How to Make Rum (with Pictures) - wikiHow (2024)

FAQs

Is it hard to make rum at home? ›

PLEASE NOTE: If you were looking for a nice, easy, step-by-step Recipe to make Rum, you will be disappointed. Making proper Rum is not simple or easy, and there are so many options to consider that writing a simple recipe like that is impossible.

Rum is a spirit made from sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The sugarcane is fermented and then distilled. After distillation, the liquid will be clear and typically aged using bourbon casks, wooden casks or stainless steel tanks. The vessel of distillation plays a key role in what type of rum will result.

Most fermentations take place in open vats and take 1-2 weeks. Small distilleries, especially those in Haiti, still practice spontaneous fermentation. Controlled fermentation (batch): Usually carried out in batches, this kind of fermentation uses laboratory-grown yeasts that are added to the sweet liquid.

Most commonly molasses is used, but sugar cane juice, crushed cane or even refined sugar can be used to make rum. Other ingredients may include various spices and essences to add flavour and also caramel for colour.

Rums aged in small charred oak barrels, for example, can become quite mature at three to five years, while other methods take many more years to achieve similar wood-infused flavor profiles.

The only rule for creating a rum is that the main ingredient must be sugarcane; sugarcane molasses, fresh sugarcane juice or concentrated sugarcane syrup. Many commercial rums are made very cheaply in industrial quantities and then blended with caramel for colouring and additional sugar to mask harsh spirits.

There are a few different types of rum that include: light rum, gold rum, dark rum, spiced rum, and flavored rum. Each type of rum varies in taste and alcohol content. The most common type of rum is light rum which is also called silver or white rum.

Unlike wines, distilled spirits do not improve with age once they are in the bottle. As long as they are not opened, your whiskey, brandy, rum, and the like will not change and they will certainly not mature further while they wait on the shelf.

Mount Gay Rum uses the best Barbadian and Caribbean sugarcane refined into top-grade molasses. Overall, a good rum is one that is aged for a sufficient amount of time, aged in a type of barrel that enhances its flavor, and made using high-quality ingredients and distillation methods.

For the production of rum, Lallemand Distilling recommends to use selected yeast dedicated to this application. DistilaMax SR isolated from molasses is high stress tolerant, and starts the fermentation quickly. DistilaMax RM isolated from cane juice works well and will give you a specific aromatic profile.

What ingredients go into making rum? ›

It is most commonly made from molasses, although some varieties include brown sugar or sugarcane juice. Today we're going to cover how to make rum from blackstrap molasses. Once distilled, you'll make a light colourless rum that can be made into dark rum or spiced rum if you wish.

Originating from Jamaica and leaders in the Rum industry, Captain Morgan has been a huge hit since 1943. The rum recipe has been perfected by starting out with the sweet juices squeezed from sugar cane, mixing it with secret spices and ageing it in white oak barrels.

Even white rums are generally aged 1 to 2 years depending on the country, but in this case we are looking at timeframes of 3, 5, even 10 years. Of course, we are still looking at a category dominated by big players who promote rum as mixers sold at a lower price point than other spirits.

Making rum begins with fermentation. There are a few key ingredients required for fermentation: yeast, water and sugar. We add our own yeast cultures, fresh water from tropical island aquifers and high-quality sugarcane molasses to our open-top fermenters. The whole process takes about 48 hours.