From wiki: Kraken Rum was introduced in 2010.[3] The base rum is from Trinidad, distilled from molasses made from locally grown sugar cane. The rum is aged 1-2 years and then blended with a mix of 11 spices, including cinnamon, ginger and clove.[1][4][5] The liquid is black, revealing hints of brown when held up to the light.[6] The color comes (in my opinion) from: Heavy charred american oak (gives it a typical Rum flavor), the spices, backset/molasses and E150 (caramel food coloring)
Yeah, I think that E150 food coloring might be the hidden factor to really darken it beyond what barrel charring can do without changing the overall flavor;-)
I've mixed Capt Morgan with apple cider and it was really good. I may try your spice mix on some other rum since I can't yet distill just to try it out because it sounds great.
I love a nice dark sipping rum without all the candy flavors, and you've opened a door for me to transform Bacardi into something special. Many thanks, my good man!
Hey Bearded, just wanted to thank you for getting me into homebrewing! I made a batch of cider by following your instructions and it turned out pretty good - a little too sweet for my taste from the concentrate and I could've used a better yeast, but otherwise I'm very happy with how it turned out. Thanks again!
Hey man another great video. This is right on time, Ive got 4L or a gallon of 55% waiting for something just like what you posted. These videos that yourself, Jesse, George and Beaver posted have taught me so much,. Thank you so much.
Bacardi Oakheart, now known as Bacardi Spiced Rum, is the best commercially available spiced rum ive personally had. theres probably betters out there, but not that ive tried. as a cocktail, it mixes insanely well with Dr. Pepper. the spices and smokiness of the rum and the spices of the Dr. Pepper blend so well together. if i could make my own spiced rum to match or beat Bacardi Oakheart that would be amazing. Always been a dream of mine to make my own spiced rum.
Hi B&B, I barrel aged my run for a year in an old bourbon barrel and then added the backset. It really is almost black since a year in a barrel darkened the run quite a lot. And not with the spicing, it's turning out great. Thanks
Great video as always B&B. I've got my first batch of rum on the go right now - and will try out your spiceology to see how it goes - thanks for posting!
Great video!! I use the following recipe on 2L of rum @ 50% after wooding it with charred Oak staves for a month. 1/2 cup smashed raisins, 6 coffee beans crushed, 1 cinamon stick, 5 drops vanilla essence, 20ml +/- molasses treacle 1, I usually leave it for two weeks, but after 1 week the tastes are awesome.. Nothing in the shops can compare.. Will definitely give your recipe a try.. All I need to get is a sexy rum bottle like yours :-)
I just make spiced rum by throwing the herbs and peel in a simple rum (usually Brown) and let it sit for three months (there is a weird reason for the time). Then strain it and yeah. Downside is that I have to wait 3 months to see the result, but the first attempts lead to some great succes. Thinking to try to toast the herbs next time and Also add melasse (my brother Found the Taste a bit off and he likes captain Morgan). So thanks for the great tips.
The kraken dives down to the bottom of the sea and gets lava rock and infuses it into the rum arrrrrrr!! Love the video, going to try the backset in my next spiced rum. Thanks
Thanks for the mythical backstory;-) Let me know how your rum goes. You might get a darker color since my initial wash was heavy on pineapple and lighter on molasses.
A nice tip is to use your bourbon wood chips after maturity in your smoker with some hickory chips , very nice smoke aroma for smoking some pork ribs or pork belly.
I've been experimenting with adding small amounts of stillage to my distilled products and found it to really kick up the flavor while adding some natural color to it...since everything distilled is usually clear.
Hey Bearded! Cool video. Definitely do more rum projects. You should do some Tiki Drink videos. Homemade DIY Felernum No 9 syrup goes great in a good rum cocktail ( look up the original Don beach recipe for a zombie. it’s excellent ) A well crafted Tiki drink from scratch is so much better than what you get at most bars. Definitely look into it. It’s an idea. Summers on its way. Keep up the great work.
I did the Bob recipe also! I used Chared maple wood. My opinion it brought out the maple syrup flavor out. I liked it and that’s all that really mattered
To clear out your Dunder, dredges or backset, I put mine in the freezer overnight. The heavy particles fall to the bottom and become more or less solid allowing to drain of the sweet stuff or, everything else to I can keep the yeast.
Well, this video was right on time seeing I just picked up a bucket of molasses and 25 lbs of Dark brown sugar. Now you've given me about 6 or more ingredients I need to round up before spicing it up right. It was a very informative video! Cheers!
Another trick I have found is to use whole crushed (just a little smack with a hammer) spices instead of ground....put them in a stainless tea ball with a string to suspend it so you can hang it halfway up the bottle....shake it every time I walk by....and make "sun tea" until it gets where you want the flavor then just pull out the ball........after the spices are out I do the same with oak chips. Thank you for the KnarleyApple link.....I ordered some toasted cherry sticks to try.......I'm gonna chop them up a bit so they fit in my ball and I get more surface area exposed to the liquid..... If I like the flavor I am gonna try to find a 10 ltr. cherry wood barrel or three and do some real aging!!! 😎 If you know where to get one of those I would be most appreciative....All I have been able to find is oak.
Thanks for the tea ball trick! For cherry wood barrels, no idea if those exist. I don't know if cherry wood makes good barrels. One thing you can do is Look up Bad Motivator barrels and see if he could make you a cherry barrel head for the steel aging barrels he does. Also, you can try Ten30 barrels. His a a smaller version of the Bad Motivator barrels.
@@BeardedBored Thanks....I have called probably 10 or so cooperages and none of them make cherry barrels.....I really like what the cherry wood does to my rum.....To me it is way tastier than oak!! I'll check out your referral and see what they can do.......My "want" is for about two 5 gal kegs so it doesn't take forever to age.
thanks for the great tips- just made my very first batch distilling and a whole lot of fun! However it was wayyy too strong so added some distilled water, and coconut extract i bought- but will try and add some chips to make it darker and richer looking. Will try orange and the mix you showed- again many thanks for the great tips!
I've used them before too. They're a little tricky to work out how much to use, any chips are, because the surface area contact is tougher to judge. Just keep a close eye on the progress and it'll work.
@@BeardedBored its getting a really RICH brown color. I'm trying to do it as they would at lynchburg. i started it at 165 proof but gonna cut it down to JD 86 proof for starters. I also in one quart added some American oak and in the other some pecan chips. once i strain it off they'll be blended and cut. ill keep you updated on progress
@@BeardedBored went on and pulled them yesterday evening. blended the two together and cut it down to around 84-86 proof (three 750ml bottles) using water and leftover from a peach brandy run. flavored out perfectly
Never drank rum,made a batch of buccaneer bobs,spiced n wood aged it,had 5litres n down to my last bottle ,so in short,I like rum,like it a lot 👌noice vid big fella 👍
I've watched a few of your videos. I would like to know what you recommend for me I've never made whisky or been lol. I love to drink it. What do I do to get started? Thank you in advance
Check out the r/firewater thread on reddit.com, the Still It channel and BeaverDIY channel to get a lot of great info on getting started in the hobby. It's a steep learning curve, but fun:-)
@07:30 you are talking about every 12 hours I should chick the spices, but the problem is I ended up checking every 45 minutes, shit totally knocked me out..🤣🤣 Thanks for all the awesome videos bud👍🏽
I decided to experiment with the backset technique from a rhum agricole style I made a few months ago. It did not go well. It made the whole batch smell like vomit, and the longer it went, the worse it smelled. It eventually got reprocessed as part of a trash batch with some feints and some homemade apple cider, and turned into a pretty nice spirit.
Sounds like it went perfectly if you were trying to make a Jamaican rum. That vomit smell is butyric acid and believe it or not, that's a good thing in rum fermentations. The acid forms esters in distillation that give off fruity flavors. Usually it's not found in clean backset, especially if it's added to high proof alcohol. But as a dunder pit to add to a wash before fermentation, it's definitely desirable, if disgusting.
@@BeardedBored adding the backset into the next generation of wash before fermenting has definitely made for a deeper flavor profile, (currently waiting on gen 3 of that recipe to finish up) but that first run, a recipe test, the ferment failed about halfway through and wouldn't restart. Never could figure out why. I decided to run it anyway. The spirit tasted wonderful, but I got bored and wondered what the results would be if I used techniques from molasses based rum recipes in one based on cane juice instead. I used the backset straight from the still to flavor the spirit, and that's where it all went pear shaped. What I got was ok at first. a bit sour and funky, but kind of tasty. after a week or so it got cloudier and started smelling like feet and vomit. I couldn't bring myself to taste it, so it got reprocessed as part of my next run. (That, however, is relatively light and delicate spirit that I aged on a mixture of cherry and second use oak.)
@@BeardedBored I can't source proper fresh cane juice, at least not in useful quantities, so I use the next best thing, evaporated cane sugar, and then add chopped up bits of a section of sugar cane bought from the grocery store to try to reintroduce some of the earthier character into the wash. It's hardly authentic, but definitely tasty.
@@kevinbaxter2578 Honestly you might want to leave out most of it and aim for more complimentary flavors like cacao nibs or lime zest. Best thing to do is check out some coconut rum cocktails to see what folks are using as mixers. Might give you some good ideas.
My theory on the darker colour is burnt sugar.... If you burn the crap out of a table spoon of (brown) sugar and let it cool, then add to your dark rum, it sweetens it and makes it darker. Use a blow tourch. 1 table spoon per 750ml...
Use jack Daniels’s whisky barrel smoker chips trust me you will like it also don’t microwave it use a crockpot with water in it with a lid on then fridge overnight and get a vacuume jar sealer cycle it a few times the vacuum ages it fast.
Hey B&B, that looks awesome and probably tastes even better. So just wondering did you put some aside so it could age over time? Keep playing safe brother✌✌
I didn't put any aside this time because the flavor was pretty close to what I was looking for, but next time I do a rum I'll definitely be trying a long term aging on it.
Can you experiment spicing rum with store bought white rum? May be an economic way to try different things and not waste good homemade rum if it turns bad.
While it may not be how they get the dark color for the kraken rum, it is possible that actual squid ink is used. While I would find it unlikely that they actually used squid ink, it would be appropriate considering the name. It would be actually kind of interesting to see squid ink used in a drink. It has a unique, slightly salty flavor.
B&B, My guess about Kracken it's an ALL MOLLY ferment. Get a 55 gallon drum of Molly, dump in yeast... I have heard All Molly cooks off in 3 days, sometimes sooner. The backset would look like a liquefied tar. ;) The closer to the equator you get the cheaper, sugar cane, Molly, and brown sugar gets. Cheers B&B!
@@battalion151R MOLLY is short for Molasses, straight up black strap Molasses. The further north you go from sugar cane country, the more expensive it is. In my neck of the woods, its around $60 for 5 gallons not including shipping.
@@BeardedBored for Rum essence, as black as the Pearl's sails. With little to no bitterness, sedament and a little sweetness. Only took me a few decades to figure it out 😅
I've tried the rum essence, oak chips and spices and it is the best rum I have ever had. I used to love Captain morgan but this beats it by a long shot. I know the rum doesnt age in a bottle but the spices over a few months really come out. Cant age rum for a year. Its to good after a few weeks and months, got to drink it.
Not yet. My last barrel bit the dust and I haven't gotten another one yet. The baby barrels are cool for small projects, but I've been enjoying testing out several wood types at a time lately.
Spiced a batch as you have and it's definitely a great combination. Looks like Cap but on a different level as far as taste. My batch was the Buccaneer Bob's Recipe slightly modified and with Coconut.
I have hypothetically done this. The end result is really good, but the whole process was a disaster. Rye ferments super gummy and was hard to separate from the grains. The resulting wash is also prone to puking. Mash = 68% Rye Malt, 27% Corn, 5% Barley. Aged on toasted cherry wood taken from the very tree George Washington cut from his father's farm. (This is possibly not true.)
@@adamzamora983 hypothetically, the puking can be stop by adding a tablespoon of butter. The butter would stop the mass to foam which causes the puking.
Take some backset and boil it to about a third to quarter of the original volume, it makes nice concentrate. 3ml is enough for a 750ml bottle white rum
so for the last 2 weeks I had a gallon on rum on a new french oak spiral and in the 2 weeks it got so dark I cant even see threw it and there is no backset added back to the rum. I also have one gallon of rum on a half spiral of medium char of maple for the last month and its a beautiful color right now. both taste similar but in appearance completely different. but yes I completely agree way more flavor even before adding spices to my rum. I add one or 2 whole vanilla bean for like 2 day and call it best rum and coke I ever drank. oh and as a test I took out the french oak put it on a brand new gallon of rum to see how it goes, im sure it will slow down and be more controllable.
Yeah, it's weird how much darker French oak gets. I noticed that in my apple brandy. I have some toasted French oak and it's darker than the charred white oak.
@@BeardedBored ya it was my first time using it. I wasn't prepared for it but hey experiment and learn i'm moving up from a 5 gal pot to a keg style so ill have more to experiment with. but so far very very happy with my product. going to try and make some more neutral stuff for fireball and other flavored stuff. cinnamon rum does't exactly work so great in my book, hahaha
I released the kraken and spent the time trying to put it back nastiest anise flavored artificial colored paint thinner I ever had almost as bad as it's clear cousin crystal head vodka. $150 for paint thinner but decent vases in the end lol
I've thought about trying it, but palo santo is very resinous and strongly aromatic. Liquor is a much stronger solvent than beer so it wouldn't take long for the wood flavors to get too potent. Might be worth a test though;-)
Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think Captain Morgan is rum (i.e. spirit from sugar cane). I believe it's just neutral spirit colored with some caramel
Mate you gotta try my American honey I make , it's like good for Covid soothes the throat , it's kinda like singing syrup liqueur , my favourite drink.
Adding flavorings to an artfully crafted spirit is an abomination, right? A _Real_ quality distiller never adds flavorings (except bourbon tea-bagged in charred oak. or premium scotch distillers aging in charred oak casks pre-soaked in sherry), right? But I made one batch of rum that turned out to be, meh, just rum, so I used this method to make spiced rum. It was, I have to say, pretty awesome. Best of all, splashed over a little Diet Coke with a slice of lime it was the only thing ever out of my still that made my wife spontaneously smile. That was a few months ago. Now I'm back at this video to refresh my memory because I need to make a fresh batch. My "good rum" is still aging on oak and probably has two years left, but what I run tomorrow will make my wife smile. It's important to remember the people and things that matter.
Kraken theory: Ever think that since the logo is a mythical monster that is Essentially a giant octopus/squid they came up with the quirky name and dark black color from using........squid ink?
Hey got a question as I'm learning as I go here. We come out at 92%, cut down to 65% and age. Do you do the spiced whilst its still at 65% and water down after. Or should we take it down to the normal 40-45% and then do the spices. i.e. is the spice before or after the final cut.
The higher the abv, the faster the flavor extraction. So if you do it at 65%, it will get done faster. Keep that in mind so it doesn't get over spiced. Done that before and the only fix is to add a lot of unspiced rum to cut the strong flavors down.
what are you using to measure the proof of the spirit? most home distillers aren't reconverting to the correct temperature that is measured for tax purposes. You're 55% is more than likely somewhere around 40-45%
Barley and hops Brewing here on UA-cam has a great video called let's make some rum it shows you how to get a good molasses Tasting rum you could start with that and get the Molasses flavor you're looking for possibly
Great vid 👏🏻 So what if you wanna proof it down to 45% or even 40% for those light weights. I don’t wanna just add water, I feel it’s going to thin it out.
Distilled water is the go to for proofing, even at the commercial level. Never use tap water or spring water because the dissolved minerals will turn cloudy when you proof it.
@@silveraven1 They use spring water, but it likely goes through an R.O. system before it's used for proofing. Those water systems are pretty standard even in small distilleries so they have a ready supply of proofing water.
For every ml of unaged rum do you have to match the same amount of mills in backset ? the reason I asked I have an upcoming project I have a 220 litre barrel
I love kraken and that’s specifically why I wanted to learn how to make it. Great to know this is a good recipe.
100% why I’m here.
The tasting session made me smile... alot!
From wiki: Kraken Rum was introduced in 2010.[3] The base rum is from Trinidad, distilled from molasses made from locally grown sugar cane. The rum is aged 1-2 years and then blended with a mix of 11 spices, including cinnamon, ginger and clove.[1][4][5] The liquid is black, revealing hints of brown when held up to the light.[6]
The color comes (in my opinion) from: Heavy charred american oak (gives it a typical Rum flavor), the spices, backset/molasses and E150 (caramel food coloring)
Yeah, I think that E150 food coloring might be the hidden factor to really darken it beyond what barrel charring can do without changing the overall flavor;-)
@@BeardedBored You want dark rum...check out Cruzan Black Strap. Tastes great and so dark you can't even see a flashlight through it.
Love these videos! I just keep coming back to pick up tips. Thanks for your hard work!
Thanks Larry!
I've mixed Capt Morgan with apple cider and it was really good. I may try your spice mix on some other rum since I can't yet distill just to try it out because it sounds great.
I love a nice dark sipping rum without all the candy flavors, and you've opened a door for me to transform Bacardi into something special. Many thanks, my good man!
Have fun experimenting:-)
Hey Bearded, just wanted to thank you for getting me into homebrewing! I made a batch of cider by following your instructions and it turned out pretty good - a little too sweet for my taste from the concentrate and I could've used a better yeast, but otherwise I'm very happy with how it turned out. Thanks again!
That is awesome! Incidentally, check out my cherry cider video. That one is much less sweet and has a nice tart kick from the cherry juice;-)
Thanks, I definitely plan on spicing it up with some other flavors next time around. Also it would be really cool if you made some mead!
@@stevej71393 Working on it;-)
Hey man another great video.
This is right on time, Ive got 4L or a gallon of 55% waiting for something just like what you posted.
These videos that yourself, Jesse, George and Beaver posted have taught me so much,.
Thank you so much.
Glad I could help;-)
Think that there are a few of us following the 3 Musketeers of brewing! Awesome work, cheers!
Bacardi Oakheart, now known as Bacardi Spiced Rum, is the best commercially available spiced rum ive personally had. theres probably betters out there, but not that ive tried. as a cocktail, it mixes insanely well with Dr. Pepper. the spices and smokiness of the rum and the spices of the Dr. Pepper blend so well together. if i could make my own spiced rum to match or beat Bacardi Oakheart that would be amazing. Always been a dream of mine to make my own spiced rum.
Let that be your white whale. Chase it:-)
Hi B&B, I barrel aged my run for a year in an old bourbon barrel and then added the backset. It really is almost black since a year in a barrel darkened the run quite a lot. And not with the spicing, it's turning out great. Thanks
Awesome!
Kraken spiced rum is one of my favorites.
Great I have to try make my own spiced rum with some molasses , thanks for sharing mate and happy distilling. Great video sir
Thanks!
we are seconds from hitting 50k subs, come on people do your best! great work Bearded
So close!
Thanks man! I'm trying to recreate Kraken Rum for my wife's birthday and this video really helped me out 😁
Great video as always B&B. I've got my first batch of rum on the go right now - and will try out your spiceology to see how it goes - thanks for posting!
Hi brother that Rum looks awesome make we what to try this out, never used Backset in my rums before, will have to try it.
Do it!!! Definitely worth it, broer!
Great video!! I use the following recipe on 2L of rum @ 50% after wooding it with charred Oak staves for a month. 1/2 cup smashed raisins, 6 coffee beans crushed, 1 cinamon stick, 5 drops vanilla essence, 20ml +/- molasses treacle 1, I usually leave it for two weeks, but after 1 week the tastes are awesome.. Nothing in the shops can compare.. Will definitely give your recipe a try.. All I need to get is a sexy rum bottle like yours :-)
Sounds delicious:-)
Another great for your bearded. I love your thinking nature and the way you think out of the box. Inspirational for us all. 👍👍
Great video lol
I appreciate that!
I just make spiced rum by throwing the herbs and peel in a simple rum (usually Brown) and let it sit for three months (there is a weird reason for the time). Then strain it and yeah. Downside is that I have to wait 3 months to see the result, but the first attempts lead to some great succes. Thinking to try to toast the herbs next time and Also add melasse (my brother Found the Taste a bit off and he likes captain Morgan). So thanks for the great tips.
Kraken probably uses brewers caramel aka burnt sugar for the color. Some British breweries use it in some of their darker ales.
That makes sense. Thanks!
I use burnt sugar to color my dark rum. Works great and adds a bit caramel flavor
The kraken dives down to the bottom of the sea and gets lava rock and infuses it into the rum arrrrrrr!! Love the video, going to try the backset in my next spiced rum. Thanks
Thanks for the mythical backstory;-) Let me know how your rum goes. You might get a darker color since my initial wash was heavy on pineapple and lighter on molasses.
A nice tip is to use your bourbon wood chips after maturity in your smoker with some hickory chips , very nice smoke aroma for smoking some pork ribs or pork belly.
I've been experimenting with adding small amounts of stillage to my distilled products and found it to really kick up the flavor while adding some natural color to it...since everything distilled is usually clear.
Try using a lamp with a bulb facing down over top of your jar if glass latch top sealed the light will push the particals to the bottom a lot faster
Hey Bearded!
Cool video. Definitely do more rum projects.
You should do some Tiki Drink videos. Homemade DIY Felernum No 9 syrup goes great in a good rum cocktail ( look up the original Don beach recipe for a zombie. it’s excellent )
A well crafted Tiki drink from scratch is so much better than what you get at most bars. Definitely look into it.
It’s an idea. Summers on its way.
Keep up the great work.
Thanks for the idea!
I did the Bob recipe also! I used Chared maple wood. My opinion it brought out the maple syrup flavor out. I liked it and that’s all that really mattered
Sounds tasty:-)
Have you chared the wood yourself? If so, how long and how hot?
Great teaching, fascinating content as usual! I have been a fan since your “legalize it” video years ago.
Congratulations on 50,000 subs!
Thanks so much, brother!
To clear out your Dunder, dredges or backset, I put mine in the freezer overnight. The heavy particles fall to the bottom and become more or less solid allowing to drain of the sweet stuff or, everything else to I can keep the yeast.
Great tip!
Pretty sure the kracken black spiced rum is so black and sweet because they use some actual molasses to get that and it's delicious
Well, this video was right on time seeing I just picked up a bucket of molasses and 25 lbs of Dark brown sugar. Now you've given me about 6 or more ingredients I need to round up before spicing it up right. It was a very informative video! Cheers!
I'm PSYCHIC!!!
Good luck on your batch, brother:-)
I'm one of those Impatient types! All this waiting for days would drive me up the wall!!
Haven't heard from George in a while. Hope he's doing great.
I'm sure he's doing well. He posts once or twice a month now.
@@BeardedBored where does he post? haven't seen anything on youtube...
Great video! I have about 10L of various rums ive been making and working on white-gold-black bucaneer bob rums. Now im gonna try some spices!
Go for it!
I reckon Kraken get the colour artificially, I can’t imagine how else they can get that dark 🤷♂️
maybe you could do it with Parisian essence - which is just very dark caramel.
Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I bet it's food coloring. Anything else wood add too much flavor.
👍
You should also try age Rum om Birchwood. It gives smooth sweet taste😉
@@torandresyltesether7832 Will do:-)
Always love your videos!!!!
Thanks!
Another trick I have found is to use whole crushed (just a little smack with a hammer) spices instead of ground....put them in a stainless tea ball with a string to suspend it so you can hang it halfway up the bottle....shake it every time I walk by....and make "sun tea" until it gets where you want the flavor then just pull out the ball........after the spices are out I do the same with oak chips.
Thank you for the KnarleyApple link.....I ordered some toasted cherry sticks to try.......I'm gonna chop them up a bit so they fit in my ball and I get more surface area exposed to the liquid.....
If I like the flavor I am gonna try to find a 10 ltr. cherry wood barrel or three and do some real aging!!! 😎
If you know where to get one of those I would be most appreciative....All I have been able to find is oak.
Thanks for the tea ball trick! For cherry wood barrels, no idea if those exist. I don't know if cherry wood makes good barrels. One thing you can do is Look up Bad Motivator barrels and see if he could make you a cherry barrel head for the steel aging barrels he does. Also, you can try Ten30 barrels. His a a smaller version of the Bad Motivator barrels.
@@BeardedBored Thanks....I have called probably 10 or so cooperages and none of them make cherry barrels.....I really like what the cherry wood does to my rum.....To me it is way tastier than oak!!
I'll check out your referral and see what they can do.......My "want" is for about two 5 gal kegs so it doesn't take forever to age.
thanks for the great tips- just made my very first batch distilling and a whole lot of fun! However it was wayyy too strong so added some distilled water, and coconut extract i bought- but will try and add some chips to make it darker and richer looking. Will try orange and the mix you showed- again many thanks for the great tips!
just a quick thought as im doing it currently on some mixed grain whiskey. Jack Daniels barrel chips used for smoking on the grill
I've used them before too. They're a little tricky to work out how much to use, any chips are, because the surface area contact is tougher to judge. Just keep a close eye on the progress and it'll work.
@@BeardedBored its getting a really RICH brown color. I'm trying to do it as they would at lynchburg. i started it at 165 proof but gonna cut it down to JD 86 proof for starters. I also in one quart added some American oak and in the other some pecan chips. once i strain it off they'll be blended and cut. ill keep you updated on progress
@@chvfd687 Take some sample sips to make sure you don't get too oaky.
@@BeardedBored went on and pulled them yesterday evening. blended the two together and cut it down to around 84-86 proof (three 750ml bottles) using water and leftover from a peach brandy run. flavored out perfectly
@@chvfd687 Sounds great:-)
Wish i was there to have a shot with ya!! Lol. I dont make much booze but i love the videos man!!
Cheers bud!
Never drank rum,made a batch of buccaneer bobs,spiced n wood aged it,had 5litres n down to my last bottle ,so in short,I like rum,like it a lot 👌noice vid big fella 👍
That's awesome! Good job jumping into the unknown with both feet:-)
Well, it's called Kraken, so maybe they get the dark with squid ink??? LOL!!!! Looks like another success brother. Thanks for sharing. Rev. D.
Mmmm, squid ink rum;-)
Lol, that’s what I was gonna say! 👍🏻
I've watched a few of your videos. I would like to know what you recommend for me I've never made whisky or been lol. I love to drink it. What do I do to get started? Thank you in advance
Check out the r/firewater thread on reddit.com, the Still It channel and BeaverDIY channel to get a lot of great info on getting started in the hobby. It's a steep learning curve, but fun:-)
@@BeardedBored thank you.
Good Job and thanks for sharing Bearded! Im now intrigued 🤔 with all the BackSet possibilities. Time to experiment! ;)
Go for it!
Live long and prosper Mr Bearded :D
Prosperity and Long Life to you Marcelo🖖
@07:30 you are talking about every 12 hours I should chick the spices, but the problem is I ended up checking every 45 minutes, shit totally knocked me out..🤣🤣
Thanks for all the awesome videos bud👍🏽
😂👍
I decided to experiment with the backset technique from a rhum agricole style I made a few months ago. It did not go well. It made the whole batch smell like vomit, and the longer it went, the worse it smelled. It eventually got reprocessed as part of a trash batch with some feints and some homemade apple cider, and turned into a pretty nice spirit.
Sounds like it went perfectly if you were trying to make a Jamaican rum. That vomit smell is butyric acid and believe it or not, that's a good thing in rum fermentations. The acid forms esters in distillation that give off fruity flavors. Usually it's not found in clean backset, especially if it's added to high proof alcohol. But as a dunder pit to add to a wash before fermentation, it's definitely desirable, if disgusting.
@@BeardedBored adding the backset into the next generation of wash before fermenting has definitely made for a deeper flavor profile, (currently waiting on gen 3 of that recipe to finish up) but that first run, a recipe test, the ferment failed about halfway through and wouldn't restart. Never could figure out why. I decided to run it anyway. The spirit tasted wonderful, but I got bored and wondered what the results would be if I used techniques from molasses based rum recipes in one based on cane juice instead. I used the backset straight from the still to flavor the spirit, and that's where it all went pear shaped.
What I got was ok at first. a bit sour and funky, but kind of tasty. after a week or so it got cloudier and started smelling like feet and vomit. I couldn't bring myself to taste it, so it got reprocessed as part of my next run. (That, however, is relatively light and delicate spirit that I aged on a mixture of cherry and second use oak.)
@@olinseats4003 It's cool how these projects can evolve from tragedy to triumph. Good luck on gen 3. BTW, what's your source for cane juice?
@@BeardedBored I can't source proper fresh cane juice, at least not in useful quantities, so I use the next best thing, evaporated cane sugar, and then add chopped up bits of a section of sugar cane bought from the grocery store to try to reintroduce some of the earthier character into the wash. It's hardly authentic, but definitely tasty.
@@olinseats4003 Good solution!
Great video Bearded...
Another awesome vid. I have a coconut version of BB going right now. May use your spice variant on some to trick it up a notch.
Coconut sounds tasty. Have fun playing with spices;-)
@@BeardedBored any thoughts on what I should leave out or tone down due to mine having a coconut character?
@@kevinbaxter2578 Honestly you might want to leave out most of it and aim for more complimentary flavors like cacao nibs or lime zest. Best thing to do is check out some coconut rum cocktails to see what folks are using as mixers. Might give you some good ideas.
My theory on the darker colour is burnt sugar....
If you burn the crap out of a table spoon of (brown) sugar and let it cool, then add to your dark rum, it sweetens it and makes it darker. Use a blow tourch. 1 table spoon per 750ml...
Cool idea!
squid ink in the kraken, perhaps? maybe some black liqorice and charcoal or charred barrel too?
Use jack Daniels’s whisky barrel smoker chips trust me you will like it also don’t microwave it use a crockpot with water in it with a lid on then fridge overnight and get a vacuume jar sealer cycle it a few times the vacuum ages it fast.
Hey B&B, that looks awesome and probably tastes even better. So just wondering did you put some aside so it could age over time? Keep playing safe brother✌✌
I didn't put any aside this time because the flavor was pretty close to what I was looking for, but next time I do a rum I'll definitely be trying a long term aging on it.
Can you experiment spicing rum with store bought white rum? May be an economic way to try different things and not waste good homemade rum if it turns bad.
Absolutely. You can do the wood aging and spicing and still get a good product if you don't have backset too.
Haven't even watched the video, but I had to drop a like right away! 😄Looking forward to watch the rest.
I appreciate that👍
While it may not be how they get the dark color for the kraken rum, it is possible that actual squid ink is used. While I would find it unlikely that they actually used squid ink, it would be appropriate considering the name. It would be actually kind of interesting to see squid ink used in a drink. It has a unique, slightly salty flavor.
Yeah, it's probably not, but that would be kind of cool.
B&B, My guess about Kracken it's an ALL MOLLY ferment.
Get a 55 gallon drum of Molly, dump in yeast... I have heard All Molly cooks off in 3 days, sometimes sooner.
The backset would look like a liquefied tar. ;)
The closer to the equator you get the cheaper, sugar cane, Molly, and brown sugar gets.
Cheers B&B!
Yeah, probably.
Okay, I'll bite. What is Molly? I tried Googling it and had a bunch of different whiskeys and bourbon come up, along with some distiller in Oregon.
@@battalion151R
MOLLY is short for Molasses, straight up black strap Molasses.
The further north you go from sugar cane country, the more expensive it is.
In my neck of the woods, its around $60 for 5 gallons not including shipping.
@@BigEdsGuns Thanks! I've been edumicated. 🙂
Great Rum video! You've obviously forgotten my 'Dark' secret ☺️ 🏴☠️
Bananas right?
@@BeardedBored for Rum essence, as black as the Pearl's sails. With little to no bitterness, sedament and a little sweetness. Only took me a few decades to figure it out 😅
@@StillDrew982 Secrets are better when they're shared, LoL;-)
@@BeardedBored I've sent you DM on Patreon 😜
@@StillDrew982 Dude, thanks!
I've tried the rum essence, oak chips and spices and it is the best rum I have ever had. I used to love Captain morgan but this beats it by a long shot. I know the rum doesnt age in a bottle but the spices over a few months really come out. Cant age rum for a year. Its to good after a few weeks and months, got to drink it.
Have you tried using a pressure pot to force age? Curious if pressure or vacuum would work?
I haven't tried it, but there is another channel "Age Whiskey" who did some cool experiments with pressure and vacuum.
Awesome...thank you for this.
I think the kraken is colored with squid ink, matches nice with the giant squid on the label.
Have you tried ageing rum in the small barrels 1.5 or 3 L and if you have what do you think 🤔
Not yet. My last barrel bit the dust and I haven't gotten another one yet. The baby barrels are cool for small projects, but I've been enjoying testing out several wood types at a time lately.
Spiced a batch as you have and it's definitely a great combination. Looks like Cap but on a different level as far as taste. My batch was the Buccaneer Bob's Recipe slightly modified and with Coconut.
Sounds great!
Coffee filters work great.
I was surprised how well:-)
Home brewers us gelatin to clear beer, wonder if it wpuld work for rum
It might. I'm not really sure. Didn't think of it at the time, but it might be worth a test.
Dissolved dark caramelised sugar to make the black colour
Captain Morgan is the top of rums I think , more a Jamaican style with vanilla and more caramel flavours is it , great rum.
Can you make George Washington Rye Whiskey please? I’d like to see how you would do it.
I have hypothetically done this. The end result is really good, but the whole process was a disaster. Rye ferments super gummy and was hard to separate from the grains. The resulting wash is also prone to puking. Mash = 68% Rye Malt, 27% Corn, 5% Barley. Aged on toasted cherry wood taken from the very tree George Washington cut from his father's farm. (This is possibly not true.)
That's be a neat way to celebrate president's day next year;-)
@@adamzamora983 hypothetically, the puking can be stop by adding a tablespoon of butter. The butter would stop the mass to foam which causes the puking.
@@angrypastabrewing the trick is to anticipate the puking!
@@adamzamora983 yup. That too, but I heard the butter trick from George.
Take some backset and boil it to about a third to quarter of the original volume, it makes nice concentrate. 3ml is enough for a 750ml bottle white rum
How long can you keep the concentrate? I may go months in between runs.
I can't find allspice berries,can I substitute with allspice powder???thx
Yes, 1/4 teaspoon equals 3 allspice berries.
I like your videos , well done mate
I like me some captain but I’m gonna give this a shot.
Is this for one bottle recipe only?
so for the last 2 weeks I had a gallon on rum on a new french oak spiral and in the 2 weeks it got so dark I cant even see threw it and there is no backset added back to the rum. I also have one gallon of rum on a half spiral of medium char of maple for the last month and its a beautiful color right now. both taste similar but in appearance completely different. but yes I completely agree way more flavor even before adding spices to my rum. I add one or 2 whole vanilla bean for like 2 day and call it best rum and coke I ever drank. oh and as a test I took out the french oak put it on a brand new gallon of rum to see how it goes, im sure it will slow down and be more controllable.
Yeah, it's weird how much darker French oak gets. I noticed that in my apple brandy. I have some toasted French oak and it's darker than the charred white oak.
@@BeardedBored ya it was my first time using it. I wasn't prepared for it but hey experiment and learn i'm moving up from a 5 gal pot to a keg style so ill have more to experiment with. but so far very very happy with my product. going to try and make some more neutral stuff for fireball and other flavored stuff. cinnamon rum does't exactly work so great in my book, hahaha
@@timbjork2098 Have fun!
Действительно отличный гайд. Спасибо за видео !
Hi there,how long can you keep the rum essence???
Months at least. I've had mine for over a year and it's still good.
"because i like to fiddle with shit, i did both of those things." 🤣🤣😂😂
Put the rum in freezer overnight and this helps drop out sediment. Then filter.
Good idea!
I released the kraken and spent the time trying to put it back nastiest anise flavored artificial colored paint thinner I ever had almost as bad as it's clear cousin crystal head vodka. $150 for paint thinner but decent vases in the end lol
you can also use pure maple syrup instead of molasses
If I was to do a rum I would use pure maple syrup and sugar cane for the cream then if I wanted pineapple in the rum I can
Is rum normally double distilled? I just pitched my yeast on a banana rum and wondered if this will need double distilled.
Totally depends on your setup. If you get the abv you want on the first run, then you're good:-)
should I add my one vanilla bean while the wood is in my 1 gallon bottle..then add orange peel at the end for a couple weeks??
Never tried it that way, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.
I wonder if Palo Santo would make for a good rum? I loved Dogfishead's Palo Santo Marron beer... it could make for a fantastic rum...
I've thought about trying it, but palo santo is very resinous and strongly aromatic. Liquor is a much stronger solvent than beer so it wouldn't take long for the wood flavors to get too potent. Might be worth a test though;-)
@@BeardedBored ahhh... very good to know!
Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think Captain Morgan is rum (i.e. spirit from sugar cane). I believe it's just neutral spirit colored with some caramel
It's what's known as a rhum agricole which is rum made from sugar cane juice instead of molasses, it's not a flavoured neutral spirit.
Mate you gotta try my American honey I make , it's like good for Covid soothes the throat , it's kinda like singing syrup liqueur , my favourite drink.
Your ingredients look great i'll like to make rum myself one day :)
Could kraken get the color from a burnt sugar?
Maybe so.
Adding flavorings to an artfully crafted spirit is an abomination, right? A _Real_ quality distiller never adds flavorings (except bourbon tea-bagged in charred oak. or premium scotch distillers aging in charred oak casks pre-soaked in sherry), right?
But I made one batch of rum that turned out to be, meh, just rum, so I used this method to make spiced rum. It was, I have to say, pretty awesome. Best of all, splashed over a little Diet Coke with a slice of lime it was the only thing ever out of my still that made my wife spontaneously smile.
That was a few months ago. Now I'm back at this video to refresh my memory because I need to make a fresh batch. My "good rum" is still aging on oak and probably has two years left, but what I run tomorrow will make my wife smile. It's important to remember the people and things that matter.
Pretty sure kraken is so dark because they add a bit of squid ink, that also adds a bit of an umami type flavour.
What would happen if you reduce the backset to nearer a syrup, even if you add alittle sugar would the concentrate darken it further, perhaps?
That's a good question. Not really sure. Might be worth a test;-)
Dark caramelized sugar might make kracken black...
Kraken theory: Ever think that since the logo is a mythical monster that is Essentially a giant octopus/squid they came up with the quirky name and dark black color from using........squid ink?
If they did, I almost think that'd be a selling point, hahaha:-)
Can you use store bought Rum???
Hey got a question as I'm learning as I go here. We come out at 92%, cut down to 65% and age. Do you do the spiced whilst its still at 65% and water down after. Or should we take it down to the normal 40-45% and then do the spices. i.e. is the spice before or after the final cut.
The higher the abv, the faster the flavor extraction. So if you do it at 65%, it will get done faster. Keep that in mind so it doesn't get over spiced. Done that before and the only fix is to add a lot of unspiced rum to cut the strong flavors down.
what are you using to measure the proof of the spirit? most home distillers aren't reconverting to the correct temperature that is measured for tax purposes. You're 55% is more than likely somewhere around 40-45%
Hey Bearded, what proof white spirit did you use for making the essence?
I'm 3 years late, but that's the same question I have
Barley and hops Brewing here on UA-cam has a great video called let's make some rum it shows you how to get a good molasses Tasting rum you could start with that and get the Molasses flavor you're looking for possibly
Great vid 👏🏻
So what if you wanna proof it down to 45% or even 40% for those light weights. I don’t wanna just add water, I feel it’s going to thin it out.
Distilled water is the go to for proofing, even at the commercial level. Never use tap water or spring water because the dissolved minerals will turn cloudy when you proof it.
@@BeardedBored Yes you’re right as this is what’s happened to mine, it went cloudy. So does Jack Daniel not use their spring water to proof down?
@@silveraven1 They use spring water, but it likely goes through an R.O. system before it's used for proofing. Those water systems are pretty standard even in small distilleries so they have a ready supply of proofing water.
For every ml of unaged rum do you have to match the same amount of mills in backset ? the reason I asked I have an upcoming project I have a 220 litre barrel
Only for the essence. Good luck on your project:-)
Kraken probably adds some kind of coloring to it's rum to get that dark.
Either that or a ton of stillage and molassess