I have a plan to start a very small distillery in Martinique to create a brand of rum (producing 1000-2000 bottles -50 cl- per year). It will be an artisanal production, as you know guys, we have plenty of famous rum brands in the island so the idea is to make a very small quantity and make some tests of barrel aging with different style of “finish” (Sauternes, Red Wine, Sweet wine...).
I’ve worked before in some wineries so I have a few skills about fermentation and barrel aging but I have only a few knowledges about distillation. I’m doing right now a short diploma of distillation (from molasses) and if my plan will succeed, a friend of mine is a wine-maker and he will be available for a couple of weeks to start with me.
Therefore, i really need some help about equipment.
I need before starting to know how much all the equipment will cost and I still don’t know what kind of alambic / still I will use. I would like to make rum using PURE SUGAR CANE. I was thinking about the capacity of the alambic (from 100 L to 300 L) as the quantity of wines will be small. Normally, here in Martinique, we do at the end of distillation a white rum about 65-70% ABV and then after a few weeks we start to “reduce” it with pure water till 55-50% ABV.
I think that I will need :
- a small tank for the fermentation (around 1000 L) (a plastic one will be cheaper than a stainless steel one)
- a small pump (plus hoses, ...)
- an ALAMBIC
- some tanks to receive the rum
- barrels, bottles, labels...
I insist that it would be an artisanal production. I’m struggling to find an alambic that will fit to my project. I would like a copper still at less than 10.000 €. I’ve started to ask for some quotes and I’ve found the following one: The guy who sells it tell me that the final wine degree will be between 40-50 % ABV but by adding two floors of column or doing a double distillation we can reach 60-70 % at the end.
I would like to have some advices about the kind of alambic I will need (size, ...) and some advices of fermentation, distillation, aging would be great too. So feel free guys! I would be happy to give you some updates about the creation of this brand: it’s a big mess with all the paperwork here when you deal with alcohol...
Thank you in advance for your time and your answers...
Cheers.
Julien