Panela/Piloncillo RUM

[LWTCS]

Any idea what makes up the other 22?

I'm not sure but the yeast seem to love it!

Yeah there is a bunch of good stuff in there for fermentation.
All the stuff that makes for healthy cane fermentation is in the panela. I suspect the hot kettles do neutralize some nutritionally favorable material however? But certainly the panela provides a more robust environment compared to what we now get as Blackstrap that has been very efficiently rendered down to 50%. The Blackstrap available when Dunderhead was a young man is not really available unless you specify what would now be called a "distiller's molasses" it seems? And that product can get expensive for small time hobbyists.

The part I find interesting about todays molasses market is that the analysis (the 3 reports that I am starring at now) for three different grades, have a sucrose content that ranges (per product) of about a 10% variance/latitude (did I say that correctly?). Meaning the publicized potential sucrose content could theoretically be the same for all three grades of molasses. Even though the there is definitely a price difference from grade to grade........So how does a pro operator crunch his annual numbers to determine annual potential yield (and potential profit) with a product or series of products that can vary as much as 10% yield within the same product description?
Better yet, How does one explain to an investor that profits could be 10% more,,,,,,or 10% less?

Sorry for drifting.

[Jimbo]

There's probably a yield shift year to year based on weather and such. My apples last year were 17 brix avg (1.068) , highest ever, usually 13 Brix. So fluctuations from the top down are prolly just baked into operations for the big guy? In the case of molasses some years higher sucrose some lower based on a consistent programmed refining process? Also I imagine grade has to do with more than just sucrose? Hell I dunno, just talkin out my ass.

[LWTCS]

Its true Jim,
Here in the states the farmers are often paid by the sucrose content of the cane rather than by the amount of cane as such. The sugar mills employ chemists to evaluate the sucrose content within random samples.
But the countries that are poor do not usually employ a seasonal, mechanized harvest.

SugarDaddy's farms still use man power and select the canes at the peak of ripeness. As such they get yeild all year long.

I figure some of the inconsistencies in the molasses is that after market guy's are buying from various sources and blending to create a final product for sale to distilleries. I could be wrong. I usually am.
Certainly other variables can affect final product as well

[Dnderhead]

im not in that area but i don't think most have harvest equipment.so some one does it for them.if your crop is "ripe" when they are there good if not its harvested any way.then they add sulfates to bring out the sugar.sort of chemical ripening.

[Kaput808]

Ran mine yesterday. Only got the FG to 1.0. Still had a lil sweetness to it but not near as much as it once did. I ran it hard N fast to strip my 2 ferments and have to wait till next week to do a spirit run. It SMELLS fantastic even running it quick but the tails smells like.....grass or maybe the fibers from the cane itself. I had 2 - 4 Gal Ferments of panela with some boiled potato juice for both to try and get that silky mouth feel I enjoy from potato vodka. I had 2lb's panela per Gallon (which I think was to much). I only did 4 gal batches in my 6 gal fermenter because this is my first batch with panela and wanted ALOT of head room. The SG for both was 1.9 and finished @ 1.0 . Im not 100% sure but I think that came out to 11% abv(I dont wanna look it up) Like I said I ran it fast n hard and got a little over 2 and 1/2 gal. I just ran it till it was cloudy and the stuff coming out tasted like water.

Cant wait to do my spirit run.

Finally did my spirit run. Ran it slow on my pot still and came out with this:
Going in I put the 5 gal of my stripping run into boiler plus 1 gal water. I ran my striping run way past 20% so it hopefully had pushed thru alot of oils n flavor.

all jars are 400ml

Jar 1 400ml. 86%
2 400ml 87%
3. 400ml 86%
4. 400ml 85%
5 86%
6 85%
7 84%
8. 83%
9. 400ml 83%
10. 82%
11. 81%
12. 80%
13. 78%
14. 400ml 76%
15 74%
16 72%
17. 70%
18 66%
19. 62%
20. 57%
21. 50%
22. 42%

The rest i ran in a big jar till 20%

The first few jars had that heavy alcohol smell with a sweetness that smelled fantastic and a hit of that grass/fiber smell.
Around jar 8 i got real floral smell. I swear its like smelling a floral arrangement.
Jar 14 it started smelling like the raw panela again.
Im gonna air n then try n oak some and make me some spiced rum

[Richard7]

I seem to let time slip by before I can find time to follow up on my post. Such is life in this rat race world!

On the weekend of May 4th I ran my Panela in my Nixon Stone offset head still. I have mine set up so that I can take out my column and packing and run it as a pot still so to speak. It really seems weird being able to see the top of the still with no column.

So its been while and I am not one to take notes so this is it in a nut shell. My ferment went real well. 23 gallons total with a starting sg of 1.060 two week and it was dry and clear. Just under 1.000 probably .980.

I let the still come up to temp and taking advantage of the fact that it was a reflux still, I did let it reflux for a while with no packing. I know I wasn't really refluxing just letting it all come up to temp before I started. With hopes that this would at least concentrate some of the foreshots.

When it was all hot and rolling, I shut off the reflux and ran it like a pot still. (not the norm for me)
I tossed 2 cups for fores and started collecting heads.

After airing for 3 days (I know 3 days is a long time but all that life stuff ya know?) I ended up cutting the first 2 quarts as heads. I found this cut harder to make as I could not find a real sharp cutting point with smell and taste. I relied on the fact that if it did not tear my eye over a shot glass it was hearts. My better half agreed with her keen scene of smell and taste.

Ended up with 3 gallons of hearts @ 40%. But this stuff has a strong rum flavor. That may be due to going into tails...... but they smelled so good!

I am sitting on the fence about if I should run it again? I don't want to loose all the rum flavor but I do find it a little strong. I have a friend that seems to think this is great, but he is more of a beer guy.

Don't get me wrong it's really not bad as is, but you could not hide that flavor behind a hippo in a pink tutu. LOL

[LWTCS]

Then make up another wash and use to dilute your boiler charge back to 40% and not loose any rom notes and get better purity.

[Kaput808]

I think it comes down to if you dont like the taste run it again but maybe at an even speed..not to fast or slow so that you can get the flavor to push thru not get to "pureified" as it were. I was surprised at how mine tasted and the different notes that came thru at differant parts of the run... none of it was bad or to strong for me but I like bold flavors...then I cover it in spice and drink . Although I did find a rum that ruined all other rums for me. I found a Ron Zakapa 23... OMG best damn rum I have ever tasted . I am by no means a expert on rum and this might be a low end crap rum to others but it was sweet ambrosia to me and I cant wait to try it again or if Im lucky find my own bottle.

Here is a Pic of my last rum

My Jars with the lid a lil loose to air

[Jimbo]

well, guess who else will be running it again. Turns out my wife is the only one really drinking this stuff and she isint crazy about the flavor. You can taste that sugar cane flavor, it came through in the mojito's even, which I think is nice, but gotta keep the woman happy right, happy wife happy life and all that bullshit. So gonna dilute this carboy full down to 40 and run it slow, taking another cut of fores and tails and try to clean it up for her. Any advice Larry or P or any of you rum folk?

Edit: For the record Im keeping a few quarts as is. That sugar caneyness is pretty nice I think. Will be making mojitos from 2 different bottles of rum, freakin women.

[ipee7ABV]

i have never ran the stuff but would ageing help? how old is your sample? i read rum needs 9 mo-1 year till its good?

[Moscca]

[Jimbo]

Thats a good point ipee, Its only 2 months old, but i reran it anyway to make the woman happy, after first pulling 6 quarts, 3 been on oak, and 3 white. Ran the rest and pulled 3 quarts hearts at 76% after a quart of heads at 82. And 2 more quarts tails. So my 3 quarts of 'feints' are at 61% haha. Seems nutty but these hearts are pretty clean and tasty, gotta say. Watered a bottle down to 80 proof and Ill fix her another mojito when it hits high noon to have with lunch. Wish me luck. Cheers.

[LWTCS]

Good luck Jim.
I assume you are pot stilling?

I have to say that collecting in the high 80s to low 90s does not at all eliminate flavor IMO. Especially if you are using dunder or aging your rum beer prior to distillation.
Seems like a slightly brighter finish product is where she will steer you.

[Jimbo]

Thanks Larry, yes potstillin. Building a flute in on my todo list but still running simple today. Im happy with the spirit run hearts, they still have some nice flavor and sweetness came over. Quite nice.

One thing I noticed tasting the heads, hearts and tails throughout the run, was the very last of tails I pulled at 30% were really delicious. Fruity and sweet. That never happens with AG runs, where its pretty foul fusels at the end. To be fair tho I kept the cuts pretty clean on the first run, because I didnt intend to do a second run originally.

Anyway, fun stuff, love new surprises. Lots of them with this hobby!

[Jimbo]

Spirit run hearts is a big hit with wifey. Mojito's taste like they're made with Bacardi now, which after drinking it that way for 30 years I can see how she has a pretty firm, uh... baseline, lets just say she's not as open minded as me on this stuff. Cheers.

[Clearwater]

I just whipped together my first batch. 7lbs 3 ozs of some Sugardaddy goodness was melted in water for a total volume of 5 gallons. SG was 1.060. I added a pinch of epsom, half tsp of gypsum, and a bit under a tsp of DAP (having difficulty researching the nitrogen properties of sugar so figured under one tsp for the entire 5 gallon wash couldn't hurt). I used a touch under a quarter cup of DADY. Hydrated and started with a little wash. PH was 5.9.

I pitched when the wash was around 88 degrees. It took off and has maintained that temp without any assistance (it's currently around 86). Ambient room temp varies between 78 and 82 during the day.

I'm so excited to see how this turns out!!

[Clearwater]

Appears to have finished at .994 with a PH of 4.8 (taken for giggles). Tastes really good. Going to let it sit on the lees for a while as I have other washes ahead of it. Hoping it clears up a bit after I gave it a big stir. Will probably not crack the lid on it for a week or so.

[Jimbo]

Nice and dry. It is tasty stuff isint it? I was seriously tempted to put a few gallons in a corny keg and carbonate it up to drink alongside my beers. haha.

[Sugar Daddy]

It is funny you mentioned drinking the fermented rum beer. It is a very very popular drink that people in Latin America called guarapo. Pronounced guad-a-po. Anyway, I think it would be a good idea to experiment.

[LWTCS]

It is funny you mentioned drinking the fermented rum beer. It is a very very popular drink that people in Latin America called guarapo. Pronounced guad-a-po. Anyway, I think it would be a good idea to experiment.

Do they let it ferment to dry or do they allow any sweetness to remain?
Are you familiar with the process they use?

[Clearwater]

I'm about ready to finally run this. It's still sitting on the lees. I can't tell much in the way of whether or not it's cleared up any. Wondering if you all take try to recycle the yeast bed by racking off that directly to the still so you can reuse it or if I'd be best to rack into another container for a few days and start with fresh yeast every time. Curious about ya'lls opinions.

[Sugar Daddy]

I typically rack directly to the still once its dry and reuse the yeast for a few more generations. Typically I would have more boiled wash ready to ferment so the yeast do not die sitting there waiting for you to boil the mash.

Regarding the guarapo beer, I found an interesting link for you Smaug. This details mostly cane product, but I know they use corn too.

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/adventu ... n-ecuador/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[noobsauce]

It is funny you mentioned drinking the fermented rum beer. It is a very very popular drink that people in Latin America called guarapo. Pronounced guad-a-po. Anyway, I think it would be a good idea to experiment.

interesting. i wonder what it would be like if done a lower abv....say about 5-6% and then bottled as beer?....have to be alot more careful on the nasties but it might be interesting...i havent done any beer brewing so not sure.

[Prairiepiss]

I have a gallon I have been racking and adding more panela too. For some time now. When it clears I will ne bottling it as a wine.

Problem with a 5 or 6% ferment. It's not enough alcohol to keep it from spoiling to quick. Where beer has the hops to help with that.

[noobsauce]

I have a gallon I have been racking and adding more panela too. For some time now. When it clears I will ne bottling it as a wine.

Problem with a 5 or 6% ferment. It's not enough alcohol to keep it from spoiling to quick. Where beer has the hops to help with that.

didnt know the hops did it. well maybe a "sparkling" wine? im going for the carbonated idea like a beer btw. wish i knew more about beer...other than drinkin' it

[Hound Dog]

I have two ferment barrels of Sugar Daddy's goodness going right now. This appears to be the fastest ferment I have done. I put together a wash of about 1.085 on Friday afternoon and I just checked it Sunday morning it is at 1.025. Just 28lbs Panela, 4lbs of white sugar, 1/2 tbsp. DAP and 1 tbsp. calcium carbonate topped up to about 17 gallons in each barrel pitched with 1 1/2 cups Red Star bakers Yeast. Rum has always been my drink of choice but this is going to be my first time making it.

[Richard7]

Rum has always been my drink of choice but this is going to be my first time making it.

I have a feeling your going to like it. Be careful with your cuts, the rum flavor can get real strong closer to tails (or it was in my case).
Great stuff!

[Prairiepiss]

I have two ferment barrels of Sugar Daddy's goodness going right now. This appears to be the fastest ferment I have done. I put together a wash of about 1.085 on Friday afternoon and I just checked it Sunday morning it is at 1.025. Just 28lbs Panela, 4lbs of white sugar, 1/2 tbsp. DAP and 1 tbsp. calcium carbonate topped up to about 17 gallons in each barrel pitched with 1 1/2 cups Red Star bakers Yeast. Rum has always been my drink of choice but this is going to be my first time making it.

Sugardaddy's panela is some great stuff. He just brought me down some more last week. His panela doesn't really need any nutrients to be added. It is full of good natural nutrients. 1 1/2 cup of yeast is quite a bit for that size ferment. A 4 oz jar is all I use for a 40 gal ferment. Just for future reference.

Now when you are ready to run it. Rack off the clear wash. Leaving the trub in the fermenter. Run it through the still. And then melt the panela for you next batch in the hot backset. 25% of the ferment volume is a good amount of backset to use. Allow it to cool or add cool water to it to cool. And add it back into the fermenter. And let it ferment.

Panela rum is some yummy stuffs. Your in for a surprise.

[Hound Dog]

I have two ferment barrels of Sugar Daddy's goodness going right now. This appears to be the fastest ferment I have done. I put together a wash of about 1.085 on Friday afternoon and I just checked it Sunday morning it is at 1.025. Just 28lbs Panela, 4lbs of white sugar, 1/2 tbsp. DAP and 1 tbsp. calcium carbonate topped up to about 17 gallons in each barrel pitched with 1 1/2 cups Red Star bakers Yeast. Rum has always been my drink of choice but this is going to be my first time making it.

Sugardaddy's panela is some great stuff. He just brought me down some more last week. His panela doesn't really need any nutrients to be added. It is full of good natural nutrients. 1 1/2 cup of yeast is quite a bit for that size ferment. A 4 oz jar is all I use for a 40 gal ferment. Just for future reference.

Now when you are ready to run it. Rack off the clear wash. Leaving the trub in the fermenter. Run it through the still. And then melt the panela for you next batch in the hot backset. 25% of the ferment volume is a good amount of backset to use. Allow it to cool or add cool water to it to cool. And add it back into the fermenter. And let it ferment.

Panela rum is some yummy stuffs. Your in for a surprise.

I will give the backset a try. So use the old trub in the bottom of the fermenter instead of new yeast? It should still be alive. Interesting. I will try that.

Yeah, I am never sure about the yeast amounts. I see that for Wino's recipe scaled up it would be about 3/4 cup. I have done a few of Rad's All Bran washes (hat's off to Rad by the way!!) but he calls for 2 tbsp. per gallon which would be over 2 cups. I usually put 1 1/2 in that recipe so I just did the same here. If I start fresh again, I will try your advice and knock it back.

[LWTCS]

Bear in mind that Rad's original intent was to create a substitute for turbo yeast. So the extra yeast was for a bit of muscle.
The yeasty beer was originally run through the column.
Of course the wheat adjuct turned out to make a great pot stilled starter recipe as well.