Homemade Rum

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MBM30075

MBM30075

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I've got several batches of beer going and am too lazy (without enough space) to brew any more beer at the moment.

So, I got a little crazy and decided to make homemade, non-distilled rum. Basically, I want to start with a crazy-high OG and ferment using a high alcohol yeast and see what happens.

Here's my recipe: (1 gallon)

2 lbs. dark brown sugar
2.75 lbs. demerera sugar
1 packet Lalvin EC-1118 champagne yeast

I did it tonight. I used too much water and ended up with about 1.2 gallons of "wort." OG was still 1.185. According to Beersmith, the following FGs correlate to the following ABV:

1.050 = 18.03%
1.040 = 19.37%
1.030 = 20.70%
1.020 = 22.04%
1.010 = 23.37%
1.000 = 24.71%
0.995 = 25.38%

Now, I'm not sure when to expect the Lalvin to poop out, but even if it gets to 1.050, I'll have a 36 proof "liquor" that will probably still be very sweet. It only gets better from there. Also, I liked the taste of the "wort" sample that I took for my gravity reading, so I'm not worried about it coming out too sweet or too dry. It's being made to be a mixer, anyway.

In any case, I was wondering whether anyone else has done crazy stuff like this and what results they might have obtained. It seems hard to find much info about stuff like this.

I repeat, by the way, that I AM NOT DISTILLING THIS ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE. I am just trying to see whether you can make a liquor at home with basic ingredients.

Oh, yeah, total cost of 1 gallon of "rum" : about $8. If I went with straight brown sugar instead of the demerera (which was over $4) it would have been even less!

Who thinks this'll work? (By the way, for comparison, Malibu rum is 44 proof, or 22% alcohol, which I MIGHT achieve).

Thanks!
 
Also, I know that using a still to distill alcohol at home is illegal, but what about freeze-distilling? If I remove water from alcohol that way, is it still illegal?

Thanks!
 
MBM30075 said:
Also, I know that using a still to distill alcohol at home is illegal, but what about freeze-distilling? If I remove water from alcohol that way, is it still illegal?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

freeze distillation is legal in many states, but there are limits.

I think EC-1118 would poop out at about 18% ABV.

You know that you might get an 18% ABV, but it will probably not taste very good, right?
 
I think people usually use this stuff.

5623.jpg


Alcotec 48-hour Turbo Yeast, 135 grams :: Midwest Supplies Homebrewing and Winemaking Supplies
 
i have some of that stuff in my fridge. i was going to use it to make jungle juice.

instead of mixing vodka, with a bunch of koolaid and throwing beer into the mix(i know, college was fun wasnt it)

we did some math and figured out our juice was close to the alcohol potential of this turbo yeast.

we plan to try fermenting different juices, mixers, or just table sugar with water and mixing it with different juices and see what we come up with.

my predictions are bad tastes and even worse hangovers
 
Couldn't you go to a feed store and buy some molasses? By the way hydrometers are not accurate at those sugar levels, they will underestimate the sugar in solution.
 
Well, considering that a feed store is probably selling backstrap molasses, why would I do that? I wanted a high quantity of QUALITY sugar.

Yooper, why would the taste be bad? I liked the taste of the sugar I used, that is, when I sampled the "wort", it was yummy! If the Lalvin poops out at about 18.5%, I'll be at an FG of about 1.045. Wouldn't that just be sweet? I'm not seeing why it would taste crappy.

Thanks!
 
If you freeze distill, you not only increase the alcohol but also the sugar levels. I have done this with a honey wine and a blackberry wine with good results.
 
Can anyone tell me why everyone's knee-jerk response to this experiment is:

"It'll taste awful!"

I'm not arguing, but I need a REASON why it will turn out poorly, not just conjecture. If I like the starting product, use a fairly non-flavor-inducing yeast and get up to 18% or higher, leaving residual sweetness, whence comes the bad flavor?

Thanks!
 
MBM30075 said:
Can anyone tell me why everyone's knee-jerk response to this experiment is:

"It'll taste awful!"

I'm not arguing, but I need a REASON why it will turn out poorly, not just conjecture. If I like the starting product, use a fairly non-flavor-inducing yeast and get up to 18% or higher, leaving residual sweetness, whence comes the bad flavor?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I haven't tried this myself but have read many an account of people that have and have come up with a reason why. Everyone that has made a sugar wash have said the taste is not as suscpected and quite nasty. The reason? My educated guess is that because there is no distillation going on, there is no opportunity to refine the alcohol and get rid of the heads and tails (the fusel alcohols that are undesired in a finished spirit). With those off tasting and headache indusing alcohols present, and a fairly flavor neutral base, those off flavors become center stage. The only way to prevent this is to ferment the wash as cold as the yeast could ferment. This will not rid you of those fusels but possibly lower them to a managable point. This is the same concept in beer where the colder you ferment the 'cleaner' the beer is. Unlike beer which has grain and hop flavor to cover up any fusels to a point, your wash has no other flavor to hid behind.

I hope that makes sense. I'm not positive that is the reason but it is what logic is telling me it is.
 
MBM30075 said:
Can anyone tell me why everyone's knee-jerk response to this experiment is:

"It'll taste awful!"

I'm not arguing, but I need a REASON why it will turn out poorly, not just conjecture. If I like the starting product, use a fairly non-flavor-inducing yeast and get up to 18% or higher, leaving residual sweetness, whence comes the bad flavor?

Thanks!
Click to expand...


Edit: Cellardoor - You beat me to this!!!! :D

Its gonna be conjecture since I doubt anyone here has tried this. Most fermented beverages have a base flavor ie. malt, hops, fruit and so on. In your case it will be sugar and yeast esters. Certain types of yeast will leave behind odd or possible foul flavors. Again in your case the esters will have nowhere to hide.

You might be able to make something very drinkable, especially if you are patient. You may also want to add some amylase enzyme to help the yeast break down and leftover complex sugars. I would allow this to age for a while.

The other thing to think about is how acceptable this alcohol is to drink. How much of it will be fusel alcohol. Major hangovers come to mind. AW with 2# of sugar give people killer headaches.

Try it, tell us how it works.
 
People responding with, "It will be nasty", isn't a knee-jerk response. A knee-jerk response is an uninformed, unalterable opinion. Saying any effort to ferment straight sugar will be a failure is based on dozens, if not hundreds, of attempts to do what you are doing, all of which failed.

Molasses-based brews are horrible. I made some "Valley Forge" beer. It was a dumper. Brown sugar is nothing but refined sugar plus molasses.

no_style_guide.jpg
 
You can say that all you want, but this was the first time someone had given me a "why" behind their answer. I will still let it go to see what happens. I had the thought to add some flavoring to the rum. What would be best?

1. Blackberry
2. Raspberry
3. Vanilla
4. Something else?

Thanks!
 
MBM30075 said:
You can say that all you want, but this was the first time someone had given me a "why" behind their answer. I will still let it go to see what happens. I had the thought to add some flavoring to the rum. What would be best?

1. Blackberry
2. Raspberry
3. Vanilla
4. Something else?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I do think David 42 is right. Just more blunt. This hobby is about experimenting. Try it, tell us how it works for you good or bad.

Go with vanilla.

BTW - I made beer with beer before. We mashed in with bud/miller/coors and busch, natty light etc. People thought I was crazy.
 
well hell make it, if its good drink it, if it sucks pour it out. have dumped more than 1 bad idea out, but I learned from it
 
Hasn't it occured to you that if it was that easy to make a good drink everyone would be doing it? What you are making is generally known as hooch. People have been brewing for thousands of years and how not to do it is fairly well known.
 
gregbathurst said:
Hasn't it occured to you that if it was that easy to make a good drink everyone would be doing it? What you are making is generally known as hooch. People have been brewing for thousands of years and how not to do it is fairly well known.
Click to expand...

I don't want to sound like a snob, so I didn't say much besides "it'll taste bad". Oh, I've never tried it so I'm not speaking from experience here. I just have many years of experience behind me. There is a reason sugar wash is distilled. If it tasted great right out of the fermenter, don't you think more people would do it? Even really high ABV "good" wines taste like rocket fuel for the first five years. A fermented sugar wash just isn't an ideal drink.

I have never eaten ice cream with spaghetti sauce, either. But I have enough experience in food to know it wouldn't taste good. Same with this instance- you don't have to have personally have tasted it to know it won't taste good.

It'll get you drunk, no doubt. There'll be plenty of alcohol in it. If you can gag it down, it'll do the trick.

I hope you do try it, and report back with your experiences. Then we can all benefit from the experiment.
 
I tried this once with an "apple wine" when I first startedout trying to make wine. I ended up with something around 16% alc and terribly sweet. I couldn't even drink the crap. Gave it away.
 
i was just thinking apfelwein. what if someone were to use this turbo yeast with a ton of apple concentrate. letting it age for a long long time. has anyone done something like this?
 
yep, I used turbo yeast and apple, poured it out in front yard. Stripped all the flavor out was jet fuel all the way and tasted like crap. Seems like you have yourself stuck in a space that allows taste to not count and only alcohol content. Follow direction, and use some Champagne yeast, Alcohol will be high and the stuff will taste fairly good. Only way it will taste good will be with age. If you just want a buzz, go to costco, buy some cheap Vino kits and make enough to get ripped.
 
well...i have the yeast here so i might as well try something. maybe i'll forget about it for a few years and see how it tastes
 
jonp9576 said:
i dont know what that means
Click to expand...

I was pretty :drunk: when I typed that. I think it means; You Need A Spanking but DIY without killing yourself. I might be wrong. :D

I'll let you know when I sober up!!!

I'm pretty sure thats wrong. I know it felt constructive at the time!!!
 
This could work BUT... they way you are approaching it I suspect it won't turn out well.

Incremental feeding would really help. Yeast don't reproduce well under high osmotic pressures. I would start at 8% ABV potential with wine yeast, or 12% ABV potential with turbo yeast and feed it every day with a small O2 addition for the first few days. Repeat until the sugar addition no longer causes a visible increase in fermentation activity.

Low FAN levels will result in excessive fusel alcohol production. Unless you are adding molasses, you will need to use yeast nutrient at recommended doses for wine fermentation. For higher gravity fermentations, Fermaid-K added 1/3rd of the way to terminal gravity is also a good idea.

The pH of the wash is likely too high and needs to be adjusted for the yeast to remain healthy. Saccharomyces yeast perform best between a starting pH of 4.5 and 5 which is where wine must and beer wort begin, and end with a pH of around 4. I would recommend using acid blend for winemaking since it is relatively flavor neutral, and testing with pH test strips until you get between a pH of 4.5-5.0.
 
Well, for this run, done is done. I can't go back and change this one. I did go ahead and put the jug in a swamp bath to keep fermentation temps down.

My target for this was twofold: 1) have fun (DONE!) and 2) hopefully get a "liquor" that I could mix with soda or something for a drink that tastes decent to good. (Still waiting...)

Anyway, if I pour the whole thing out, I'm out a small amount of time (seriously, took 20 minutes to brew) and $8. Oh, well, right?

BUT, even if it goes terribly, I've had fun and hopefully learned a thing or two.

Sacc, what does FAN stand for? When you said a small O2 addition, do you mean like stirring with a whisk? (I don't have an aeration stone). How would I do that in a 1 gallon jug that takes a #6.5 bung?

I added a full tablespoon of yeast nutrient, which is 3 times what's recommended. I've got some acid blend, so if I do this again, I'll add it.

8% ABV would be what, 1.065 or so SG? So, something like 1/4 to 1/3 of the sugar I used to start? Then add at what rate? 1/10th per day, so that on day 11 I'm adding the last of the sugar?

Sacc, thanks for the positive response. I mean, you actually HELPED me. Your post was a little better than:

"You're making HOOCH! Why are you so stupid?"

Thanks!
 
MBM30075 said:
Well, for this run, done is done. I can't go back and change this one. I did go ahead and put the jug in a swamp bath to keep fermentation temps down.

My target for this was twofold: 1) have fun (DONE!) and 2) hopefully get a "liquor" that I could mix with soda or something for a drink that tastes decent to good. (Still waiting...)

Anyway, if I pour the whole thing out, I'm out a small amount of time (seriously, took 20 minutes to brew) and $8. Oh, well, right?

BUT, even if it goes terribly, I've had fun and hopefully learned a thing or two.

Sacc, what does FAN stand for? When you said a small O2 addition, do you mean like stirring with a whisk? (I don't have an aeration stone). How would I do that in a 1 gallon jug that takes a #6.5 bung?

I added a full tablespoon of yeast nutrient, which is 3 times what's recommended. I've got some acid blend, so if I do this again, I'll add it.

8% ABV would be what, 1.065 or so SG? So, something like 1/4 to 1/3 of the sugar I used to start? Then add at what rate? 1/10th per day, so that on day 11 I'm adding the last of the sugar?

Sacc, thanks for the positive response. I mean, you actually HELPED me. Your post was a little better than:

"You're making HOOCH! Why are you so stupid?"

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Regarding your addition of yeast nutrient. More is not necessarily better. The nutrient contains or is all Di-Ammonium-Phosphate (DAP). If you use too much DAP it will taste like ammonia. That taste will never go away.
 
Temperature control will be very important for something with straight sucrose... might retard some of the fusel alcohols that the yeast will spew.
 
Been following this off & on--don't know what you're going to end up with here but if you're going for a kind of rum-ish beverage, when it's finished why not try flavoring a sample with a bit of rum flavoring? Watkins makes a pretty good one. Since you're just playing around it can't hurt anything. And if you do manage to pull this off without a lot of fusels, then you could end up with something not too bad...
 
MBM30075 said:
Sacc, what does FAN stand for? When you said a small O2 addition, do you mean like stirring with a whisk? (I don't have an aeration stone). How would I do that in a 1 gallon jug that takes a #6.5 bung?
Click to expand...

Use a bucket. You can find #1 or #2 plastic buckets cheap at any hardware store. Once you are done adding the last of the sugar you can rack into your jug and let it finish in there.

Too much yeast nutrient is not a good thing. ^^^^

8% ABV would be what, 1.065 or so SG? So, something like 1/4 to 1/3 of the sugar I used to start?
Click to expand...

Yep. Maybe start with 1/3rd, and stretch the sugar additions out so you are doing it over about a 10 day period. Much easier to do this in a bucket with a (sanitized) whisk. For the first few additions you can whisk vigorously to whip air into it. After that just enough to drive off CO2 without splashing too much.
 
Schlenkerla said:
Regarding your addition of yeast nutrient. More is not necessarily better. The nutrient contains or is all Di-Ammonium-Phosphate (DAP). If you use too much DAP it will taste like ammonia. That taste will never go away.
Click to expand...

Saccharomyces said:
Too much yeast nutrient is not a good thing. ^^^^
Click to expand...

I have never drank ammonia but if you smelled it, adding too much will give the same impression as if you did. Smell overpowers taste.
 
Here's a thought, in case what you end up with isn't what you were going for.

Since you're thinking about flavoring your "rum" with fruit anyway, why not start out trying to make a high-gravity wine instead? There are numerous recipes I could point you to.

There's also fortified wines. Make yourself a high-gravity wine, then add brandy to strengthen and flavor. I'm addicted to a fortified cherry wine called Cerise from a winery here in Michigan. Its made by mixing cherry wine with cherry brandy, and its delightful.
Chateau Chantal - - Fortified
 
i heard some yeast strains react better with table sugar then other strains.

i dont know if us05 is one of them, but for example if it is....would you be able to use us05 as the yeast then when it finishes(probably like 11%?), add the champagn yeast?
 

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