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My first attempt at crafting a rum.
So tonight I pitched my first ferment in an attempt to make some rum. Nothing fancy just my first attempt at making anything specific for distilling. 4 kgs of brown sugar 750 grams of honey Juice of 1 Valencia orange Bakers yeast which I started while preparing the rest. So to the fermenter I added the sugar,honey, and orange juice, then used 3.6 litres of boiling water to dissolve the sugar. Topped up to 23 and a half litres of water, temp was at 28c yeast was working nicely so pitched it. Had the gravity seal bubbling at under 30 minutes in a 30 litre fermenter. Should end up with around 12% alcohol if my calculations are correct (using maths like I have for years since my now 18 year old broke my hydrometer when he was about 5.)Thought about throwing in a spice bag with some cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg , cloves, and coriander seeds but decided against it. Figured I would try to make something drinkable before I try getting too fancy. Thoughts? Will it be halfway decent, waste of ingredients? What should or could I have done differently?Aiming at doing an initial strip run maybe 2 and a final. I have also been offered 4 cases of wine 2shiraz and 2 Dan giovese, to brandy, so that will be the next run.
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22 Replies
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Look at the Rum recipes in the Tried and True section of the forum.5 recipes there that all work , all taste like Rum once aged a bit.
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Looked at the Rum recipes in the Tried and True section of the forum.Maybe if there was some sort of sorting, that would be a good place to start. Thanks for your all but useless reply. Not meaning to be rude but I have seen a number of your replies to people’s posts and some of them are quite disheartening to a beginner. Not everyone has been doing this as long as you and some of us want good advice so that we can get a start to making something worthwhile. To say “look at the recipes” is not exactly doing that. Thanks anyway!!
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I’m sorry, but I don’t have an opinion for you that you might not find offensive.I did a lot of research before I built my still and put my first rum wash down, and I formed my own opinion on whether, or not, it was successful before I let anyone else taste it. It was nothing like the ‘recipe’ you just tried, the main flavor ingredient being molasses, which you have cheap access to in OZI wish you good luck and hope your experiment makes something nice.
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I wish I did have access to cheap molasses if I did that was what I would have used. At the moment this is a first attempt to learn about the process of distilling and to try to get the logistics behind it all to be able to make something drinkable. Honestly I don’t care if I make mistakes on this one, that’s how you learn! So far it’s brew that’s cost $15 so nothing really lost, but the information gained will be invaluable (hopefully)Anything will be better than what a lot do with 4 kgs of white sugar and a pack of turbo yeast. How the people who drink that are not blind eludes me, and how they can actually drink it is even more of a mystery. lol.
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I have always been a brewer of some pretty good beers and have dabbled in distilling from time to time and had thought about going the whiskey route from all grain but at this stage I’m more interested in learning about the distillation process than throwing good money down the drain and making something expensive and crap.
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I assumed from your user name that you lived in Australia, where molasses is very cheap compared to NZ.
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Yep I am in Australia but where I am it’s not cheap to buy molasses, at least not that I have been able to find. When I was a kid my old man would buy it by the 44 gallon drum (45 years ago) but I don’t live in QLD and it’s a long way from Bundaberg to here. lol. Last molasses I got was like $6 for a 500 ml bottle, and that was if you could find it. My nearest home brew shop is an hour away and delivery of a 20 litre drum of molasses would cost as much as the molasses. Anyway as said this is step one on the journey. Initial aim is to make something “safe” to drink that tastes better than what the guys I have tried have made with their turbo yeast and just making a batch that just stills everything into one.
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You need to actually listen when someone offers you good advice… if you do not, well you are not looking for advice are you?… oh wait, you did ask for advice, so stop acting like a muppet. If you want to learn to make spirits you need to put in the work. If you want to throw a bunch of fermentables in a pot and wish it will turn in to rum, don’t get mad when people tell you it will not.. or, you can waste a lot of time and material making shitty hooch ignoring all the information and help this forum has available. ….calling others rude and lazy (!?) … how in the hell do you expect to learn without “looking at the recipe” ?
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Fresh start, like the Febreze Brothers in “The Other Guys”If you let us know where you are in Aus then there’s plenty of people that can help you sort where to get Molly from.I’d chalk the initial exchanges down to inexperience, we’ve all been there before” you can pick your nose and you can pick your friends; but you can’t always wipe your friends off on your saddle” sage advice from Kinky Friedman
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Really? Acting like a muppet. Maybe try reading. I asked questions got told to read to “read the recipes”, who’s the muppet?In actuality I had read a recipe, I had also used calculators from the main page. How the hell do you expect new members who want to learn to hang around when you just want to be a dick? Sorry it doesn’t work. As said this is the first attempt and meant to be a learning experience. Do I expect top shelf? Hell no! Do I ask for some reasonable guidance well yeah. Sorry I posted something on this site to be roasted over! Thanks for not being of help.
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Fresh start, like the Febreze Brothers in “The Other Guys”If you let us know where you are in Aus then there’s plenty of people that can help you sort where to get Molly from.I’d chalk the initial exchanges down to inexperience, we’ve all been there beforeBased in west Gippsland, Victoria. As said this is a trial run to learn more about the process. Don’t expect anything extraordinary, just want to get some experience under my belt, preferably without being roasted more than malt used to make stout. I don’t expect miracles from this one but everyone starts somewhere.
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Start with animal feed supply places, generally won’t have a website that advertises.Normally have a tank out the backMy stuff is 1.50 per litre” you can pick your nose and you can pick your friends; but you can’t always wipe your friends off on your saddle” sage advice from Kinky Friedman
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Hey big Trav Good onya for having a crack . I’m dead set sure what you are making is going to shit all over a turdbo . I’ve lived in VIC , NSW and now in QLD and Molasses is freely available and cheap as chips in rural stores ……apparently horses and cows love the shit . Just rock up with a 20l bucket and lid and they’ll fill it in 15 min for $25-30 bucks Molly makes the best Rum .Rum production around the world has been the result of dealing with excessive amounts of byproduct molasses coming out of sugar mills for centuries .My recommended goto .wiki/index.ph … ion_Theory
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Thanks.
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Awesome advice. Thanks. I have one place nearby that I think might be worth a try. First try. Plan to learn from it. Needed to try something to learn how my still works. I did get the darkest brown sugar I could find, and read many posts about which yeast to use. I have a plethora of ale and lager yeast available but everyone says use bakers. Cheers Trav
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That recipe should make something with a rummy flavour providing it ferments out ok Trav.It may be a little light on yeast nutrients and a little heavy on sugar load though.Worst case scenario it stalls and you either have to mess with it to get it going again, or get a low abv strip and wasted some sugar.Best case is you get something to practice with and learn from it for the next one.Make Booze, not War!
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Bakers yeast is probably the cheapest and thus widely used on the forum. Once you become familiar with recipes experimenting with other yeasts is not a bad idea for comparisons. With your beer making experience this should be an easy transition.For New and Novice DistillersHow to Organize and Manage ForumPosting Photos
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Found a source of molasses. $28.95 in its own container with a tap for 20 litres. Know what I will be using next time. And when it’s empty I have another fermenter. Win win.
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Wow, good score. Should hopefully do you well. I wish i could find it that cheap. I’ve done both the brown sugar and all molly routes, the difference in the amount of flavour that carries over is amazing. While i was very happy with the light flavour that the brown sugar gives, i much prefer the full molly flavour. Especially after a few months on oak.
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Very little nutrients in brown sugar and Honey.Maybe use a PUGIDOGS yeast bomb to make the yeast happy. viewtopic.php?t=5994
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To get it for under $1.50 per L I have to buy 200L at a time.$ 29 for 20L isn’t to bad for a smaller quantity. I does pay to shop around though, there are sometimes bargains waiting to be found.
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Yeah that’s decent man, good find. Those containers will be handy too as you say. Ideal for keeping your dunder after each run.Best advice I can give at this point is go back and re-read the SBB Rum thread to make sure you’ve fully absorbed the reasons for A,B,C in the recipe and what they do.You won’t go back to brown sugar.Make Booze, not War!
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