SBB's All Molasses Rum Recipe

[Saltbush Bill]

This is the way that I have made my rum for the last 4-5 years.
The recipe and method below is a collection of ideas and methods that I have gathered and experimented with from other Rum recipes that I’ve found on the different distilling forums over my time in the hobby.
The one main difference with this recipe from most of the others on the forums is that it doesn’t use any added sugar, it is 100% molasses.
It will probably only suit those of you who have access to a lot of good quality cheap stock feed or black strap molasses.

EQUIPMENT AND INGREDIENTS FOR A 27 L WASH.....METRIC
First Wash.
30L fermenter
8L of molasses
Contents of 1x vitamin B complex capsule or 1x ground up Vit B tablet.
1 good pinch Epsom Salts.
Lowens or other Bakers Yeast.
Boiling Water 4-5 L boiling or very hot water.

EQUIPMENT AND INGREDIENTS FOR A 7.1 US GAL WASH
First Wash.
8 Gal fermenter
2.1 Gal of molasses a smidgen over 2 will do
Contents of 1x vitamin B complex capsule or 1x ground up Vit B tablet.
1 good pinch Epsom Salts...a pinch is what you grab between two finger tips
Lowens or other Bakers Yeast.
Boiling Water 1.3 Gal boiling or very hot water. 1.5 gal wont hurt

METHOD
Start by putting the 8L/ 2.1Gal of molasses into the Fermenter.
Tip the 5 L/1.3Gal of boiling water in on top and stir to fully dissolve the Molasses.
Add cold water to around 25L/6.6 Gal mark and add Vitamin B and Epsom Salts.
I don’t put the Vit B in until this point because I’ve read that too much heat will destroy the Vit B. Not sure if this is true or not.
Top fermenter up with cold water to the 27-28L/ 7.3 Gal mark.
Throw in a good handful of Lowans or other Bakers Yeast.

NOTES
IN ALL SUBSEQUENT WASHES REPLACE THE HOT WATER WITH 4L/ 1Gal OF VERY HOT DUNDER FROM THE LAST RUN.
Sticking to this quantity of dunder has meant that I have never had to fiddle with or worry about PH in over 50 generations.
Depending on your water type and PH it may vary for you.
Don’t ask for SG’s or FG’s of this wash cause I don’t work that way, nor do Molasses washes in my opinion.
If it has stopped fizzing , tastes dry and has a sour taste it’s done. If is still sweet it’s not done.
Using the quantities above should give you an initial wash temp of between 35-38c /95-100f in an average climate. Baker’s Yeast can handle that temperature.
The high pitch temp will have the wash off to a fast start. You should be seeing action within an hour……by the next morning it should be going hard.
I always pitch new yeast with this recipe , dumping the hot dunder on to the old yeast bed kills the yeast and turns it to nutrients for the new yeast.
You can add cold dunder and let the old yeast bed do the work again if you wish, but the ferment will take a lot longer to get going and won’t be as vigorous as it will using hot dunder and fresh yeast.
In warm weather conditions this wash should be done in 5 to 7 days sometimes sooner, don’t panic if sometimes it takes a bit takes longer.
I’ve made this wash in many sizes from 28L/7.4Gal up to 180L/ 47.5 gal , it should scale up to any size you want without trouble.
I sometimes single run this wash through 4 plates , other times I strip a wash or two and then mix them 1/3 strip to 2/3 wash. Both ways give good results.
At the end of the run I always strip way down to cloudy tails …these low wines along with the heads and other tails cut from the run go into the boiler next run.

CUTS
I don’t like headaches and I don’t like the taste of tails, I keep hearts only ,occasionally I may venture into some of the very slightly heads and tails jars .
If you want to go down the path of adding heads and tails that’s your choice.

OAKING AND AGEING.
This rum is pretty rough straight off the still, three months on oak it gets better, 6 months better again…..12 months and longer, it just gets better and better as it ages in my opinion.
Everyone likes different things when it comes to oak , I don’t like char or French oak in rum, char gives it a smoky taste and French tastes too sweet to me. Experiment and find what suits you and your taste buds.
My favourite is medium toast American Oak domino's or medium toast home toasted sticks..both give a different result , but both are good.
I use 1 x home made stick roughly ¾ inch x ¾ inch x 6 inches per Liter. If using domino's I split them in half length ways and visualize a similar amount of oak……near enough is good enough.
This is my method of dissolving Molasses after adding the dunder. It saves a lot of stirring. It also helps with aerating the wash at the same time
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This is how your ferment should look and sound after about 10 -12 hours
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