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into what we're actually gonna do today
we're going to make some rum and I've
had a lot of questions about how do you
make rum and almost everybody knows that
rum is made from molasses or pure cane
sugar but there's a process that that
goes through and then the majority of
questions kind of focus into sulfur
versus on sulfur well the primary
difference between the two is this if
you take a baby or a and unripened cane
and you're getting ready to run that
through the process then what they do is
they put in sulfur dioxide and that
while that really does that's a
preservative and it preserves that came
before it gets to its process so it
doesn't deteriorate but unsoftened
molasses is molasses that's made from
and it's actually the most genuine in
the most pure form of molasses it's made
from the Sun ripened cane so that's
really the primary difference it doesn't
have an effect well my opinion is is
that if I can use unsalted molasses I
always will because I'm not quite sure
or can I be confident that the amount of
sulfur dioxide that's in the sulfur
molasses will have any effect on my
process so it's up to you but are the
solfege molasses is always best so what
we've got here in order to make this I'm
gonna do this the most simple way
possible I know that everybody out there
doesn't have all the pieces of equipment
that everybody else does so but most of
us have the basics of what it requires
to actually make a really really good
rum and what I'm actually gonna do is
we're gonna this I'm starting this
because this is gonna be my coconut rum
but no I'm not going to firm it any
coconuts another topic all in itself
okay well we've gotten so I've got nine
pounds or 96 ounces because three pounds
is 32 ounces of unsalted molasses I'm
gonna use that I've got four pounds of
sugar in the raw and the sugar in the
raw it has not been processed yet
because the processing sugar is where
you get the molasses Nino brown sugar
brown sugar is not fully processed so
you got a little bit of molasses in
that's why it's brown and there's a lot
of other things that's done to it but so
we're gonna use raw sugar now these are
the two primary ingredients and of
course we use some yeast energizer I'm
gonna put some yeast in it and I'll use
the daddy yeast you can use rum turbo
yeast it's made specifically for rum so
if you have it why not
but if not in a pinch EC 11:18 it's a
really good wine yeast will work your
daddy yeast will work a whiskey East
will actually do a pretty darn good job
and it's really really hard to tell the
difference so when it comes to making
rum you've got a little bit of leeway
left and right on some of your
ingredients and how you approach this
okay now well I will not do and this is
for later on efforts all Furminator
ready to go we'll go through that
process we actually distill it is when
we're gonna try to impart that coconut
flavor now before you ask the question
and you write the comments well George
can't you just add the coconut look you
probably could but really the best way
to ask a question is should I because if
you say can I the answer is always well
hell yeah but you know ask the question
should I should I has a big different
implication you probably should not
because you're not trying to foment a
coconut you're trying to ferment the
base molasses and the raw sugar in order
to get that rum flavor and then we're
gonna impart the coconut at the end
process just like distillers do now we
have three options and those three
options are I can add
coconut pure raw coconut milk to the
distilling kettle and try to get some
flavor out that way that's one good way
of doing it but it doesn't necessarily
impart all the flavors that we're
looking for what I also could do is I
could use some coconut flakes just
regular flaked coconut you find in the
bakery aisle I would use probably both
of these bags for one run and I would
put those in a see that here's the
option because not everybody has all of
those pieces of equipment we've got a
gin still with a gin basket in the
middle and we'd fill that gin basket
just like we would put me like if you're
gonna make gin you put juniper berries
in there and you just still through it
which gives you a lot more of that aroma
in that flavor and we could probably do
that you could also if you have a
two-inch column you could use you know
an old sock not not one of your old
socks I'm talking about you there's like
a hop sock that you would get for for
beer and it's just a Muslim sock and you
could fill that up with a coke and then
drop it down inside put a little string
on it then when you put your bung on top
it'll hold that in the middle of your
column and you distill through it
so remember distilling through a medium
gives you the best flavor and the more
robust aroma flavor you know all those
things you're actually looking for it as
an example if you used coffee and you
crushed a couple of coffee beans and put
them in in the column you got a really
good coffee liqueur out of that okay now
the last option we have and this is
probably one that's most direct and it's
really easy and it's very very good as
well is coconut extract and you'd add
that to the distillate after you're
finished the benefit of using an extract
is that you don't have to wait until
it's all finished and then taste it and
go wow that's got a lot of great coke or
if I wish I had just a little bit more
we'll see with the extract you can add
it until it meets your requirement so
you know you can add a little bit in the
tasting a little bit more tasting oh
okay that's that's enough so that's the
other options you have so without what
we're going to do now is we're gonna mix
all this up I have
this is the only thing that I'm gonna
use that's not normally available in
your kitchen or your garage and that's
one them it's a it's a paint mixer it's
just a great big wheel and I put it on
the end of a drill and this is really
good for stirring and mixing but you
could use a paddle that's that's
absolutely fine or you could use a great
big whisk the other thing I'm going to
do is we're going to test the pH because
the pH of anytime you're going to do a
fermentation for distillation should be
around 5 - that's that that's that is
that window of excellence is 5 - and
remember your pH scale goes from 1 to 14
7 being neutral so it's it's kind of
weird but ok 1 through 7 is acidic 7
through 14 is alkaline so what you want
now you have seven point two seven point
six somewhere around there is normally
what tap water is it's not really acidic
at all and it's not strongly alkaline so
but we want a little bit of acidity in
here so I'm going to use these this is h
th you don't have to use this brand you
get them at Walmart but you use them to
test the pool but just look on the back
and make sure that on the back it at
least goes down this only goes down to
6.4 and you'll know see this will give
you a general idea if you're in the
right ballpark and you know instead of
just trying to guess that I'm at 7.2 or
weren't wearing my hat I'm trying to get
the 5.2 so I want to be a little bit
more acidic I'm going to use those just
as a demonstration because it's really
the most direct and most inexpensive way
of going about it
or you can get a pH meter and that's
what one of these are you put at the end
of it off turn it on and stick it in
there and then you'll read the scale
it'll tell you what the pH is so we're
going to do both of those just to check
the pH of our water before we make our
match and remember anytime you add
ingredients to the water your pH will
change but if your starting point should
be 5.2 now there's one last thing that
you could use if you're trying to
balance the pH and your water there's a
there's a product known as pH stabilizer
it's called 5.2 I guess it's called 5.2
because that's what we're all that's
what the goal is but you can get it in
most of your local brew shops or you can
get it at barley and hops brewing comm
just or Colerain right ray Ray's got it
right on the shelf now - five four three
zero zero eight two two six four all
your brewing needs now you could use
that and that'll balance your pH for
regardless of what you're trying to make
okay and also it'll go whether it's high
it'll bring it down if it's low to bring
it up so pH balancer it's called 5.2 now
I already know that in general that my
tap water which I like to use because
our tap water tastes really good I
already know that it's probably in the
77.4 range I already know that so what
I've done is and you know the question
is well well how do you how do you
adjust that if necessary well there's a
whole lot of potassium bicarbonate I
mean there's there's all these great and
crazy wonderful things because and all
of them do the same thing they'll adjust
the pH of your water a real easy way to
acidify your water is by adding some
acid something that's more natural like
a lemon so what we're gonna do is we're
gonna add some lemon you know take it
cut it up and squeeze it squeeze a lemon
in there then we're gonna test it again
until we get to the proper pH level and
if I don't have enough acid in one lemon
I'm actually used just a jug of lemon
juice just squeeze it in there until I
get to the right pH level okay so you
with me so far
good what we're gonna do is we're going
to mix we're gonna test first we're
gonna balance then we're gonna mix now
we're gonna test to see where it's at
then we're gonna add our yeast nutrient
and our yeast and this time I think what
we'll do is I think we'll do a pre proof
on our yeast you just let it grow a
little bit and then we're gonna put the
lid on it and we're gonna let it firm it
after all that said and done we'll come
back because this will take seven to ten
days just like normal and then we'll
transfer it we'll check it out and then
we'll clarify it and then we go
in the pot and then we're gonna purify
it so we'll be back with you in just a
couple of minutes as I get all this
stuff all ready and set and you can
watch us go through the process alrighty
now we got a cup here this is not coffee
I just dipped in and grabbed some water
out of there so I want to test the water
I don't have to test it I can just test
it here and the first thing I'm gonna
use I'm gonna use my pH meter and I'll
get close to the camera so you can see
this I'll turn it on and balance itself
out you'll see that the numbers will
bounce up and down all around do all
kind of crazy things and then when you
dip it in the water six point nine so
I'm just about seven it's six point nine
so I'm a little bit on the acidic side
just a little bit now let's use one of
these test strips from our local pool
supplier or Walmart or wherever you tend
to buy these and or you can get them
from a brew shop and some of them will
go all the way down to five they make
them for a wine and or beer because
you're looking for different pH levels
in wine in particular and like a
finished product looking for a different
pH level alright so with this one all we
do is we drop it in get it wet and pull
it right back out yeah that's a good
move and then we turn it over on the
back and we use the back panel and we
set this aside and we just all we do is
we compare the colors and you'll see
that second one from the top you've got
the top and the second when this turning
orange if we go down here and try to
match it I'm matching it somewhere
around the six point eight to a 7.3 just
gives me a range and so I've kind of
verified that my meter is actually
working right or the meters verify that
the strips working right but what we
want to try to do is we'll try to bring
it down we want to bring that down so we
will make it a little bit more acidic
let's do this let's cut this lemon and
you know you really don't have to worry
about the seat if the seed drops in
there big
you're gonna you're gonna clear it
anyway you're gonna have a lot of
sediment in this fermentation so you're
going to clear it anyway
so let's do this let's yeah okay and
I'll put some we'll put the other half
of that lemon in there and before
someone asks a question cuz I know they
will hey George can you just throw the
lemon in there and let it stay remember
what I said
could I or should I you can I don't
wouldn't recommend it but I guess you
could all right now let's give it a stir
it doesn't take much oh yeah
get a new yep get a new cup of that
water turn our pH meter back on and
you'll see see it bouncing around it'll
bounce around until I put it in now put
it in see it going down six point six
six point five six point four we got to
look six point three we got a little
ways to go so I'm going to use some of
that lemon juice that I brought it over
and I put that back in there we're going
to do the same thing we're gonna add
some lemon juice and try to get
ourselves to the proper level that
should not take a whole lot now there
are probably measurements of this stuff
but you'll notice I like to work with my
hands and with all my senses you know if
the little bit does I just a little bit
more I like to work my way towards it
there are things that are really good to
just measure ahead of time if you know
precisely what you're what you're
looking for but in this particular case
just keep adding until you get to where
you want ok she's starting to bounce
around there goes it's going back up and
down five point nine seven six five
point five looks like it's going to stay
there five point five so we you know
that we're actually adjusting the pH of
this water with that sad knowing that I
brought it down from what six point four
to five point five with a squirt whoops
I would imagine that that squirt is
going to probably do it this amazing
process and most of this is just so
simple um please don't make it any
harder than it is
don't don't overthink it here we go one
more time there's it's see it's bouncing
around going back up and down would put
it in 5.2 there we go we have balanced
it out now our pH level of this water is
5.2 so now it's time the only thing
we've got left to do is add all of our
ingredients which I'm gonna do slowly
and then we'll mix it and at the very
end we'll do the final yeast nutrient in
yeast and we'll get on with it so we'll
be back with you let me get this ready
and we'll pick up where I left off okay
all right yeah we got four pounds of the
raw sugar this one is sugar in the raw
it's a four pound bag and most of your
grocery stores you're gonna find raw
sugar
you'll also find coconut sugar um here
we go
can I use coconut sugar what yeah you
can use it that should you never try it
give it a try at home and let us know
what you find out all right and you'll
see if this stuff is uh it's nice and
it's got some big crystals and it's
brown
so we're gonna add that slowly and at
the same time that we're doing that
we're going to know we're doing the
sugar first only because it's crystals
and we want to liquefy it so we're gonna
add that first and we're gonna let that
liquefy that may take a few minutes but
whoops well yeah I just dumped the whole
bag in there it's not gonna hurt
anything I would have preferred to do it
a little slower so there we go and this
will mix all that up and I've got a
really nice amber color here we'll show
you that in a second as we mix it up
look you're gonna take a break and I'm
gonna do the mixing on here and I'll be
back well we've got this all mixed up I
want to show you this now this is only
the brook the raw sugar that you'll see
it's got that really nice amber color
what we're gonna do now is we're gonna
add all of our molasses before we take a
gravity reading and I've already got
you'll see here I've already got my
starter going
that's my yeast starter and that should
take all 10-15 minutes or so a little
bit more and we're gonna add this in a
very slow manner but at the same time
we're gonna be mixing because this is
pretty thick stuff you'll see that and
that really starts to turn on the dark
color now remember this will come out
crystal clear in the school so doesn't
matter what color your wash winds up
then it's gonna come out clear now I
want to give you a tip while we're at
this because this is going to take me a
little while as well I'll get all three
of these mixed in here but when it comes
to cleaning out your buckets or your
utensils or the things that you can use
I'll share this with you the best thing
to use of course it's gonna be a really
light soap like mild warm soap like mild
warm soapy water yeah and the best thing
to use are these
your hands because you can feel and as
you watch there's no way you can scratch
anything so you can't scratch the inside
of your bucket to give bacteria a place
to live but at the same token when
you're going around in there you'll feel
if you've got any crust or any hard
spots in there plus it's a really good
cleaning surface is your hands no
Chinese guy told me that years ago when
I was working as a dishwasher he told me
the silverware the best way to wash
silverware is with your fingers because
you can feel if you get it all off so
keep that in mind all right we're gonna
go back to mixing this and we'll be back
with you as soon as as soon as we get
that done should take me 5-10 minutes I
wanted to show you this I'm not sure if
you can see it or not but there's a lot
of agnus as the yeast that's that's just
proofing you see it's starting to
develop a head on the top it's been 10
minutes but I was just watching it and
there is so much activity going on and
there's like little volcanoes that are
taking off that's going up so this is
really fun to watch this is actually
what happens in your fermenter oh yeah
you can see it see if they're moving
around and your fermenter there's a lot
of yeast activity taking place and so
this stuff is really going at it I just
wanted to show you that now what one
other thing I do is you'll know that the
molasses is really hard to get out of
these jugs or any kind of job that you
have it's because it's really thick so
what you do is when you get a couple of
empty ones you fill a halfway with warm
water and you fill the other one halfway
with one when you start pouring them
back and forth and that way you can
leach out all that remaining molasses
and sort of like clean that jug out and
take advantage of everything you've got
there because there's no sense in
wasting any of it there you'll see that
it's pretty clear and clean on the
inside just pour that in there so now in
my bucket I have probably a good six
gallons and I didn't measure that's
precisely I kind of have this visual of
what I want to see and the reason I do
that is even though I want to make a
five gallon batch you know what's going
to take place is going to ferment and
then everything's going to drop to the
bottom well when I start to siphon
that off or if I use you know check out
our video for a vacuum transfers when I
transfer whether it's vacuum or whether
it's a pump or however I do is siphon I
like to stay off the bottom because I
don't want to pick up any of that
sediment I'm trying to separate that
sediment from the wash so I'll make a
little bit extra because I know I'm
always gonna sacrifice some yeah yeah
you can go all the way down to the
bottom and you can try to tilt it and
whatever you want to do try to get every
bit of it and that's quite alright but I
like to just I'll sacrifice
yeah maybe a quart or two maybe
sometimes doing a transfer just in order
to get as clear mash as I can because
remember the cleaner it goes in by golly
the cleaner it comes out you know as I
always say may never take a sleeping
pill in laxatives at the same time huh
yeah the future is easy to predict but
absolutely impossible to control so you
don't want to put a dirty wash into your
still because you're gonna wind up
scorching and getting some dirty stuff
coming out alright let's let's keep
going
I've got all this infinite now I'm gonna
do some more mixing just to make sure
that I'm fully mixed up and I'm here in
a few minutes we're gonna add yeast and
put a top on this my friends should make
us happy be right back alright hey you
know we've got it all mixed we're just
about ready to go as a matter of fact I
was just making sure I was using that
stars' and mix that we have for anything
that touches your mash cleanliness and
sanitation is very important but when it
comes to a mash it's not critical let me
try to explain the difference you know
when you make it beer
you're not going to distill it so it's
critical when you're making wine it is
critical you know but when you're making
a mash it's not critical but it's still
important so make sure you use them star
say that's it Oh sanitizer that we use
and it's like like it yeah an ounce per
three or four gallons
and it'll stay good as long as you put
in a spray bottle and cover it if you
leave it open it'll dissipate it'll
it'll leave and it'll become not
effective after about two days so if you
put it in a bucket and you think you're
saving it and let's put a lid on the
bucket keep it there that it's gonna go
away so but this stuff I've had this
bottle for you can imagine how much I go
through but I've had this bottle for
over two years so this stuff will last
you a long long time and it's actually
what's really good about it
it's a spray shake and then use they
whereas with if you're going to use
Clorox bleach or some of those other
chemicals of for sanitation you've got
contact time bleach is about 20 minutes
and then you gotta rinse all of that out
and so but with this it's just a spray
shake and you can use so excellent
product all right well here's what we've
got now we're getting ready to add
everything else to it but what have we
forgotten 9 pounds of molasses we got 4
pounds of the raw sugar we've done all
of that we managed it we've checked our
pH everything was fine now we gotta take
a gravity reading remember I always take
a gravity reading before you add the
yeast
if you ever call and you have an issue
the first question will probably ask you
is well what was your initial gravity
and you believe the number of times I
get for God that that's okay it's not
it's not the end of the world but it's
important because if you have a data
point in the beginning and then we have
a data point now that can kind of tell
us where we're at and where we're going
or if we're going anywhere at all so
I've pulled out a sample we're gonna
drop our hydrometer any predictions and
you'll see here we are let me see if I
get that focused in for you real good
we're at like one point zero a zero
which really is gonna bring us to about
almost an 11 percent of potential
alcohol by volume so what that's telling
me is that
when I am completed the fermentation
problem process and then the
distillation process that about eleven
percent of that bucket is gonna be pure
ethyl alcohol so I should probably wind
up with doggone near a gallon give or
take and then when I cut that because
it'll start off at like 170 and it'll
start to precipitously drop and I cut
that I'll probably wine up with about
six maybe seven quarts of some really
terrific rum all right now you can use
diammonium phosphate big word for me
diammonium phosphate is an additive and
you get out of your local brew store now
I also use I love using this a firm ax
yeast nutrient for max yeast nutrient
comes in a small pallet or you get a
one-pound bag if you're going to get the
distillers active dry yeast Daddy East
that come it's easy to get it in a one
pound block it's less than twenty bucks
and then you get two pounds of this
because it goes it's two to one ratio
two scoops of Fermat's yeast nutrient
one scoop of yeast is a batch for it's
good for about 5 gallons I'm talking
about good heaping tablespoon and then
you can make probably 48 to 52 batches
with that one pound of Daddy yeast so
I've done that and you'll see that I've
let's while we're here let's test the pH
of the finished product and see where it
is at
we're not put that cup there it is I'm
sure everybody's kind of curious because
we know it's gonna change or maybe it
won't so I'll turn the pH meter on and
again you'll see it bouncing all over
the place we're gonna stick it in there
look at that it's 5.8 it's about a 5.8
so you'll see it raised itself 5.9 so
it's absorbing a bit of that acidity
but it started out good so let's rinse
that off we're in good shape now here
you go twenty minutes and we've got a
cake on top of this yeast and you can
see it is still moving around in there
so it's very very active the last thing
I got to do now is just we call it pitch
in the east I'll pitch the east and then
will of course add the lid and an
airlock it will keep that it the
temperature we're looking for is
anywhere from 68 to about 74 degrees
here's what will happen if you get it
too cold no yeast will go along really
really slow and sluggish and they may
even stop now if you start moving up
that ladder of temperature above 74 you
get around 78 you will start to get some
really robust activity now here's the
trade-off of that robust activity is the
side odor that sometimes is associated
with it when you get up into the 80s and
the low 90s you're gonna have a stench
smells like first of all like smell like
ass and then and your wife ain't gonna
be happy with that
and if you get it too warm it'll smell
like two asses and she'll be running you
out of the house with it but it's like
rotten eggs really there's nothing wrong
with it it's just the off odors that
that chemical reaction is taking place
inside there it's going to give off now
when you're doing a beer or a wine if
you get that kind of smell you may have
some issues with flavor but when it
comes to distilling remember you're
gonna put it through a pot and you're
gonna raise that temperature high enough
to kill off anything that's bad and
produce a clear product product on the
end so the smell of the fermentation
problem process doesn't have as much
effect on that flavor just be cautious
and don't let it get too warm now if it
gets really really hot about
and ten degrees or more which is
astronomical by anybody's measure you
may kill that yeast now remember when
you put the yeast in there it's the the
temperature of your mash overnight is
going to rise probably three to four
degrees due to the activity of the east
going on inside so I like to keep it
around 74 ish somewhere around there and
you should get some really good results
if it goes up to 80 85 I usually don't
really worry about it I'll put it out
here in the man cave where you can't
smell them masses inside alright here we
go I'm gonna just all I'm gonna do is
just pour this in here because it is
ready to do its thing and while that's
in there we're going to and say I don't
even have to mix it I'm gonna put the
lid on in such a manner that when I pull
the handle up it doesn't get interfere
with my air lock last but not least I
put the airlock on there then I go to
market and I'll also write on the side
of it with the original gravity boys
remember that nine point zero eight zero
so I got about a 10 and a half 11
percent potential alcohol by volume
there you have it and then when we come
back and we do this later
we'll distill it and we'll distill it as
many different methods as we possibly
can
because we only got one batch here but
we'll try to go through the coconut in
the column and then we'll also try it
with some of the imitation coconut
extract we're gonna make a coconut rum
whether whether you like it or not so
please hang with us and as always happy
distilling