Tasty "White Dog" Rum? Yeast?

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Tasty "White Dog" Rum? Yeast?

Postby JayTee » Thu Jul 04, 2019 10:20 pm

Hey guys,

All the rum I make now is based on Lallemand RM yeast, 100% molasses and oaked for ideally 9 to 12 months. I've had some really good results with this approach. Recently, I've sampled some "white dog" rum from a new UK distillery. I have to say it's very nice. I wouldn't choose to drink it straight up, because it's nowhere near as nice as mine, but then it's very smooth and straight off the Still and I think perfect for mixing in cocktails etc. There aren't any noticeable heads or tails in that rum either. I've got a 25th anniversary party at the end of the month, so I'd like to make a replica batch for cocktail drinks.

So, I'm trying to work out if the smoothness of that 40%abv white dog is merely as a result of running a 4-plate bubbler with good cuts, or if they might have used a different yeast which gives a cleaner but perhaps not quite so flavourful result?

I happen to have some Lallemand SR yeast in the cupboard - unopened. I meant to try it but the results with RM were so good that I never got round to it! I'm thinking the SR yeast won't put as much flavour complexity into the rum. May be the rum will be cleaner too? The other options is trying EC1118 (I've got some of that too). I would never have thought of trying champagne yeast, but I would definitely get a clean result - but would it be recognisable as rum?

Ref the distillation, I'm relatively new to bubbler technology, but I always run out the heads on plenty of reflux, then switch off the RC as the hearts start to come through. This is perfect for oaked rum, but I'm not sure if I'd need full reflex for the whole run, if my intention is to drink a white dog?

If anyone has any opinions on the effects of yeast on rum flavour and my "white dog" dilemma, I'd be very grateful! :D
JayTee
 
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Re: Tasty "White Dog" Rum? Yeast?

Postby scythe » Fri Jul 05, 2019 4:23 am

What do you mean switch off the RC when your in hearts?
You are running it like a hybrid pot, not ideal, when you stop using the RC.
Leave the RC "on" and either increase the input heat or slightly reduce the water flow to the RC.

Ideally aim for 1.5-2.5L/Hr output rate.
That will probably change the flavour of your rum more that changing yeast and give you the lighter style your after.
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Re: Tasty "White Dog" Rum? Yeast?

Postby coffe addict » Fri Jul 05, 2019 8:10 am

I usually keep some white dog for Caipirinhas.
From a 40% spirit run I keep the middle 1/3 of the hearts.

As scythe suggested though I'd keep the plates loaded and then keep the middle 1/3.
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Re: Tasty "White Dog" Rum? Yeast?

Postby JayTee » Sat Jul 06, 2019 8:38 pm

scythe wrote:What do you mean switch off the RC when your in hearts?
You are running it like a hybrid pot, not ideal, when you stop using the RC.
Leave the RC "on" and either increase the input heat or slightly reduce the water flow to the RC.


I guess I meant I virtually switch off the RC, but not so much to stop the plates bubbling along properly. In my first couple of runs with the bubbler, I ran quite a lot of reflux through the whole run and this caused me flavour problems. A lot of flavour gets dumped in the heads and if I continue to run a lot of reflux through to the end, the hearts end up tasting very smooth but lacking real flavour. Was I doing something wrong?
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Re: Tasty "White Dog" Rum? Yeast?

Postby db1979 » Sun Jul 07, 2019 7:36 am

No there's nothing wrong with how you were running. More reflux means less flavour, generally. There should be less flavour towards the end of hearts. You want reflux on during hearts so tails are knocked back down otherwise you'll get tails through half of your hearts. This also means that you're missing out on flavour in the tails too. People run pot stills in order to maximise flavour, or they run bubblers faster (less reflux) to keep more flavour. Lots of different variables to play with.
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