Cachaça AKA Rhum Agricole

[damatabr]

Hello. I just joined the forum and I thought maybe I should say something about making Cachaça which is really the same as Rhum Agricole.
I have found too many people in the US think it is difficult dealing with fresh sugar cane.
It is actually the easiest thing I have ever distilled.
Here is how we do it at my distillery in Brazil.
1. Cut the cane.
2. Shred it (most people don't do this but we found pressing chippings gets more juice than pressing the cane).
3. Run it through one press, send it on a conveyor belt where we sprinkle a little water on top of it. Press again.
4. Send the juice through a decanter.
5. Lower the Brix to 15. 200 liters. Add yeast. Aerate for two hours.
6. Send this 200L to the fermenting vats - open air.
7. Send 800L of 15 Brix juice to join the other 200L.
8. Wait 24 hours.
9. We end up with around 7% APV.
10. Distill once in a pot still with two plates and a dephlegmator.
11. Done.
Steps 1 to 3 can be simplified.
The most important thing is once cane is cut you have 24 hours to juice and the juice needs to go immediately into fermentation.
People in sugar cane country should really try this. Especially if new to distilling. It is possibly the easiest feedstock to ferment and distill.
Thank you for your time.

[LWTCS]

Hi damatabr,
Thank you for posting. Fermentation and distillation is particularly not problematic.

Cane juice measures at about 18 brix. And it just so happens that yeast performs best at about 18 brix....A synergistic gift from mother nature really!

The difficulty is sourcing fresh cut cane and/or cane juice and getting it into fermentation in a timely manner.

[damatabr]

Very true. In my area we have endless fields of cane.
It is interesting about the 18 brix. I will try it. I've simply been following what my father did as did his father.
I appreciate the advise.

[NZChris]

It sounds like what I'm doing is near enough.

This year I chipped mine in a garden mulcher, I don't have a suitable press, so added some water to extract more of the sugar, trod it for a while, then wrung it by hand. Waited 48 hours after it went dead to allow for some flavor development.

It's heating now. Simple pot still. Taking a foreshot off this run, then running to 27% low wines, then the spirit run aiming to get a heart cut around 63%.

If this run makes reasonable product, I'll have to think seriously about getting some kind of press, (I already have more cane planted). I'm sure my wine press would be useless for cane.

What is your press?

[damatabr]

It is one I put together myself with my partner. A Demag diesel run press with three rollers inside.
See attached photos.
I also had a friend who bought a small one for home use. I will ask him for details.
Please let me know how it tastes. I've never waited 48 hours and the method of your distilling is interesting.

[damatabr]

This is the type my friend has at his home in New Orleans.

[NZChris]

That is a nice press damatabr. I hadn't thought of chipping the cane before pressing before, so that gives more to think about.

Those hand wound types are very expensive to land in NZ, so I think I'm stuck with building something.

[damatabr]

Have you tried alibaba.com.

[damatabr]

This is a compilation to show the process after chipping of the juicing.

[NZChris]

Those prices might not be as bad as I thought, but I've just had another idea, I've still got the bagasse from this crush, so If I can quickly find a broken down washing machine at the recycler, I could re-wire it to trial as a centrifuge.

[damatabr]

Good idea. We have a similar system at the bottom.
The solids which flow with the juice get mostly caught here.
The rest are held back in the decanter.
My friend got his juice extractor from Wenling Fenglong Machinery Fittings Factory for US$120 and he added a small motor which he hooked to the wheel since there is a groove where a drivebelt can be placed.
It arrived damaged but only the pretty parts so it worked and still works perfectly well.

[LWTCS]

I have seen a Brazilian batch/continuous operation set up with many pot stills.
Each pot/kettle distills a specific "cut" and then the remaining kettle charge is pumped immediately to the next kettle for the next "cut".

Each kettle is emptied only long enough to transfer and refill with the forthcoming kettle charge.

They keep only the hearts. The heads and tails "cut" is sent off to the rectifier for fuel production.

Are you familiar with this operation?

[ga flatwoods]

Chris if you can build a still then you should be able to build this:

http://10degreesabove.com/raw-sugarcane ... ual-press/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[LWTCS]

Nice article ga flatwoods.

[Bushman]

GA Flatwoods, I saw one of those cane presses in Maui last year doing a distillery tour. They said it had been down for a week but 3d0g visited several months before I did and said it was broken then as well. Would love to see one in operation.

[ga flatwoods]

Ironic that I just bought a mill yesterday! Found a guy that had one that was his father's with no intent to use it himself but was thrilled to know that I would. He let me have it for $500 , and though my SOH doesn't think so it is really a good price as they are very difficult to find these days. Evenso, I acquired several gears off of some old roll up doors this summer that I was going to build one had I not found this one. I may still build a small one for use in my future agri-tourism adventure. In the video I failed to see a way to adjust the roller spread. I am thinking to use two different cross braces for the roller bearings to mount to that are adjusted in spacing with threaded bolts and welded on nuts on each side of the mill.

ga Flatwoods

[LWTCS]

Can the rollers be adjusted to the girth of the canes? Or are they generally fixed?

[damatabr]

LWTCS I have never seen the set-up you mentioned but in my distillery we do indeed send the heads to our still to refine further for fuel production.
Where did you see that set-up. I am heading back soon to prep for harvest season so I'd be really interested in seeing it if anywhere near me.
The rollers can be adjusted on all the systems I have seen. We only adjust ours for cleaning but they can move. The one my friend got also moves. I know because I opened it as wide as possible and tried to squeeze apples hoping to cut the process down to one step... no luck.
GA FLATWOODS from the picture you sent it looks like you have the makings of a rhum agricole distillery (since Cachaça can only be officially labeled only when made in Brazil). Are you near cane fields.

[LWTCS]

Hi damatabr,
Hi have not seen personally.
I have had a meeting with the owner last year.
He showed me pictures and some scale drawings of the entire distillery.

He was planning a similar operation close to the Florida cane feild here in the US.

[damatabr]

I hope he goes through with it.

[ga flatwoods]

Damatabr no cane fields for commercial operations as such near me. The closest operation is Dixie Crystals Corp. In Savannah, Ga that processes the raw liquid into all forms of sugar used for cooking, white, brown, confectionery, etc but no palinka. My interest are early and varied in this endeavor. In the rural south, the making of cane syrup is near a lost art-too much work and effort for a now lazy nation of non-self sufficient folks. My interest at the moment lie in having crops for self pick for as much of the growing season as possible. The first product yielded will be blueberries, then blackberries and raspberries, then muscodine, then cane and various citrus. One of the oldest rum distilleries in the US was built on Jekyll Island, GA, one of our twelve barrier islands all with rich history regarding the settlements by European nations. Also rich in agricultural endeavors from farming speculation.
The rollers on the Chattanooga mill are adjustable as well.
GA Flatwoods

[damatabr]

I am probably telling you something you already know but cane is easy to grow and ready in one year for harvesting.
Blueberries take so much longer.

[NZChris]

Chris if you can build a still then you should be able to build this:

http://10degreesabove.com/raw-sugarcane ... ual-press/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I'm sure I can, but now I like the idea of shredding and centrifuging and the shredded bagasse makes great garden mulch compared to crushed stalks. I'll probably have a washing machine here this afternoon to convert and experiment with. I still have the bagasse from this run to play with.

Double distilled mine yesterday and it's nothing like last year's bagasse flavored disaster. I'd describe it as grassy. Now, I need to decide if I should keep it white and drink it young, or age it on oak.