Beginner rum issue

[Bipman]

Hi all

I made my first batch of rum following the recipe below to make 15 litres of wash :-

2.6 kilos Molasses
2k white sugar
Warm water to top up
Rum yeast & yeast feed.

Everything went well and it fermented out well. I'm using an Air Still Pro which has served me well with other distills. The outcome of the still tasted like molasses rum and I was looking forward to it as it mellowed. However two days later it had lost the rum taste and now tasted like Spanish brandy, which is no bad thing, but I was wanting rum. Any ideas why it lost the flavour? I thought it maybe because I used white instead of brown sugar.

SPG

[OtisT]

Hi SPG.

Rum can produce some amazing smells, esters, that only last a day or two. Banana is one I get frequently that always disappears before it’s bottled.

If you want more rum funk, try molasses only and/or read up on using backset.

[NZChris]

You got more alcohol from the sugar than from the molasses, so the flavor will be quite diluted.

That said, you may have lost a lot of flavor when distilling it, but you didn't say what you did. Don't assume that we can guess.

[Yummyrum]

Agree with Otis comments.
Brown sugar is basically refined white sugar with some molasses mixed back through it for colour and smell . The amount mixed in is quite small in comparison to the rest of the Molasses you used , so the difference between using white and brown sugar will be minimal .

Other than those initial fruity esters in the heads , the classic Rum flavour that one thinks of never comes straight off a still . It is a process that develops over time with the interaction in an Oak Barrel. That process starts to be apparent after about 6-12 months and really pleasing after 2 years .Real barrels do a great job . Using oak sticks in a glass jar is a second best approach .

[Bolverk]

I agree with the guys above. Molasses is only about 50% sugar so at 2.6kg Molasses you only got 1.3g of sugar from it the rest of the 2kg of white sugar has almost no taste.

I'll be the odd one out here... the only way you can use white sugar and still get a lot of flavor is to use a lot of dunder (stillage) in place of the water (like 40%), you then have another set of issues like high specific gravity, low pH that will need to be ph buffered accordingly. Using high amounts of dunder isn't for the feint of heart or newbie looking for a quick win.

I'd recommend following SBBs rum recipe until you have it down then if you want a lighter product sub molasses for sugar by weight. Remember 1g of molasses is about 12lbs and 50% is sugar so there is 6lbs of sugar in 1g of molasses.

Edit to add: let it rest on the yeast after fermentation for at least 2 weeks, the yeast will autolyse all the fatty acids in their cells into the wash. they are the precursors to delicious esters.

[Saltbush Bill]

The outcome of the still tasted like molasses rum and I was looking forward to it as it mellowed. However two days later it had lost the rum taste and now tasted like Spanish brandy, which is no bad thing, but I was wanting rum.

Have you ever tasted two day old Rum before to know how it should taste.
My guess is that your forming your opinion on what it should taste like from commercial Rums you have drunk in the past........these Rums have been in Oak barrels for 2-3-5 and more years.........a lot changes in that time.
If you want more flavour use more molasses.

[Bipman]

Thanks for the info everyone. I suppose I was hoping for too much and rum making is rather more complicated than I at first thought. Even whisky is easier than this!

SPG

[NZChris]

Don't expect a great whiskey if you chuck an extra 2kg of white sugar in the fermenter.

[Bipman]

I used all malt extract and it worked a treat. Obviously needs aging though.

SPG

[zed255]

Your rum just needs to age a bit on some used toasted oak. New make rum tastes nothing like even 'white' rum from the store, so maybe you just didn't know what to expect. Rum is really easy, and for me there's little difference between a 100% molasses ferment and one cut with sugar up to 50%, it will still have a big molasses hit. I also suggest running the still in pot still mode, your air still pro can be rum either as a pot still or a reflux still, you get more flavour in pot still mode.

[Bipman]

Hi

It was in pot still mode so I'll try aging it using burnt oak sticks.

SPG

[Bolverk]

Dude, it doesn't get much simpler than rum.

1g blackstrap
4g water
1 tablespoon yeast
A little nutrients (I like a multi vitamin and epsom salt)
Ferment anywhere from 70-90f

[Bipman]

Hi

I'll give that a go some time. Trying gin next.

[NZChris]

Reading between the lines, I'm picking that you only ran it once rather than double distilling.

Anyone who tells you that single pot stilled rum is a good idea could be making better rum themselves if they double distilled, they just haven't realized that yet. Any other advice they gave you could also be substandard.

[Bipman]

When you say double distilling do you mean distilling the wash and then putting the distilled alcohol back in and distilling again?

SPG

[Saltbush Bill]

This diagram shows the general concept using your sort of still.
Pay no heed to the 14% wash.......no decent Rum wash is going to be that high ABV......there fore most of the other ABVs and quantities will be out as well.
As a general rule of thumb you will want to strip each boiler charge down to a point were what is leaving the still is between 10-20%
Might pay to learn to use the forum search and type in "stripping" or "stripping run"
That percentage varies from person the person.

[Bipman]

Very useful thanks!

SPG

[OtisT]

Oops. Bad post.