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Author Topic: Adding Rum to beer  (Read 3017 times)

Offline rebelbaserec

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Adding Rum to beer
« on: January 06, 2016, 10:47:31 am »
I want to add a touch of rum to a beer but not sure how to go about it.  Everything I've read about adding barrel aged liquor to beer tells me to soak the liquor in wood chips or cubes and add the wood and liquor to the beer which I'm OK with.  My question, assuming this is the best way about it, is; about how much rum should I soak the cubes in, for how long and how long should I let the cubes and rum sit in with the beer before I bottle?  Alternatively, I'm OK with just adding the rum to the bottling bucket, rack and then bottle but, again, I'm not sure how much to use.  I'll try to pull a 12oz sample and do 3 samples with different amounts of rum added but I'd like a jumping-off point and I may not have the time to do this.

I'm currently deciding between;
El Dorado 8 Year
Plantation 5 Year
Sailor Jerry (I'ts a Navy-inspired beer and I'm OK with it being spiced)
Bacardi Limited Edition 10 Year Old Barrel Aged Rum Binny's Handpicked

Offline denny

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Re: Adding Rum to beer
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2016, 10:51:21 am »
To determine how much rum to use, pour yourself 4 2-4 oz. samples of the finished beer.  Dose each with a different measured amount of rum. Taste, decide which you like best, scale that amount up to your batch size and add it to the bottling bucket.
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Offline erockrph

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Re: Adding Rum to beer
« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2016, 11:05:22 am »
Personally, I'd go with a decent but inexpensive dark rum to get the rum flavor to show up in the beer. The nuances of better liquors aren't going to make it through to the finished product. Something like Gosling's Black Seal or Myers is the route I'd go.

If I were starting from brewday, I'd just use molasses instead.
Eric B.

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Offline denny

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Re: Adding Rum to beer
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2016, 12:36:15 pm »
Personally, I'd go with a decent but inexpensive dark rum to get the rum flavor to show up in the beer. The nuances of better liquors aren't going to make it through to the finished product. Something like Gosling's Black Seal or Myers is the route I'd go.

If I were starting from brewday, I'd just use molasses instead.

Yeah, I was gonna mentiuon that.  In general, when adding liquor to beer, my ROT is that if you can tell what brand it is, you've used to much.
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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The best, sharpest, funniest, weirdest and most knowledgable minds in home brewing contribute on the AHA forum. - Alewyfe

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell