle at the moment. Just began the third generation.

blanik

I just make mine with mollasses?

Tip a bit in a bucket, add dunder and a yeast bomb and add back to the fermenter i've just emptied to strip. Seems to work just peachy

punkin wrote:I just make mine with mollasses?

Tip a bit in a bucket, add dunder and a yeast bomb and add back to the fermenter i've just emptied to strip. Seems to work just peachy

I've not done the recycle thing before punkin, but it seems to be a real hum dinger. The ferment for the subsequent is almost immediate. I've just finished my third run and will probably do another on friday. I might chuck in a bitta molasses for the ferment after that.

blanik

blanikdog wrote:

punkin wrote:I just make mine with mollasses?

Tip a bit in a bucket, add dunder and a yeast bomb and add back to the fermenter i've just emptied to strip. Seems to work just peachy

I've not done the recycle thing before punkin, but it seems to be a real hum dinger. The ferment for the subsequent is almost immediate. I've just finished my third run and will probably do another on friday. I might chuck in a bitta molasses for the ferment after that.

blanik

Bugger, mate, that's the only way i do em. Do a cuircut of rum, or neutral, or allgarin or whatever...

The only hing is i have ujsm in variering formats ticking over always 9gotta look after Bourbon Girl and the mates), but as far as recycling goes, i only usually pitch yeast once. At the start of the program..cept if i'm using the trub as ferment food and bakers yeast.











YaJustKeepOnKeepingOnPunkin

After just distilling my fourth recycled dunder run, I think that in future I'll add some molasses to the dunder after three runs. I don't seem to have got the flavour I like after four runs. Sure there's alcohol there but it lacks that 'guts' that I normally get. But it is still a great way to go.

blanik

if you are looking for a great recipe, the Pugirum recipe in the tried and true recipe section can't be beat. the recipe is for 10 gallons so I multiply it by 5 for 50 gallons of wash. and multiply the yeast bomb recipe by 4, that works great for a plastic 55 gallon drum fermenter. I use,
10 gallons feed molasses
25 lbs C&H brown sugar
Pugi's yeast bomb x 4
water and dunder to make up to 50 gallons
Follow Pugi's instructions on pot distilling and pay special attention to the cuts and saving of the Rum Oils, as he says the Rum Oils are the secret to Great Rum and after each batch they keep getting better and better!!!
For an even richer buttery Rum, you can make it with 5 gallons of Molasses and 50 lbs C&H brown sugar, it is more expensive that way but it is pretty damn good!

Well there ya go, i reckon it can be beat meself, and i reckon Pint's fast fermenter is better.

But it's only a taste thing, eh?

Just plain strip and spirit run works fine....

Yep just a matter of taste, Pint's fast fermenting molasses wash is great! and I used it for a long time and still do when I can't afford the brown sugar, I get 10 gallons of molasses a week for free, from my next door neighbor, He is a truck driver and hauls molasses to the grain company twice a week and gives me the last 5 gallons out of the tanker each time so I brew a lot of Rum, and my Rum Oils, really come through now! both there yeast bombs seem to work about the same to me, I had 3 feet of snow on my 55 gallon fermenters a few weeks ago and night time temps of 20 degrees and it still worked out in about 48 hours! and I like the smotheness and taste of a little brown sugar in my wash, but they are both Great recipes, and I thank them both

My mate who works at the feed mill told me they are 7 tonne over at the last stocktake....

Gunna take a while to correct that a couplea 25 litre buckets a week though

I just Love that free molasses

in the summer he gets me Hi Brix Molasses which has a higher sugar content but in the winter it wont flow out of his truck it is good stuff!

I use a 1 gallon turbo air still and make five gallon mashes. The first batch had a gallon of mollases and 16 lbs/16 l of sugar, which has no color at all which is somewhat surprising because the whiskey mash I made was lighter, but kept the color when I stilled 'er. I also had to add a yeast nutrient pack?

What Ima wonderin is if I use only mollasses, will it still with more color and will there be enough nutrients from the lasses or do I still need a nute pack and how much mollasses equals 20 lbs of sugar?

Either way, what I made so far is damnnnnnn tasty. LOL

So I guess the secret is to save the post still mashes and cook'em down to make a new mash so the flavour gets more rich, eh?

Dr Smooth: What Ima wonderin is if I use only mollasses, will it still with more color and will there be enough nutrients from the lasses or do I still need a nute pack and how much mollasses equals 20 lbs of sugar?

A rum wash will come over clear like water. The colour comes from aging on charred oak and sometimes also with added caramalised sugar. White rum is aged in older barrels etc which don't impart much colour or filtered before bottleing to remove colour.

Molasses generally has more than enough nutrients for a wash, you may wish to add some nitrogen most likely in the form of DAP (up to/around 1 gram per liter i.e. 1 tsp per US Gallon). Some people add other things but it's generally overkill. You may have to keep an eye on pH depending on how much if any dunder is added. Different acids can also add different flavours...

Also seeking greater knowledge on the amount of fermentable sugars in different Mollases myself, but in general about 46% to 60% is ferentable sugar only, depends on which boiling it's from. So as a general rule of thumb 50% is probably a good guide.

Check out this link, really good rum summary that covers alot of ground IMO http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 14&t=12504

Since my last post, My friend and I worked it out to 18 675 g cartons does one 5 gallon mash at 18% finished alc vol without needing nutrient. We also found a jamaican recipe that said to ferment a bunch of different fruit in with the mash. Not wanting to put all the fruit in or to ferent solids and risk infection, we just used banana cordial and put it in the mash on fourth day of ferment and stilled on 6th....was sooooooo good. I defo reco try it.