Thread: Homebrew Bayrum Recipes

All right everyone, let's all post the recipes we use for our homebrew bayrum. This was mentioned in another thread here:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/showthread.php?t=16842

Alright, here is my personal bayrum recipe. This particular brew will be very dark and spicy, pretty much the polar opposite of a bright bayrum like Master's.

Equipment:
* some sort of resealable glass bottle. I used an old DiSaronno bottle because it has a lid that screws on very tightly
* depending on your ingredients, an eyedropper might be a good idea
* something to put the stuff in when you are done. I used a couple of hip flasks. needs to block light, as light will degrade your final product
* funnels to fill your containers
* coffee filters
* patience

Ingredients:
* rum. I use Cap't Morgans dark spiced rum. do NOT use the Tattoo, it smells awful. learned this the hard way. clear rum has almost no smell at all, so it's personal preference.
* fresh bay leaves. not the dried out kind. you can find these at most health food places like Whole Foods or Sprouts. some grocer's may have it in the produce section.
* dried cinnamon, sticks not powder
* whole cloves
* pure glycyrine (sp?) you can get this at Walgreen's or CVS, depending. many pharmacies carry it. carefully explain that you want it to moisturize your face, or the pharmacist might think you are a terrorist and hassle you, especially if you haven't shaved in a week because you lost a bet with your wife. I'm just saying. it, er... happened to one of my friends.
* any other essential oil you might want to scent your aftershave with

Method:
1. put about 15 oz of rum into your brewing container. (the glass one that seals.) you may need to use the funnel
2. put in a cinnamon stick or two. I like cinnamon, I used two. my bayrum smells kind of cinnamon-y, so use 1 or one half if you are not a big fan.
3. put in a couple of whole cloves, to taste.
NOTE: the cinnamon and cloves are important... they are both natural analgesics, and will help quench the fire of razorburn.
4. rip up into little pieces about 20-25 bay leaves and put them in. make sure they get down into the fluid.
5. heat the open bottle by running the bottom part of it under hot water for a couple of minutes. if you haven't been refrigerating your rum, this is not as important. you want it room temperature or higher.
6. cap the bottle and shake it like a British nanny shakes a naughty child.
7. put the bottle in a dark closet or somewhere light won't get to it.
8. every weekend, take the bottle out and shake it for 5 minutes as hard as you can. you will notice a lot of sediment, that's fine.
9. on the fourth weekend, you are pretty much done. take the bottle out, and pour the contents through the coffee filters (mounted in a funnel) into your final containers. some grit will most likely make it through, but don't worry.
10. put some glycyrine into your final containers. the exact amount is debated, but I've found that about 3-4 drops per ounce is good. if you have very sensitive skin, reduce this.
11. put some essential oil in if you want to. a little goes a long way. 1 drop per ounce is PLENTY.
12. remember to shake it up before you use it every time. the glycyrine will settle to the bottom, you need to mix it up.
13. enjoy!

My recipe burns like hell in a heatwave if you have a cut, but cools off quickly and the glycyrine is very moisturizing, half the time I won't even bother putting a moisturizing balm on after I use it.

Any feedback is appreciated

Sounds good and I think I'm going to give it a shot.

Two questions though:

- Could you explain the bit about heating it up as I didn't really get that bit;
- Is the quality of the rum important or not?

Steven

Originally Posted by nerobot

Sounds good and I think I'm going to give it a shot.

Two questions though:

- Could you explain the bit about heating it up as I didn't really get that bit;
- Is the quality of the rum important or not?

Steven

1. it doesn't have to be hot, just not cold. if it is cold, shaking it up won't release as much of the spice. if it's room temperature or slightly above, it will be spicier.
2. sort of. you aren't drinking it, but better rum usually smells better. I used the Cap't because he is relatively cheap but smells nice. I would think that using premium aged Jamaican rum is a horrible waste, but that using the nasty discount stuff in a plastic bottle is also kind of gross. So, pick a cheap rum that is good enough to drink.

Originally Posted by jockeys

1. it doesn't have to be hot, just not cold. if it is cold, shaking it up won't release as much of the spice. if it's room temperature or slightly above, it will be spicier.
2. sort of. you aren't drinking it, but better rum usually smells better. I used the Cap't because he is relatively cheap but smells nice. I would think that using premium aged Jamaican rum is a horrible waste, but that using the nasty discount stuff in a plastic bottle is also kind of gross. So, pick a cheap rum that is good enough to drink.

Cheers. Now where's the rum section (can just hear my gf reading this and thinking "oh here we go.......")

Steven

Jockeys,
My recipe that I use is exactly like yours except that I also added black peppercorns and lime peel.
I let mine stew about 2 weeks before adding the glycerin and it's ready to go.
The last batch I made I added a little witch hazel to it but it made it cloudy and took too much of the burn away when used.

If you want to do it right, you need to use the right ingredients and you need to do it by distillation. The key ingredient to "Bay Rum" is leaves from the West Indian Bay Tree. This is not the same as the bay leaves you find at your local purveyor of herbs and spices. The correct leaves are from Pimenta Racemosa, your common bay spice rack bay leaf is from Laurus Nobilis. Those familiar with scientific names will recognize that these two trees are not only different species, but from totally different genis as well. You will also need a source of ethanol, traditionally, this is rum, but in truth any source will work. You can also add other herbs and spices to the mix as well, what ever floats your boat.

Production is by distillation and extraction using alcohol vapors. Do not confuse this with mix and macerate blending which yields an inferior product. Ideally, this would be done in a proper alembic or basket still, but if you don't have one, you can do a pretty good job with some common kitchen utensils. What you will need are:

A vegetable steamer-preferably stainless steel, but aluminum will work
Something to collect your product in, a wide mouth bell jar works well
Something to raise your collection vessel above the basket - an inverted saucer works pretty well.
Ice (optional)

Now for the process

CAUTION - YOU ARE GOING TO BE HEATING AN ALCOHOL MIXTURE AND PRODUCING ALCOHOL VAPORS. ONE OR POSSIBLY BOTH OF THESE ARE FLAMABLE. USE APPROPRIATE CAUTION. I ASSUME NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY ACCIDENTS, INJURIES OR PROPERTY DAMAGE THAT MAY OCCUR. THE FOLLOWING IS A GUIDELINE ONLY, AND NOT A DETAILED PROCEDURE. IF YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW TO SAFELY DEAL WITH FLAMABLE LIQUIDS OR VAPORS DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS. WEAR APPROPRIATE PROTECTIVE CLOTHING AND EQUIPMENT AND HAVE A FIRE EXTINGUISHER READY AND AVAILABLE. BE SURE YOU HAVE ADEQUATE VENTILATION. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS AFTER DRINKING ANYTHING STRONGER THAN A GLASS OF MILK. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED-PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!!!!!

Put the alcohol in the bottom pan of the steamer (where the water normally goes).

Place the basket on top of the steamer and set the your collection container on top of the spacer in the middle of the basket.

Put the bay leaves and any other spices in the basket surrounding the container.

Put the lid on the steamer upside down (yes, I said upside down, that means the concave side is pointing up, and the handle is pointing down. The handle should be either inside the collection jar or just above the top of the jar. You may have to play around with various jars and spacers until you find a combination that fits together. The inverted lid should be resting on the walls of the steamer basket, not on the collection jar.

If you are using ice, put a few cubes on top of the inverted lid.

Start heating the steamer, the idea is to boil the alcohol mixture. The alcohol vapors will rise up through the herbs on the basket and volatize the essential oils. Both alcohol and the EOs will condense on lid (this is where the ice helps), run down the lid and handle and drip into the collection jar.

You will need to experiment with the herb/alcohol proportions and the length of time to get the mix you want. The first few drops condensed will have a very high concentration of EOs, the longer you let it run, the more dilute the mixture will get.

Be careful when handling the lid, collection container etc because it is going to be hot. remember, you are doing this at your own risk, and there are hazards involved.

Originally Posted by fccexpert

The key ingredient to "Bay Rum" is leaves from the West Indian Bay Tree. This is not the same as the bay leaves you find at your local purveyor of herbs and spices. The correct leaves are from Pimenta Racemosa, your common bay spice rack bay leaf is from Laurus Nobilis.

I've checked the ingredients on several bay rums and some of them, including Captain Smith's, use Laurus Nobilis.

I have no experience with this stuff, so I'd appreciate comments from anyone who has any knowledge about this.

I think that some bay rum were mislabeled. If I remember correctly, Dominica was one of them. I can assure you, in order to smell like bay rum, it has to have P. racemosa (bay rum tree) oil. L. nobilis smells good too but it does not smell like bay rum.

Al raz.

Originally Posted by Utopian

I've checked the ingredients on several bay rums and some of them, including Captain Smith's, use Laurus Nobilis.

I have no experience with this stuff, so I'd appreciate comments from anyone who has any knowledge about this.

Originally Posted by fccexpert

If you want to do it right, you need to use the right ingredients and you need to do it by distillation.

Fccexpert,
If I distil, what type of yield should I expect?
i.e. If I start out with 16 oz of Rum, at the end I should expect about X oz of product.
I know you can’t give me an exact number, as that depends on my technique. I’m just trying to figure out how big of a container I need for the end product.
Thanks.