molasess and ABV - question

[blind drunk]

Just a quick question -

I got a pail of molasses and it says 60% sugar. So if the hydro reads 10%, does that mean that it's really 6% ABV in the end? Thanks, bd.

[Dnderhead]

I do not thank that a hydrometer will work. It could be figured out by percentage .
( weight of sugar you want in wash +40% more for unfermentables.)

say you want a a 20L wash of 17.6% that whould normally take 6KG of sugar ,, .40x6KG= 2.4 ,,, 6KG +2.4 = 8.4 KG of molasses whould be equal to 6 KG of
sugar.


in US it whould be,, a 5 gal wash of 16.9% whould take 12LB of sugar,,or .40x12=4.8 ,,,12LB+4.8= 16.8 LB of molasses is equal to 12LB of sugar

(who ever thought you'd be using this crazy math ? what whould the teacher thank?)

[blind drunk]

Thank you Dunder. Very clear. I just couldn't get my head around that one; skipped too many of those math classes me thinks. Cheers, bd.

[Barney Fife]

MaTh hurt brain. MaTh bad.

Measure your SG(starting gravity), and your FG(finish gravity)(when she's done, she's done), and subtract that FG reading from the SG reading, and there's your ABV. But why bother, since it won't tell you when its done, anyhow, and you'll get what you get when you run it.

or

If it says it is 60% sugar, just multiply its weight by 0.6, and there's your sugar content. In other words, 12lbs molasses at 60% sugar is 7.2 lbs of sugar.

or

Just pour a gallon(roughly 12lbs) of molasses into 5 gallons of hot water, toss yeast when cool, return the same day, one week later, and run it. No math, no hurt, good rum!

[blind drunk]

Just pour a gallon(roughly 12lbs) of molasses into 5 gallons of hot water, toss yeast when cool, return the same day, one week later, and run it. No math, no hurt, good rum!

Is that your rum recipe Barney? Thanks, bd.

[Barney Fife]

Yessir, that's it, in all its glory. I do reuse the dunder at times(most times), tried collecting and using "rum oils", and it all works, but everything rum I do is based on a basic 1 gallon molasses to 5 gallons water recipe; not high ABV; just simple, failsafe and mmmmm, good. Fancy molasses, by the way. Always. Blackstrap tastes like crap to me; can't be enough sugar left in in it to be worth bothering with...

[Dnderhead]

original gravity (OG) - final gravity (FG) the difference divide by 7.55= % of alcohol or
og-fg the difference x .129=% of alcohol (both ways seem to work with slight difference)
also if you have a hydrometer with potential alcohol just ,keep track of original reading, subtract finished reading ,and the difference is %
If the FG does not change over several days you know it is finished fermenting or as far as it is going.