The Wordless Distilling Thread

Al_Q

Its an old pic Smaug, but it smelled great at the time - made some of my best rum with that dunder. The top mold was almost like a plastic texture and about 3" thick, the liquid beneath was glossy, had a chocolate\coffee smell going on. I must have knocked the lid off one day, and some Drosophila made it there home, and it turned rank very quickly with really nasty sewage/death smell. I haven't done any rum this year, must do something about that.

I don't blame you punkin for being wary, I did get the feeling it was sitting in the corner of my garage plotting my demise :)

Smaug

It is very easy to tell the difference between a useable dunder pit and a rancid pit. The desirable pit smells sweet with an almost floral quality. The rancid pit smells musky and earthy and reminds one of decompossing material.

Your nose really can easily make the assesment.

cooperville

Good advice smaug A lot of this hobby is just nose It took me a bit to get the cuts but now it's almost second nature

cooperville

Yeah I'm partial to having a rank drum lying around I haven't made rum yet but enjoy it

Smaug

@cooperville said: Yeah I'm partial to having a rank drum lying around I haven't made rum yet but enjoy it

Cheers.

IMO the challenge really is creating a stable environment so that the brewer can replicate consistent results. In the case of rum dunder heat is your friend IMO.

Sunshine

this hit and miss thing is nothing for me. I find it just disgusting - sorry. :@)

FullySilenced

@sunshine i am with you... i like rum but... not enough to suffer the dunder pit... and beside who in his right mind one day sees this gross looking pit of scum and says hey let me add that to my rum ... it might improve it's character...

DistilliTraK

It looked a lot like my 3rd wife's cheeseburger casserole... How about Blu cheese? Isn't that sorta in a state of rot?

But I must also say that I'd have to learn it well under the tutelage of someone skilled before I'd try it myself... But, try it, I would...

captainshooch

@-) :-& I am sticking with Suggar Daddy's Panela, molasses and EC1118. :-c

Smaug

@FullySilenced said: sunshine i am with you... i like rum but... not enough to suffer the dunder pit... and beside who in his right mind one day sees this gross looking pit of scum and says hey let me add that to my rum ... it might improve it's character...

When the pit is healthy (for our purposes) the liquid under the mold structure is quite clean and sparkling. Not at all muddy looking.

When thinking of the mold structure, think of the scoby used for Kombucha.

Smaug

These are what my successful mold structures look like. These are only 2 weeks old when this photo was taken and the sour smelling spent beer has allready be transformed into a very clean and sweet tea like liquid.

punkin

It's safe to say the camp is split. It's also safe to say the larger faction is on the side of dunder pits. I exaggerate my responses cause people now expect me to and like to rib me about it. I'd have no problem drinking the product and i am conclusively convinced that it improves the rum, i just would not want that sitting anywhere in my shed and definitely would not be wanting to deal with the contents without a biosuit.

cunnyfunt

punkin

Very nice. Not enough headroom in the fridge for a standard coupler?

cunnyfunt

I don't really like the standard couplers

punkin

Got a pic of the whole keg system? i'm assuming they fit in a doored lowline fridge? No way i could lift em into my kegerator alone.

cunnyfunt

You don't have to lift. Just transfer via co2. or pump from the boiler/ chiller to the keg

I'm waiting on a decent sized chesty to come up on Gumtree 500l + to fit at least 4 kegs. Atm I only have a few smaller freezers for the cornies>

punkin

cool.

cooperville

green with envy @cunnyfunt did you do the welding your self and are those kegs off @punkin

cunnyfunt

@cooperville No I got a local guy to weld. Fittings are from punkin. Kegs from lhbs

Philter

Speaking of Dunder pits, saw an experiment on the Discovery Channel(?) about how well fermentation can clear up some bad bacteria.

They used duck pond water (duck shit) in a beer mash, fermented it out, and carried out a public taste test. The end product was safe for human consumption as the fermentation process had cleared up all of the nasties.

This little black duck will be sticking with tried an proven recipies :-\"

cunnyfunt

Yeah that duck pond water beer could have gone either way lol

Sunshine

or people have such a bad taste, that they don't know what's good. I am afraid, in most of the cases that is the truth!

Lloyd

We'll give you a couple of years for you come around @Sunshine =))

The rum dunder is not added to the booze, it is added to the boiler charge for distillation as a flavor enhancement. A really big difference than drinking the dunder or cutting the distillate with it.

Its just another tool in your toolkit, if you don't need or want the tool then you don't have to use it. But if you have never used the tool then don't discount it to others as its a proven way to enhance rum flavor (and could potentially be applied successfully to other liquors).
And though it may seem crude or unsanitary there is a lot of science and history behind it including how to separate the clear, wonderful dunder from the ugly head that forms on top.

I can't help but think you are not seeing the bigger picture here. But that seems normal when the topic of dunder comes up.

Sunshine

@Sunshine said: or people have such a bad taste, that they don't know what's good. I am afraid, in most of the cases that is the truth!

my comment was meant for the duck pond thing, sorry that I did not quote it. (Beginners mistake)

Smaug

The essence of the duck pond example is the same type of symbiotic transformation that occurs in a healthy dunder pit.

It is an example of mother earth's ability to heal thy self.

Fermentaion really should have been mentioned far more frequenty in the "good" book as it is a legitimate miracle.

Drunkas

@Smaug said: Fermentaion really should have been mentioned far more frequenty in the "good" book as it is a legitimate miracle.

Amen to that Brother with out fermentation I do not know what I would do. A little sip of Rum helps the world go round :D

Smaug

@Drunkas said: Amen to that Brother with out fermentation I do not know what I would do. A little sip of Rum helps the world go round :D

+1

Some Sunday morning gospel!

grim

Give our little friends the credit they are due.

Nothing like some Maytag Blue on a rare burger.

Brevibacterium Linens and Penicillium take the credit for that (well, and some Lactococcus and Streptococcus for sure).

I like to wash mine down with a belgian beer - Lactobacillus, Brettanomyces and Pediococcus take the credit there, not the monks.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae seems so pedestrian now, no?

Most of these symbiotic practices developed because the end result was GOOD, long before anyone knew how or why they worked.

Thank goodness that yeast survived on stirring sticks and paddles long before anyone had any idea of the microbiology involved. I'm sure back then, they thought that the stick was magic.

cooperville

I rhinovirus just great al q has brought a lot of the familiar faces that got me into this mess honestly I can't wait to try some Dunder pits

Theres a good u tube vid on northern brewer tv where one of the lads has an open fermenter and deliberately is trying to find new yeast strains just in his neighbourhood , a very messy experiment but he has also shared a few positive yeasts with local craft beer brewery's

I have also tried the Rougue beard iPa where the yeast was harvested from the brewers beard !!!!!! It's a good drop too!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3sijnoW5HU