Rum Wash

[Spudnik1954]

So as a lot of you know I prefer a good rum so..... here goes I have tried the regular stuff additives etc mostly too sweet for my liking. I prefer a Rum that tastes like rum looks like rum and acts like run . If you are Rum Drinker you know what what I mean. I have tried the Molasses wash it or I didn't turn out too bad I will have to run a couple more washes( I hsve them here and available ) see it I can get it right. ( feel free to put your two Cents worth now!....I'm waiting....... for sugestiong.

[Spudnik1954]

You mean to tel me that you guys don't have anything to add?

[Spudnik1954]

P)lease Help Any Help would make me happy!

[vino-tinto]

It's Tuesday, Rum is Wednesdays

[RumJohn]

I am not sure what you are asking. I have a few ideas on rum as I have produced a liter or two.

Good rum is easy to make as you have a lot of flexibilty in how it is produced. The guidlines describing rum are quite varied. bad rum is even easier to make.

Starting with a good sugar based wash is necessary. Followed by distilling with rum in mind.

[Almanac]

@Rum John: Maybe, if you can make the time, you could write up an "Idiot's Guide To Making Rum Wash and Distilling Rum" I'd love to make Rum but always found it quite daunting.

That would be a major contribution to our knowledge base given that you actually produce Rum for sale and see you entered in our Hall of Fame (currently under construction)

AM

[RumJohn]

Attn: AM. Your last has me a little confused and I am sorry to hear you find producing rum a little "daunting".

Since I joined this forum I have read many accounts of success, but also many accounts of running into difficulty to outright failure. I try to alalyze peoples problems and offer a suggestion on occasion. But more often than not very good responses are made, especially from you. I feel bad that you have to repeat yourself so often.

I have thaught to myself after reading many posts that would be distillers should start out with a simple sugar wash. As opposed to grain or something a little more complicated. Sugar is relatively cheap and a simple sugar wash give an opportunity to learn the characteristics of the still being used. With a sugar wash you can always redistill for a neutral if rum didn't turn out.

If you want to send me your proceedure (from start to finish including equipment) for rum I will be more than happy to offer some comments.

I don't believe I have ever actually said I produce rum for sale. Not that I hide the fact that a bottle or two might dissapear out the back door, or a case might fall off the truck on occasion.

[Almanac]

Rum John wrote: "If you want to send me your proceedure (from start to finish including equipment) for rum I will be more than happy to offer some comments."

Actually, I only made one rum wash with molasses and I've a DJ of dunder to prove it

I didn't do it again because it took me a week to get my boiler clean after the run and I had to remove and scrub the element to get the crust off that had formed on it during the boil

My suggestion to you about writing an Idiots Guide to Making Rum Wash and Distilling Rum was more by way of a suggestion to produce something that would be a permanent, helpful guide for those here who want to make Rum.

The only way I'd give Rum another go is if I could get another boiler that I could keep solely for running Rum washes through

AM

[RumJohn]

AM: Had to chuckle at the problems you experienced making rum.

Apart from cachaca, I use the same wash for rum, vodka and gin. The stripping run is the same. I do get a bit of gunk building up on the inside of the boiler at the surface level in about the last hour of running. But I use propane so an element is not sitting in there attracting what ever.

I notice many people use white sugar. I don't let white sugar near my rum. And I do not use any rum flavouring essenses nor any colouring.

Don't give up on rum.

[Almanac]

I should have spotted that you use real Cane Sugar for your wash while I was trying to use Molasses, a bi-product of Cane Sugar and not the same thing at all

Today I'm starting a search for Cane Sugar over here but I'm not too hopeful of getting it at any kind of reasonable price

that's why we make Whiskey in this part of the planet and not Rum

AM

[Myles]

A 1 gallon plastic bottle of treacle weighs 7.25 kg and contains the equivalent of 4.64 kg of sugar.

20 kg demerrara (raw cane) sugar + 1 gallon Treacle + 200 ml lemon juice made up to a total of 25 gallons is a decent starting point.

It ferments out to about 11% which is fine for a rum wash. I don't bother with nutrients - just boil some fresh yeast (free from the supermarket bakery section) to explode the yeast cells for the fermenting yeast to munch through.

Make a starter in a 1 gallon demijohn of 3 pints wash + 3 pints water, and pitch the real ale yeast or lager yeast if you are fermenting on the cool side. Next day just tip it into the fermenter and it should sort itself out.

Strip it down to 5 gallons of low wines. Dilute them to 30% before you do a spirit run.

[RumJohn]

When I said "cane sugar" I was actually differentiating between cane and some other form of sugar such as beet sugar.

Within the range of cane sugar I use what your wife would probably refer to as a low quality brown or raw sugar. Here it is loaded with molasses. My wash is a very dark brown as a result. No nutrition or additives used.