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I'm currently experimentng with some rum and have run into a slight snag! I've dilluted 7lbs of mollasses (from a block bought at a feed store) and 2lbs of brown sugar with artesian water to make a 5gal solution. I made four batches this way, 2 of which fermented with champagne yeast and two with bakers yeast. The idea was to use one of each with straight distilling, and the remainder with a type of berry basket in my still. This way i couuld have controls for a decision on future yeast preference and conversely how flavoring and stilling simultaeneously would bring out the different flavors. If you can even do that with rum (after all it's not gin, but the theory is good). But the problem is that my 2 batches fermented with bakers yeast have developed a distinct sulpher (rotten egg) smell, and I'm curious if anyone else has had this problem? I know mash can smell funky, but if I need to make more to get a better control sample I'd like to know? Thanks in advance for any info you can give me!

P.S.
In case your curious the erry basket experiment is not yet complete lol.

I have never used bakers yeast and I have never had a sulpher smelling rum wash. I wouldn't think it had anything to do with the fact that your used bakers yeast because lots of guys use it. If it smells bad going in it's most likey going to smell back coming out so I would think you should make another sample batch with some new bakers yeast.

Was the molasses you used sulphured? I once wasted a heck of a lot of time trying to use a pail of molasses that had so much bad stuff in it that it would kill the yeast.

i used to have the same problem. if you are sure its not the ingredeints then you probably had the same problem as me. i was toldto pour the batch into different fermenter and repeat if it didnt work. it worked for me but if it doesnt work for you i would destroy the batch. im not positive but i think the smell comes from a certain bacteria. it turns sugar into acid and gives off hydrogen sulphid(rotten egg smell).

Well I think your right Knucklehead And I will run a new batch for my control! But I still wonder why only my 2 bakers yeast batches went south. I mean I could understand if one did out of the 4 total batches, then it would have been contamination as Yttrium was pointing out. To answer his question it was originally a 60lb block of mollasses for feeding cattle which took forever to melt down and dillute. When it finlly melted down and I strained off the juice to use there was a lot of leftover chunks of various substances. As to whether or not it is sulphated the tub it came in does not say! Now USarmy21 recomended a new fermenter an to try again, are you talking about a second fermentation? Because the batch did ferment and is at about 14% alchohol now. Could I just strip it and run it to a high content abv so as to get all the bad out? Or is it a total loss? Thank again for all the advice!

Backwoods wrote:Well I think your right Knucklehead And I will run a new batch for my control! But I still wonder why only my 2 bakers yeast batches went south. I mean I could understand if one did out of the 4 total batches, then it would have been contamination as Yttrium was pointing out. To answer his question it was originally a 60lb block of mollasses for feeding cattle which took forever to melt down and dillute. When it finlly melted down and I strained off the juice to use there was a lot of leftover chunks of various substances. As to whether or not it is sulphated the tub it came in does not say! Now USarmy21 recomended a new fermenter an to try again, are you talking about a second fermentation? Because the batch did ferment and is at about 14% alchohol now. Could I just strip it and run it to a high content abv so as to get all the bad out? Or is it a total loss? Thank again for all the advice!

Personally, I'd run it anyway. It might go away when distilled, or it may go away, after it is aged after distillation. If not, or if it gets worse, then you will have a good solvent to clean tools/lawnmowers/etc.

You might also try a different lot of baker's yeast. Even the big companies can have a bad batch slip through, especially when dealing with critters.

it might not be your yeast at all. it could easily be contamination.

Sorry for the dis-clarity: a bad (contaminated) batch of yeast was what I was getting at.

I think that army21 might be on the right track on this one

When you run it, make sure that the vapor comes in contact with plenty of copper.