Homemade rum - fermentation question from a beginner.

Total beginner here.

I'm attempting to brew homemade rum and I have a few questions regarding fermentation. I'm fermenting the rum in large glass jugs and using pricked balloons as fermentation locks (primitive, I know).

I've already started fermentation for a trial batch and so far it is going reasonably well. The liquid is rapidly bubbling (I'm using Alcotec 48 hour turbo yeast) and the balloons are effectively releasing the generated CO2. My only concern is this: the fermenting mixture appears to be losing some volume. Is volume reduction normal during fermentation due to the chemical changes taking place? Another possibility is that some of the newly produced alcohol is slowly evaporating and escaping through the balloon along with the carbon dioxide. Web searching has yielded no answers.

As I mentioned before, I'm a total beginner and I'm not exactly competent. Advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

Making rum requires distillation, which in the US, is illegal. I doubt you will get too much help here with that. Also, i would suggest never using turbo yeast for ANYTHING!

do some googling about making rum, you might get more help that way.

X2

ewwwwwwwww!

Itbl!!!!!!!!!!

ban!!!!

Sounds like he is fermenting to me. I don't care what he calls it.

No, you shouldn't lose any volume due to fermentation. If you are, you might check with your roommate.

I'm planning to leave the rum undistilled. The yeast I'm using yields 40 proof, which is good enough for my purposes. No laws are being broken. I apologize for not making that clear.

Why is turbo yeast discouraged? I've read elsewhere that it's a popular choice for impatient brewers.

Thanks again.

While I have 0 experience with turbo yeast I wonder why you'd lose volume. My experience with beer I've not seen any loss of volume. How much volume are you talking about?

While I have 0 experience with turbo yeast I wonder why you'd lose volume. My experience with beer I've not seen any loss of volume. How much volume are you talking about?

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It's not too bad yet. Maybe 5 to 8% of my total volume. But it was quite noticeable after the first night, and it's only had 24 hours of fermentation. I'm inexperienced, but I would have expected a volume increase during fermentation since the alcohol being produced is less dense than water. Perhaps the mass lost through the release of CO2 makes up for it.

I've thought of another possibility: perhaps the mixture was cooling and lost volume because of that? That would explain why one jug's liquid level decreased more than the other (it would have cooled more while the other was being poured).

Thanks for all the help.

zippe said:

It's not too bad yet. Maybe 5 to 8% of my total volume. But it was quite noticeable after the first night, and it's only had 24 hours of fermentation. I'm inexperienced, but I would have expected a volume increase during fermentation since the alcohol being produced is less dense than water. Perhaps the mass lost through the release of CO2 makes up for it.

I've thought of another possibility: perhaps the mixture was cooling and lost volume because of that? That would explain why one jug's liquid level decreased more than the other (it would have cooled more while the other was being poured).

Thanks for all the help.

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~4% volume change from boiling to room temperature. It's not linear, though, so most of that change will occur pretty quickly after the boil.

distilling rum is illegal.

However, the process to refine your fermentation outcomes through freezing is called condensing and is, as far as I know (for eisbock), in the legal limits.
Not sure though about the higher alcohols (above 12%) thus you might be considered to render high spirits?

Honestly, I would buy a bottle of goooood rum, start homebrewing, and use the rum in case you run out of homebrews.

RDHAHB!

~4% volume change from boiling to room temperature. It's not linear, though, so most of that change will occur pretty quickly after the boil.

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The mixture was never that hot. It was only warm when I mixed it (about 102 degrees F). Either way, it seems to have slowed down a bit. If I am losing alcohol vapor through the balloon, it's probably a negligible volume.

distilling rum is illegal.

However, the process to refine your fermentation outcomes through freezing is called condensing and is, as far as I know (for eisbock), in the legal limits.
Not sure though about the higher alcohols (above 12%) thus you might be considered to render high spirits?

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I was planning on leaving this rum undistilled, as the yeast I am using yields a 40 proof product. I may, however, check my state laws concerning freeze distillation. If it is indeed legal, then maybe I'll try it on one of my batches.

Thanks again for all the help, guys.

Please do us a favor and post your recipe and starting gravity. It sounds to me like you're making some strange sugar cane wine.

However, I hope I'm wrong and it tastes great.

Please do us a favor and post your recipe and starting gravity. It sounds to me like you're making some strange sugar cane wine.

However, I hope I'm wrong and it tastes great.

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I'm using 6 pounds of dark brown sugar and one pint of molasses per 2 gallons of water (it matches the sugar quantity called for by the yeast).

My recipe is loosely based on several recipes I found online:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/homemade-rum-132836/
http://forum.alcoholreport.com/t14059/
http://www.tristanstephenson.com/wordpress/2010/01/16/how-to-make-rum/

I never measured the starting gravity. I guess that technically I am making sugar cane wine since I don't plan on distilling it. Other than that, though, I've followed the recipes reasonably accurately. And to be honest, I'll be satisfied as long as the product doesn't taste unbearably nasty or make me sick. After all, it's only a first attempt.

zippe said:

Why is turbo yeast discouraged? I've read elsewhere that it's a popular choice for impatient brewers.

Thanks again.

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Its usually discouraged because of all of the nasty fermentation byproducts it puts off. Distillers sometimes use it to make their wash as high in alcohol as possible, so they have a lot to distill off. In wine/beer/cider making, it ferments so fast that it can leave some strange fusel alcohols and very funky flavors.

Its usually discouraged because of all of the nasty fermentation byproducts it puts off. Distillers sometimes use it to make their wash as high in alcohol as possible, so they have a lot to distill off. In wine/beer/cider making, it ferments so fast that it can leave some strange fusel alcohols and very funky flavors.

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I see. Can some of those byproducts be filtered out after fermentation?

zippe said:

I see. Can some of those byproducts be filtered out after fermentation?

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Seems that if you used fining agents such as bentonite and Isinglass, you could make the byproducts precipitate to the bottom of the container, then rack into a new container with a auto siphon or siphon hose after two to three weeks, make sure to avoid the sediment at the bottom of the container.

Technically volume is lost by the production and subsequent loss of CO2. I sincerely doubt that it'd be noticeable though.

I don't want to burst your bubble, but that is going to taste like ass.

zippe said:

I'm using 6 pounds of dark brown sugar and one pint of molasses per 2 gallons of water (it matches the sugar quantity called for by the yeast).

My recipe is loosely based on several recipes I found online:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/homemade-rum-132836/
http://forum.alcoholreport.com/t14059/
http://www.tristanstephenson.com/wordpress/2010/01/16/how-to-make-rum/

I never measured the starting gravity. I guess that technically I am making sugar cane wine since I don't plan on distilling it. Other than that, though, I've followed the recipes reasonably accurately. And to be honest, I'll be satisfied as long as the product doesn't taste unbearably nasty or make me sick. After all, it's only a first attempt.

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Isofore said:

Seems that if you used fining agents such as bentonite and Isinglass, you could make the byproducts precipitate to the bottom of the container, then rack into a new container with a auto siphon or siphon hose after two to three weeks, make sure to avoid the sediment at the bottom of the container.

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To my knowledge, you cannot remove fusel alcohols with finings.

You might be able to get them out with activated charcoal though.

oldmate said:

Technically volume is lost by the production and subsequent loss of CO2. I sincerely doubt that it'd be noticeable though.

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I agree that it wouldn't be noticeable in your average batch of beer or wine, but he likely has a lot more fermentable sugar in his brew than we do. More sugar = more CO2 and alcohol = more of a chance of noticing the volume loss, right?

broadbill said:

To my knowledge, you cannot remove fusel alcohols with finings.

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Phew... nope. I guess he'll have to distill it then. Haha. Better hope he lives in New Zealand.

Wonder if his brew tastes better than Wild Irish Rose and Thunderbird.