Making Quality Rum: The Final Word on Molasses/Sugar Source

[Dolmetscher]

I have been making fruit brandies, honey-based, and grain runs for several years, and I have gotten very good at it. Now I would like to try to make a premium Rum, using a 3 in. reflux still at a small 5 gallon mash batch size. I am confident that I have all the information I need regarding which yeast strain, yeast nutrient, primary fermentation temperature, how many trips through the still, and how I plan to age the finished Rum. The only weak link in the chain, which has come as a major surprise to me, is... which form of sugar to use. I am quite enjoying all the articles, blog posts, books, and recipes for rum, and discovering that people are making rum from everything from cattle feed adjuncts, to pure esoteric sugar cane juice.

I have searched through many sources, including the articles on Molasses and Rum in the "Sugar" segment of this site; wonderful site by the way, thank you all very much! But I have yet to find a baseline consensus on what a home artisan distiller can use. I understand that Rum can be made from all manner of sugar sources. I also can imagine that using something as sterile as white table sugar could produce a flavorless Rum, so-to-speak, where as acrid animal feed molasses is capable of producing a very "flavorful" Rum, but not necessarily desirably so.

I would like to open a discussion on the best source for constructing an artisan small-batch Rum mash bill. Here is a list of a few ideas just to get the ball rolling.

• Feed Grade Blackstrap -- I vote no. This is far too unpredictable, and contains more by-products than fermentable sugar. It is a pity though. It is by far the cheapest solution.
  
  Brown Sugar -- Being just a mixture of pure table sugar and molasses, I don't even buy this product for making Christmas cookies, much less this. Any Rum recipe that includes this product, I disregard as under researched.
  
  Grandma's Original Unsulphured http://www.bgfoods.com/grandmas/grandmas_products.asp -- Sounds good: "100% pure, natural sugarcane juices, clarified, and reduced." But is this what an artisan distiller would use, or is this just a pretty-good-for-the-money situation?
  
  Crosby's Fancy Molasses 100% pure, http://www.crosbys.com/fancy_molasses.asp -- This sounds like a very good ratio of raw sugar content and minerals. But it is prohibitively expensive and does not ship to the US; I emailed them personally. No dice.
  
  Lyle's Treacle http://www.lylesgoldensyrup.com/syrups.php -- This, I think is what I want, but it is first-born-child expensive, and hard to find.
  
  Lyle's Golden Syrup http://www.lylesgoldensyrup.com/syrups.php -- At this point, we may be overlapping, as this may be very similar to Treacle or Crosby's. I just do not know.

Obviously, I would not order 12 pounds of treacle at $9 per pound plus shipping. This list is simply intended to open a dialogue about the sugar source actual artisan rum distilleries use, and how to closely approximate it in a 5 gallon home sized batch.

[rtalbigr]

I've used Grandmas with great success. My best rum was made using Mennonite molasses that a friend got me. He got it the same day it was cooked, fresh, no preservatives.

Big R

[whackfol]

A local farm supply store in my area repackages molasses from a 55 gallon drum. It is labeled Cane B molasses and is for human consumption - higher than feed grade. If you bring your own container the cost is $16-ish a gallon. I have seen similar arrangements at health food stores, Craft (Amish) stores, and local bakeries. The bakery was my first source as I originally used it for making a barbeque sauce. It came by rail car and trying to get a little out was a PIA for them. It cost me a few bottles of BBQ sauce and then rum. The farm supply is ideal.

[Tater]

I like the feed molasses myself just have to add some sugar to make it like fancy.

[Prairiepiss]

The things you need to consider is this. As hobbyists we don't always have good access to the best products. And budget is a big one. So many make do with the best they can get and afford. Not to mention everyone's tastes are different. I would love to try some panela like LWTCS uses. But I can't just go out and buy enough to make a batch the size I would need. So I have opted to go with cheap feed black strap for my first go at it. .25 a pound compared to $3.25 a pound. Haven't looked at fancy molasses but I know it won't compare to black strap for pricing. So I will need to do a lot of experimenting to find what works for me. I'm collecting a little panela here and there so I can go with a combination of the two. From the advice of LWTCS. The rum guru.

But I would differently add panela to your list. And for our European members you mite add treacle.

[Dolmetscher]

Believe me, I completely understand. I am certainly no advocate for spending $300 to produce $100 worth of rum. I too am interested in making as inexpensive a product as possible.
At the same time, I want to make the best possible product I can within that budget. So if white sugar makes a flavorless alcohol for .60 cents per pound, I am willing to spend more. Likewise, if spending $9/lb for fancy evaporated cane syrup, then that tips the scale way too far in the other direction.
It looks to me like I am going to get my friend that owns a bakery to get me gallon jugs of unsulfured molasses for $15 ea. I don't yet know how much to get for a 5 gallon batch.

From a pure flavor point of view, should I use table sugar to cut the molasses, or just go straight molasses? i.e. Does pure molasses rum taste too much like molasses? Or is pure molasses the way to go, if you can?

[Tater]

Thats going to be a matter of taste . Ive used fancy molasses and feed molasses and feed molasses with varying amounts of cane sugar.All I thought were good but just the plain blackstrap had the most flavor.With the lowest yield while the fancy tasted lightest with mixed all over middle.Some on HD like to add used dunder to their rum washes for added flavors .I prefer it without the added dunder myself.

[whackfol]

I looked up the supplier of molasses to my farm and seed supply store. The following is a link:

http://www.maltproducts.com/products.molasses.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I inquired into a purchase a year or so ago and found I needed to purchase a pallet of 4 - 55G drums to meet their minimum.

I don't know what the stated BRIX was, but I combined 3 gallons of Cane B with 11 gallons of water and achieved a 21.8 starting BRIX. I added some citric acid to lower the pH (target 4.5), added a yeast energizer, and pitched some rehydrated Red Star Premier Cuvee. My fermentation took 15 days. After a double distillation in a pot still, I produced 8L of 43% abv rum. The total cost for the molasses was $48 or $6/L of rum.

[DAD300]

First off, I've had trouble finding food grade molasses, without preservative at a realistic price.

I found a Food Grade Molasses, meant for bakers at bulkfoods.com/whole-foods.asp?wholesale=4117


I comes in 1, 5 & 25 pound bags. The 5 pound bag is $3.06 a pound and if you buy enough or other stuff the shipping gets minimal. The price may or may not sound high, but remember your not buying or shipping water. They sell all kinds of spices, herbs, citric acid, grains and sugars.

Label says,
Zero Gluten Vegan Food
Contents: Unsulfured Molasses and Maltodextrin (corn). This molasses powder contains 75% blackstrap molasses. Use enough molasses to flavor the food and limit so there is no overly strong flavor. 6 grams of sugar content per tablespoon...Pure cane sugar only has 4 grams of sugar per tablespoon, so count the molasses powder as additional sugar!

It gives formulas for making it match other brands of table molasses.

Here's what I did to make an 11 gallon ferment-

in a keg I heated 4 gallons of water to 140F
at 140F I mixed in 14 pounds of dark brown sugar
and two mashed lemons
while stirring, continued to heat until back to 140F
I added 6 cups (~2.5 lbs) of the Powdered Molasses
Stirred till suspended and added
5- table spoons of Fermax fermentation aid and heated for 20 minutes

I added water to the keg to make 11 gallons total and let set over night.

Next morning the sg was 1.08, this was still at 95F
I proofed 5 table spoons of baker's yeast for two hours and add it.

This stuff tasted great all through the ferment and while it was cooking. The wash never had a chemical or off flavor.

It fermented to under 1.01. I aimed to run it before it went totally dry.

During the distillation it gave all kinds of wonderful smells until the dreaded tails and it got very oily. I take this as a good sign as it portrays the molasses oils weren't removed from the dry powder.

On a detuned column I averaged 87% (from 92 - 84). After being aired, it turned out great and carried a better buttery sweet taste then my previous attempts with just brown sugar or bulk blackstrap from health food stores.

I would say it is a medium rum. It's too flavorful to be light/white, but no bitter heavy flavor. However, that could be adjusted with more molasses powder. I think I went light on the powder and will probably add 50% more next time, hoping it stays sweet.

If the taste were to strong or to light, adjust the amount of powder...as this powder is going to be more consistent than a liquid.

I think the price point of this is about right and you don't pay to ship water.

[edge]

Hmmm...since Rum was originally, and still made from leftover sugarcane residue IE: blackstrap molasses I fail to see why you do not want it!
Unless you are after a light white rum.

I'd be interested in your thoughts.

edge.

[rumbuff]

I use Crosbys fancy, I get it for 14 cdn a gallon, from a friend at GFS. I use half a gallon in a 5 gallon wash, with the remainder being sugar. I also use 30% dunder, and I constantly reuse my dunder, so the flavor gets a little better each time. I find it works great for me!

[HookLine]

You work with what you can get.

[thecroweater]

If i can't get preservative free molasses I use brown sugar . It has a nice light rum flavor , thinkin still be more flavor than treacle and the like not sure why anyone would consider it unresearched or be worried about it . Its molasses and sugar no big mystery about it

[Dnderhead]

"If i can't get preservative free molasses"
git a BOP,place it on fire pit,,put molasses/water in pot add a alkaline, like lime and boil,,cool settle or filter...

[thecroweater]

Okay whats BOP ?

[LWTCS]

BOP= Big Ole Pot

[thecroweater]

Ok cool does that neutralize the sulfur , all the molasses around these parts has sulfur in it

[Dolmetscher]

Couple things...

When I said that any recipe that uses brown sugar is under-researched, or however I phrased it exactly... I didn't think about how that might be taken as a slight jab at anyone who uses brown sugar in their bill. What I meant was, white table sugar costs less than .70 cents per pound whereas brown sugar costs roughly twice that. But one can easily make their own brown sugar by adding just a few tablespoons of Grandma's molasses to several cups of white sugar. Essentially, I meant that buying brown sugar is kind of a scam for making Rum or even chocolate chip cookies. You basically pay a very high premium just to not have to get your fingers a little sticky mixing molasses into some sugar.

Also, just to address why I seem to have such negative things to say about Blackstrap or Feed-grade molasses, I must admit, I am 100% speaking from assumptions. I have never even seen animal feed-grade blackstrap molasses. I have also never seen a product like Crosby's "Fancy Molasses," which makes the following claims: The highest grade of molasses available. It is the pure juice of the sugar cane, condensed, inverted and purified. It is 100% natural and contains no additives or preservatives. It is a bit lighter in colour than the other molasses products, and the flavour is tangy sweet.

The reason I even brought this up was because my main source of recipes and information on Home Distilling thus far has been the book: Moonshine! by Matthew Rowley. So, his recipe for rum he specifies to use "Amber Molasses." He said that using harsh "Blackstrap" molasses has a very high mineral content and can have a very low actual sugar content. So, when I read the Crosby's Fancy Molasses description (above), I was highly excited at having found, what I thought to be, exactly what Matthew Rowley was talking about. But then I found out that they will not ship it to me in South Carolina. I really don't understand that, because they will ship to the northern New England states. What's the difference in Connecticut vs. South Carolina from a shipping point of view. It's all the US. But whatever.

So, with Crosby's out of the question, I set up this forum to try to find an analogous solution. And I am still not completely comfortable, but I have decided to just get a few runs in under my belt, and just see for myself. So, I've ordered a couple of gallons of Unsulphured molasses from my friend that owns a bakery. And I'm just going to use that. I am pretty positive that it will be a very similar product to Grandma's Molasses. I will just see for myself what Grandma's Molasses yield in the way of Rum.

[thecroweater]

Can't speak for anyone else but I didn't take it as a jab just pointing out that if you were going to use a sugar molasses combo and couldn't get unadulterated molasses , well brown sugar is ya combo , in a pinch Edit and I think but don't know (never used g.syrup) that it would provide a superior flavor to golden syrup

[myles]

I think you are missing something here because there is a lot more to brown sugar than coloured white sugar.

Now I use DEMERARA sugar, I beleieve in the USA there is a simmilar product called turbinado sugar. Now this is an unrefined cane sugar, so it has never got to the stage of being 'white'. I also use Muscovado sugar which is again unrefined and even darker and stronger flavoured.

I tend to mostly use Demerara plus some Moscavado and a little bit of the fancy black treacle just for added flavour. My last batch was 7.25 kg treacle (thats a 1 gallon plastic jug), 15kg demerara and 5kg moscavado made up to 25 gallons. I still havent finalised my mix yet but it is getting closer to what I want.

[Dolmetscher]

Myles...

Most definitely. Living in the United States, it is easy to forget that this forum is very international. I lived in Europe from age 20 - 27, and I am definitely aware of the myriad of choices when it comes to different sugars. In the US we have a pale version of Turbinado sugar sold under the brand "Sugar in the Raw." Other than that, we have to go to Mexican grocery stores or specialty health food stores for things like: Demerara, Piloncillo, and Muscovado sugar. And trust me, these "boutique" sugars are a lot more expensive than white or brown sugar.

Being in the US, when I say, "Brown Sugar," I was referring to the simple white sugar mixed with molasses. For "light" brown sugar, the typical ratio is 1 1/2 - 2 teaspoons of molasses to 1 cup (8 fl. oz) of white sugar. For "dark" brown sugar, it's a 3 - 4 tsps molasses to 1 cup sugar ratio. And that was why I was calling it a racket to buy brown sugar. Because 1 lb. of brown sugar costs triple what 1 lb. of white sugar costs, when the only difference is that the brown sugar pound had about .11 cents worth of molasses mixed in.

I am very interested in your Demarara/Muscovado/Treacle Rum Recipe. That sounds amazing. Hopefully, everyone who is reading this thread can see the reason for why I posted it. Treacle is, to my knowledge a UK/Australia/South Africa/New Zealand product. Your average American has never heard of it. When I was a child, growing up in the Appalachia Region of the American Southeast, the old timers would get together to do what is called a "Stir Off." And they still do this today. Somebody will have a mechanical press that is just two or four heavy steel rollers that are about 1/4 inch apart, that are turned by a long pole attached to a donkey that just walks in a circle, turning the press. Old-timers feed fresh cut sugar cane poles in between the rollers, and catch the juice.
They then boil the juice down for hours in a long deep pan set over an open fire pit. They have to sit there and skim the boiling juice for hours with these shovel looking implements that have holes drilled all over the place to skim off the foam et cetera. At the end of the whole process they'd have what they called molasses. It was a dark thick syrup. There was some skill to it in that you could over cook it, and it would set up as hard as a brick.

At any rate, that does not seem to be what molasses in the grocery store is today. Blackstrap molasses is not just highly reduced sugar cane juice. It is some kind of by product of the table sugar making process. To be honest, I do not know how store-bought molasses is made today. But I can imagine that Rum made in the Caribbean/PuertoRico etc, is made with something more like what my grand-father was making in Appalachia 60 years ago. I basically started this thread to try to find THAT sugar syrup, without having to boil 100 gallons of cane juice to get it.

[DFitz]

Check your local Sam's Club for fancy molasses. They carry it by the gallon local to me. Price is reasonable.

[myles]

I am not sure what the US equivalent to our "treacle" is, but it is a catering grade sugar product with 64% sugar. Black, slightly bitter syrup, nutritional info is included in the link below
http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate ... k-treacle/

This is normally used as an ingredient in cakes etc and not as a table syrup. It is very 'clean' when you pour boiling water on it there is virtually no sludge. I used to buy my tracle in 1 gallon jugs from a catering supplier, same with bulk bags of sugar. However these days I wait for the supermarket BOGOF offers, it usually works out a lot less expensive.

I have found that you can get larger containers of "molasses" at the shops that cater for the horsey crowd but I havent used it yet. It is also quite cheap in a 1000 litre IBC from a farm supplier, but that would last me a long long time.

[LWTCS]

They have to sit there and skim the boiling juice for hours with these shovel looking implements that have holes drilled all over the place to skim off the foam et cetera. At the end of the whole process they'd have what they called molasses. It was a dark thick syrup. There was some skill to it in that you could over cook it, and it would set up as hard as a brick.

That is what the South American's would refer to as Panela, piloncillo. Can be had for as cheap as $1.18 in my area. But usually a $1.53,,,,,,,lately.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/colo ... hout-video" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Might take a minute for the video to boot.

[rtalbigr]

They then boil the juice down for hours in a long deep pan set over an open fire pit. They have to sit there and skim the boiling juice for hours with these shovel looking implements that have holes drilled all over the place to skim off the foam et cetera. At the end of the whole process they'd have what they called molasses. It was a dark thick syrup. There was some skill to it in that you could over cook it, and it would set up as hard as a brick.

The Amish/Mennonites still do it that way, mule, long deep pan, everything. There's an Amish farm north of me about three hrs, close to a friend of mine. He got me four gallons last fall for $200, really good stuff. Sugar content much higher than anything you can buy in the store. Haven't tried the rum yet, it's been aging in a 5 gal Gibbs barrel since the end of January. I'll probably drain it off in the next few weeks.

Big R

[Prairiepiss]

They then boil the juice down for hours in a long deep pan set over an open fire pit. They have to sit there and skim the boiling juice for hours with these shovel looking implements that have holes drilled all over the place to skim off the foam et cetera. At the end of the whole process they'd have what they called molasses. It was a dark thick syrup. There was some skill to it in that you could over cook it, and it would set up as hard as a brick.

The Amish/Mennonites still do it that way, mule, long deep pan, everything. There's an Amish farm north of me about three hrs, close to a friend of mine. He got me four gallons last fall for $200, really good stuff. Sugar content much higher than anything you can buy in the store. Haven't tried the rum yet, it's been aging in a 5 gal Gibbs barrel since the end of January. I'll probably drain it off in the next few weeks.

Big R

If its better then that rum you gave me. We will defiantly have to meetup again. Cause this stuff you gave me is a damn fine drink.

[Dolmetscher]

That is what the South American's would refer to as Panela, piloncillo. Can be had for as cheap as $1.18 in my area. But usually a $1.53,,,,,,,lately.

LWTCS... this is exactly what I am talking about!!! Thank you.

You and I are not that far apart geographically. Where are you getting it for $1.18? And is this per pound? I just did an internet search, and I found that Goya sells it, but it's $3.49/lb. and higher.

Also, because I have no frame of reference, having never made a Rum from sugar, approximately how many pounds of panela would one need to make a 5 gallon wash to make Rum?

Would you include any other sugars or molasses for flavor? I have the feeling that adding at least some molasses will lend a nice flavor to a rum. But I may be wrong, and would greatly appreciate it if I could benefit from your past experience, both mistakes and accomplishments.

Thank you for posting that link. That video is, exactly what my family used to do in North Carolina. They actually boiled it down even further until it was very dark. I think they ended up adding water back to it to get it back to a syrup consistency. Notice, that the panela in that video solidifies into blocks of sugar. I guess the old guys would boil it down to caramelize it (Maillard reaction) for flavor, but then re-add water to make it pour/scoopable.

[thecroweater]

My problem here , I've moved one state to another is I can't find unsulfured molasses period . I'd love to use an alternative like panela but ya looking $8 for a 700g bag . All the molasses I've come across here is 2% sulfur , so damn frustrating as this place has more than 100 times the population but nowhere near 1/4 the affordable choices in sugars . Can anyone reading this tell me , in a previous post here is described a method of boiling preserved molasses with an alkaline is that referring to sulfured molasses as this looks like my best option until I can get home anyways Edit PS yeah getting bored with the lightness of brow sugar rum

[LWTCS]

LWTCS... this is exactly what I am talking about!!! Thank you.
Awe shucks it wern't nuthin

You and I are not that far apart geographically. Where are you getting it for $1.18? And is this per pound? I just did an internet search, and I found that Goya sells it, but it's $3.49/lb. and higher.
We have a bunch of latin markets in our area and the big chain closest to the latin community also carries panela
Also, because I have no frame of reference, having never made a Rum from sugar, approximately how many pounds of panela would one need to make a 5 gallon wash to make Rum?
I use 8-10 pounds

Would you include any other sugars or molasses for flavor? I have the feeling that adding at least some molasses will lend a nice flavor to a rum. But I may be wrong, and would greatly appreciate it if I could benefit from your past experience, both mistakes and accomplishments.
I started using panela as molasses in my area is way too expensive and when I did find a good price there was a $500 minimum purchase.....you can use dunder techniques to help build heavier notes. I recently aquired a free 5 gallon bucket of 50% from my new friends at the sugar plant..4 or 5 cups of molasses with 8lbs of panela ferments really well and smells just wonderful.

Thank you for posting that link. That video is, exactly what my family used to do in North Carolina. They actually boiled it down even further until it was very dark. I think they ended up adding water back to it to get it back to a syrup consistency. Notice, that the panela in that video solidifies into blocks of sugar. I guess the old guys would boil it down to caramelize it (Maillard reaction) for flavor, but then re-add water to make it pour/scoopable.

I add 4-5 cups of water to a stock pot, bring to a boil then reduce to low and drop in the panela cakes. On a low simmer I simply let it liquify. I started adding a spoon full of brewshop yeast nutes and that does help the ferment work off a bit more aggressively. The addition of the molasses and no other nutes works off nicely too. Similar to the addition of the nutes...when I get more nutes I'll see how much more the ferments will speed up,,,,but am not particulary concerned about trying to squeeze more speed

[Barney Fife]

On the subject of feed molasses, we need to remember that not all feed molasses is the same. In my area, it will be sugar beet molasses, which doesn't have much sugar at all and will not ferment decently no matter what amount of sugar or nutrients you add.

To those of y'all that can't find non-sulfured molasses... Really? I've never seen sulfured molasses! Maybe some states have certain laws or something? Kind of like the days when some states didn't allow unpasteurized beer from another state?