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""just more refined versions of molasses"
I believe it is first run "gold" or second run dark,black strap/ molasses the third run.
unsulfated,is from "ripe" or mature cane. sulphated is from "green" cane that has
been treated with sulphur dioxide to help remove sugars.

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

Strangely, in my area, fancy is much cheaper than blackstrap. And since I don't need as much sugar, it comes out even cheaper. It never fails to ferment perfectly and produces a consistently great rum for me. I've also seen many blackstraps that are sulfured, yet have never run across a fancy that was. I do keep an eye open all the time, with an open mind, but damn, I kick myself in the ass every time I stray away from my sweetheart, Fancy.

HookLine wrote:

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.

Its the same here in the uk I have never used associated the word treacle with anything other than dark treacle, golden syrup is syrup. I have only ever seen mollasses here in health shops and a local chemist never in a supermarket.

Kentucky shinner wrote: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.

the stuff i got from the feed store was in 3-1/2 gallon containers...all nasty and leaky...was pretty cheap, $14, and ruined my workshop! stunk like a melon-farmer, nasty sticky stuff all over everything...the stuff would not ferment. it would would bubble nicely for a short bit then just plain stop. must have been the sulphered variety, so double check with the merch dude before you bring nasty home.

yer gonna love it!
i think i'm switching to only rum for the winter, fermenting outside is going to be out of the question in a couple weeks.

I just ran off my Generation 2 of hooks rum and I have to say that using dunder and lees from the previous batch is absolutely the only way to make rum. Well.. I just mean that it makes such a huuuuge difference in flavor compared to the first batch. After my second batch came out I threw my entire first batch into my feints jar.. Not even the same class. Can't wait to get to 4 or 5 generations!!

...couple more gens into it, and MAN!!! i have found some magic. couple mistakes, couple re-runs, but with the thumpificator and some luck, i got a boatload of KILLER rum, ready to bottle-up, flavor, and/or age in spent barrels.

think i'll split it up into 1/3 white, 1/3 spiced and 1/3 aged.

thanks to all y'all for the help and support. stop on by for a taste...

btw...got the good molasses hook-up at smart and final (http://www.smartandfinal.com/locations.aspx)...'bout $9 a gallon and it's really nice, food grade stuff...

What type and brand is the molasses?

"barkman's
old country
light-unsulphured
molasses"

is what the label reads.

it is distributed by golden heritage foods.


did a quick search for it online, and the prices came back really high, like over $50 a gallon?! strange...it's about $9 at smart and final...and no shipping charge!

I looked and that is whole sale you mite not be able to buy?.

condensificator wrote:did a quick search for it online, and the prices came back really high, like over $50 a gallon?! strange...it's about $9 at smart and final...and no shipping charge!

That is probably for a case lot (4 one gallon jugs per case). Still, it is more than you are paying.

Dnderhead wrote:I looked and that is whole sale you mite not be able to buy?.

smart and final is open to the public, with no membership.

Braz wrote: That is probably for a case lot (4 one gallon jugs per case). Still, it is more than you are paying.

yep, you are right...now it makes sense. the shipping would definitely be cost prohibitive, so smart and final is a good source for me. the link that i put up above is a store locator. they have a lot of locations (USA), might be one near all'y'all.

I searched for specifications for the Barkman's molasses, but didn't find any. But I found these from Crosby's site, which shows the lite molasses as having the lowest sugar content of the 3(fancy, blackstrap and lite). Should make a fine rum for sure, but you'll be adding a lot of sugar to make up for the lack of it in the molasses. It's nearly only half of the sugar content of fancy(6.5 grams/20grams VS 12 grams/20 grams). Check to see if the place also stocks blackstrap or fancy in gallon jugs; bet they do, and if they don't, ask and they'll bring some in.

Here are the specs I found:

http://molasses.ca/site/pdf/Nutrition_C ... t_2004.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

http://molasses.ca/site/pdf/Nutrition_C ... t_2004.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

http://molasses.ca/site/pdf/NutritionCr ... t_2004.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Barney Fife wrote:I searched for specifications for the Barkman's molasses, but didn't find any. But I found these from Crosby's site, which shows the lite molasses as having the lowest sugar content of the 3(fancy, blackstrap and lite). Should make a fine rum for sure, but you'll be adding a lot of sugar to make up for the lack of it in the molasses. It's nearly only half of the sugar content of fancy(6.5 grams/20grams VS 12 grams/20 grams). Check to see if the place also stocks blackstrap or fancy in gallon jugs; bet they do, and if they don't, ask and they'll bring some in.

Here are the specs I found:

http://molasses.ca/site/pdf/Nutrition_C ... t_2004.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

http://molasses.ca/site/pdf/Nutrition_C ... t_2004.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

http://molasses.ca/site/pdf/NutritionCr ... t_2004.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

it's actually higher than all of those...15g of sugar per 21g of molasses. i don't think there are any "definites" to the terms of light, lite, fancy, etc. seems like just proprietary/marketing stuff.


..so, again, i'm back to this being a good score. not just because the price is good and it is readily available to me locally, but the sugar content is higher than any of the others that you researched for us. thanks!

Well, how cool is that! Good on ya!

Yup, there really should be better info on what's what. At least when we use molasses sold for humans, we do get these labels. Wish I'd have had one with my feed molasses last year.... Junk.

Barney Fife wrote:Well, how cool is that! Good on ya!

Yup, there really should be better info on what's what. At least when we use molasses sold for humans, we do get these labels. Wish I'd have had one with my feed molasses last year.... Junk.

yeah man...that stuff that i got from the feed store was HORRIBLE! it smelled SO bad, i was really turned off by the whole deal and gave up on the rum idea for a while. months later, i'm still finding sticky, stinky spots around the shop from that whole disaster. $14 for 3 gallons seemed like a deal, but man.........that sucked!...no deal.

I did some research into molasses this weekend as I was trying to build a spreadsheet that would calculate washes for me. The USDA has posted minimum Standards by grade of Molasses which means; if the molasses does not meet or exceed all of the applicable standards it cannot be defined and sold as that standard but must be bumped down. (Food grade only of course) There are several things that are defined, such as color, ash content, flavor etc... but the one I was looking for was sugar content by weight, listed below by grade as a minimum content for each container. The Standard numbers for a batch volume is higher than for a single container but mostly only by 1/2%

Grade A (Fancy) 63% sugar
Grade B (Cooking) 61% sugar
Grade C (Blackstrap) 57% sugar
Grade D (Sub Standard) Less than 57% sugar

Of course this means that the actual content of sugar could be higher if another quality was low enough to be the determining factor in the Grade assigned to the batch.

I also found out that the density of molasses is 1.41 kg/L and that on average, molasses contributes 38 points of specific gravity per pound per gallon of water which would seem to be very high based on the actual sugar content but this is due to the unfermentables and solids in molasses but with these two pieces of info and the sugar content minimum it should be possible to figure out the real degree of attenuation of a ferment if so desired.

My real landmark for the past couple days was finding a source of food grade blackstrap in bulk. $30.05 CAD for 25 Kg. I'm happy with that price.

cool...thanks for sharing. good info.

the stuff i got is 71% sugar if the nutrition info on the label is accurate.

Thanks for that Dr.

condensificator wrote:btw...got the good molasses hook-up at smart and final (http://www.smartandfinal.com/locations.aspx)...'bout $9 a gallon and it's really nice, food grade stuff...

WHOOPS!!!
THE BARKMAN'S MOLASSES CAME FROM CASH AND CARRY, NOT SMART AND FINAL!!! http://www.smartfoodservice.com/ you do need a membership there, my wife is a pastry chef, so she has one. i think their web url is what confused me...smartfoodservice.com...sorry folks. they are only on the west coast of the US.

before i realized my mistake, i sent whiskeydevil down to smart and final and they do, however, have "grandma's old fashioned molasses" by the gallon but the sugar content is lower and the price is higher. 13g per serving and almost $20gal.


...so, yeah. cash and carry. good source if you have a friend in the food service industry with a membership.