Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

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Shine0n
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by Shine0n »

The nuking works wonders on aging, gets it there in short order although I still leave on oak for 6 months minimum.

Also helps white rum, seems it cleans up the lighter alcohols.

I need to clean and sanitize my new 30 gal barrels and get some rum fermenting this weekend.

Looking forward to getting back on the still after a couple months.
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Bodhidan
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by Bodhidan »

About leaving on oak, Do you leave on oak block for the entire 6 months or remove the oak at some point. Right now I am using 1 Oak block per liter in 2-liter jars @ 65% but saw some folks say that they take it off the oak and continue to age after a month or two.
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by Shine0n »

I under oak it to a degree because I like to leave it in the jugs for 6 months or more.
It's easier to use less to get the desired flavor than to have too much and over oak your spirit and hope it mellows.

What size oak are you using?

Mine are oak cubes from the lhbs, they are 1/2"×1/2" They seem to color up nicely and impart the flavor I like in my rum, within a month the color is nice but it takes a few months for the flavors to come in and start tasting good.

I've also found that 140p 70% does great on my rum, I don't follow rules very well so I've experimented alot to find what I like to get off the beaten path.

I look at it like this, if I wanted to do what the "big boys" do trying to replicate a commercial spirit... I'd just go buy a bottle from the store.

I've not had an affordable bottle of booze rum wise I liked so that's why I got into making my own rum. I get to play with ferment temps, ingredient ratios, ferment time, single runs (with thumper) stripping runs/spirit run, dunder addition, aging times, barrel or cubes/domino's, etc etc

It's great doing things the way I do, I know enough to play around and experiment, most the time they are good, some are great imo and what doesn't make the cut can get reran.

I would suggest to use less oak for longer times, not saying 1 cube per gallon but less isn't a bad thing. More oak will give color quickly and impart the oak flavor but letting it sit with oak in there with less things get better with time, the likker moving in and out of the wood, going deeper and deeper in and out does something magical.

Roughly 9-10 Sq inches per quart is what I use.
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Bodhidan
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by Bodhidan »

Good info,

My oak staves are 4" x 1/4" to 1/2" so right now that would only be about 4" SQ per quart. The color is just about perfect and I'm definitely not in the over oaking range. I will just let it sit. I have a bunch that's been sitting for 2 months so 4 more and I will crack them open.
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by Shine0n »

Just got a 30 gal rum ferment started today along with gen 2 of a corn and barley.
Have enough molasses for another 30 gal some point this weekend.

Looking good for the rum this year!
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Bodhidan
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by Bodhidan »

Awesome, make sure you experiment with that Hungarian oak, I was sampling from a few Xmas jars and its flavors are becoming some of my favorites for dark rum.
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by Shine0n »

Oh I will, I was looking at the bag of it over the weekend and thought how can I do this.?.?.
Well, I'm going to do 3 gal American white oak and 1 gal Hungarian, if I'm not fond of the Hungarian I can blend it with the other.

Hell, I may like it more! who knows.

I need to start that ferment very soon though, weekend was crazy and was tied up with the party but this week is slow and should be able to wrap it up one day soon.
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by Bodhidan »

Yeah, I have 20G waiting to be run. My last few ferments have been nearly all blackstrap and man did they puke. I broked everything down and have it a really good clean and then got busy with other things. I plan on running this weekend.
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by Shine0n »

My 25 gal is ready to run this weekend too, I have 2.5 gal of rum feints from last year I'll add to the thumper along with 10 gallons of wash and a big dollop of butter to control the puking.

Good luck man and keep me posted on the success :thumbup:
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by raketemensch »

I have to say that I was not hopeful for this one. Cuts were a bitch, even after 3 days of airing out, as *everything* had a heads burn to it. I kept it anyway, just to see what time could do.

Last night I grabbed the bottle, at 3 months on oak, and am still ecstatic about it. It’s SO good I can’t bring myself to mix with it, I have to sip it, and I can’t say that about many commercial rums.

The last batch I tried is still in the Brute — I tried using Jaggery instead of sugar, and this is the second time it has completely killed a ferment. Ph is fine, temp is fine, but it turned to vinegar.

Thing is — it’s wicked tasty vinegar, and now I need to figure out how to preserve 30 gallons of it...
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by Shine0n »

I love a good vinegar, 30 gallons is a bunch tho!

10 cases of mason jars will do it but you may want to jar like you would pickles or such to pasteurize it and keep it from getting a worse infection.

I think it was Cranky who said he ran a wash that's smelled of vinegar and it turned out nice so who knows... it may be the best rum you've ever had or never had.
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raketemensch
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by raketemensch »

Shine0n wrote:I love a good vinegar, 30 gallons is a bunch tho!

10 cases of mason jars will do it but you may want to jar like you would pickles or such to pasteurize it and keep it from getting a worse infection.

I think it was Cranky who said he ran a wash that's smelled of vinegar and it turned out nice so who knows... it may be the best rum you've ever had or never had.
Yeah, but there's not really any alcohol in it, which is a bummer.

I'm about to pick up a big stovetop pressure cooker, so "canning" a few jars is a definite possibility.
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by Shine0n »

I'm running 22 gallons of rum wash right now, the thumper is clanging and banging and about to settle into its hummmmm. For this recipe I had 120 lbs of blackstrap so that's what I used instead of the feed, not all of course, alot tho!

If it don't puke I'm going to do a single run with the thumper, I did put a good dollop of butter in the boiler and thumper to minimize this but who knows right.

If it does I'll take some fresh dunder and the 7.75 gal keg and spirit run it tonight, I do have some infected dunder but we'll see if that gets in the mix... shit yea it will!!! I'll just add the fresh to the infected but I'll need my 55 gal fermenter to get all this in there and I have plans for it. What to do, what to do!!!

I'll post with the results later.

I think I messed up, I put enough molasses for a 45 gal wash but only did 30, this will more than likely be a stripping run if I don't like the flavors I get.

Who knows, I like very bold rum and this on oak for 6 months might be pretty good.

Man I think wayyy too much.
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by Shine0n »

No puke
Great aromas
custom making a gallon to bring to S3-18

I usually take 10-1/2"×1/2" per quart but for this gal I'm taking 30 instead of 40 but I did med char 8 of them in hopes to speed up the vanilla flavor a bit.

I feel like it's cheating but it's mine, I can do what I please, lol

I really hope this is ready, the other oak cubes are already turning the likker amber and I just added the charred ones to it. I'm at a half gallon of what I'm bringing and I'll collect the rest in pints to air for the night and finish the blend tomorrow.

I'm not going to try to have much at all in the way of tails in this one for the party but my personal keep I'll get funky with them.

I'll take the 0-12/15% for dilution and blend tomorrow or Sat morning.
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by Shine0n »

Run went great, 1 gal on oak now, 2 more to sort through tomorrow after airing out. One thing I love about this rum is it's repetitive run after run and now I know what I can keep on the fly.

Should make for a fine aged rum as well that will shared at S3-18

Now on to gen 2 of the corn/barley tomorrow.

The dunder will be mixed with the aged stuff and mixed in the low wines next batch.

Good stuff today boys/gals
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by Shine0n »

My muck pit is looking and smelling great and it's alive once again with the temp climb so I have a new method which I will incorporate for this year, at least for the beginning.
I'll use my original recipe BUT I will add 10% dunder to the boiler and thumper for a run or two. See what it's like with a one and done and if not what I want I'll just strip a few more the same way and spirit run with the usual 25% dunder to low wines ratio.

The muck pit was dormant for a few months and without a touch other than adding dunder it's now going well. I'll check the pH and raise with lime to 5.5 if needed.

The last rum run went well and even with the extra moll in the wash is a fine keep, a little less than a month on oak and there has been a couple changes already on the nose, from a strong musty molasses to a sweeter oak smell and I think from oaking at a higher proof 140+- is doing some good too.

I've lost about a quart form 2 gallon of the white due to airing out for so long but it's smoothed out quite nice and made a really good rum and coke last night.

So far it's good and we'll see in six months how good.
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by Shine0n »

I'm thinking this should be moved into the rum forum!?!????
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by butterpants »

Yes it should
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by zapata »

Shineon, quick high five from me. That butter treatment freaking works as advertised. Took a finished rum wash up to 130-135* slowly (300-500 watts for 12.5 gallons), held it for an hour and let it cool slowly overnight. Pretty big wash so it didnt cool too fast and probably spent several hours uo near 130*F. Boom, butter bomb. Like take a sniff and wipe the oil off your lips buttery.

Side effect, I think the heat also helps degas the wash to help reduce foaming. I started whipping to degas before running and it seemed much flatter than usual.
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by Shine0n »

Glad it worked out for ya buddy, I totally found that on accident but sure glad I did.

Still took me a little while to put 2 and 2 together but when I did it stuck like glue.

I've had some buttery flavors in my previous rums but nothing like this, I really believe that letting it cool back down is key to the process.

Hope someone else will try it too for scientific research lol
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by hpby98 »

Just confirming this mash has to be airlocked while it’s fermenting?
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by butterpants »

My fermenter lids are on loosly to keep out the dust only... no airlocks
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by hpby98 »

butterpants wrote:My fermenter lids are on loosly to keep out the dust only... no airlocks
What about when it’s settling out?

I’ve lose lidded my TPW with zero issues so far
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by zapata »

Shine0n wrote:I really believe that letting it cool back down is key to the process.
Interesting, I honestly just did it because it was part of your protocol, but actually almost skipped the cool down because I don't see how it could make a difference. Is your statement based on ever skipping the cool down, any theory about it, or just a hunch?

All the info I can get shows yeast dying pretty quickly at 130, as in minutes much less hours. So I assumed whatever happens due to yeast metabolism (presumably diacetyl production?) happens on the way up and/or relatively quickly at temp. I guess the extra time could allow for things to escape from the yeast cells, or for some purely chemical changes to occur.

A scientific explanation is intriguing, but honestly doesn't matter. Your protocol certainly works. Of course it'd be a bit more time and power efficient to not have to hold it so long, or to wait for the cool down. But it's solid as is.

You really need to name this procedure, I probably won't do it for every rum forever, but will certainly be repeating it fairly often. In my notes I've been calling it butterification. But you had the good luck of that malfunctioning heater, the good sense to verify it, and the graciousness to share it, so you should name it. You could go for the glory and call it the SOP (shine on process)? EVAP (Eastern VA Process)? SOHFU (ShineOn's Heater Fucked Up)? Sous vide butter rum?
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by Shine0n »

That's funny, I actually thought of names for it but couldn't find a proper one. lol

It is a little more time consuming but worth it if that's the style of rum you want imho. I don't do it on every rum but to get a good stock I will for a few ferments.

Shine0n's butter rum.... Hmmm

I let it cool because I didn't know if the ferment was completely finished, it was and the magic happened so I posted and it gathered traction the more I played with it.

I believe letting it cool gives it more time to develop the esters, I say keep at 135ish because that's what happened to me so I know it works. Maybe play around with time at 135, holding, getting there and cut heat, hell I don't know other than it works.

Glad for ya zapata
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by Shine0n »

An update on the last run in march, it's definitely getting better and better.
The color is awesome and aromas are better by the week, I'll bottle this one up and PROOF it to 100 (50%) Three weeks before S3:18

I'm mixing up 30 gal tomorrow and will butter it up for the gathering as well, I'll keep it white except for a half gal I'll oak with the home made oak sticks med toast.

Good year so far for the rum :thumbup:
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by Bodhidan »

It's great coming back to these posts after so much time. I've produced 7 batches now having everything dialed in enough that I know my cuts directly off the still. Makes things super convenient to move over to larger collections containers.

Most of my experimenting has been with the aging abv and amount of oak staves. I definitely got into over oaking on the last run using 3 staves of medium French oak per 2l @ 70%. I'm ramping for another year's production and should be settling on 2 staves @ 65% or 70%.

One major thing I have noticed about the over oaking is that it really isn't noticeable until diluted down to 40%. Anything from 45-70% and it's just delicious.

I have two 5 gallon buckets of dunder that have been sitting since March so will finally be using them in the next few weeks. I will be sure to use the notes from this thread.
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by Shine0n »

Awesome, I haven't been up to date with this thread bit this is still how I like to make my rum.

Not a thing has changed in my recipe although I do others for different styles of rum but this is my go to.

I have since started to strip and spirit run this and it's still a very fine rum

Glad you're having fun and keep on keeping on.
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by Bodhidan »

I've also started strip/spirit runs. It's more economical from a time perspective and I think gives a cleaner product much sooner.
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Re: Feed grade molly and brown sugar wash

Post by distiller_dresden »

Hey ShineOn how you doin' bro?!

I haven't noted to you specifically that I finally got butter - it's in my hazelnut honeybutter - I did the process when I cooked it; didn't have butter the next day like everyone, but after 1 month in glass and 6 in a badmo, that stuff came out like a butter bomb, perfect for the rum I wanted to make! I'm getting rave reviews and people can't believe how buttery it is, completely unique, and the honey malt I used in making it, as well as back sweetening with a little honey (9g/L) it's amazing man.

I'm going to do the process on my current 'all natural cherry vanilla rum' when I cook this weekend...
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