First rum wash

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AB-Rad
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First rum wash

Post by AB-Rad »

Well, somehow, I screwed up and posted this on the welcome page.

So I have heard and read that an all molasses wash will never all ferment out. I started with 1130 15% possible abv I'm stuck at 1030. Was a real uneventful fermentation, no foam or anything, and a really slow bubble count from day 1. The question is, am I done? I did pitch a little more yeast, no reaction at all.
Checked the ph today and it was 4.5.
Thank you in advance
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NZChris
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Re: First rum wash

Post by NZChris »

All of the sugar should ferment out, however there are non-sugars in molasses that are not fermentable, but add to the SG.

The drop in SG can be used to work out how much alcohol has been produced so far.

If the SG has stopped dropping, it's finished.
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Yummyrum
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Re: First rum wash

Post by Yummyrum »

AB-Rad .
What you have just discovered is all very typical for an all Molasses wash .

NZChris is correct . There is a lot of unfermentable stuff in Molasses which is exactly why your start and finish gravity readings are so high .
1.030 is pretty much exactly what I would expect as a finish on the first go.

If you keep the Dunder from this run and add it to the next Rum wash ( as is the normal procedure with Rum) , you will find your next Rum wash will end up around 1.050

The pH you quoted is also pretty typical .During the processing of Sugar , there is Calcium Hydroxide added for clarifying and then Phosphoric added to restore pH .
All this means that Molasses has a clamping effect on pH and the normal pH crash one sees with a sugar wash does not occur . There is no need to adjust an all Molasses wash or add any shells or other buffers as it will hold its own perfectly well .

Anyway , the best way to tell if your Rum wash is done is to stick your finger in it and have a lick .
If its still sweet , its not quite done . But don’t let your brain be tricked by the molasses taste as thinking its still sweet . It should taste bitter .

This is important to be able to recognise this taste as when you start adding Dunder and your finish gravitys get higher , folk start to freak out that it’s not finished when it fact it is .

My only other comment is that I think that you may have used a little too much Molasses . For a first wash with no Dunder , I’d have expected closer to 1.110 IIRC .
With Dunder , that will rise to 1.130 ish
JustinNZ
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Re: First rum wash

Post by JustinNZ »

My all-molasses rum washes tend to look like a glass of coke on top. Every now and then I get a foamy one, but generally they don’t go volcanic. It’s all good. If you use bread yeast and ferment at 35deg it can finish quite quickly, but a week or so is pretty normal. Funny thing is my last two washes I left for a bit ended up smelling beery, which was nice/interesting.

Don’t forget that a calm fermentation doesn’t mean it won’t go nuts in the still. Keep it to 2/3 max capacity, drop a good tablespoon of butter on top, and run it slowly once over 50deg Celsius cos rum wash loves to puke! Sometimes turning the heat off for a minute when almost ready to boil can also help. May the Force be with you.
AB-Rad
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Re: First rum wash

Post by AB-Rad »

Yummyrum wrote: Sun Mar 05, 2023 2:46 pm AB-Rad .
What you have just discovered is all very typical for an all Molasses wash .

NZChris is correct . There is a lot of unfermentable stuff in Molasses which is exactly why your start and finish gravity readings are so high .
1.030 is pretty much exactly what I would expect as a finish on the first go.

If you keep the Dunder from this run and add it to the next Rum wash ( as is the normal procedure with Rum) , you will find your next Rum wash will end up around 1.050

The pH you quoted is also pretty typical .During the processing of Sugar , there is Calcium Hydroxide added for clarifying and then Phosphoric added to restore pH .
All this means that Molasses has a clamping effect on pH and the normal pH crash one sees with a sugar wash does not occur . There is no need to adjust an all Molasses wash or add any shells or other buffers as it will hold its own perfectly well .

Anyway , the best way to tell if your Rum wash is done is to stick your finger in it and have a lick .
If its still sweet , its not quite done . But don’t let your brain be tricked by the molasses taste as thinking its still sweet . It should taste bitter .

This is important to be able to recognise this taste as when you start adding Dunder and your finish gravitys get higher , folk start to freak out that it’s not finished when it fact it is .

My only other comment is that I think that you may have used a little too much Molasses . For a first wash with no Dunder , I’d have expected closer to 1.110 IIRC .
With Dunder , that will rise to 1.130 ish
Lol I used what George referred to as army math if a little is good then a whole lot must be better:) thanks
AB-Rad
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Re: First rum wash

Post by AB-Rad »

JustinNZ wrote: Sun Mar 05, 2023 10:00 pm My all-molasses rum washes tend to look like a glass of coke on top. Every now and then I get a foamy one, but generally they don’t go volcanic. It’s all good. If you use bread yeast and ferment at 35deg it can finish quite quickly, but a week or so is pretty normal. Funny thing is my last two washes I left for a bit ended up smelling beery, which was nice/interesting.

Don’t forget that a calm fermentation doesn’t mean it won’t go nuts in the still. Keep it to 2/3 max capacity, drop a good tablespoon of butter on top, and run it slowly once over 50deg Celsius cos rum wash loves to puke! Sometimes turning the heat off for a minute when almost ready to boil can also help. May the Force be with you.
Thanks will do I will run it this weekend and let you all know how it turned out
AB-Rad
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Re: First rum wash

Post by AB-Rad »

Well, I ran it without an incident, couple weird things happened one was that on heating element there was like calcium build up had to scratch it off and then some stuff left over looking like mud I did clear my wash before running it. Any ideas or explanations?
Thanks
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Yummyrum
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Re: First rum wash

Post by Yummyrum »

You may have tried to clear the wash , but there is a lot of stuff in there that just takes a lot to settle out .

The commercial guys have a Clarifying process that clears that stuff out .Because they usually run Continuous strippers , all that crud that built up on your element builds up in the strippers and causes considerable down time to clean .
Commercial Rum wash Clarifying usually involves Making the wash very basic , then adding a flocculant such as Sodium Acid Pyro-Phosfate , then after the flocculation , adding acid to to lower the pH again . Depending on the flucculant used , the wash maybe acidified or made basic first and then pH restored afterwards .

Sometimes centrifuges are also used . This is also used to harvest yeast for future use .

Clarifying , is not really done at a Home distiller level because its not that much of a problem normally .

Interestingly , you will also find if you save your Dunder , it will also slowly clear some more with a layer of mud at the bottom .

Layers of mud are part and parcel to using Molasses . You’ll find that if you store molasses , stuff settles out and the bottom of the bucket will have a thicker layer than the molasses above .

Mud will form in your fermenter…. but that always happens , it’ll happen in your still if you leave it a while before emptying and it happens in your Dunder .

Now what was all that talk about unfermentable stuff in Molasses washes that stuffs up the hydrometer readings . :ewink:
AB-Rad
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Re: First rum wash

Post by AB-Rad »

Cool thanks for the detailed response that helps. The rum don't taste too bad for my first try. Let's see what happens with the next one. I really want a jacketed pot. Mile high has a 8 gallon one and olympic has a 13 gallon both about same price the kicker is I have to spend another 500 for a 240 heater element. Is it easy to build the box to run the heater?
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