StillSmart

Ok. No movement in the hydrometer now for 3 days. Should I just run it?
I'm just a little worried about the dreaded puke or surge as I've read it can happen with a molasses run

Be fine.

1. Don't overfill
2. Get some coinage/copper/rubble in there.

Just put the first lot on.
Filled to just below the line in the Smartstill
2 caps of conditioner
Ceramic rings.
Wish me luck and is there any way I can tell if a surge or anything is imminent with the Smartstill?
I've got it on the draining board running but me bum is still twiching like a rabbits nose!!!

Any copper in it?

By my clock that's now 1hour 38mins....how's it going??

It's been dripping for a few minutes now and just as an experiment I've taken 50ml and put to one side and just tried a few drops on a teaspoon and it tastes like a dark rum (imagine a little kitchen jig going on at this point)
It will all be put back together and double distilled but wow.
No copper as yet as I'm still waiting for my huge batch of ship half pennies to clean up.
Thought they might be appropriate seeing as I'm trying to get a handle on rum

Think this one is screwed! After putting the 50ml to one side, I've just collected 100ml and checked it with the alcometer and it's 45%
Should've used more sugar but was worried as the hydrometer was at 13%.
Any advice?

Is this your stripping run, fermented wash from the bucket? If it is then I don't think that's a bad number for a strip, pop it in a demijohn & do the same with the rest of the buckets worth then you should have enough for a spirit run. Water it down to 30% before hand though.
If it's your spirit run then I can understand you perhaps hoping for a bit more but if it tastes good why worry? You would probably have diluted it back to a similar figure anyway! If you want you can save it until another batch is done & add it in, or if you have enough just run it again for a double distillation & get the higher ABV?

I am agreeing with Benoit, this is your strip, keep going.

Robert.

Thanks guys. I'm just used to getting over a litre per stripping run whereas with this I'm getting 600mlper run. The strong rum flavour and smell also seemed to fade really quickly through the run. Is this normal?
Sorry for being a pain

For the next one I'm thinking
5ltr molasses
3kg of golden granulated cane sugar
Same amount of yeast
2tsp of yeast nutrient

Corps012588 wrote: The strong rum flavour and smell also seemed to fade really quickly through the run. Is this normal?
Sorry for being a pain

That's normal matey.....as you take out the "good grog" you finish up with the left over liquid.

ps..your not being a PITA..your a member asking a question.. keep it up.

Corps012588 wrote:For the next one I'm thinking
5ltr molasses
3kg of golden granulated cane sugar
Same amount of yeast
2tsp of yeast nutrient

Might be worth getting a refractometer they are brilliant for recipe formulation. It takes the guesswork it off it.

I've read somewhere that there's enough nutrient in molasses alone.

That's good to know regarding the nutrients in molosses. Also going to order a refractometer as soon as I get home.
Thank you so much guys