Written by BRETT STEIGERWALDT
The FUTURE BECKONS!
The history and future use of bacteria in rum fermentations
PART TWO
T
his is the first of three follow-up articles to my Winter 2023-2024 article titled “The Past Is Indeed Prologue — The History and Future Use of Bacteria in Rum Fermentations,” where we briefly covered the history and use of bacteria in rum fermentations. Many have asked for actionable information on how to best implement those historical practices into their current production methods, and in time we’ll take a deeper, process-focused journey through those methods. This article will cover the yeast/bacteria selection process and walk through the various production decisions that must be made to ensure our goal of beautiful, flavorful, quality-driven rum.
STEP 1 Work backwards
from desired final product to determine production process
To borrow a phrase from Stephen Covey, author of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” “begin with the end in mind.” For rum, this means to first determine what organoleptic characteristics your desired final product should have, and then to work backwards from a process-focused perspective to achieve those goals. To keep this article focused and actionable, our two hypothetical final products are both produced from double pot distillation: 1) a gently aromatic and flavorful cocktail-focused rum, and 2) a highly flavorful and complex rum capable of withstanding extended aging. Now that we know our end goals, we can begin raw ingredient selection.
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STEP 2 Select your
raw ingredients
According to the TTB, rum can be made from “sugarcane or its derivatives.” This means sugarcane juice, cane syrup, cane sugar (white, brown, demerara, turbinado, muscovado, panela, jaggery, etc), molasses (Grade A, B, or blackstrap), or any combination of these. Here is where decision paralysis usually sets in because understanding how each derivative will behave in a fermentation environment singularly or in combination is a bit tricky and will ultimately be learned by experience. For our purposes, I will describe my experiences working with blackstrap molasses and raw cane sugar from Lula-Westfield in Paincourtville, Louisiana. At Lyon Rum, our intentions are to make a remarkable unaged rum capable of making beautiful cocktails, but also with the depth to stand up to aging, and I think we’ve masterfully achieved this. Ingredients matter! We’ve found that blackstrap molasses adds an almost coconut cream-like softness to the palate, with gentle molasses notes on the nose, while the raw cane sugar adds grassy, fruity overtones and depth to the nose and palate. Our ratio is roughly 50:50 by weight. As expected, changing this ratio would have an impact on the overall organoleptic characteristics and nutrient requirements for fermentation.
STEP 3 Determine which
yeast candidates would be best for your process and if bacteria are necessary to achieve the organoleptic characteristics of your desired product. At the recent American Craft Spirits Association conference in Denver, I visited with many of the yeast/bacteria suppliers to discuss which yeast/bacteria would be the best candidates for rum production. The results of these conversations, subsequent website sleuthing, reviews of technical data sheets, and email exchanges between suppliers can be found in Table 1. Obviously, there are many different options available to the intrepid rum distiller, and not to intimidate the reader, but these are only what the vendors recommended for rum and do not represent all potential yeast/ bacteria options. There are other yeasts frequently used in rum fermentations (i.e., Lalvin EC-1118) that you won’t see recommended, so don’t be discouraged if in your search for prospective candidates, you find that supplier information lacks parameter guidance (i.e., fermentation temperature range, pH tolerance, alcohol tolerance, pitch rate, etc.). In those cases, this can be mitigated by working directly with that supplier to determine a solution that works best for your process. Suppliers are our production partners and want to help us achieve our delicious rum dreams! W W W . ARTISANSPIRITMAG . C O M