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molasse question


jlevac

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Newbie to rum making. I'm about to order some molasses from malt products and then i realized that I know nothing about molasses. When fermenting, let's say, the distiller's blackstrap, do you dilute it with water before pitching? My end goal is to barrel age the rum.

thanks

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I've never made rum either, but would assume that you'd want to dilute to an appropriate specific gravity so that your yeast will have a friendly environment to do it's job in. Just a guess on molasses, but a starting gravity of 1.080 or so would probably be a good point to dilute to. Also, I'm not sure that there is a prescribed ratio for the molasses you've got to work with. Utilizing hydrometer or refractometer to determine gravity would server you well in determining your dilution amount.

If I'm way off on this, will someone with more accurate information please correct me.

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18 brix (plus or minus) is optimal for fermentation.

Often the analyses supplied by molasses vendors used to determine the practical differences in grade are,,,,,,,,ambiguous. Pot luck comes to mind.

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HEWN-

you stated 2 pounds molasses to 1 gallon of water for ratio. Do you toss it all in the mash cooker to heat and dilute ? If so what temp do you take it to and for how long? After that I have heard you pitch the yeast and nutrients then place in the ferm tank. For the first 48hrs it needs to be aerated ? oxygen or just air?

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I buy grade 645 Molasses from Malt Products. The spec sheet on the molasses gives you the total sugars. If you use the weight of the molasses (at 11.34 lbs/ gal x .67 sugar content by weight) and the weight of water (8.27 lbs/ gal), it is pretty easy to calculate your desired brix (sugar %). I use 620 lbs of molasses for a 250 gallon (total volume) fermentation. This is nice, because a 275 gallon tote will yield exactly 5 fermentations. This ratio is closer to 3.5 gallons H2O to a gallon of molasses, but I do get a brix reading right around 20.

I have open top/ variable capacity fermenters so I just take off the lid, put the tank on a pallet on my floor scale, forklift the tote over the tank and drop in 620 #s. I then use as hot of water as I can get to break down and mix in the molasses. Once the molasses is mixed in well, I'll blend in some cooler water so I can pitch yeast right away. Wash temp is usually 90-95 + when I pitch yeast and fermaid. Fermentation should be done in no more that 4 days. I don't use any heating or mash cooker. Just a few days to ferment and it's ready to go into the still.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'm a fan of using back set. Backset is the stuff left over in your boiler after you do your run. It can add extra flavor to your fermentation. It's up to you to figure out how much to use. Many people will do 1/4 to a 1/2 of backset and then dilute the rest with water.

Dunder Pits are something I've always had interest in. Basically, it's keeping your yeast culture going in a pit more/less open to the wild. Dunder Pits develop bacteria that will add flavor to your Rum. However, it can be hard to control what bacteria grows in your pit and the flavor you produce may not be consistent. It's something I want to do, but am not sure I can reliably produce the same flavors using a Dunder Pit.

I don't aerate after pitching.

TuftedTurtle

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  • 1 month later...

Chef,

It's kind of a personal preference and how you want to make it. To answer a question like that, you'd need to answer a lot of other questions. Do you want a heavy or light rum? Do you want to use aged dunder? How do you want to run it in the still? What yeast are you using? What are your temperature controls for your fermentation vessels? Do you plan to pitch more then one yeast?

And so on and so on. You may want to look into a Home Distiller forum to get some solid research.

_Turtle

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  • 2 weeks later...

The above attack on Malt Products is unfair. I have worked for them for over 20 years and have been very satisfied with their products and service, as have their thousands of customers. They offer multiple grades of molasses at a range of prices. As a general rule, the quality of the molasses purchased is directly related to the price paid. Many able craft distillers can make a beautiful aged rum from blackstrap: some prefer high sugar fancy molasses. I am not sure of your motives but think it might be sales inspired.

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molassesman, not sure if it was an attack...he just said he was "unsatisfied," and then never offered any alternatives.

Most people I know are either buying the Malt Products molasses or sourcing it locally from a non-distiller supplier.

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I buy grade 645 Molasses from Malt Products. The spec sheet on the molasses gives you the total sugars. If you use the weight of the molasses (at 11.34 lbs/ gal x .67 sugar content by weight) and the weight of water (8.27 lbs/ gal), it is pretty easy to calculate your desired brix (sugar %). I use 620 lbs of molasses for a 250 gallon (total volume) fermentation. This is nice, because a 275 gallon tote will yield exactly 5 fermentations. This ratio is closer to 3.5 gallons H2O to a gallon of molasses, but I do get a brix reading right around 20.

I have open top/ variable capacity fermenters so I just take off the lid, put the tank on a pallet on my floor scale, forklift the tote over the tank and drop in 620 #s. I then use as hot of water as I can get to break down and mix in the molasses. Once the molasses is mixed in well, I'll blend in some cooler water so I can pitch yeast right away. Wash temp is usually 90-95 + when I pitch yeast and fermaid. Fermentation should be done in no more that 4 days. I don't use any heating or mash cooker. Just a few days to ferment and it's ready to go into the still.

David

I am guessing you do not use a jacket ferm tank? Do you try to control ferm temp? Do you have to pitch any other yeast/nutrients during fermentation to get it to keep from sticking?

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