Molasses Ferment

[glfclbs1]

Good day guys! I have started my first Molasses ferment. It appears to have Stalled, or finished. The starting was a little sugar heavy. I did 4 gallons of Molasses, to 9 gallons of water. Gravity was approximately 1.15, i think to start if my memory is correct. ( I am not near my info at the moment). and it seems to be at the 1.013 mark now. Not close to 1.0. No bubbling is going on at the moment, however, it seems really bitter. Could I be getting a false reading due to not much water volume? Ph is between 3.5 and 4.5. The ferment was great for about a week. I also used yeast designed for rum. I kept the temp at about 90 degrees with a heater blanket with a digital controller.

Anyone have any idea? Should I just run it?

Thanks in advance!
Glfclbs

[Bolverk]

It's likely done... there are a lot of unfermentables in molasses.
How does it taste? Is it sour/bitter tasting? It should be noticeably devoid of sweetness

[Stags]

It's likely done... there are a lot of unfermentables in molasses.
How does it taste? Is it sour/bitter tasting? It should be noticeably devoid of sweetness

Bolverk is on point as per usual.

You can’t expect molasses to finish out to 1.000 or below due to unfermentables. If it’s bitter run that puppy.

Same also applies to your starting gravity… wouldn’t put too much stock in it. I’ve applied the principles I learned making UJSSM to every other wash and it’s served me well- equivalent of 7lbs of sugar to 5 gallons wash to get a ~10% abv jump off. Applied it to my panela rum recipe as well and it’s obnoxiously good.

[glfclbs1]

It's definitely bitter. I figured it was finished. Tastes really good to me. It will definitely get ran this weekend.

Thanks for the info!
Happy Thanksgiving!

Glfclbs!

[JustinNZ]

Just be careful with that ratio of molasses to water. It will work most times, but if you put in a bit more molasses, start chucking in dunder or forget to aerate, or let the temp drop it might let you down one day. SBB does 8L to 20L, which is 4:10 and you did 4:9, which is fine… but pushing it too far could give the yeastie beasties a fright.

[shadylane]

Gravity was approximately 1.15, i think to start if my memory is correct....and it seems to be at the 1.013 mark now.

Anyone have any idea? Should I just run it?

Sounds like it's done.
When fermenting rum, I wouldn't trust my measurement of 17% potential alcohol.

[Bolverk]

It will definitely get ran this weekend.

I assume since you went all molasses you're chasing flavor. If that's the case don't be afraid to let it rest a while, let all those yeast cells autolyse some fats and amino acids back into your beer... it'll make for a more favorable rum.

[glfclbs1]

Thank you all! This is my first batch with molasses. I stripped it to 2.5 gallons which is more that I figured I would end up. Ran it down to 60 proof before it started getting cloudy. Combined it all and will rerun this weekend. It combined at 100 proof. I will update when done!

[subbrew]

Run deeper. I assume that is a stripping run on a pot still. If you really want the flavor you need to strip until the abv off the spout is close to zero and the combined low wines abv is close to 30. Because you were a bit high on the molasses (messed up my conversion and did the same myself last month) you might have a low wine abv in the mid to upper 30s even after you hit zero at the spout.

[Yummyrum]

Agree with subbrew . You stopped stripping too early . Low wines will be closer to 30% abv. (60 proof ).
Too late now . But next time . And don’t forget to keep some Dunder for the next ferment.

[Bolverk]

Not to pile on.... but yeah, next time go way deeper on your stripping runs. It's not uncommon for me to strip down to 10-15% coming off the spout. It doesn't matter if your low wines are cloudy you'll clean up in your spirit run.

A big reason to go lower is to get your combined low wines lower than 40% so you don't need to add water in your spirit run.

[Yummyrum]

Also worth mentioning is the elusive Rum Oils that are desired by some , Pugirum recipe for instance , are found in those last few ABV off the stripping run .

[glfclbs1]

Thanks again. Have been out for a bit. I re-ran 1 gallon, and added a small amount of molasses with spring water. Started out with some auburn tint in the heads but it cleaned up quickly. I figured it may introduce a little bit of flavor. Just as a test. Taste is pretty good. Next gallon I will run as is with no additives other than spring water. Thanks so much for the info always!
Next batch will be started soon!!

[glfclbs1]

Run deeper. I assume that is a stripping run on a pot still. If you really want the flavor you need to strip until the abv off the spout is close to zero and the combined low wines abv is close to 30. Because you were a bit high on the molasses (messed up my conversion and did the same myself last month) you might have a low wine abv in the mid to upper 30s even after you hit zero at the spout.

It was run on an electric keg boiler I built. No thump keg, just a strait stripping run.