Ive been doing sugar washes now for some time (over a year) and have never had a failure. I am on my 5th 100 liter batch in that time and it always ferments out dry, with very little fuss.
I used Smudge's recipe from the sugar wash section on the info site as my basis for proportions, ultimately. I tried a number of others and they all worked ok, but I have found that it is easiest to get out to 15% (which is where I take it now. Ive taken it to 18%+ as well with no trouble but a bit more effort and watching. I decided 15% was fine if I didnt have to watch it) doing it the way I do it. So here you go
pHneutral's 100 liter batch
24kg white sugar
2.4 - 3kg of molasses ( black strap is fine, tho I normally use amber. You can use any dark, complete sugary thing like malt extract, or muscavado, etc.. I have not tried brown sugar. Keep in mind this is what will create much of the flavor)
80 liters of water
5 women's One A Day vitamins
25g yeast (for nutrient)
180g DAP
Lactic Acid (can use Malic acid or citric acid)
25g Epsom salts
fill your tank with 80 liters of water. aerate it however you like (I use an aquarium pump, but I have also just blown through it a few times with a narrow pipe and that worked as well. Your mileage may vary)
Add 1/3 of the white sugar to the tank and stir until dissolved
Put your molasses (or whatever dark sugary thing you are using) on the stove mixed with water and heat it to a low boil. Add the vitamins (crushed to a powder) and the 25g of yeast. Stir for a few minutes until dissolved (I use a whisk and beat it very hard.. the vitamins are reluctant to dissolve quickly and this helps minimize boiling time), then immediately go to your tank and pour it all in with stirring. Dont boil it too long.. it depletes some of the vitamins. Do NOT put the DAP into boiling water.. you'll regret it
Add 1/3 of the DAP directly to the wash, and in my case all the epsom salts. Stir very well for "awhile", then I usually aerate a bit again. The solids tend to displace some oxygen. Not necessary, but I always do it.
Acidify the wash with your lactic, malic or citric acid to below pH 6 to help prevent bacterial contamination. Do NOT use inorganic acids, or Acetic acid (vinegar). I usually go to below 5, but not much below. Sometimes I have to adjust a bit 2 days in with baking soda to bring it back up to above 4. A good pH is 4.2 - 5.0 or so. This run I came out at 4.6 to start. If you dont have a pH meter, litmus paper is incredibly cheap to use, and you should only have to check 2 or three times.
Make a yeast bomb (as per this site.. do a search), make a proof (just pitching some yeast into a mason jar half full with your sugar mix and waiting an hour or two), or you can just pitch directly on top of the wash. I did a 1 hour proof for my latest run (sugar and malt extract) and after pitching it into my tank it was bubbling away happily after less than 12 hours at room temperature.
Check your SG if you want to be careful about it. When the sugars are 3/4 depleted (or after 2 calendar days, if you're not checking SG), add another 1/3 and a bit of water plus another 1/3 of the DAP. Then again (after 1 more calendar day if not checking SG) when those are 3/4 depleted, and enough water to bring it up to 100 liters. A bit over is fine as well. Then wait 2 days or until the end of effervescence. Sooner will have a sweeter flavor, longer will be a drier flavor.
Thats it! You end up with something like 15% (actually more with the dark sugars). In my experience, the stripping run on a pot still comes off at average 60% or so.. I get about 22 liters of that from stripping if i stop at 40%. You can get a bit more if you go all the way down to 30%. 25 is the ideal maximum at 15%, so 22 aint bad
Then, I usually have a bit of the wash left .. perhaps 5 liters. I put that in the kettle along with the low wines plus enough water to make it up to 3/4 full and distill it low and slow, and end up with average 75 - 80%.
Cut, blend and age on oak (gives the rum a very nice bourbon character when you use 2 tsp of french oak per jar for 90 days), or blend the first half of the run to make a nice white spirit, and save the last half for an all feints run later. I have found its very important to soften the flavor by vigorous aeration once you get "close" to what you want if its a white spirit.
Questions and comments are welcome!!