Doing BB's Rum. Molasses ferment with yeast from previous ferment goes OK for 2-3 days then stops. Been dissolving the raw sugar in water then adding it. The fermentation kicks back on then stops. pH very lot at about 4.0 so I bring it back up to about 5.0 with what seems like a lot of baking soda. Double checked the pH with strips and it is still in the ball park. Added some yeast nutrient, repitched DADY yeast and nothing. Not a bubble. Ended up moving half the wash into another bucket and diluting by half with some warm water and that got it going. I suspect that the addition of the sugar made things too concentrated and the yeast did not like all that osmotic pressure. I started adding the sugar mixture in smaller aliquots and mixing more but the fermentation still stops until I dilute it. I gave up on taking SG on molasses ferments because it just give me crazy numbers. I am mixing gently and trying to aerate.
Weird thing is my first molasses and sugar ferments went off without a hitch. Is there a way to make this go smoother?
Problems with Rum Fermentation
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