StillSmart

I've read so many recipes for a molasses type wash that I had some spare time this morning so I've knocked this very basic one up...

First of all it's only a 1 gall wash just to to get a feel for it, then I can run it through the airstill. If it turns out a success then I'll do a 25 litre one.

I started off with a 454 grams tin of black treacle in 1 litre of water that gave me a SG of 1100.
Then I made that up to 3 litres, SG now 1.054.
Then I added 200grams of dark brown sugar still at 3 litres which gave a SG of 1.074.
Made that up to 4 litres...SG 1.060.
Added another 200 grams of dark brown sugar SG now 1.072 at 24c.

So this went into a gall DJ with a Vit B tablet and a tablespoon of bakers yeast.

I've just taken a look at it..... :happy-partydance: this is about half an hour..

That looks like my Guinness
Seriously, that sounds great, I think I might give that a try. keep us posted with the progress.

Looks good to me. I've never done a rum run, must give it a try, and maybe cachaca. Keep us posted.

Probably don't need the Vit B. I'd keep an eye on it, if that is at 30 minutes, wait until it REALLY gets going! :-)

Can't wait to see how this turns out buddy.
Keep us all posted.
I've been considering a rum run with my airstill.
Currently stripping another 40ltrs of lentil.
Good luck buddy

Corps012588 wrote:Currently stripping another 40ltrs of lentil.
Good luck buddy

You sound like you're running the Airstill marathon

vino-tinto wrote:

Corps012588 wrote:Currently stripping another 40ltrs of lentil.
Good luck buddy

You sound like you're running the Airstill marathon

40 ltrs?? wow.

It's not too bad actually. Me and the fiance are still in our quiet season work wise
So I normally manage to get the first run on by 06:30
I have another 8ltrs to strip then onto the spirit runs.
I love my little still and coupled with this forum I am having so much fun

Attn: Icefever

Your wash should give you an interesting end result. I am not familiar with either of your stills. Take care to push the still in a wide open open mode so all those sugar and rum characteristics come across. Don't aim for a high ABV. 85% or less will be fine on the spirit run. 50-55% on the stripping run. No carbon filtering. Let it sit for a month or two before you consume.

A nice thing about rum is that the standards are not exact. You have a lot of flexibility.

In my experience, rum is the most rewarding thing to make in an AirStill. Unlike whiskeys, the flavours come more from the molasses than the the wood and aging. Evne the worst rum I made was pretty good. I confess, I really like drinking rum.

Chuck

RumJohn wrote:Attn: Icefever
Your wash should give you an interesting end result. I am not familiar with either of your stills. Take care to push the still in a wide open open mode so all those sugar and rum characteristics come across. Don't aim for a high ABV. 85% or less will be fine on the spirit run. 50-55% on the stripping run. No carbon filtering. Let it sit for a month or two before you consume.
A nice thing about rum is that the standards are not exact. You have a lot of flexibility.

Thanks John...I'm still very new to all this, this is a test wash/run to try and learn more from hands on.
I'm going to use my small Airstill for the run, you have no control over the heat...I've not got around to getting one of those controllers that's talked about on the forum yet.
I understand the 85% on the spirit run, on the strip you say 50/55% is that what you strip down too?? ie...when the parrot shows 50% stop? or am I way off the mark?

chill wrote:In my experience, rum is the most rewarding thing to make in an AirStill. Unlike whiskeys, the flavours come more from the molasses than the the wood and aging. Evne the worst rum I made was pretty good. I confess, I really like drinking rum.
Chuck

The same with the swmbo and I, we've always gone for a bottle of Vodka, but the other month we tried spiced rum... wow....hence the test run then I'll do a 25 litre wash ready for the T500.

Cheers.

You should end up with something yummy IceF.

I would forget about using a hydrometer with molasses, its highly unreliable. Best to use a calculator to work out the sugar content.

so your 454G of treacle is about 290g of sugar (assuming its tate and lyle), you then added 400g, so your total is 690g in your gallon.
You could have quite comfortably added 200-300g more sugar. Next time try 2 tins per gallon and see how you like that.

These days I usually use all molasses with no additional sugar. I wouldn't do this if I had to mess about with all those little tins, I'm lazy like that

Some ale yeasts don't seem to like a high SG, so you can step feed it by adding more molasses 24 hours after the start of the ferment.
But I'd be cautious about messing with a fermenting molasses wash, it produces lots of tiny bubbles (fizzes like coke), on more than one occasion I've stirred one, causing it to explode with foam, spewing a gallon or so out of the fermenter.
If you poke a molasses wash with a stick, it might bite you back

Cheers Capt...I know that an hydro reading is just a ball park figure with molasses, We had these tins that's why I used them just to see what I could knock up.

I've found a horse feed place just up the road where I can buy bulk molasses, so that's going to be my next port of call.

I'll take on board about poking a molasses wash with a stick.

Attn: IceFever

The beer stripping run is just to separate the bulk of the useable from the not useable and to give you a cleaner final product. It will average out at 50/55%. Start at about 70%+ and drop to 45-50%. Don't be too concerned with the stripping run.

Capt-Cudellez wrote:I would forget about using a hydrometer with molasses, its highly unreliable. Best to use a calculator to work out the sugar content.

Right forget the hydro..
Idle hands, so I thought lets have another go at a molasses wash, as I had half a tin of treacle in the cupboard that went in along with a full one.
Your correct Capt each tin is about 290g so that to start with give me around 430g.

Now this is where I got a little crazy...some months back I made some Belgium Candy sugar for a Trappist ale that I love...needless to say I've not had the time, so the candy just sat there.


It took 1kg to make, so I'm thinking I add a KG to my total??? if so that's 1,430...easy that..

So after it was softened that went into the DJ....





I was told to use a teaspoon of Epson salts, so that went in along with a tablespoon of bakers yeast.

On a sugar calculator that works out at about 290/300 grms sugar / litre....with should give a SG of 1100...with is 13.4%.

Is this too high a SG??? should I split it and make say gall & half?