HerdLife or Evolved Habitats Molasses

[DeepSouth]

I recently bought some molasses from Walmart online and had it shipped directly to my store. I previously could only find 1 gallon containers of molasses at my local Tractor Supply or outdoor stores. The molasses there was usually at least $8 per gallon. The price for 2.5 gallons at Walmart online was only about $11 and that includes free shipping to your store. This is really low quality, feed grade molasses and is listed as only 43% sugar content. The stuff smells really strong.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Evolved-23201 ... k/24817058" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Anyway, I started a rum ferment a few nights ago and my recipe was as follows:

1.5 gallons of molasses
6# sugar
6 gallons warm water to dissolve sugar and thin molasses
Cool water to top off to 10 gallons total
10 grams Nutriferm
10 grams DAP
10 grams Dry Active Distiller's yeast
10 grams Fermaid K

I added the molasses to the fermenter, then added the warm water and sugar and stirred it all together to dissolve. I added the cool water to top off to about 10 gallons and then made a yeast starter. The yeast starter contained 8 oz water and the Nutriferm. I let the Nutriferm dissolve and hydrate over about 15 minutes, then added 8 oz of liquid from the fermenter and added the yeast. After the starter was showing really good activity after about 30 minutes I pitched the starter into the fermenter. It is bubbling away like crazy. After about a day or so I added the Fermaid K nutrient.

The total sugar in the entire ferment is about 13-14# in a 10 gallon batch. Should give a potential alcohol of about 10%.

[MitchyBourbon]

I have used evolved habits a few times, it's got propionic acid in it. Never tried herdlife. Looks like both are feed grade molasses. I suspect herdlife will do just fine. My son gets a kick out of the label, it says "good for dear, bear, hogs and other wild life", my son figures "we" are the other wild life they refer to. Lol.

[DeepSouth]

The labels for both brands actually have the same little logo in the corner and have the same company address. It's the same molasses, just sold in different containers. As far as the propionic acid, it is supposed to be a preservative, but it sure doesn't seem to have an effect on the yeast I was using. My ferments kicked off immediately.

[thatguy1313]

Interesting. Propionic acid is actually an anti-fungal, and yeast is a fungus .... I'm looking at trying a rum and everyone advised me to look up how to clarify the molasses before using it to ferment.

[MitchyBourbon]

Last time I ran it I didn't bother removing the acid first, I'd heard some else say that it doesn't effect the yeast so I figured I'd see for myself. I ended up with 4 fermenters that were stuck at sg 1.030. That was proof enough for me.

No pun intended.

[DeepSouth]

Hard to really accurately measure specific gravity with molasses wash though because of all the unfermentables in it. I didn't clarify mine either to try to remove the acid. It has been going strong for about 3 days so far. Once I distill it, I'll compare my yield to my theoretical yield based on my sugar content and I'll have a good idea of whether the propionic acid inhibits fermentation, but so far it doesn't look like it will to me.

[MitchyBourbon]

I haven't noticed any problems measuring gravity. My starting gravity has always measured about where I predicted them to be so I assumed them to be accurate.

[Fidget]

Hard to really accurately measure specific gravity with molasses wash though because of all the unfermentables in it. I didn't clarify mine either to try to remove the acid. It has been going strong for about 3 days so far. Once I distill it, I'll compare my yield to my theoretical yield based on my sugar content and I'll have a good idea of whether the propionic acid inhibits fermentation, but so far it doesn't look like it will to me.

Interested to hear how this goes.

Also, if it does inhibit, what's clarification steps would you consider next time?

[DeepSouth]

I distilled this last week. The propionic acid in this molasses didn't seem to effect the fermentation at all. My theoretical yield was about a 10% ABV wash in 10 gallons, or about 1 gallon of total alcohol available. I collected about 0.85 gallons of total alcohol, and I cut the tails off pretty early. The specific gravity was difficult to read as I imagined it would be. My final gravity only read about 1.030, due to all the suspended solids in the molasses, but in reality I fermented out almost all the available sugar. The rum wasn't very good though.

[FullySilenced]

I found a bakery supply distributor that had fancy molasses for about the same price i could buy evolved habits ... no sulfur and no preservatives... 75% fermentables so... its what my future holds molasses wise

[DeepSouth]

Was it an online vendor? The only one I've found is webstaurantstore.com, and their price on fancy molasses, plus shipping is way more expensive than I can buy the feed grade.