Old instructions for testing: historical interest only!

The adulteration of spirits, especially rum, with sugar and other unlabeled additives is not new. Thanks to ALKO, the Swedes a few rums were finally revealed. Then came the amazing Johnny Drejer whose pioneering method changed the whole ball game. Distillers can no longer hide their illegal and deceptive use of sugar. Read all about it and see if your rum has been altered...
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Capn Jimbo
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Old instructions for testing: historical interest only!

Post by Capn Jimbo »

If you were having any doubts, this should allay your fears...

Addenda: this thread was the original guide, which has been well superceded by "Simple Instructions for inexpensive, Easy Peasy Testing". Click on this link for the new and improved instructions. Consider this thread historical only.

http://rumproject.com/rumforum//viewtop ... =8234#8234


* * * * * * *
Easy Peasy:

Now of course all your equipment is clean. You can literally test a rum in 5 minutes or really less...
  • 1. Pour a sufficient amount of rum into your test cylinder

    2. Take it's temperature

    3. Dip and spin your hydrometer and take a reading.
Now all you have to do is to correct for the standard temperature of 20 degrees C, then read the sugar levels.



First is temperature correction

First step example: your temperature was 23 deg C, and your hydrometer reading was 60% alcohol. First is the hard way (skip ahead for a MUCH easier, faster, simpler way)

. . . . . . .Image

Find 23 degrees on the top scale, go down to 60%, then go left to find the corrected percent alcohol of 59% (on the left margin). This is your corrected hydrometer reading.

Here's the recommended, super duper easy way - it's automated. Go to this link, fill in your test temp and hydro alcohol, and press "calculate" :

http://www.copper-alembic.com/ns/cms.php?id_cms=39


Next is finding the sugar level...

. . . . . . .Image

Second step example: Sorry, I have to use a different example based on my screen captures. In this example the bottle of rum is labelled 43% and your corrected hydrometer reading is 37%. Finding the sugar level is easy. Find the label % on the top horizontal scale, and the corrected % on the left vertical scale. Where they meet is the sugar level, in this case this rum tests out at 24 grams of sugar/liter.

That's it, you're done, easy enough? Basta.




*******
Full credit to the amazing and dedicated Johnny Drejer...
Last edited by Capn Jimbo on Sun Dec 06, 2015 4:19 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Capn Jimbo
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Post by Capn Jimbo »

Some simple tips:


Running this test is easy and accurate but these simple tips will help. The first tip is the most important: don't worry about these tips, lol. Have fun! Just grab your equipment and try it with a couple of known rums like Seales and Z23 to see the difference. Then read on. Trust me, this is easy enough for even a monkey...

  • 1. Equipment: some of you may have a common 0-100% hydro. Unfortunately the gradations are so close together that they are hard to read accurately, and it's easy to be off by a full gradation. Don't - I repeat DON'T - use it.

    To be both accurate and fair you need to order at least two of the 10 point scale, inexpensive hydros as recommended by Johnny. The gradations are MUCH farther apart (ten times wider) and are EASY to read, and MUCH more accurate.

    2. A few of you may have chosen the 4-piece kit that comes with a 0-40/40-70/70-100, also NOT recommended. Please spend another $5 or $10 for the MUCH more accurate (30-40% and 40-50%). But this is just fine as long as you realize your reading may still be off - but at least you will definitely see gross differences between a pure and a highly sugared rum. Using a magnifying glass will help a lot.

    3. Consider buying two test cylinders: both the 100 and the 50 ml - the 50 requires much less rum for those old bottles that are almost consumed. But for all practical purposes, a 100ml is the way to go, and will work beautifully. The 50ml is a rather small diameter (too small for your hydro to fit).

    4. When pouring the rum into the cylinder, tip the cylinder and pour sloooowly down the side, to prevent splashing and bubbles. Let the rum sit for say 10 minutes to de-bubble and to stabilize its temperature.

    5. When you insert the hydro - insert slowly (don't go there!) and when mostly inserted, give it a spin (this will throw off any clinging bubbles). This is standard technique; remember bubbles will cause the hydro to float higher and change the reading.

    6. Yes, ordinary glass thermos will work, but again do you want to be serious about this? Get a decent electronic temp probe - MUCH faster, MUCH more accurate. I feel so strongly about this that I deleted how to use a glass thermo. Fack em. Buy a good (accurate to 0.1%) electronic with a LONG probe, better, allows you to get down and way into the test cylinder. . Size counts as you will discover. Ask your wife...

    7. It is essential (and quick) that you use a correction chart to get the actual % alcohol; if you don't your result will be off. Period. You must, but that too is easy and now automated via a link (above).

    8. When reading your hydro, you are reading the bottom of the meniscus

Flat Ass Bottom Line


No worries at all. Testing is truly easy and quite reliable. For fun practice on say a Seales or a Bacardi Superior (white) - which should test near zero - against one of the sugar bombs. It won't take you long to get friendly with your equipment and the procedure, and then it's easy peasy.

If heaven forbid, you are the type who can't boil water, don't give up but just drop me an email or pm and I'll interpret your readings for you and help you learn to do it for yourself. No charge, lol!

There is nothing like knowing you have the power to test your collection and contributing to the data base for rum lovers everywhere.
Last edited by Capn Jimbo on Sun Dec 06, 2015 4:23 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Capn Jimbo »

Meniscus? WTF is that?


Check this out:

. . . . . . .Image

A liquid in a test cylinder tends to curve (like the lens in your glasses) as it will either stick or be repelled by the glass. For example mercury (in a thermo) does not stick and looks like "B".

Rum though, does stick, so it will look like "A". So when taking a reading you will be reading the bottom of the meniscus (curvature), the lowest point. Another little tip...

. . . . . . .Image

Make sure your eye is level with the meniscus ("B") to get the best read. But don't go bananas like the monkeys - remember this is fun - but I know our posters who want to be as accurate as possible, especially for the database.

Carry on. After you've done four or five practice tests you'll be an expert.
Last edited by Capn Jimbo on Sun Dec 06, 2015 4:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Capn Jimbo
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Post by Capn Jimbo »

Easy Peasy Resources:


Johnny's complete spreadsheet for spirits up to 75%:

http://rumproject.com/images/Drejerlookuptable.ods
http://rumproject.com/images/Drejerlookuptable.xlsx

Note: if for any reason you can't open these with your spreadsheet, just PM or email me, be glad to provide another format.


An automated temperature correction (superfast, supereasy, superpeasy): at the bottom of the page, under the chart.

http://www.copper-alembic.com/ns/cms.php?id_cms=39




*******
Credits to cyril and to the Pirate for these terrific links. And to Johnny for all his hard work... and to dawson who caught and corrected a link error for moi...
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