Wow I'm jealous of you guys that can get molasses that cheap! How stable is it? If I came across say an IBCs worth for a good deal, could it keep for a long time in there?
AFAIK it's pure blackstrap molasses, unaltered, and sold for cattle. Pretty sure it didn't stall as it tastes very dry, but I did notice my notes from my last run showed 5 full gallons and I shut down stripping at 10% so something seems different. I also noticed before it was a nice golden brown with distinct big bubbles, whereas now it's...kind of black and goopy with more of a gross sludge layer on top.
I guess if I want consistency I'm going to have to pay even more for pre packaged stuff.
Rural stores would keep it all year round outdoors in IBCs .
Some of it was last seasons and still just fine .
Know a bloke that would buy one and park it in his paddock for feeding cows . Sitting outside in sun and rain after 4 years he said it still tasted the same as new .
I made some rum five years ago from molasses stored in a type of container that hadn't been manufactured for at least 30 years.
The rum is still quite young, being only five years old, but my last tasting notes look promising. It's probably time I had a look for it and had a taste.
I’ve found that there’s a tipping point where the molasses to water ratio gets out of whack (too sticky) and the yeast just says, “No.” Yeast have put up with a lot of shit over the millennia and still performed like Olympic champions, but sometimes they draw the line. I find 10L of molasses to 35L water about the max, bearing in mind my molasses is around 60% sugar (high). 12.5:27.5 i.e. 12.5Gal + 27.5Gal might just have freaked-out the yeast.
JustinNZ wrote: ↑Thu Mar 20, 2025 1:41 am
bearing in mind my molasses is around 60% sugar (high).
Justin that is a high sugar content , our local mill usually rings more sugar out of it than that.
Fiery C here are some of my Rum washes doing their thing for comparison , they usually have very fine bubbles/ froth on top.
The look of yours suggests that there has possibly been something added to the Molasses or the wash.
Turn the sound up on this one if you like the sound of a happy ferment.
Four smaller washes 12 hours after putting them down.
Could have done with a bit more head space in the two smaller ferments.
Man, I spent a lot of time trying to track down where they sourced their molasses to make sure it wasn't altered. They said it's not food grade, but it's plain ol blackstrap. The feed store also said they've had people say theirs makes a tasty rum.
If this doesn't turn out I suppose I'll have to find somewhere else.
JustinNZ wrote: ↑Thu Mar 20, 2025 1:41 am
I’ve found that there’s a tipping point where the molasses to water ratio gets out of whack (too sticky) and the yeast just says, “No.” Yeast have put up with a lot of shit over the millennia and still performed like Olympic champions, but sometimes they draw the line. I find 10L of molasses to 35L water about the max, bearing in mind my molasses is around 60% sugar (high). 12.5:27.5 i.e. 12.5Gal + 27.5Gal might just have freaked-out the yeast.
Uh oh. Did I mess up the math converting Bills recipe to a larger ferment.
I use 13 gallons of molasses split between three buckets. One goes in, a bucket of hot water then stir. Add the rest of the molasses, stir, and top off to 40 gallons with water.
Quick maths says 11.8gal of molasses for a 40gal batch. And for Justins, scaled properly would be 10.3L. So fiery, youve added an extra gal and a bit than needed for scaling up. Maybe that could have something to do with it, may have just crossed the point where the osmotic pressure is too much for the yeast at some point. Justins comes in just under the recipes ratio and possibly has less issues for the yeast.
The amount of yeast could also play a factor. If there is not enough yeast to tackle the amount of sugars, they will get tired and not attenuate fully.
Adding too much Dunder can also stuff things up . Re-osmotic pressure on yeast .
Remember , Dunder is the boiled down sauce from the last wash . Each time it is added , it increases the SG . 10% Dunder is the limit for sustainable washes .
The scaling I use is for a fresh wash no dunder
1 part Molly and 2.5 parts water
With dunder
1 part Molly and 2.5 parts water and dunder ( 2.25/0.25)
I drop my dunder ratio down over subsequent ferments
I do a 70 litre ferment and use 20 parts of Molly and 50 litres of water and dunder combined (I use about 5 litres of dunder but always have a fair bit of trub in the bottom of my fermentor)
" you can pick your nose and you can pick your friends; but you can't always wipe your friends off on your saddle" sage advice from Kinky Friedman
