SBB's All Molasses Rum Recipe

[AlWorms]

Hi SaltBush Bill (and everyone else!),

I love this recipe... run it enough that I now have about 60L @ 60+% ageing in kegs with Oak sticks

Can I clarify a couple of things (bearing in mind I'm using a Pot Still)?

1) You recycle your heads and tails, right? Do you take foreshots out? (I recycle them currently)

2) I have just obtained a 210L stainless drum for fermenting: I was thinking of running a 160L SBB wash until dry, then dumping my remaining fores/heads/tails into that and siphoning off into 5x individual stripping runs, over a week or 3 in my Keg boiler. Or would it be best to add them to each boiler load at the time of the run?

I'll run each of those strips until the collection pot total is under 40%, then store that in another stainless drum until I get around to doing spirit runs.

I've been running single ferments and strips up until now, so my process is changing a bit Thanks!

[Saltbush Bill]

1) You recycle your heads and tails, right? Do you take foreshots out? (I recycle them currently)

I have always taken foreshots from any spirit that I have made, everybody does as far as I know, I have no idea why you think its a good idea to recycle the them back into the next run. You do not want that shit in your still let alone in your spirit.

Or would it be best to add them to each boiler load at the time of the run?

Thats how I would be doing it , but again I definitely would NOT be putting the fores in there.

[AlWorms]

Thanks SBB

To be clear, so far, I've put fores into the "feints", then done "all feints" runs and removed from there - so not continually recycled into strips or spirit runs

Thanks

[NZChris]

I don't put my rum foreshots into the feints. I do manage to reprocess my rum feints into useful product, but I'm sure adding my foreshots wouldn't help, too much ethyl acetate for my liking. Ethyl acetate is a necessary component for a flavorful rum, but there is a threshold that you shouldn't cross.

[Saltbush Bill]

There is one place for fore shots AlWorms, that is in a separate container from all other feints, mark the container , "Fire Lighting Fluid" , Grease Remover" , Nail Polish Remover" , .......anything .....but don't put it back in with your feints or wash.

[AlWorms]

I can use it as charcoal lighter for the smoker... and I have 3 boys, so fires are ALWAYS on the cards

I don't have the gear (or interest) to make neutral, so I'll keep it separate from now on - Rather than all feints runs, I'll add the good bits back into strips.

Thanks guys - I'm getting my plan together now.

[Wheelup]

Hey guys just finished my first stripping run of this recipe, my first distillation in fact.

Firstly it was a really great experience, after reading and learning for the last few months to finally get something through the still and see the first drips come out was a really special moment. Now the gushing is out of the way, I’d like to have some inputs on a couple of aspects please.
I'll start by outlining the system and wash.

I’m using a Kegland digiboil 35l boiler with 2 elements a 1900w and a 500w both with independent on/off switches. There is also a temperature control. I’m using this with a still spirits alembic pot still head.

The wash was around 25 litres, I followed SBB to the letter pretty much give or take a few litres of water and the vitamin B which I didn’t have. The ferment went for around 3 weeks, the first 2 or 3 days there was lots of fizzing action with visible bubbles covering the top, these gradually reduced over another few days down to just very few bubbles for another week to no movement at all after 3 weeks. I siphoned off the wash to another container leaving the yeast bed and let it sit for another week. I shook the containers a few times to release Co2.

I ran the wash today as mentioned. Here’s how it went:

Started the boiler with both elements, after approx. 15 minutes I started the coolant water flow through the condenser when the top thermometer read 38c with a flow rate of around 2.5l per minute (as per the still spirits instructions) the first drip came out at the boiler reading 78c and the top thermometer reading 43.5.
After this point it’s a little hard to remember exactly what happened, the temperature started to rise rapidly and my next note reads 89c boiler temp and 85c condenser head temp at this point I turned off the 500w element as I had a feeling it was just boiling to fast and it felt out of control. The distillate was streaming out at this point, my fourth jar took 5.13 minutes to fill 300ml.
I had also increased the water rate as I read again in the still spirits instructions that the outflow temperature should be a little hotter than it went in and I was concerned about vapor coming out, I felt I could see condensation in the jar and tube coming from the condenser. The outflow stream from the condenser cooling water was varying in temperature every few seconds from slightly warm to cooler.
My first jar of 300ml came out at 72%

Once I had turned off the 500w element and was running just the 1900w everything stopped rising so rapidly and it held around 90c with a consistent flow of distillate of around 15-20minutes per litre at an approximation.

By jar 9 I started to notice a chugging sound but didn’t think much of it

Felt all good until jar 12 which suddenly had some cloudiness, 11 had been crystal clear. Up to this point 3.6 litres of distillate had come out and the hydrometer was reading 45% the temperature was 92.4c at the head.

The chugging was getting louder so at jar 16 some quick googling seemed to suggest too rapid cooling of the vapor, there were also comments about how the outflow being hot was ok which seemed to conflict with the still spirits ‘slightly warmer than inflow’ information. I reduced the water flow to see if it helped and the chugging stopped. The flow was now a very small trickle, the condenser felt much hotter to touch at the top gradually cooling as it went down. I’d read this was how it should have felt initially. I’m thinking my water coolant flow rate was too high all along.

The cloudiness gradually reduced through the jars from 12 onwards to be replaced by what could best be described as oiliness. I noticed at jar 16 the distillate coming out would visibly swirl in the jar, I noted this as ‘visible movement in the jar’ I just checked the jars now and from 13 onwards there has started to gather a sheen of oil in the top increasing in amount to the end of the run.

By jar 22 it was down to 11% on the hydrometer and 6100ml had been produced I turned it off at this point. The run took around 3 hours at an estimate. I didn’t time it.

Now a few queries if you gentlemen would be so kind as to comment:

Did I go too hard with the power at the start with both elements on, would just the 1900w have been better? It all seemed to happen very fast from a drip to a stream. Would my coolant flow rate reduction have meant this rate increase would have been more gradual and prevented the chugging issue. Is feeling the temp of the column the way to go? I’ve seen this done by others.

The cloudiness, do I just blend it all in now for the spirit run? Is the cloudiness a problem? What’s caused its abrupt appearance? Oils? Puking? There was some residue in the bottom of the boiler when I cleaned it out, a light scattering not much. Did I leave too much yeast in the wash?

My first 300ml is at 72% this seems low for foreshots does it include heads? Or is this normal for a stripping run? I don’t know my initial wash abv. Should I have used smaller measuring jars at the start to gain more information about the fractions?

I plan now to leave the jars for 24 hours and then do some tasting and smelling before putting it all back together (minus the 300ml first jar) and running it again with some more wash or stripped wash as per SBB’s recipe.

So that’s about it! Thanks again Saltbush Bill for the recipe and guidance and also NZchris who has given some great advice along the way.

Time to wind down after an exciting day, the first of many! Cheers.

[Yummyrum]

Well done wheelup .
A few things I see .
Good of you to strip into jars for the first time just so you can get a feel gor what happens , but normally you can just do a foreshots cut on a stripping run and collect the rest in a big pot .

On a stripping run , you can run it fast and hard ( bith elements ) as you are not trying to seperate . The exception being at the start for the fores . Drip that out if you can .

As you found , the coolant flow has to be balanced between ensuring everything that comes out is fully condensed and minimising the huffing ( chugging) .
Huffing isn’t a real problem though . You can get a good idea if your flow is right by running your hand along the condenser ….. it should be cool at the bottom , warm in the middle and hot at the top .

Now your takeoff rate did seem quite high . I thing you will have even mire problems on your spirit run .
The Digiboil while being perfect for mashing grain and making beer is not n its own suitable for distilling .

That s why there is a topic here about how to modify it and add an external POWER Controller to make it functional for distilling .

https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtop ... 4#p7628454

To get nice tasting Rum , you need to run the output really slowly ….. much slower than you are on the high element but faster than the small one will go . This is where the external Power Controller will let you dial in that rate .

[Wheelup]

Hi Yummy thank you for the help, really appreciate it.

I purchased a power controller and have that ready to set up for the spirit run, thank you for the link to the correct forum for that. I was planning to get that done after some stripping runs so then when I destroy my boiler I'll at least have something to drown my sorrows.

Do you have any thoughts on the sudden clouding half way through?

[Sporacle]

My thoughts for the cloudiness would be a very small puke, my strip's do exactly the same when I push hard.

[Saltbush Bill]

to just very few bubbles for another week to no movement at all after 3 weeks.

Usually this wash is done in 7 days or less, Could be that the wash was was colder than normal so the yeast was struggling a bit.....no harm done though as long as it finished in the end.

I siphoned off the wash to another container leaving the yeast bed and let it sit for another week.

No real need for that either, just as easy to carefully siphon from fermenter into the boiler or a bucket on distilling day.
If your using a proper store bought fermenter you can drain through the tap, just throw the first 4-500 ml aside and any yeast sitting around the tap area will be gone.....the rest will stay where it is...on the bottom of the fermenter.

Felt all good until jar 12 which suddenly had some cloudiness,

Sounds to me like a small puke , it will always go "milky" looking right toward the end of the strip.....but by then the abv is real low.

The cloudiness, do I just blend it all in now for the spirit run? Is the cloudiness a problem?

Put it all in, cloudy , oily ,the lot.

[Wheelup]

My thoughts for the cloudiness would be a very small puke, my strip's do exactly the same when I push hard.

maybe i'll go a little easier next time.

[Wheelup]

to just very few bubbles for another week to no movement at all after 3 weeks.

Usually this wash is done in 7 days or less, Could be that the wash was was colder than normal so the yeast was struggling a bit.....no harm done though as long as it finished in the end.

I siphoned off the wash to another container leaving the yeast bed and let it sit for another week.

No real need for that either, just as easy to carefully siphon from fermenter into the boiler or a bucket on distilling day.
If your using a proper store bought fermenter you can drain through the tap, just throw the first 4-500 ml aside and any yeast sitting around the tap area will be gone.....the rest will stay where it is...on the bottom of the fermenter.

Felt all good until jar 12 which suddenly had some cloudiness,

Sounds to me like a small puke , it will always go "milky" looking right toward the end of the strip.....but by then the abv is real low.

The cloudiness, do I just blend it all in now for the spirit run? Is the cloudiness a problem?

Put it all in, cloudy , oily ,the lot.

Thanks Bill.

The fermentation went 30's to 28 then stayed at around 26c after a few more days which is the room temp - could move them outdoors to be warmer 30c + if this would speed things up?

[Archee72]

This week I finally got a voltage controller so I was able to put my wash thru without it puking. So my first SBBAMR is on oak.

[juana_b]

I am really looking forward to trying this one.
After doing a run with 100% coconut sugar I took the "dunder/backset" and started a pit. It started to get some funk to it, so ordered 5gal of blackstrap(I think I'm the first and last person to order 5gal of molasses from amazon prime shipped to Hawaii. A couple of hours after I ordered it they changed the listing because it probably cost $200 American dollars to ship it here). It was just delivered. $80 for 5gal is the best price I've seen over here, so I'll take it.
The sugarcane industry is no more here, so going forward I'll have to figure something else out.
Anyway, once I get done with the other runs in the works I'll get to this.

Thanks, SBB.

P.S. If anyone has any ideas of where to order molasses at a reasonable price, with shipping, please don't hog the nectar.
If not, I've found 3 locations near me with agave growing wild though. If there's no molasses to be had for under $20 a gallon I may have to start roasting pinas and make Mexican water.

[Yummyrum]

I can buy 200litre drum of blackstrap down the road for $110 AUD . Can’t find a Pina for love nor money .

[juana_b]

Damn Yummy, the grass is always greener on the other side, right?
Everything is expensive here, except the dump(landfill), it's $4, as long you are not dumping commercial rubbish.
And when they started charging $4, the locals started dumping trash at the entrance to the dump.

[Zeotropic]

I just started my first batch of this tonight. I used 5 gallons of bait molasses. I can't wait to see what the cuts are like since this will be my first rum.
Thanks for the recipe SBB.

[Dancing4dan]

Getting ready for first time rum so I bought Molasses with the intent of trying this recipe. 10 kg Crosby's fancy Molasses. At between 65 and 75 % sugar content how much should I use for my 60 litre fermenter?

22 pounds of molasses and 14 gallons of water to leave some head space…That’s around 1.2 lb of sugar per gallon if my conversion from metric to Imperial is close… I think

[Saltbush Bill]

10 kg Crosby's fancy Molasses. At between 65 and 75 % sugar content

Interesting that they don't give an exact percentage of sugar, Ive not seen that regarding food grade before, 10 % is quite a variation.
The Stock feed / Non human consumption I get and use runs at about 48-49% sugar from memory, washes are fairly low in ABV.
I doubt that you will do a lot of damage by just adding a little less Molasses than the recipe calls for.....might just end up with a slightly higher ABV wash,and that shouldn't be the end of the world.
Don't like what your tasting in 12 months time change it.

[zed255]

I use the Crosby's fancy. I use 12 x 5kg jugs (60 kg) made up to 200L of wash in a HDPE 55 gallon barrel, so not a ton of headspace but never an issue with heavy foaming. The nutrition information label indicates about 65% sugar, so I'm not sure where you get the range from. Always ferments fully and fast if kept warm, though my volume doesn't need insulation until after 1-1/2 days and extra heat until after day 3. The ferment is still in less then a week and gets stripped at about two weeks from pitching though left undisturbed it can sit much longer.

Your 60L fermenter would have me using 15kg molasses made up to 50L, so your 10kg should ferment easily.

[NZChris]

Depending on how brave you are and what area a fermenter puke fountain will effect, I would suggest around a 40l charge with 9kg of that molasses, but I've never had the luxury of using a molasses with a sugar content as high as you quoted, so I might be way out.

I always aim for around 8% abv in the finished ferment, keep good records, then use my records when putting down the next generation.

[juana_b]

I wasn't expecting this to smell so good fermenting.

[Dancing4dan]

10 kg Crosby's fancy Molasses. At between 65 and 75 % sugar content

Interesting that they don't give an exact percentage of sugar, Ive not seen that regarding food grade before, 10 % is quite a variation.
The Stock feed / Non human consumption I get and use runs at about 48-49% sugar from memory, washes are fairly low in ABV.
I doubt that you will do a lot of damage by just adding a little less Molasses than the recipe calls for.....might just end up with a slightly higher ABV wash,and that shouldn't be the end of the world.
Don't like what your tasting in 12 months time change it.

Thanks Bill. The more I looked around online seems Crosby’s is 75%.

[Dancing4dan]

Depending on how brave you are and what area a fermenter puke fountain will effect, I would suggest around a 40l charge with 9kg of that molasses, but I've never had the luxury of using a molasses with a sugar content as high as you quoted, so I might be way out.

I always aim for around 8% abv in the finished ferment, keep good records, then use my records when putting down the next generation.

Lol. Good advice. A brown molasses puke fountain would likely get me fired by my wife!

[Dancing4dan]

I use the Crosby's fancy. I use 12 x 5kg jugs (60 kg) made up to 200L of wash in a HDPE 55 gallon barrel, so not a ton of headspace but never an issue with heavy foaming. The nutrition information label indicates about 65% sugar, so I'm not sure where you get the range from. Always ferments fully and fast if kept warm, though my volume doesn't need insulation until after 1-1/2 days and extra heat until after day 3. The ferment is still in less then a week and gets stripped at about two weeks from pitching though left undisturbed it can sit much longer.

Your 60L fermenter would have me using 15kg molasses made up to 50L, so your 10kg should ferment easily.

Thanks Zef!

[Chug]

Hey all, just a few notes on my first batch of SBB, which I ran today and am sipping as we speak:

I also used Crosby’s Fancy, 5kg in a 6 gal fermenter. Based on 65% sugars in the molasses, I cheated a tiny bit and added 2kg white sugar, since I didn’t really want to buy/open another jug of the molasses to top it off. 2tbsp Fleischmann’s Quick Rise Instant yeast, 1 vit B tab, pinch of epsom, and pitched at ~30°C.

I had to put this down in the basement due to the ferment odor (I think it’s lovely, some in this house do not share this opinion) so I had trouble keeping the temp up for the first week and it hovered around 22°C. I managed to elevate it up on milk crates, threw a 40W work light underneath, and wrapped the whole thing in towels where it bubbled away at about 28°C until it was done. Total ferment time was a little under three weeks due to the low temps, and I had to let it sit for another four weeks until I had time to run it.

I ran it low and slow as a single run in two batches of about 3 gallons each, in my DIY 5 gal stock pot still with simple worm condenser. Topped out at 115 proof, started to see cloudiness in the tails at around 70 proof and kept running until about 40 proof when I shut it down.

A small proofed-down sample is quite good, a touch of molasses with a rich mouthfeel, a little hot but I’m going to let it breathe for a few days and then put some down on toasted oak chunks for a while.

You’ve got a real winner of a recipe here Saltbush Bill, many thanks and cheers

[rcazparts]

I made two batches of this recipe, stripped both, and did a spirit run. Still learning on cuts. I have some sitting with lightly toasted apple wood and some sitting with nothing in it. New it is harsh, but did manage to get a beverage. Big rum fan, so hoping it gets good in time. Once I find a source for proper oak, will put some on oak too.

[juana_b]

Stripped w/ pot only. Spirit with pot and thumper. it's been on oak for a few days now.
Astonished that 5 gal of molasses can turn into this.
Thanks SBB!

[Saltbush Bill]

Glad you enjoying the recipe.