Cuban Rum -

[john540]

Originally Posted by Captain Jaz

Thanks man, but I've looked in to distilling my own spirits before, and I know that if you don't keep the temperature at 72c then you get some pretty nasty chemicals in there. So i would advise anyone not to drink anything that is suspect.
And I can afford to pay out a bit for the good stuff... especially after I've got used to paying $20 a bottle for average stuff here in the UK!!

Even if the temp gets too high, it only makes it taste bad (congeners, fusel oils) it's not poisonous. Besides, you can filter a lot of that out with activated charcoal. Using a reflux instead of a pot still can make it more pure.

[Captn_Black]

Sure, I doubt thats these guys are using activated carbon though... And Its below 72c you gotta worry about, then you get methyl alcohol which makes you blind...

[john540]

Originally Posted by Captain Jaz

Sure, I doubt thats these guys are using activated carbon though... And Its below 72c you gotta worry about, then you get methyl alcohol which makes you blind...

Actually, distillation doesn't produce methyl alcohol (or ethyl) it separates the water from the existing alcohol. Most distillers discard the foreshots, or roughly the first .25% to .5% of the wash that comes out of the still. This gets rid of any methyl alcohol present. Besides, I always thought it was that other thing I did that would make me go blind!

[Captn_Black]

Haha...
Well when I read about it it was awhile ago... but it can't be bad advice to avoid 'moonshine' regardless of the exact facts...

[nonam]

Jaz,you seem a bit of a rum connosoire so the plastic container idea may not be good.You would need to "condition" the container (cheap wine?vinegar?)for as long as possible and it still wouldnt be premium.But if you can get it cheap enough and you do run out of the good stuff in the middle of the Pacific you will be glad to have it.Also,when you tip booze out of its original container it looses most of its commercial value and customs are less inclined to look for it.

Er.....are you going in a Columbia 27?

[Captn_Black]

Yea, I was in too minds about the plastic container, I originally wanted barrels, but the suggestion that was made was if the plastic jerry can's can handle diesel they can handle rum!
But thinking of it, I could just buy my own barrels to put the rum in... that would be much better for taste i'm sure...
Yea I'm taking the Columbia probably, although I do intend to sell her and get a bigger boat at some point. But she does have a D/L of 310 and I shall be taking appropriate safety equipment and making some alterations to improve seaworthiness.. Also, with La Nina this year, the chance of cyclones on my route is almost nill...

[Talbot]

Originally Posted by ireaney

everything over here (UK) is bloody expensive.

My heart bleeds for you, you should try the prices here before complaining!

[Captn_Black]

Lol...yea, my sister is at uni where u are...I've heard about the taxes there...

[Hud3]

When cruising the eastern Caribbean, I developed a standard measure of how expensive the various provisioners were. The "Gold Standard" was a liter bottle of Mount Gay rum. Less than US$10 per liter was good, more was not.

It was remarkably accurate.

[bvimatelot]

Originally Posted by Talbot

My heart bleeds for you, you should try the prices here before complaining!

Trying to tie a few ideas together here.....

A. Not a good idea to trade grog for black pearls in the South Pacific: pity but, oh well.

B. Grog expensive in UK but very much more in Scandinavia.

The answer has to be to buy direct from Mr Mount Gay in Barbados or Mr Cruzan in St Croix - say 200 gallons. Put it in your (steel) water tank and then take it over to the poor souls in the above mentioned countries. Actually, all distilleries as far as I know, distill to much stronger than 40% by vol so you could ship it "overproof" and water it down with good pure Norwegian water straight from the fjords.....???

[stevensc]

"Good plan! Some of those plastic jerry-cans would work well I think...
Thanks"
Works for Moonshine!

I would go to a bar with one of those automated pour systems which draws from a bulk container of booze. See what they are using as a container.

[Captn_Black]

Lol.. well having a container that would fold away when empty would be very handy on a small boat... but being a bit of a traditionalist in many ways, I quite like the idea of a small oak keg with a tap...

[Captn_Black]

Btw... This is quit a good site for info on alot of things including customs - Noonsite

[hellosailor]

"fusel oils) it's not poisonous." I'm told they are in fact poisonous, and a fast web search turns up "[fusel oils] at high levels, have a high toxicity, the induced vomiting they trigger prevent fatalities. They are however a major contributor to hangovers. "

Generally I try to avoid ingesting things that have any recognized toxicity, rather than argue about how much is necessary to kill me.

Jaz, I can't imagine stowing a barrel of ANYTHING on 27' boat, even stowing a 4-man life raft below decks on something that size is a problem. And why would you want to invest in barrel of one brand, when there is so much variety, so many different flavors, and you can buy cases of different brands so reasonably? One barrel leaks, and you have nothing. One bottle breaks, and you've only lost a liter. Or paid mordida to one customs and immigration official along your way.

You may very well have to secure that booze in "bonded" storage aboard while in port someplace, and it isn't easy finding a locker big enough to shove a barrel into it and place a seal across the locker.

[Captn_Black]

I mean keg, not barrel...
The ones I'm thinking of are about 2 gallons..
And I won't be using the v-berth while at sea...