Cassava Vodka

[CaymanRumBaron]

Hi all,

Ive been away for a while trying to startup a microdistillery. I did some testing with a cassava vodka and thought you all would appreciate hearing the outcome.

Heres the simple recipe;

25lbs of unpeeled cassava
1 tablespoon of alpha amylase
1 tablespoon of gluco amylase
4 table spoons of red star bakers yeast

The reason why there is no nutrients is because I figured the cassava would have enough nutrients to sustain the fermentation on its own.

Peeling the cassava and ended up with around 20lbs of peeled cassava. Cut the cassava up into smaller chunks and boiled till soft in a 25 liter stockpot. In order to ensure a good mash, I ran the boiled chunks through a food processor as the boiling progressed and ended up with cassava porridge. Turned off the heat and I then waited until the temps had dropped down to arounf 160F and threw in both enzymes. Stirred in the enzymes and left on the stove overnight in the covered stockpot with no insulation.

At 8:00 the next morning, the pot was still very warm to the touch and the porridge had become very liquid. Tasted the liquid and tasted very sugary. Iodine test confimed no starch was present (did not turn blue, stayed orange). I then added this wash to the fermenter and added water to get around 25 liters of wash. I initially thought the wash was going to be too thick but thinned out nicely after the starch conversion. I did not do a initial SG reading because I thought it would be off but in hindsight (and considering the corn whiskey process) would not have been off that much. I did do a SG reading and the end and it was 1.005.

I added the yeast after aerating the wash and within 30 minutes the airlock was bubbling away. I was expecting a eruption because of all the fiber in the wash and expected the CO2 to create a huge cap but nothing like that all. Fermentation was slow, only bubbling every 5 seconds or so. Fermentation lasted about 12 days or so.

To distill the wash, i tried to remove as much of the cassava fiber as possible in order to prevent any burning inside the boiler. The wash only had about 3 inches of clear liquid on top and the rest was like gerber soup. I started with old pillow case and boy was this the wrong step. The pillow case was like a plastic bag and let only a few drips of liquid through. I put away the pillow case and started using a sieve to get out the big stuff. Afted sieving out the big stuff, I revisted the pillow case and still had problems with the flow. After manhandling the pillow case for about 15 minutes and losing a a few cups of liquid I was left with 20 liters of still very milky liquid but atleast all of the chunks were out and would be less likely to burn.

I have a 8 gallon pot 40" CM column packed with copper scrubbers. I loaded the still and turned on the electric hotplate. I dont do strip runs as in my opinion, the final product does not vary that much to justify all the added effort and time.

After about a hour or so, the first few drops started to flow at 176 F. The smell was obvious; cassava. I kept the first 100 ml and put aside (not to drink but to compare smell to the rest of the run). I then collected around 270 mls of 90%, which took around 45 minutes to collect. Not knowing how much alky i had left to collect started to collect in another container and after 30 minutes or so and another 150 mls, the smell started to get different not bad and the taste just a bit more spicey, much like a sugar wash but different. The temp was now 182F. Watching the temps I finally shutdown at 188F and had collected another 270 mls at 85%. I mainly stopped because the flow was painfully slow at this point and the distillate was getting funkier, ie tails.

Now the most important observation of the day was the smell, not the cassava smell, but the lack of the alcohol smell.
Usually taking a whiff of 90% stuff straight from the still while running a rum/sugar wash would be overwhelming strong like rubbing alcohol but I could not smell any alcohol from the first cowardly smell I took. Intrigued, I took a deeper smell and barely could detect alcohol. This encouraged me to take a sip and bam, 90% strength, no doubt.

I diluted some to 45% later that evening to take a proper tasting and it smells strongly of cassava but is very smooth, unbelievably smooth with a sweetish/mineral like finish. It still has a little funk but from experience I know this will benefit from airing a few days. However, I know that the cassava smell maybe off putting to some so I am going to try slicing the cassava up into thin slices and letting it dry out before proceeding. I think this will remove the majority of the cassava smell/congeners/esters.

I realize this experiment would have benefited from a stripping run but I have quite a bit of backlog to run so I will definitly be doing a stripping run next time in order to hopefully stretch the run out to see which portions are the best.

[rednose]

I have done this before with an incredible result.

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... ilit=yucca

As you said, after sitting it for 4 month with a cork cap ( have to be able to breeze) you will have one of the most soft vodkas out of it.

No carbon filtering is needed and it leaves very low cassava congerners, ideal for macerating or pure use.

I have 15.000 yuca/cassava plants ( makes about 100 metric tons) at this moment and the market price is very low, I might get occupated with this stuff for the next few month.

Btw: I didn't use enzimes - just left it with open lid ( but covered with a cotton material) for 2 days.

Joe

[CaymanRumBaron]

Hi Rednose,

I was anticipating a reply from you. Reading you post got me interested in this project so I have you to thank for breaking ground in this area. I noticed you used almidon (pure cassava starch) and used lime juice (acid) for the starch conversion. This is different from my own experiment in I used the raw root. I gather that you too will be using the raw root for your endeavour.

As I was saying, the raw spirit from the raw root has a strong cassava smell which smells just like the root, but the taste is very smooth and like you said soft. Very very different from sugar based spirit in that you cannot tell the strength of the spirit (even at very high proof) by smell. Only tasting the spirit will give away its strength.

Next time, I will try slicing the roots and then letting them air dry to try to drive off the cassava smell. For the small quantity I am using I will maybe bake them first in the oven.

Have you noticed this before as I have not dried or baked the raw root before (only when making cassava cake) without adding other spices. I ask since you obviously have alot of cassava around and can tell me if the root loses its smell after baking or drying.

Thanks in advance.

[rednose]

Drying will get a lot of flavor off but it's a little worky.

I also find that it depends of the age of the cassava, mine have two raining seasons, the right material for processing starch. They can get till 20 Kg a root .

That's the way they make the almidon, slicing, milling and drying.

In our restaurant we have meals with coocked yuca roots, they are almost better than potatoes, lol.

I will distill the yuca mash twice, a stripping run with the Twins on 4 - 5 bubble plates and than a pure 10 plates vodka still head, have to built that one but I'm short of time right now.

It's more work to make a neutral like this but as I have the yuca at a ultra low price it's worth the efforts.

Keep us updated with your results please.

Joe

[CaymanRumBaron]

Not a problem. I will let you know how goes next time and maybe even squeeze in a few photos.

I have to agree with you that it is alot of work to get vodka from cassava but it is unique in its flavor profile and that, to me, is worth it.

I was surprised by the low yield for the amount of root I used, only getting around 0.7 liters of 85% for 25 lb or 11.3 kg of unpeeled root, which will give around 1.5 liters of 40% vodka according to the dilution calculator on this site. Like you said, i think it depends on the quality of the root. The ones I got from the supermarket were imported and very old and some had even started to rot (i threw those out). I realize that alcohol yield is directly related to starch content and the old roots I used were proably not very high to start with. Doing research for this project, i discovered that starch deteriorates rapidly after harvesting as the root is still alive and continues to use the starch for sugar which is why starch producers dry the root for storage.

I am talking to a local farmer to have him grow cassava for me which will be used to produce my vodka. Hopefully one day I can be like you.

[rednose]

I was distilling some anis liquor today to send it to the health ministry to get green light for the production.
During distilling I had some time to google around about the cassava topic.

Yuca/cassava contains cyanide a heavy poison with gets almost eliminated by fermenting.

It’s important to know the final cyanide content which can be detected by ironsulfate:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron(II" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow)_sulfate
I’m not good enough in chemics and will send a sample to the lab I’m working with after making my own starch similar to what you have done.
I went to the metal shop of a friend of mine and he has a small electric SS yuca crusher which he offered me pretty cheap. He will give it to me for a week to try before making the biz.

Saved from a website:

CASSAVA ALCOHOL
Cassava is one of the richest fermentable substances for the production of alcohol. The fresh roots contain about 30 percent starch and 5 percent sugars, and the dried roots contain about 80 percent fermentable substances which are equivalent to rice as a source of alcohol.
Ethyl alcohol is produced from many carbohydrate materials. In Malaysia and some other countries, many factories are equipped to use cassava roots, starch or molasses (by-product of the sugar industry), the type of product depending on the costs of the raw materials. When cassava is used, the roots are washed, crushed into a thin pulp and then screened. Saccharification is carried out by adding sulfuric acid to the pulp in pressure cookers until total sugars reach 15-17 percent of the contents. The pH value is adjusted by using sodium carbonate, and then yeast fermentation is allowed for three to four days at a suitable temperature for the production of alcohol, carbon dioxide and small amounts of other substances from sugar. Alcohol is then separated by heat distillation. The yield of conversion is about 70-110 litres of absolute alcohol per ton of cassava roots depending on the variety and method of manufacture. The crude alcohol of cassava is described as average in quality. It has a disagreeable odour, but can be improved if the first and last fractions in the distillation process are discarded. It is usually utilized for industrial purposes, as in cosmetics, solvents and pharmaceutical products. If the production is required for human consumption, special care should be taken in handling the roots to rid them of hydrocyanic acid.

[rednose]

Another info:
CONCLUSION

The baker's yeast, a cheap and non-pathogenic microorganism used in this study, could efficiently increase the protein and lysine contents of CC and reduced the level of cyanide by fermentation. Therefore, yeast fermentation, especially in cassava root pulp and cassava chip, could potentially be used to enhance their nutritive value as animal diets, especially their protein and mineral contents of these products.

A cassava beer info: http://www.uce.co.ug/ris/index.php?opti ... &Itemid=18" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[rednose]

At the end a very well done general information about historical use of yuca with great illustrations:

[CaymanRumBaron]

Thanks for the information Joe,

I too was confronted with the cyanide poison problem. It seems there are different varieties of cassava, being either "sweet", where the cyanide has been breed out to great extent and "bitter", which would get the bitterness from the cyanide which supposedly is bitter to the taste, like the seed of some fruit. The sweet variety has something like 50 times less cyanide than the bitter but still requires some processing to rid it of the cyanide. The bitter variety are likely from wilder cultivars and the root skin contains a milk that is very high in cyanide. The bitter variety is the most cultivated as they yield bigger roots.

We only get the smaller sweet variety in the stores here and as far as I know, all the local planted crops are the same but it good to know how to tell the difference and how to determine the level of cyanide if present.

The link below is targeted to help African communities develop more efficient means of cassava cultivation and cassava based products. It contains alot of pertinent information as well as equipment diagrams and processing techniques for cassava.

http://www.cassavabiz.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I am very interested in the SS electric cassava crusher though as that would be perfect for my future endeavors. Let me know how it works for you.

[rednose]

When I asked the old farmer folks here if I have the sweet or bitter varity they asked me if we have mice (micky mouse) in the plantage, if they eat it (and yes they do) - it's sweet.

I will get the crusher on tuesday to make the first batch of my own production with 10 sacks of yuca.

Will make some photos to upload.

I had the idea to open a new topic for it but you wan me on that and it don't make sense to have two topics on the same thing, do you mind if I copy the information I posted in the other yucca thread?

[CaymanRumBaron]

Not at all, copy the info from the other postings. It makes sense to have all the information in one thread. Hopefully this can be the definitive thread for the topic.

It is good to know that the mice will eat it as they have a much better nose that we do.

Even if the cassava was the bitter type, the process of soaking and fermenting should eliminate any cyanide present.

When I did my starch conversion, I feed some to the sugar ants and it was amazing to see how they reacted to the sugar, it was like x-mas for them .

I have to ask what do you plan to convert the starch to sugar with? I can attest to the effective of the enzyme route because my first trial with acid (vinegar) failed miserably.

[rednose]

I use limes juice (acid) for the conversion and had a very good result last time. It's what old guys here used to make cassava beer and aguardiente. What I was reading is that cassava has a certain ammount of enzimes by nature.

I had a personal conversation with an chemical engineer today, he confirmed that crushing and soaking get's about 50% of the cyanide out of the cassava, coocking and fermenting does the rest of the job and there will not be any amount enough to get toxicated in any way.

Will copy the posts at night.

[rednose]

Copied post from the other thread
I seed several hectars each year of yuca and would like to try to ferment it to get a good neutral spirit.

That likker I want to use as a base for neutral receips.

Yuca is very cheap here, it's most times in about 4 USD/ 100lbs.

In Colombia they use it to elaborate ethernol for fuel.

Yuca was used long before to make likker in South America as oldtimers tell here, but was than replaced with rum from sugar cane.

Yuca is used in the ecuatorian cost similar as potato (here papa) and has three times more starch as sugar cane (I was reading that somewhere).

They use yuca powder (called almidon) in EC to make a delicious bread: pan de yuca.

I was reading that 1000Kg of yuca gives 170 ltr of 95% ethernol.


Joe

harvesting yuca

yuca bread

cassava/yuca plant

yuca.jpg (9.17 KiB) Viewed 12730 times

[rednose]

Copied post from the other thread


Well, I got 5 lbs of yuca powder (almidon), that stuff is more expensive than the roots, it cost 0.35 USD a pound.

Than I mixed it with 25 ltr water and cooked it up to 65 C, it got thick as shit and I let it cool down.

Than I added 20 ltr water and the juice of 3 lemons, it is in PH 4.8 right now.

After it gets to room temp at 30 C I will add the yeast.

BTW: I should have used my double hull boiler as this stuff burns very fast if you don't stirr constantly.

cold almidon

coocked

[rednose]

Copied post from the other thread
This is what I found in the "Alcohol Textbook" about fermenting yuca:

Cassava starch/flour is gelatinized first by cooking (61 to 70 C) and further converted to simpler sugars with the help of mild acids or amylase enzymes.
Cassava starch, having a low gelatinization temperature, is easily liquified and saccharified.
The main advantage of cassava over any other crop for this purpose is the presence of highly fermentable sugars after saccharification. Large volumes of the saccharified starch are fed into fermentation vessels and inoculated with actively growing yeast.


They also mention that foaming can be a problem in fermenting yuca.

[rednose]

Copied post from the other thread

Went to the lab and guess what?

Only 30 minutes after pitching the yeast it's starting to foam.

Should I sleep beside the vessel to avoid a drama in my beloved lab?

fermentation start

[rednose]

Well, this are the most important post I made in march.

I saved 1 gal of the yuca vodka in that time, aligned it to 40% ABV and it's a hell of a good drink.

I don't remember exactly how much I got out after cuts, I passed it through the bok in that time.

Tomorrow they will bring me the crusher and 10 sacks of yuca, I will make some pics of the hole process.

Got two new 600 Ltr fermenters for that objective today.

Hope all goes fine like the last time.

Joe

[manu de hanoi]

I agree it tastes so sweet ....

[rednose]

I hired two women, family of my foreman, to peel the cassava.

They handle 10 sacks, about 500 Kg, in half a day.

Payment is 8$ for the lot of 10.

[rednose]

Here the crusher in work.

It's a small engine, it has only 1 HP but it's more than enough.

I think it can handle 2000 KG a day

yuca crusher

[rednose]

First bad notice: The first batch I coocked in my largest vessel and it got burned in the bottom.

You have to use a double hull vessel.

[rednose]

Had to fire up the double hull grain coocker, it makes only 1 sack of crushed yuca but it doesn't burn.

[rednose]

This stuff gets as thick as a cake mass at 60C, how to get it out of the coocker?

[rednose]

Security warning: When you open the lid you have to make sure where the wind is coming from.

The gases are smelling very toxic, I guess it's the cyanide gas.

This process has to be made outside

[rednose]

This is by far the hardest work I have done so far in distilling.

Everything is white, sticky and stinky.

Will take till midnight to finish coocking and cleaning up all.

[WalkingWolf]

Good Luck there Joe !! Sounds to me like you're blazing a trail down there. Do be careful on the cyanide gas thing.

[manu de hanoi]

will u use enzyme ?

[rednose]

No Manu, I will use limes juice, 4 l for 600 Ltr ferment.

I have done that before with good success, let's see if it works again.

The lid will be open with a cotton towel to evoid insects, so mother nature will do it's part as well.

[kiwistiller]

How will it convert starch without an enzyme source I must be missing something here... is there a good quantity of enzymes naturally occuring in cassava?

[rednose]

From a post of the first site of this topic:

I use limes juice (acid) for the conversion and had a very good result last time. It's what old guys here used to make cassava beer and aguardiente. What I was reading is that cassava has a certain ammount of enzimes by nature.