Panela/Piloncillo RUM

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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by Prairiepiss »

warp1 wrote:Thanks guys...I'll just transfer it to a secondary and give it 2 days
I wouldn't even worry about racking it to a secondary. For two days.
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by Jimbo »

Give it a taste before you run and tell us its not one of the tastiest washes you ever tried. Some of us here been tempted to keg up a batch to drink like beer.
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by mendodistilling »

I ran a batch @ 16.5 brix and it seems like its finished at 2.5 brix. This is pretty much on the money of 85% fermentable sugar. Is this common for you guys? Can you get this to ferment below zero? I'm about 3 days away from happy tasting days!
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by mendodistilling »

Does anyone sour mash their panela batches? I've been thinking of trying to aim for a 25% backset in the cook to try and see what happens.
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by Hound Dog »

Use the hot backset to melt the panela, add your water to cool it and use the leees from the previous ferment, it will take off great.
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by warp1 »

Yes...delicious wash. Doing the spirit run right now....can't wait. Love the rum smells coming off the still
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by warp1 »

Well....the rum (white) supported 2 motorcycle ralley's over the summer and LOVED it. Winter now and doesn't seem like rum season...but been really wanting to try and reproduce a Cachaca. So starting a Panela wash today (after finishing my S3 gumballhead). Had to re-read this thread again...both for the knowlege and the fact that Jimbo absolutely cracks me up posting when buzzed. :) Sipping on my last quart of white...mixed with coke. With 24 gal ferment...going to run the first 12 gal with pot still head...slow, till all distillate end at 40%...and compare to my existing bottle of cachaca. 2nd 12 gallons through my 3 plate flute and see what comes out....hoping for mild/medium flavors, suitable for drinking neat (flutes are notorious for compressing tails...needed for rum). Will use 25% backset to start my 2nd 24 gal batch....that will either be strip/spirit or flute depending how first run tastes.
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by warp1 »

As Jimbo frequently says...."I frickin' LOVE this hobby"....lol
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by MichiganCornhusker »

Thanks for bumping this back up, warp1, I was just wondering what to do with the rest of my sugar. I was inspired by this thread last year to order up a box of Sugar Daddy and make a rum. I love the rum, but now I want to experiment with the molasses and panela in separate batches. This reminds me that I wanted to do a 100% panela batch, and I will do a 100% molasses batch at the same time. Keep us posted with your results from running it two different ways. I ran my run once, and it almost has too much flavor. It is delicious, but wow it is full of molasses/panela goodness. I'm thinking about running my last batch of rum twice to see how it compares.
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by Jimbo »

Sugar Daddys Panela makes good stuff for sure. I have 56 lbs of it waiting for another run. MC, my wifey thought it packed too much flavor with one run too, I ran it again for her and its real nice. Then after sitting for a bunch of months its even nicer. Smooth and clean with a nice light rum flavor.
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by DFitz »

After better than a year reading these Panela threads and trying to schedule a meet with SugarDaddy, I finally broke down and purchased 60lbs of his Panela. Main variable was I needed a barrel to age rum in. After I emptied my rum barrel and got everything bottled up I was game. I'll also be aging some silver in a large 8 gallon SS stock pot. Received my Panela delivery, completed my fermenter and here we went. Adding 25lbs panela and 25lbs Mexican Piloncillo to 20 or so gallons hot water (Heated in my BOP) I let it sit over night. This morning I stirred it well. emptied into the fermenter and by adding another 10 gallons of water cooled to 80F verified my AP and pitched yeast. On this run I really wanted to use some aged Dunder that I've been holding for the past couple years but it's frozen solid. Better get busy thawing that one out. I'll be needing it on the remaining runs.

My shed is not heated so I used a fermenter that is warmed by a heated water bath. Nothing too fancy just a 55 gal. barrel with a valve at the bottom to add or drain water and a 300w fish tank heater. Today its 19F but tonight and tomorrow will be dipping to -5 so this will come in handy. I used to heat a cabinet for my fermenter but this is much better inmho. Easy to keep clean and if I ever have an explosion like my last ferment I can clean it up without ripping apart my shed.
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by Jimbo »

Sounds hood fitz let us know how it shakes out.
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by DFitz »

Well I have to say, using these barrels as a water bath for fermenting is working like a champ in maintaining temps. The water bath has held temps between 72F uninsulated and 86F insulated. Ambient temps were between 15F and -6F. I actually had to uncover it as I probably need to lower the temp of my aquarium heater. I use an infrared temp gauge to measure the temps of the outer barrel and find the wash temps to show a constant 5F above my infrared temp. reading. I'm pretty amazed at the efficiency in just using 300w to maintain my temps. A nice money saver in heating a fermenter during the winter months.

Image

I haven't tried it yet but I bet it can also double as a wort chiller by adding an outlet valve at the top. One could just stir as needed until temps drop to pitching temp. Very efficient so far and as simple in construction and ease of cleanup these barrels will be a valuable part of my system.
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by Ferment_It »

Sugar Daddy just let me know the he has restocked since getting hit hard by distilleries in the past few months. I'm looking forward to my first attempt at rum! I figure I can get two runs out of a 36# order of pilonchilo, the first one will be light for mixed drinks and the second heavier for sippin.

Here's the current plan:
Light run: 18# pilonchillo, 12 gal water, and baker's yeast. Once this ferments out, I'll run it twice through my pot keeping only tight cuts on the hearts. This run I will keep white. Feints saved for next run and backset to a 5 gal bucket.

I'll give the dunder pit a few weeks to age while I finish up some other stuff.

Heavy run: 18# pilonchillo, 9 gal water, 3 gal dunder, and baker's yeast. Once this one finishes out I'll run it once through a thumper charged with water (... or dunder/cleared beer?). I figure I'll take a bit wider cuts on this run and give it some time to age. Half of this will keep white and the other half on some oak thats been used once with either Booner's or Jimbo's WB.

Will I be able to fit 12 gal in my 15 gal keg boiler without boiling it over? Anyone try using coconut oil as an anti-foam/flavor enhancer?

No one has mentioned anything here about pH'ing your wash. Does anyone know if the pilonchilo is acidic or basic? I plan on using spring water that is pretty hard (pH ~7.9) so I'm sure I'll need to do some pH adjusting... just wondering how much.

Any other thoughts/suggestions?
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by nerdybrewer »

I'd check the PH after adding the dunder, my dunder is generally acidic but I used Sucanat which is dried raw cane juice.
Digital PH meters are only about $10.
I used a couple tablespoons olive oil when I ran 10 gallons in my 15 gal boiler, didn't puke but I was very careful with the temperatures.
Seems like coconut oil would do the same thing.
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by Shyrac »

Concerning pH, I just made my first wash of all Sugar Daddy panela last night.
I melted 7lbs into 3gal of water that has a base pH of 6.8.
I added another 2gal of cold water to reduce temp and achieve a final volume of 5.65gal.
I did not use anything other than water and panela.

My final pH prior to pitching the yeast was 5.1 (with an SG 1.056).

This first run will yield the dunder for the next two (two at a time in 6.5gal fermenters). I suspect I will need to add something to boost my pH for those since dunder will further lower it.
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by warp1 »

MichiganCornhusker wrote:Thanks for bumping this back up, warp1, I was just wondering what to do with the rest of my sugar. I was inspired by this thread last year to order up a box of Sugar Daddy and make a rum. I love the rum, but now I want to experiment with the molasses and panela in separate batches. This reminds me that I wanted to do a 100% panela batch, and I will do a 100% molasses batch at the same time. Keep us posted with your results from running it two different ways. I ran my run once, and it almost has too much flavor. It is delicious, but wow it is full of molasses/panela goodness. I'm thinking about running my last batch of rum twice to see how it compares.
My supply is empty (of the 1 run stuff) and running all 24 gallons in 1 run this time. Definitely alot of flavor....I wouldn't recommend neat, but as my riding buddy says....mix with coke and you get a flavor explosion....makes an absolutely amazing rum/coke. He claims to never have had better. I just ferment to about 12% (no dunder), 1 slow run on a pot still head, no dillution....last batch averaged about 45%.

I'm going to do the same this run...but age it in a 5 gallon, multiple time used, whisky barrel.....just see if it melds the flavors together a little bit more.....I'm sure it won't hurt.

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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by LWTCS »

warp1 wrote:
MichiganCornhusker wrote:Thanks for bumping this back up, warp1, I was just wondering what to do with the rest of my sugar. I was inspired by this thread last year to order up a box of Sugar Daddy and make a rum. I love the rum, but now I want to experiment with the molasses and panela in separate batches. This reminds me that I wanted to do a 100% panela batch, and I will do a 100% molasses batch at the same time. Keep us posted with your results from running it two different ways. I ran my run once, and it almost has too much flavor. It is delicious, but wow it is full of molasses/panela goodness. I'm thinking about running my last batch of rum twice to see how it compares.
.

I'm going to do the same this run...but age it in a 5 gallon, multiple time used, whisky barrel.....just see if it melds the flavors together a little bit more.....I'm sure it won't hurt.

This shit makes me want to talk like a pirate :)
That's a very good plan imo.
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by Shyrac »

After one week I have gone from 1.056 to 1.006. During that time my pH has dropped from 5.1 to 3.4. I will check it again in two days.

For the next run I will definitely need to adjust the pH to compensate for the additional drop in pH incurred via the use of dunder.

Does anyone have any advice regarding what I should use to increase pH? I have both calcium carbonate and baking soda readily available. I assume baking soda would be better since it would not add calcium to what appears to be a nutrient rich wash. I'm thinking I should just add it to the wash prior to aeration until I reach a pH of 5.5. Can anyone suggest a more appropriate target?
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by Jimbo »

The pH is fine, dont mess with it. pH always drops after fermentation. 5.2-5.6 before ferment and 3.5-4 after ferment is normal. If you let it go another week you should get closer to 1, if you want, otherwise, run it.
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by LWTCS »

Baking soda is "salty".
Yeast don't prefer salty environments.
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by FullySilenced »

I use pickling lime... available at groceries most everywhere... Walmart too!

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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by Hound Dog »

Oyster shells, found crushed at any feed store in the chicken feed section or whole at the grocery store if you are hungry, evens out the pH to just right levels and stops working automatically when reached. Like nature's pH balancer.
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by Shyrac »

The oyster shells sound interesting. I recently had success with calcium carbonate when balancing the pH of a birdwatcher's wash.

After five additional days in the tub, I am down to 1.001. I reset the airlock about 14 hours ago, and it hasn't moved since. I am tempted to run it today, but prudence tells me to give it a couple more days to cool and settle (it is still at 86).
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by LWTCS »

I'd give it a good stir to degas.
Should settle out nicely then.
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by Shyrac »

LWTCS wrote:I'd give it a good stir to degas.
Should settle out nicely then.
I am unfamiliar with this approach. I assume you are suggesting a gentle stir so as not to draw the lees back into the mix.

Edit : I gave the top half a gentle swirl, but I am not sure how much of a difference it made prior to today's run.

I ran the still for 2 hours and 45 minutes. I collected in units of about 150ml to taste/smell. Here's what I ended up with.

150ml Foreshots
850ml Heads(1) - 96P
300ml Heads(2) - 82P
1600ml Hearts - 66P
2qt Tails - (final 150ml was 15P)

Heads(2) was kept separate, as I was on the fence concerning where to make the cut. The smell had progressed from modeling glue dominant to pineapple. Hearts started when the taste became much more smooth and the pineapple aroma was more rich (like a fresh pineapple that had just been chopped up). The pineapple scent gradually faded and the flavor took on a melon quality. I ended the hearts when my sample seemed to flatten out in aroma and acquired a tart/sour taste. The proof had rapidly dropped from the low 30's to an even 20 when I made the cut for tails. I simply let that play out until I had about two quarts and shut everything down. Once it cools, I have a new bucket to use for dunder retention.
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by LWTCS »

Toward the end of the fermentation, rising bubble activity might make you think the yeast are done, when it may only be trapped gas.
A good stir will help determine completion shortly after. With no gas being produced the solids will drop rather quickly.
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by Jimbo »

Finally got on another batch of this today. Bought more panela from SD probably a year ago, just been too damn busy.

56 lbs of Sugardaddys Panela
36 gallons water
2 Tbsp gypsum
2 Tbsp Fermax
1 Tbsp Epsom Salt
1 lb bakers yeast

small space heater pointed at the barrel on low to keep the ferment temp around 80
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by nerdybrewer »

Jimbo, that's going to be yummy!
Can you recall the cost of the Panela?
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Re: Panela/Piloncillo RUM

Post by Jimbo »

I forgot, but its cheap through Sugardaddy. Send him a PM.
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