Home Distiller

delicious! made my first rum with molasses, brown sugar and a bit of treacle that i lifted out of the pantry.

most of this will be recycled into the next run once i have some backset to use, but i saved a bit of the hearts to sip on...and man!...think i found my new fav...

i love this stuff! thanks guys.

nice to hear success stories
I started my first molasses fermentation tonight.
I hope my final results are as good as yours

...i should say, "my first successful rum." my first try with molasses was a nightmare. got some from the feed store in a nasty un-labled, leaky, 3-gallon container. must have had some sort of yeast killer in it. didn't do anything but stink up the shop and make everything sticky...guess that's why i didn't try again for a few months...but now, i'm hooked for sure. found a good source for it at the local health food coop...stoked.

I'm trying Hooks recipe for rum. On generation two right now. Fermenting for 13 days so far and is pretty slow so about ready. I messed up the cuts on my first batch but will be a lot more conservative this time. Using both lees and backset this time has really changed the smell. The first batch just smelled like molasses water but this is really taking on some complex smells.

Congrats! Rum is a rewarding endeavour, and the learning curve isn't too steep either

kiwistiller wrote:Congrats! Rum is a rewarding endeavour, and the learning curve isn't too steep either

yeah man. i appreciate you talking me into it! you rule.

Yes I'm enjoying Hook's version of rum too, I'm on 8th generation now and the yeast still seem happy.

I'm adding 10 liters of backset to each 30 litre ferment, I add the molasses, and sugar to the hot slops as soon as I turn the still off and leave it aside until it's ready to add back to the fermenter.

My rum started off a bit boring in flavor but has now developed into something that I think is pretty special.

Cheers.

erasei wrote:I'm trying Hooks recipe for rum. On generation two right now. Fermenting for 13 days so far and is pretty slow so about ready. I messed up the cuts on my first batch but will be a lot more conservative this time. Using both lees and backset this time has really changed the smell. The first batch just smelled like molasses water but this is really taking on some complex smells.

Austin Nichols wrote:Yes I'm enjoying Hook's version of rum too, I'm on 8th generation now and the yeast still seem happy.

I'm adding 10 liters of backset to each 30 litre ferment, I add the molasses, and sugar to the hot slops as soon as I turn the still off and leave it aside until it's ready to add back to the fermenter.

My rum started off a bit boring in flavor but has now developed into something that I think is pretty special.

Cheers.

Recycling dunder (one way or another) is the key to building up the full rum flavour.

yeah man! this first virgin run tastes awesome...if it gets even better, i'll be hooked for good. i've got the second gen bubbling away, about 50% backset from first run, and it smells and tastes great. can't wait to distill. i'm gonna just chuck in all the stuff from the first run (except a bottle or two i pulled out to enjoy), so i should get goodly yeild.

fun fun

tell us your exact redipe, and what is treacle?

Kentucky shinner wrote:tell us your exact redipe, and what is treacle?

i'm really bad about keeping track of stuff, but from what i remember, the first run was about 20oz molasses, and about 10 lbs of brown sugar, and just a few oz the treacle that i stole out of the pantry (it's just like molasses, i'm not sure what the difference is, it was EXTRA dark, extra strong smell/taste and very thick) in a 25l fermenter (did 2-25l's at the same time, but the ingredients were the same for both). bit of dap, splash of citric acid.

started at a little less than 1080, finished a little over 990.

i was concerned when it finished because when it finished, it had lost most of the tastes that i like, that i associate with brown sugar and molasses, but after distilling, they came back in a very nice, subtle flavor. didn't really know what to expect, but it was really good.

the run that is working right now, i filled half the fermenter with warm backset, then stirred in about 1.5-2 qts of molasses and 10lbs of sugar. ph was good so didn't add any more acid. got a bit carried away and it ended up starting pretty high, 1085 or so, but after just one day, it's at around 1065 and bubbling away nicely. taste is much stronger this time, definitely dominated by molasses, but i think there is a little more than that from the backset.


...so sorry, can't really give a recipe...i gots to get me a notebook! maybe take some ginko?

condensificator wrote:if it gets even better, i'll be hooked for good.

I'm all hooked and over the moon with the rum. I'm trying to only make small variations on my ferments cuz I don't wanna eph up a good thing. And the fact that I got a couple six ways to run my still but I keep talking myself out of changing my run strategy cuz i'm easy to please.

Got one more run in the "Tunable Thumper" configuration (it's good) and the self fill with the CM tool. Then 2 runs with no dephleg and the dunder charge. Then I will pull the "Humper out of the line up and only run the "Tower" with the dephleg in the line up.

Never gonna finish my to do list.

Not even sure what the hell I jes said. Friday it is,,,,and the sipping has commenced.

I reckon one of the nice things about rum is it's very robust, stands up to multiple distillations very well, so the nice thing is if you completely cock it up, you can always add to the next batch, redistill, reflux, whatever you want. I do like my rum

Just sterilising my wort/wash/whatever for breeding up edv493! Very exciting.

Kentucky shinner wrote:tell us your exact redipe, and what is treacle?

Hi K S
Treacle is mollasses with a different name. Here in the uk the brand name stuff is made by tate and lyle. I have been using it lately as it has got cheaper and is around 64% sugar content and smells superb.
All the best S H

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treacle" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Hi
Thanks for the link Lwts quite interesting. Here in the uk when treacle is mentioned it is always the dark stuff that is being reffered to. At this time of year with guy forkes night (5th nov) treacle toffee is popular with some too , i love the stuff.
The tate & lyle stuff which is pretty much the only treacle you will see on supermarket shelves here says on the front of the tin in small writing "made from cane mollasses" but doesn't say anymore about ingredients apart from the fact it is free from presevstives etc.
Maybe the definition of treacle is slightly different from country to country who knows.
all the best S H

I need some opinions.. I checked at my feed store today and I can get 5 gallons of molasses for $24.00 is this expensive.

Well I use fancy grade catering treacle, and for me it works out at £6.38 per UK gallon. Now I only use 1 gallon to 20kg cane sugar (at the moment) so the cost is not a big issue.

I suppose you would need to compare actual sugar content, as it seems to vary a lot. Mine comes in at 64% sugar. And take into account that UK and US gallons are different.

I have found the cheapest source is to look at the supermarkets, wait for the reduced price offers, and clear the shelves. Often it is cheaper than buying in bulk - wierd - but the power of bulk sales.

that sounds cheap to me KS. remember that molasses weighs a lot more than 1kg/L, more like 1.4kg/L, so there's more in there than meets the eye

KS, that is a reasonable price in my book.

myles wrote:Well I use fancy grade catering treacle, and for me it works out at £6.38 per UK gallon. Now I only use 1 gallon to 20kg cane sugar (at the moment) so the cost is not a big issue.

I suppose you would need to compare actual sugar content, as it seems to vary a lot. Mine comes in at 64% sugar. And take into account that UK and US gallons are different.

I have found the cheapest source is to look at the supermarkets, wait for the reduced price offers, and clear the shelves. Often it is cheaper than buying in bulk - wierd - but the power of bulk sales.

Hi Myles Where are you sourcing your mollasses from? Have looked for it in bulk but have come up empty handed apart from feed grade stuff.

Bout 3 bucks a gallon more in my market KS

Sounds like a good price to me too.

Price is fine, but make sure it's not sugar beet molasses, and that it's fermentable, otherwise, you're fixing to waste a lot of time(and money).

thanks guys Ive wanting to make some Rum so I may just have to get me 5 gallon and see how it comes out..
KS

Hey KS, if you have a GFS outlet store anywhere near you they have blackstrap for $11.50/gal. I picked up two gallons last week 'cause all this rum talk has convinced me to give it a try.

if you have a GFS outlet store anywhere near you they have blackstrap for $11.50/gal.

I find fancy molasses by the gallon for less than that at any "bulk" food place(look for "restaurant supplies" in the yellow pages, or ask your favorite restaurant where they buy their bulk foods; tell 'em you're making a big batch of BBQ sauce from an old family recipe to share with all your family and friends, if they ask; once you have the source, nobody there will ask you what its for...). Why fancy? I find it more consistent than blackstrap, has much more sugar and thus more fermentables and thus requires less added sugar, and find even the wash tastes "cleaner".

If I could get fancy molasses cheap I would use that.

GingerBreadMan did a blackstrap v. fancy comparison a while back.
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =11&t=6975

suburban hillbilly wrote: Hi Myles Where are you sourcing your mollasses from? Have looked for it in bulk but have come up empty handed apart from feed grade stuff.

I am using Tate and Lyle tracle that comes in 1 gallon (7.25kg) plastic containers. I get mine from Pioneer but it is also in other catering suppliers. But as I said earlier it can be cheaper to buy it in small tins in the supermarket. Even better when it is on offer "buy 1 get 1 half price" or simmilar.

Treacle is mollasses with a different name.

In Aussie Land treacle, golden syrup, and molasses are all different products on the supermarket shelf, though pretty sure that golden syrup and treacle are just more refined versions of molasses (molasses > golden syrup > treacle).

I have used treacle in rum ferments and it seemed to work fine.

Yeah, fancy for me is about 5x the price I thought golden syrup was just invert cane juice, concentrated, and treacle is just fancy molasses.