All Molasses Rum

[Cabron99]

And am I excited!! Been reading a ton here and finally decided to incorporate some ideas from a few different recipes. I picked up 5 gal of feed grade molasses for 28 bux. Not bad.

18 lbs molasses
pinch of Epsom salts
1 tsp DAP
1 tsp oyster shells
Water to 6 gal total
7 tblsp Red Star bread yeast

I didn't expect much reaction and was planning on adding a sugar syrup later, but it took right off within an hour. Have no idea what the gravity is, but I think it roughly equates to 9lb sugar. Brewhouse has a wonderful molasses smell and I'm dusting off the still. Its a reflux/pot 3in column. I think I'll run it as a straight pot still.

I'm 73 but I feel like I'm about 11. Any and all comments welcome; I'm just a beginner.

[Cabron99]

Guess nobody is as excited as I am! I remain undaunted. Still bubbling on exuberantly.

[kiwi Bruce]

Yay! Go Cabron99 excited for you... Yay!

It's summer...the rum heads are slow to react...or jealous, more likely
Maybe the Oz and Kiwi rum pots will chime in and give you a big

[NeckStiller]

Cabron99

I feel your excitement too! Haha. And it won't be long before it's ready to run. I've got an all molasses bubbling as I write this. It, too, will be my first. My prior generations were a molasses/raw sugar combo and while I fully enjoyed them I thought it was time to dabble.

I actually used dunder from these runs in the wash and I'll use tails and heads to charge my the thumper along with some dunder.

Good luck! You and I should be making runs about the same time. ..LOL

[fizzix]

I'm slowly ramping up MY excitement, Cabron, as I'm still about a month away from Rumville.
I'm a-gonna do this one:

Crow’s Rum (5~6 gallon)
2/3 gallon Molasses
6 lbs. Turbinado
2 Tablespoons Tomato paste
1 Teaspoon Epsom salt
Bakers Yeast

Loves me some rum like you do, I bet. Beginner or not, it sounds like you're comin' along fine.
Enjoy your stillin', and I'll set off some July 4th fireworks excitement in your honor!

[OtisT]

Hi Cabron. It is definitely RUM SEASON on the top of the world. Best of luck.

One question/comment on your recipe. Are the oyster shells for maintaining PH or some other reason? I've used them to help maintain PH, but I am open to the idea that it could be for some other reason. If they are for helping to control PH, you may consider adding a bit more next ferment, or now if you just started this one. A single tsp seems a bit light. I think something more like a small hand full for a 7 gallon ferment would be a good starting point. If you can suspend them mid level, even better. A mesh bag or clean sock on a string works well for this.

Otis

[Saltbush Bill]

Hi Cabron
For what it's worth I have made a fair bit of all molasses Rum
and to date have never needed to adjust the PH in any way.
Welcome to the world of flavour.

[Yummyrum]

Agree with Saltbush that all Mollases Rum wash won’t need any pH help . I doubt that adding shells will make any change to the pH . Mollases takes quite a bit to alter its pH , you’d need quite a bit of Calcium Hydroxide or even Sodium Hydroxide .
Shells work great in a sugar wash but aren’t needed nor do any good in an all mollases wash .

Won’t do any harm either though .

Anyway , good luck with your run . Double distll it and don’t be greedy on the cuts .

[NZChris]

PH affects bacteria in rum, low pH inhibiting their growth, up in the 5s encouraging them. It is a tool that can be used to develop or inhibit extra flavors, a whole other rabbit hole to go down.

[Cabron99]

To answer the PH question, at the beginning I took a reading at 4.6 and freaked so dropped a few oyster shells in, hoping I wouldn't just screw the pooch. As it turns out, it has been bubbling along quite nicely and just slowed down this morning. The brewhouse has a wonderful molasses smell. I might stand a chance of running it this Sunday. I'm getting a little low on IPA though, so I'll have to make a decision soon. Probably wouldn't hurt to wait an extra week for settling out.

Still excited!
cabron

[Cabron99]

Well, it finished! No bubbles for a week, sour taste; Whoa!! Ran it on Sunday through a pot still with one copper roll in the stack. Nice and slow as I wanted all of the rum goodness I could possibly get. Ran it down to about 30% and ran out of time. Impressed, so far. Its all airing out now. Sampling will start tomorrow or so.

To answer some posted questions, I added the oyster shells on a whim after a 4.6 ph reading. Should be about 5.5, shouldn't it? After siphoning, all the shells were in the bottom. Will probably eliminate next time.
By my calculations the wash potentially yielded 8%. Label stated 38% sugar - 18lbs in six gal. Sound right? I added no dunder as the only dunder I had was from a sugar-molasses run. I want to start a 100% molasses line. As earlier started, I'm a newbie and am reading all I can. Some sinks in and some doesn't.

I know what can be done to the dunder, but what do you guys (and or gals) to to yours? So far I'm just storing it in food safe containers. All are growing pellicle but thinking of tossing them as I used sugar in their making.

I have to start thinking about a thumper, also. So much to learn in the pursuit of perfection!!

[NeckStiller]

Cabron99

I simply put mine in a 5 gallon bucket with a rag over top and let it work. I'm still new to the use of dunder but this is my practice. I utilize a custom made all copper thumper with my pot still and actually toss in about half to a gallon of dunder in it before making a run.

[fizzix]

Sooooo... how'd the sampling go?? ....

[Cabron99]

Well, I'm on my second ferment. Same as the last except added 1 1\2 gal dunder back in. Getting ready to run maybe next weekend. Need to make a batch of beer this weekend. That first batch was really good. Some french oak chips, few cocoa nibs. Very good. I'll probably stay with rum for a while. (Got to make some gin for the wife, though)

Good luck to you all.

[Eckardt M]

Well, I'm on my second ferment. Same as the last except added 1 1\2 gal dunder back in. Getting ready to run maybe next weekend. Need to make a batch of beer this weekend. That first batch was really good. Some french oak chips, few cocoa nibs. Very good. I'll probably stay with rum for a while. (Got to make some gin for the wife, though)

Good luck to you all.

Good evening Cabron, hope all is well.

Did you add the same amount of molasses to your fermenter with the 1 1/2 gal dunder?

[Cabron99]

"Did you add the same amount of molasses to your fermenter with the 1 1/2 gal dunder?
Top"

EM - Yes I did, just cut down on H2O. Hoping to run this weekend. Smells a little more bitter than the last one. We'll see. Gonna be hard to beat the first two.

pao

[Vovan]

... Hoping to run this weekend.

I’m a new here and interested in Rum making. How did you do your run?

[Cabron99]

Ran my set-up as a pot still. Went smoothly. Just ran 5gal. Got lazy and saved the other 5 for later. At the present time I'm updating my beer rig hard & soft ware. Probably won't do another run for another week. Hope I don't run out of rum!!

[Cabron99]

... Hoping to run this weekend.

I’m a new here and interested in Rum making. How did you do your run?

Vovan, I'm thinking I didn't make much of a reply. I'm new here also. The best advice I can give is to jump into it! Do something, even if its wrong. It CAN be fixed.

I'm still learning to make cuts, so giving advice would be a little presumptuous of me. If you don't ask the complicated stuff, I'm good. But not much above the basics. There are lots of guys here that give good sound info and are not afraid to correct or at least question the novice's errant ways.

Don't tarry, jump in!

[Single Malt Yinzer]

To answer the PH question, at the beginning I took a reading at 4.6 and freaked so dropped a few oyster shells in, hoping I wouldn't just screw the pooch

For the oyster shells you can add as much as you want. It's a "buffer". It won't bring the pH up unless it's needed. You can also reuse anything that was left over, just clean them off.