My Rum Wash any tips???

[Rebeldafoxx]

Alright so im starting a rum wash for a 30 gallon pot still

19.5 Gallons of Water
3 Gallons of BlackStrap Molasses
24 Pounds of Raw Cane Sugar

Im heating to between 110⁰ - 120⁰ dissolving the molasses and sugar completely then adding some cold water to top off the fermentation container (to apporx 29-30 gallons total) then letting it cool to between 70⁰ - 80⁰ before pitching my yeast.

My biggest hurdle right now is what yeast i should be using as my yields have been quite low for a 30 gallon stil (maybe 1/4 to 1/2 a carboy) but thankfully ive been hovering on the 80 - 90 proof range

I dont use specific brewing yeast as i have no information on what works best this would be my 4th batch. I avoid turbo yeast like the plague as i never hear good things about it.

So ive been using just regular old dry yeast (I know its not the greatest), what kind of nutrients should i go for on my next run or types of yeast should i look into as i really do enjoy the craft and I want to improve?

[Yummyrum]

Good old Bakers Bread yeast is absolutely perfect for making Rum .
If you look at the Rum recipe's in our Tried and True section , you will find they all use a pinch of epsom salts and some B vitamins either in the form of multi vitamins or just boiled up dead yeast for nutrients .

Also a single run in a potstill won’t make a good Rum . It is better to do stripping runs on 3-4 fermentations and then combine the low wines for a spirit run .


Curious where you come up with that recipe ?
As I said above , check out the tried and true recipe's on this forum . All the help and suggestions are right there .

[Rrmuf]

Check out SBB Mollases Rum in Tried and True section.

[JustinNZ]

Baker’s yeast loves blood temperature (human) in my experience, so don’t be afraid of 98.6 deg F.

[Rebeldafoxx]

Good old Bakers Bread yeast is absolutely perfect for making Rum .
If you look at the Rum recipe's in our Tried and True section , you will find they all use a pinch of epsom salts and some B vitamins either in the form of multi vitamins or just boiled up dead yeast for nutrients .

Also a single run in a potstill won’t make a good Rum . It is better to do stripping runs on 3-4 fermentations and then combine the low wines for a spirit run .


Curious where you come up with that recipe ?
As I said above , check out the tried and true recipe's on this forum . All the help and suggestions are right there .

Thanks for the advice ill have too try a few stripping runs for sure that sounds much cleaner in the long run. Tbh how ive ended up with something drinkable is a miracle haha.

And as for the recipe ive been just trial and erroring it based on info i find online and have settled on that recipe as it turned out half decent on the last batch tho i just did a single run i bet it will be much better after a few stripping runs.

And ive been lookin around tried and true very helpful info that im definitly gonna take advantage of.

[shadylane]

Im heating to between 110⁰ - 120⁰ dissolving the molasses and sugar completely then adding some cold water to top off the fermentation container (to apporx 29-30 gallons total) then letting it cool to between 70⁰ - 80⁰ before pitching my yeast.

If you wish, the yeast can be pitched at a higher temp.
100*f or below is doable when pitching bakers yeast.
Ferment around 85*

I'd recommend PUGIDOGS yeast bomb for nutrients.
His yeast bomb is for 10 gallons, but will scale up for 30.
Use DAP instead of fertilizer and straining isn't necessary because there aren't any solids to remove.

"I will start with my " Yeast Bomb "
2 vitamin B, crushed with mortor and pestal
5 teaspoons of 20-0-0, agrcultural fertalizer Use 1 tsp of DAP instead
1/4 teaspoon of epsom salt
1/4 cup bakers yeast
1 gallon water
Boil all for 15 minutes and strain"

viewtopic.php?t=5994

[Stags]

A few thoughts for your protocol-

1. Continuous washes have a host of benefits for rum, notably reliable dunder supply, and suspended boiled yeast as food.
2. I’ll pitch anything under 100°f
3. If there’s a home brew supply near you and they have it, Hornindal Kveik is an excellent rum yeast. More expensive yes. that’s another reason why I do continuous- get one good culture and off we go. If it’s what you’re looking for Hornindal produces delicious tropical fruit bouquet notes. They are there but they are also subtle and delicate- not overpowering like a syrupy Malibu product.
3B. Nothing wrong with bakers yeast at all. I started with it. My experience with using brewing strains tells me that there is something to them. Notably I get less tails, more clean hearts, and more noticeable heads. I think this is a result of strains that were purposely bred to be alcohol friendly as opposed to bakers which is not. While this is not a magic bullet cure all to a bad recipe or a screw up (not saying you did op just saying those skills are more important than yeast selection), it is another way in which you, the distiller, can influence the final product. I’ll probably get flamed for this but I’d encourage you to try both. Your opinion may be different. No harm in trying.
4. Lots of us who have realized molasses is expensive have turned to Panela- dried unrefined sugarcane juice- to make delightful white rums. You might consider going that road.
5. I’ve used white labs yeast nutes, not sure if I need them, but I have it so I throw some in anyways. Any methods above will work

[Chucker]

Success with a tried and true recipe is a great place to start before applying the learned logic and branching off or developing your own. It doesn’t get much easier than the SBB recipe already spoken of and would be a great jumping off point for adaptation after following the recipe. That one also scales to desired batch size pretty easily.