Help please!!! :) molassis + 44gal drum? == RUM +

[paradoxx]

Gidday!.. Ive got a food grade 205l drum, Its got a big screw off top so i can get in there and clean it spotless!.. Its currently soaking in bleach (it had pickles in it) So i'm trying too get rid of all the smells!!..

I just picked up 23l of molassis (for $9.50aud).. I've got 9kg of brown sugar and 30kg of white sugar!..


can anyone give me any advice!!.. i dont want too waste all my sugar and molassis! But im keen too get the big boy on its way!..

I have been reading heaps!. but everyones needs seem too be slightly diffrent!!..

is a fishtank heater too keep the temp stable a good idea?

What yeast do you think i should be using? How much do i need?

Do i just go too coles (i live in australia) and buy a jar of bakers yeast? Or beer yeast?..

Thanks again!!..

[zeff]

If your fermenting in a 205L container i doubt heating will be neccassary, fermentation is exothermic so it makes heat and the bigger your fermentor the smaller surface area to volume ratio it has, ie it will retain more heat created. Bakers yeast is fine for most applications but a beer yeast might give a better flavour. Where did you get ur 205L drum from btw and how much was it?

[CAMEL_Joe]

(it had pickles in it)

good luck getting the smell out
I tryed it on 5gal. buckets and the smell never went away.

[paradoxx]

I think the smell has gone.. Ive been rincing it all arvo too try and get the bleach out!!. Smells good enough too eat out of

i got the drum from coobulture markets.. I'm from QLD in australia!!.

I just came accross some bakers yeast, thats already wet?

Its like? the same as woolies bakers use!! Aparently its good gear!! But we will see!!.. Ill give it a crack tonigth!!

Cheers

Ian

[Longhairedcountryboy]

If it's plastic and had pickels in it, it will always smell like pickles. I have first hand experience, I worked in as a cook in restaraunts for 12 years. I have had buckets that were used for soups or sauses over and over again, washed in a commercial dish washer after each use and still smelled like pickles after months, maybe even years of use. That's a big ass pickle bucket, where'd ya score that?

[paradoxx]

Pickled onions from maccas i was told!

Who else could sell 44gal of pickled onions!!

Looks like ill have too put a patient on "picked rum"

[paradoxx]

I couldn’t resist any longer... So I chucked it all together...

Ill go threw with my processes.

I added a small handful of this sludge. Rubber looking yeast? Its bakers yeast.. the same as the bakers from woolies use!..

into a 20l fermenter with 1kg of white sugar,, Gave it a bit stir and let it sit!.

While that was happening.. I poored 23l of molasses into the 44gal drum,
Follow'd by about 70l of hot water... Containing 12kg of white sugar and 6kg of raw sugar,
I then 3/4ish filled the drum with tap water,
Gave it a big stir

This took the potential booze level too about 12%, I'm not sure if that is right or not.. Taking into account the 23l of stock mollasus,

I then tossed in the yeast/sugar water mix,
Threw in a fishtank air pump,, And a very small 500lph? submersible pump,

Not much happened!

Then i add'd another 2kg of raw sugar + another small handful of yeast too about 5l of warm water.. Then poored that in!!.. Sat the lid over the cords,

I plan on adding more sugar in a few days? How much im not sure? maybe another 20kg?

Now im excited.. My face is sticky from the splash back of sugar/molasses water..

What should i be expecting?..
Is sitting the lid loosely (over the cords) on the drum a good idea? Or should i be screwing on the air-tight lid with a air-lock?

Cheers!!!

Ian

[Big J]

Remember that molasses is about 50% sugar by weight. So 23L is about 32 kgs, which means about 16 kgs sugar. Since all the other solids in molasses throw off your hydrometer, use this calculator here to figure out your real sg. http://homedistiller.org/sugar/wash-sugar/sg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow You can also use that to figure out just how much more sugar you should or shouldn't add.

Remember that you should aerate your wash before you add the yeast. You don't really want to be adding extra oxygen after the yeast are in there. Maybe for the first day or so (?) its ok. In the presence of oxygen, yeast will not create alcohol. They need an anaerobic environment to create alcohol.

A loose fitting lid should be fine. Or you can go with the airlock, but with a container that large you may find your airlock can't keep with all the CO2 being produced!

Doing the 20L fermenter with 1kg of sugar and your yeast to get them started is a good idea. The problem is that the sugar doesn't provide them with any of the nutrients they need, esp when they are just getting started. Add a kg of molasses to that and they should be much happier. Let that ferment for a day or two and then add that to the big drum.

Good luck.

Cheers,
J

[paradoxx]

I only let it ferment for about 10min!! before i stuff'd it in!.. and it was already making some bubbles?

I dont know if this yeast ive got is good or not!!. But its hooting!!... Foaming up like crazy. Prob 4 or 5" of head now and real stinkie of co2!! Im so happy!!!


Can you add too much? ive got heaps of this yeast,, The guy who got it for me said use it with in a week or 2, But i dont want too waste it.. I might fireup the 25l boys too

Cheers

Ian

[Big J]

Sounds like its working well. Congrats. You can add too much yeast, but I wouldn't really worry too much about that right now. Experiment in the future and see what is the least amount of yeast you can add that will get you the results you want.

Cheers,
J

[Uncle Remus]

If it's bakers yeast you used I would be careful not to go too crazy adding sugar. You add too much you'll kill the yeast. Bakers yeast can probably only tolerate 12% Av so that means when your wash reaches 12% your yeast will die...any sugar left in the wash after that is a waste.

If you want to make a high av% rum wash use distillers yeast or EC1118. These yeasts can tolerate up to 18% av.

Good luck.

[pothead]

UR,
How long does your fermentation take to get you rum wash up to 18% with Ec-1118? And how do you use for what size wash?

[copperhead]

i'v got a pickel bucket i'v had for a year soaked it in everthing and the dam thing still smells i use it to water my goats in good luck lol.

[Uncle Remus]

UR,
How long does your fermentation take to get you rum wash up to 18% with Ec-1118? And how do you use for what size wash?

Probably the most I've ever pushed a rum wash is 14-15%. Typically every wash I make is 50-55 litres. For a rum wash this size I use 10kg of molassis and about 7kg of sugar and about a half cup of lemon juice. EC 1118 is slow to ferment 3-4 weeks depending on ambient temperature. I'm never sure exactly what the potential %av of the wash is because you can't get an acurate SG reading with molassis.

[pothead]

Thanks, UR.
I just wondered about how different they are as far as %abv and ferment time.

I always use bakers yeast....
I usually get between 12-14%abv on a 12 gallon wash, and it takes about 1-2 weeks to ferment.

[muckanic]

i'v got a pickel bucket i'v had for a year soaked it in everthing and the dam thing still smells i use it to water my goats in good luck lol.

Including something alkaline like (unscented) bleach or ammonia? That should react with any vinegar still lingering in the plastic.

[stoker]

for as fas I know bleach is not an alkaline, at least no a strong one, it's a salt

[stillvodka]

Surely if you left the Barrel soaking for say a Month or so in sterilizer cleaning solution, that have got to get the smell of pickles out, i have just bought the same sort of barrels 200ltr, I've bought 2 of them from eBay £10 each, they said that the barrels have been used for pickled chutney, mind you i don't know what sort of Brew i am going to do in them yet, but i can sure make up a couple big un's

[TheMidnightRider]

Just a coupla questions:

What you using to distill it?

Arent you gonna be sick of rum? (I calculate ~10 gallons if you ferment to 12%)

Good Luck!

[muckanic]

="stoker". for as fas I know bleach is not an alkaline, at least no a strong one, it's a salt

If hypochlorite is added to water, it will consume H+ in order to form Cl2, and thus form an alkaline solution. Most bleach normally has NaOH added to it anyway for extra cleaning oomph.

[stoker]

yes, bleach can react with acid (to form Cl2) but that does not mean it's an alkaline.
I didn't know it contains NaOH

will you use the drum to distill it right away? so fermenter=boiler
it reminds me to an other story posted somewhere on this board. and on the mother site

Heres a still my friend in the islands uses every week. Output is about 2000 ml at about 78% alcohol from a wash of sugar cane syrup that she buys from the government sugar factory. They even deliver the drums of syrup, the drums end up as the kettle.

It is an incredible still, the seals are made with a flour and water paste with a little dried banana stalk for strength. It bakes on like a biscuit. When she is finished the dogs eat the bits that get thrown away. The still comes apart all every boiling and the pieces are scattered so no one will thief them.

It is a VERY flavorful rum with no treatment at all. The locals like a hot rum but it doesn't really take your breath. It does smell a lot but it is worth drinking. I do. I would like to age some but due to the small volume there is rarely any left to age. Sometimes she adds some spice and green peanuts but most of the time it is consumed straight as you see it.

cheers.
Ed

[AllanD]

Love that PIC... does she sit there chanting "come rum come" over and over while waiting for it to come to a boil?

as for cleaning the "vinegar smell" out of the barrel I've never had any luck with bleach.... Red Devil Lye sold in most american grocery stores as drain cleaner should remove the vinegar smell

On a 40plus gallon barrel? I'd salvo an entire 18oz Jar of lye (about $3US)into the barrel and fill the barrel with hot water and let it soak for several days.

Just one other suggestion, have atleast 5gallons of water in the barrel when the lye is added, because if you add water to dry crystalized lye it sometimes generates enough heat to melt itself into the plastic... that would be bad....

as for neutralizing any residual caustic after you've drained it?
I guess you wouldn't want to use what I use to clean my stainless steel beer fermenter......... vinegar...
2 quarts of lemon juice diluted 50/50 with water will neutralize
any remaining caustic soda. (small price to pay to have a clean barrel)

Don't get any on your clothes or skin!

AD

[paradoxx]

All done!!!

it fermented too about 12-14%? (from what i can calc)

add'd 5l of wash into my smaller still.. and got 700ml @ 90%

i cant smell pickles at all? after i tip'd out the bleach it didnt smell like anything!!.. just plastic



I'm using a 2" off-set head still (packing removed) too run the wash!!..

I couldnt believe how much it bubbled up!!.. I was running both 1800w elements!! and it started bubbeling out the top of the condencer!!! YUCK@!!!! what a mess!!.. I back'd the power down and gave it a quick clean out and it went ok for the rest of the run!.. But I'm not looking forward to smaller runs!!.. I wanted too do a few 50l wash's @ high power too get it over and done with!...


What i was planing on doing was strip most of the booze off. (not being too fussy).. Im guessing ill get roughly 1 full keg full!. (50l).. with the tails etc ive been collecting and a turbo sugar wash i forgot about!!.. Then ill do a nice run using a bit of reflux and lowish power!!.. I guess it will take a full day!!.. But the result will hopefully be drinkable!!

Does this sound ok?

Thanks again!!.. I'll document my next 'super wash' a little better