Rum straight from a Molasses Wash

Anavrin

Hi Guys

I've got a boiler filled with a molasses wash ready to go, I was only going to strip it, then combine a few strips for a single, second distillation, to try and carry as much flavour over as possible, but I'm just wondering, could I just run the wash with one or two plates and get a reasonable spirit straight off in one go?

I've not made rum before, and would like to carry as much flavour as I can, does anyone else run it straight off with a plate or two, or is it best to strip first then run again with another batch or two?

Smaug

Hi Anavrin, Non of the above is incorrect.

I will say that it can be very difficult to strip the flavor out of a run beer.

In truth you will need to do all over the above so that you can create you own point of view.....IMO.

FloridaCracker

So far for me, with rum, has been to strip pot still style and then run again with a plate or two. Plenty of flavor left. I tried to do it in one run and the taste was "dirty" for lack of a better word.

Smaug

@FloridaCracker said: So far for me, with rum, has been to strip pot still style and then run again with a plate or two. Plenty of flavor left. I tried to do it in one run and the taste was "dirty" for lack of a better word.

+1

bachman

I have run it three times and still plenty of flavor

Unsensibel

I haven't found my sweet spot for rum yet but have some molasses to go over the weekend.

I'll try 3 plates + RC @ 65C + 4" packed copper section next. Overall I'm hoping to get to a good single run point.

Anavrin

Cheers for the comments guys, I've done a single strip and I'm going to get another couple of mollasses washes going to strip and add to this lot for a spirit run, I tried a few fingers in the stream off the parrot, loads of flavour, lovely stuff, really looking forward to how this turns out :-)

punkin

My absolute favorite was a no dunder wash stripped and run through a VM at 95%+ and drunk white.

Loads of rum flavour but clean as a whistle till i add back a little late heads and a tiny bit of early tails for character.

I called it H&T Rum (for heads and tails) and loved it at 50% by the litre.

googe

Mine used to be pretty much the same as punkin, but through 3 plates at 90%. I now do straight .molasses run the same way. I find 2 plates or lower but not as clean and four plates take a bit to much flavor. What wash and ABV are you's doing to get a "dirty" flavor?. I've tried it through plates and packing to but took to much flavor but was very clean!. A 1.5 boiler charge is pretty nice to. (1.5 means 1 part rum low wines, .5 part fresh wash)

vooharmy

I think its all personal, I did a lot of experimenting to find out what I liked best. I always do strip runs, mainly because i have a large column on a small boiler. As googe suggested the 3 plates seems to be the sweet spot for my rum that's being oaked. When producing a white rum I believe 6 or more plates to be where its at. At 4 plates it came off the still in good shape and very drinkable, unfortunately the flavour became a little muted over time compared to the 3 plate, when oaked.

Smaug

@vooharmy said: I think its all personal, I did a lot of experimenting to find out what I liked best. I always do strip runs, mainly because i have a large column on a small boiler. As googe suggested the 3 plates seems to be the sweet spot for my rum that's being oaked. When producing a white rum I believe 6 or more plates to be where its at. At 4 plates it came off the still in good shape and very drinkable, unfortunately the flavour became a little muted over time compared to the 3 plate, when oaked.

All good points, and very helpful to help clarify how nuanced rum production (or any any spirit) production can be.

dellae

I did mine = strip on the column @ 80%.

1. column run - had masses of flavour.
2. column run - still plenty of flavour and even smoother.
3. column run - lots of flavour and smoother still.
4. column run (7 plates) - still plenty of flavour but that's probably as smooth as I can get.

All column runs done at ~93+%.

CothermanDistilling

@dellae - clarifying... you did a stripping run on a column(# of plates?) and got a quantity of 80%, then you did 4 more runs with a certain number of plates, the 4th run you changed to 7 plates? what did you water the still charge back down to each time?

SBB_

One pass through four perforated plates does it for me, Good rum wont taste great straight off the still, it needs plenty of time and some oak to come good.

FloridaCracker

@SBB_ said: One pass through four perforated plates does it for me, Good rum wont taste great straight off the still, it needs plenty of time and some oak to come good.

or a lot of Coke

Anavrin

I'm going to strip another couple of molasses washes, then a spirt run with just my torpedo section and a little reflux, got some SD french oak no4, I'll try aging some on that

JettFuel

@Anavrin said: I'm going to strip another couple of molasses washes, then a spirt run with just my torpedo section and a little reflux, got some SD french oak no4, I'll try aging some on that

What re you using for a recipe for your wash? Cheers J

Anavrin

To make a 25lt wash I used

5 x 740 gram jars of molasses, sugar content 56% 3kg of Demerara sugar Allinsons bread yeast and a little DAP

Also when I ran it in the still I added 4 litres of strip that was previously made from a wash of only Demerara sugar

Collect the strip down to 30% on the parrot although on the next run I think I'll stop at 40%

rossco

My absolute favorite was a no dunder wash stripped and run through a VM at 95%+ and drunk white. Loads of rum flavour but clean as a whistle till i add back a little late heads and a tiny bit of early tails for character.

@punkin's white rum is great. Regular in my shed.

One pass through four perforated plates does it for me, Good rum wont taste great straight off the still, it needs plenty of time and some oak to come good.

Can vouch for @SBB_'s rum. Very nice.

I make it a few different ways but seem to have settled on single pass with 3 plates, 80-90% across the run.

Kapea

@rossco said: ...80-90% across the run.

I don't understand what that means. (It's still Sunday morning here in the last time zone) Can you explain?

punkin

He means the run starts at 90% and he cuts for tails at around 80%. It drops slightly through the run.

rossco

Hi @punkin.
Yeah for UJSSM I often hold the ABV at 91-89% across the run, for rum allow it to drop a little. With 3 plates the transition is often a sharp drop and plateau. This can involve equalibrium for 15mins to stop it going lower, dump the parrot if tails are obvious and reseparate the fractions in the column. I force the still to stop rather than make tails.
I did a vodka run on the weekend which was all 95%. There was a tails cut about half way through the run. BTW the configuration was 7 plates 510mm packed section.

CothermanDistilling

how much reflux from the dephleg, is it totally off by then?

rossco

No the opposite, I progressively open flow to the dephleg. This will slow the still down and increase the reflux, meaning that the ABV increases, at the end of the run flow is reduced to a drip. Obviously a run takes longer but the nasties stay in the column. I should add that I the solar panels on the roof above the still make the electricity, so for me it is cost effective.

CothermanDistilling

do you have a way to measure your dephleg water temp, just monitor... I raise it slowly during heads compression until it starts with a really slow drip 140-150ish (8"@7700W), then raise slowly and hold it at a steady 150-160F or so (11000W), (still learning) if I wait until I drop proof, I am well into tails...

rossco

@CothermanDistilling said: do you have a way to measure your dephleg water temp, just monitor...

Sort of... I have the exit pipe clamped to the rim of the cooling tower. I can see the flow rate from the RC at a glance, and so I adjust by the flow coming out of the RC and changes in the ABV at the parrot rather than the temp of the water. The needle valve allows for really fine adjustment.

@CothermanDistilling said: if I wait until I drop proof, I am well into tails...

Do you calculate the volumes of the wash and final output? When I did the math I kept thinking that things didn't add up.
The reason I had a tails cut in the two thirds of the way through the vodka run was that I had a 15min grandpar nap in my chair and missed one of the ABV drop-off points. I got the other third of the run by putting the still into equalibrium to re-separate the fractions and allowing time for the tails fall back down the column. Dumped the parrot and resumed the run. A tails cut is not inevitable.

Interestingly @punkin got this after one run with a CD.

I think most people use their bubbler as a pot still with good H/T compression, but in reality it is a CM still. Whilst they are difficult to master, I think they are capable of way more. I dunno if it is possible to automate the process. I have finished till the spring but next run I'll record water flow, RC temp and ABV.

BTW we are all learning, thank you for your contributions I've enjoyed reading them.

Rossco

googe

I sort of do similar @CothermanDistilling, I don't really equalize so I try do it through the run, slow from heads then amp it up at the end of heads then back it of near the end of hearts then open it up again when we'll onto tails.

Kapea

@rossco said: I think most people use their bubbler as a pot still with good H/T compression, but in reality it is a CM still. Whilst they are difficult to master, I think they are capable of way more.

I agree. The funny thing for me is I came to my bubbler after having most of my distilling experience on a VM column. Intially I was running my bubbler with high reflux, and high abv output. I had to back off and learn to run it more like a pot still to take advantage of its flavored spirits abilities.

Always coming to things the wrong way around, me.

Smaug

+1 @Kapea.
After a loose heads compression simply think like a pot stiller.

rossco

@Kapea said: I came to my bubbler after having most of my distilling experience on a VM column

I was thinking about this @Kapea I think background makes a difference to how people approach these things. I came from a CM background. The early ones didn't really work properly, and needed constant adjustment. My bok was a revelation, and I use a pot often but only learned it so I could make moonshine.

Smaug

My first experience with forced reflux was a hybrid, goof ball, lintel that I built from my dogs water bowl.

Inspiration came from the traditional lintels one often sees on the large alembic systems.

The ugly thing ran great but leaked like crazy.