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I did a run of Rum some time ago, it has been aging in a barrel for about 3 months, but the flavor is still off, But the ggod news is I think I've figured it out. I cut the forshots and I cut the tails, but I left the heads in.

Here's what I was thinking to fix this.

say I have 20 litres (thats how big the barrel is) of spirit with too much heads.

I make some new molasses wash, say about 10 litres at 5-7% abv

in a pot still with a 5 litre max capacity, I mix 1 liter of was and 3 litres of spirit and a dash of strait molasses for flavor.

run the still, colect 1 litre of heads, one hearts, one tails. Hearts are set aside for aging, heads and tails go back into the still for the next run

next run, 1 litre heads, one litre of tails, one of off spirits, and one litre of molasses wash plus a small dash of strait molasses.

run the still, collect one litre heads, one hearts and one+ tails, set the hearts aside and repeat previous untill all the off spirits have been redistilled.

caramalise some sugar and add to spirit and put it back into the barrel to age.

what do the experienced shiners think?

I would suggest collect tails in small jars add better tasting part to rum

maybe collect the tails in 1/10 litre increments?
is it best to let them sit overnight before reintroducing them to the hearts(after deciding what to keep)?

Yep you got idea as starting out collect in small jars until you know
more
about it do same with heads there can be a lot of flavor in them
but but you can over do it when you see how much you want then you will
know how much it leave in

I mite add keep jars in order as they come off leave to air out
then start at center and taste, smell and add what you want to harts
This is what I do when making up new recipe
save left over heads and tales for next run

I'm wondering, If I toss in some molasses and redistill it, will that affect the flavor of the rum compared to a molasses wash?

I don't think you are ever gonna disguise the heads.....If it were me I'd redistill and make proper cuts. I don't know the dangers (if any) of redistilling spirit that has been oaked though.

CoopsOz wrote:I don't think you are ever gonna disguise the heads.....If it were me I'd redistill and make proper cuts. I don't know the dangers (if any) of redistilling spirit that has been oaked though.

thats what I mean, throw in a little molasses and redistill this time cutting the heads appropriately.

just redistill the whole batch and make good cuts. then get it back in the barrle...after a year send me a sample

From being a little too stingy in my younger and poorer days, I learned a sure fire method to disguise too much heads in liquor.
Donald Duck unsweetened Grapefruit juice.
A bit of that and some salt and ice will cover up heads quite well. In fact the heads and grapefruit juice compliment each other. Toss in a splash of cranberry and most girls will drink it too. Honest.
There is even a beer that has the same flavor as grapefruit juice with a lot of heads. Most highly hopped American Pale Ales have the same flavor. If you have never had an APA then you should try one just to see.

appreciate the advice, but I'd rather have a lesser amount of higher quality.
I've got some molasses wash on right now, and I'll boil some more molasses with a little lemon juice and water, which will be added to my spirit, the run again on my new pot still, do proper cuts this time and I'm hoping the results will be much better.

On a related tangent, compare the flavor/smell of a strait molasses sugar wash to one that contains a sizable dose of lemon (as in 1 part lemon juice for 6-8 parts molasses and equal parts sugar) it has a very different character, I'm tempted to run it by itself to see how it turns out, cause I've got the thinking that it'll make a very nice rum.

pintoshine wrote:There is even a beer that has the same flavor as grapefruit juice with a lot of heads. Most highly hopped American Pale Ales have the same flavor. If you have never had an APA then you should try one just to see.

That smell and taste is from usin' LOTS of Cascade Hops.

violentblue wrote: On a related tangent, compare the flavor/smell of a strait molasses sugar wash to one that contains a sizable dose of lemon (as in 1 part lemon juice for 6-8 parts molasses and equal parts sugar) it has a very different character, I'm tempted to run it by itself to see how it turns out, cause I've got the thinking that it'll make a very nice rum.

that's a very good idea, i'll try too... Hope I can get this fruity flavor..... That or collecting natural yeast by running a wash thru bagasse.

running it right now
added a little black strap molasses and a shot of lemon to the heads rich spirit, and a molasses water lemon mix in the thumper, then i'll run it through my new pot still. if it too molassesy I'll run it through again with water in the thumper.
as I discovered with my attempt at neutral, the pot still doesn't allow you to loose the flavor too easily. so not too worried about being too weak on flavor.

so ?

I'm going to run it again, got rid of the heads, but its still not the flavor I'd like

which commercial rum is your target ?

Here's a question, food for thought...
If you have to much heads, could you put the whole batch in the still, distill out the heads and then shut the still down. Pour what's in the still back in the barrel and call it a day. Would you retain the flavor while removing heads? Would the heat hurt the remaining product? Has anyone tried this?

RumBull wrote: ↑Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:06 pm Here's a question, food for thought...
If you have to much heads, could you put the whole batch in the still, distill out the heads and then shut the still down. Pour what's in the still back in the barrel and call it a day. Would you retain the flavor while removing heads? Would the heat hurt the remaining product? Has anyone tried this?

I think the issue here would be the proof (I imagine in the order of 100-130) in which he would be running his product on the still, assuming he wouldn't want to dilute the mix. It's a safety issue. And then in the case that he does dilute, then he's got a new composition left in the pot still which would require further distilling anyway.

In the last 12 years the angels have probably drunk the heads if that rum still exists in a barrel.