Molasses wash for Rum

[Anavrin]

Hi Guys

Just thought I'd share my latest wash recipe, just made it up as I went along but hopefully it will turn out good, I'm after making some rum so I picked up 5 jars of molasses from Holland and Barret and I have a 3kg bag of Demerara Sugar, everything's on buy one get one half price at Holland and Barret so I got 4 740gr jars for under a tenner, I already had one so 5 all together.




I had to soak the jars in hot water to soften the Molasses, then rince them out with boiling water, after it disolved I topped up to about 20 litres with cold water, that's when I decided to work out how much sugar I've got in there, should have done this earlier but it's been a busy day.

5 740gr jars and it states on the label 56gr sugar per 100gr, it works out a fraction over 2kg of sugar in the wash, so I decided to use all 3kg of the Demerara and disolved it in some boiling water.



I've now added it to the main batch and topped up to 25litres, I'm just waiting for it to cool down a little before I add half a tub of Allinsons bread yeast, at the moment it's 32°c and the gravity reading is 1.090

I've got 8 litres of strip from another wash made with 6kg of Demerara that I painfully stripped on my Airstill a while back.

I'm thinking to mix the two strips for the spirit run.
Or
Add the first strip to this wash and run it all through 3 plates as a single run?

Do you think that will work?

[RumJohn]

@Anavrin: Congratulations on getting religion. Rum is king.

If I may make a suggestion or two. Your wash should give a great end result - especially if you don't over distill it. Maintain the flavor that will be in your wash. Don't mix it with that other wash - unless the other one is perfect. I wouldn't mix at all. Keep them separate. You have the makings of a great rum - don't corrupt it.

[Anavrin]

Hi RumJohn

I'll just strip it and make another 2-3 batches, that should give me enough for a second run, would you simply pot still it twice? do you have any tips on making cuts for rum?

I had a look for the part of China you live looks like a beautiful island, maybe one day I'll be able to afford to visit China

[RumJohn]

@ Anavrin: Pot still it for sure or a column configured as a pot still. i.e. no packing, no reflux, no equilibration. And push it through hard and fast. You do not want a neutral or anywhere near one. You want the RUM flavor to come across.

Clean your still before you start. I always chuck the first bit. How much depends on the size of the run. During the stripping run, the temp will climb slowly. Much more stable in the spirit run. But cut them in the high 90's. I wouldn't go below 35-40% ABV on stripping run. The little extra you would collect isn't worth the aggravation of screwing up a good run.

The part of China where I live is nice. I am in Sanya - as far south as you can go, without getting your feet wet. I couldn't live on the mainland.

[Anavrin]

My Mollasses wash is now down to SG1.012, I think it's done, little or no activity, does that final Gravity sound about right to anyone who's fermented it before?

[chill]

That seems about right. With the solids you won't get much closer to 1.0.

Chuck

[RumJohn]

@Anavrin: Your final SG is acceptable, but a bit lower would be even better. Should you make another batch, you might wish to start out with a lower SG.

What was your starting SG before you pitched your yeast?

Looking forward to hearing how it tastes.

[Anavrin]

My Starting SG was 1.090, although there's little or no activity, it has dropped another 2 points to 1.010, I'll strip it before the weekend hopefully :-)

[chill]

If it is dropping, let it keep going. Is the pH too low and retarding the fermentation?

[Anavrin]

Yeah I'll wait until I get a couple of days without a change in SG, I'll get round to the ph eventually, been too busy today, getting my caravan ready to go block some roads on Easter weekend >:D

[Anavrin]

Just stripped this today, I poured half (4lt) of my strip from my Demerara wash that I stripped on my airstill over several days!!! in with the wash and stripped it down to 30% on the parrot, tasted it a few times, just by passing my finger through the output of the parrot, got a real rum flavour.
Really looking forward to the spirit run once I've stripped another couple of these washes.

I'll do another wash the same with the other 4lt of Demerara strip added to it, then the last wash will be fully mollasses, maybe 7-8 jars and no Demerara.

[chill]

I don't recall if you have made rum before. In case not, it usually doest not taste that great directly from the spirit run. Do not lose heart, some time aging, especially with some wood, works miracles with rum.

[Easydrinker]

I'm glad that this is coming together for you Anavarin,I haven't tried a proper attempt at Rum yet,Cachaca was something else!
I hope that it continues to go well for you.

Robert.

[Anavrin]

It started producing on the parrot at about 80%
I fingered it at about 75% then about 60%, the first was an amazing white rum flavour, the second was a little less flavoured, maybe a little dryish, having not run a rum wash before I didnt know what to expect, all I can say is there's loads of flavour in the strip and I'm looking forward to a spirit run once I've stripped a few batches,

[RumJohn]

Nice to see another convert get religion.