my rum tastes like nothing

[alexmat]

Hi everyone. I fermented and distilled two batches of rum starting from raw cane sugar. the problem is that my distillate tastes is too neutral. no aroma, only alcohol. how can i improve it to make it more pleasant? can I put some aroma on the boil or something to infuse in alcohol?

[tombombadil]

Maybe use one of the tried and true rum recipes?

They use either 100% molasses or some molasses and some sugar.
Personally I prefer the 100% molasses versions.
It ends up with a very "rummy" sort of flavor, at least it seems that way to me.

Some people have provided lots of info on how various acids turning into esters during distillation are really responsible for the "rum" flavor.
I think vinegar is the main one for "rumminess"? Butyric, proprionic make the funky and fruity rum flavors?
So maybe try a run with some vinegar added to it?

If I were you I would try a small run of molasses rum, following one of the tried and true recipes, to see if that suits your palette better.

Then you can use the rum you already have for blending if the molasses flavor is too strong.

If you're determined to try to save the rum you already have, maybe try spicing some of it and/or aging some of it on oak for a few years?

[cranky]

We need a few details to get you an answer...

What type of still are you using? and what size is it?
I see a pot still as your avatar if that is your still it should make fine rum, if not we need to know what you are using.

How are you running it? 1 run? 2 runs? or more?

How are you collecting? Small jars? Big jars? one big container? and how are you blending it back together?

When are you stopping the run?

How much are you tossing out?

Rum like everything else has a learning curve and different cuts than other things. I personally use Buccaneer Bob's method ( https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtop ... 14&t=39556 )
and add a little bit of backset back to the finished rum which adds a lot of nice rum flavor that only improves with age.

[alexmat]

I have no chance of finding molasses in my area. and the one I found is really too expensive and not worth it. this vinegar is an interesting info. how much should i add? boiling right?
I just wish it tasted nice, and not just alcohol

[alexmat]

We need a few details to get you an answer...

What type of still are you using? and what size is it?
I see a pot still as your avatar if that is your still it should make fine rum, if not we need to know what you are using.

How are you running it? 1 run? 2 runs? or more?

How are you collecting? Small jars? Big jars? one big container? and how are you blending it back together?

When are you stopping the run?

How much are you tossing out?

Rum like everything else has a learning curve and different cuts than other things. I personally use Buccaneer Bob's method ( https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtop ... 14&t=39556 )
and add a little bit of backset back to the finished rum which adds a lot of nice rum flavor that only improves with age.

yes, the still is what you see in the picture. the size is 10 liters.
I collect about 1.5 liters at 40% vol. I throw my head and I use part of the tails to get to 40 ° what do you mean by a run or two runs? once fermented I start distilling. what remains once distilled I throw it away.

[jonnys_spirit]

Panela or Jaggery sugar might be an option if mole-asses aren't available?

Cheers!
-j

[Evil_Dark]

Well, what is your experience in tasting spirits?

The alcohol taste often hide a lot of other tastes. I am not a super experienced liquors and spirit drinker, but at 41 years old, I've tasted a lot of things, and I can remember when I was younger and first tasting spirits, all I was able to taste was the explosion of alcohol in my palate.
I'm not saying that you have no experience, just want you to look at your tasting references. I also can be wrong, please see no offense at all.

Spirits coming out of a pot still like yours will most likely have some tastes. Don't forget to dilute the spirit to 40% or less with water prior tasting, it will help you a lot.
So when you are tasting a small sip of your diluted product, let the boom of the alcohol taste fade out, then try to let the after taste take all the place and try to recognize some of these aromas. Sometimes you will have memories that will come back in your brain instead of taste recognition (which is pretty cool!) and try to describe it.

There is also chances that by using only raw cane sugar, you won't have the complexitiy of a molasse made ferment. Anyhow, you will have some off tastes, so it's your challenge to describe it

I also suggest you to try another ferment recipe, for the sake of the fun of it and also to be able to compare your own produts and build your distilling experience!
Congratulation for your firsts runs, and happy distillin!

[Yummyrum]

Also worth mentioning is that a huge amount of Rum flavour develops while it is in American White Oak Casks for a year or more .

Rum tastes nothing like Rum straight off the still .

Some guys claim to get a decent tasting Rum using Dark Brown sugar which is white sugar with Molasses mixed through it .

[NZChris]

There's not much molasses on the surface of raw sugar, so expect to do several runs to concentrate what flavor you have into a very small batch of rum using the copper alembic in your avatar.

The low wines from the stripping runs would have to be in the low twenties to get as much flavor as you can out of the wash.
You must not add water to dilute the ABV. Do not remove a large foreshot.

Instead of eliminating heads and tails on the next runs, you have to eliminate the most flavorless jars from the middle of each run and save all of the rest of the distillate to get well below 30% for the next run. Repeat until you can blend a flavorsome rum out of the cut jars.

[alexmat]

yes, of course, the flavor of the rum just released from the still is not satisfactory, maybe I expect the impossible. I don't use oak barrels because I don't want to wait years. however, I use oak barrique chips bought in a shop. if any of you use these chips how many grams do you put in each liter?

[Evil_Dark]

yes, of course, the flavor of the rum just released from the still is not satisfactory, maybe I expect the impossible. I don't use oak barrels because I don't want to wait years. however, I use oak barrique chips bought in a shop. if any of you use these chips how many grams do you put in each liter?

Don't know for rum, but for whiskey it is approx 100 to 150 square CM (24 sq.in.) per litre, I guess it would be roughly the same. It gives you a ball park to start with. more you'll add, the more woody it would be. Also you can cook the wood before using it to achieve different flavors, there is a chart with the different flavors regarding the temperature you cook the wood, very interesting!

[cranky]

what do you mean by a run or two runs? once fermented I start distilling. what remains once distilled I throw it away.

A lot of people, myself included, prefer 2 runs. The first one is considered a "stripping run" and the 2nd is the "spirit run" which is the final run. What is left in the still is the "backset".

Like I said before I use Buccaneer Bob's method of adding backset from the first run to the final spirit. This gives me a nice rummy flavor right away which develops a deeper complicated flavor over time. I don't even oak it.

This is the method

Step 1) Make dark rum essence.
a. Pour 250 ml of the heart-cut into the bottle that contains the 250 ml of fresh dunder.
b. Set the bottle aside for a week or two to give some of the solids in the dunder time to settle to
the bottom of the bottle.
c. After most of the solids h ave settled, carefully siphon or decant the clarified dark rum
essence into another bottle and use this to flavor and color the finished rum.
Step 2) While the dark rum essence is settling, drop the pieces of oak (or other suitable wood) into the jug
with the heart-cut. The wood pieces may be natural or toasted according to taste. Monitor the oaking
process and remove the oak pieces from the jug when they have imparted sufficient flavor and color.
Step 3) Dilute to drinking strength.
Step 4) Measure the volume of the diluted he art-cut. Add clarified dark rum essence to the heart -cut at a
ratio of 30-60 ml of dark rum essence to 1000 ml of diluted heart -cut. Adding 30 ml of dark rum
essence to 1000 ml of diluted heart-cut will yield a medium-bodied gold rum, while adding 60 ml of
dark rum essence will yield a more robust black rum.
Step 5) The rum will be rather cloudy when first blended, so place the jug someplace out of the way and
give it about a week to settle out. Once settled, the rum will still be dark, but it should be as clear as
crystal. Carefully rack the rum into another jug and let it sit another week . If any more sediment
settles out, rack the rum again. Otherwise, it is ready to bottle. There is no need to be greedy when
racking, as any rum left behind with the sediment can either be settled once more in a smaller,
narrower bottle or added to a future stripping run so that nothing is wasted.
Step 6) Bottle the rum and enjoy

[Saltbush Bill]

I fermented and distilled two batches of rum starting from raw cane sugar.

Your main problem is right there ,,,,,,use a whole lot more molasses and a lot less , or no sugar.
Secondly oak chips are rubbish, read up on making your own home toasted oak Sticks.

[Toxxyc]

Yeah I've tried to cut back on the molasses to save money and effort and whatnot, but once I started adding molasses to my rum, even a little bit, it just went from bad to great. I now make my rum wash with 75% molasses to 25% regular white sugar (cheapest I can find) by weight in the wash. Sugar is purely to boost the collected alcohol a bit.

I then strip the rum, and the stripped product is blended with some backset or freshly fermented wash when I do the spirit run. It helps to concentrate the flavours for me a little bit.

[zed255]

I prefer to make rum with all fancy molasses, but I can get a product almost as good with as little as 50% molasses and 50% white sugar. Anything less will start to really taper off the flavour, though surprisingly little molasses in a wash will show up on the palate. I suspect the 'raw cane sugar' just didn't have the concentrated flavour that molasses offers and you ended up with something closer to Rhum Agricole, though not the same as that either.

Also, well cut new rum doesn't taste like what you would know as rum from a commercial example.

[Saltbush Bill]

I suspect the 'raw cane sugar' just didn't have the concentrated flavour that molasses offers

Raw sugar as we know it in this country has very very little molasses left in it, if you really must use sugar it would be better to use what is termed " Dark Brown Sugar"......not to be confused with Light Brown Sugar ...a different product again.
Dark Brown is white sugar that has had a whole lot of Molasses added back to it after it is refined, It will give you a lot more flavour than the others will.....but still not as much as straight Stockfeed Molasses.