This basic rum recipe makes a 20L wash and can be adapted to make light rum, dark rum or spiced rum.
Ingredients:
- 4kg molasses
- 4kg dark brown sugar
- Distillers yeast
- Yeast nutrient
Method:
- Start by disinfecting all your equipment
- Heat 5L of water in a boiler to 50 degrees C
- Combine water, sugar and molasses in a fermentation vessel and stir until it is completely dissolved
- Add cold water to the fermenter until 20L mark and allow mixture to cool to 30 degrees C, stirring occasionally
- Now add your yeast and nutrient and stir into mixture making sure to aerate it well.
- Check your pH (ideally between 4.5 – 5.2) and correct as necessary
- Allow mixture to ferment for +/- two weeks or until the airlock stops bubbling
- Once fermentation is complete allow fermentation to settle in a cool place for 24hrs or use a fermentation clearing agent.
- Transfer fermented liquid to a pot still and begin your stripping run (collect the entire distillate without separating any of heads, hearts, or tails).
- Dilute your stripped product with water down to 20-30% and add it back into the still
- Start your spirit run (this time making your necessary cuts)
- Dilute final product down to 45% ABV and allow flavours to settle for a few days – you now have a light rum.
Optional :
If you would like a darker or aged rum:
- Transfer spirit to an oak barrel or add oak blocks to your distillate and soak. Taste/check every day until the preferred flavour and colour is reached. Alternatively, colour can be added with spirit caramel and oak flavour with liquid oak extract.
If you would like a spiced rum:
- Soak various spices such as cinnamon, vanilla, allspice berries, cloves and nutmeg in your product until desired flavour is reached.
