Clarifying Molasses

edited May 2013 in Recipes

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This is the result of clarifying molasses by heating up till 85° C and let it sit over night, then racking. As you can see I have more or less 3 L. This comes from 22 L molasses and 44 L water. Next test will be with calcium hydroxide and aluminum sulfate, but I ran out of molasses.

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  • Saving that for your pancakes are ya?

  • Next test will be with calcium hydroxide and aluminum sulfate, but I ran out of molasses.

    could you please explain what these aditions do and where to find them sorry for the ignorance i really want to make a rum some day

  • Coop we just need to get you some panela ... you can rum your ass off then... jaggery is available in your part of the country... or in a country close to you i am sure... maybe look when your on the boat with your mates?

  • JP is astoundingly expensive unfortunately any primary produce which is usually cheap in most country's is crazy prices there when i first arrived the mrs and i went shopping i found a rock melon/cantelope for $38 @-)

  • edited May 2013

    @ Coop : I'm following this thread on HD.

  • I think this will be nice with some adaptions for clarfying molasses.

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  • edited June 2013

    On a trip inland this week end I found this cane mill. They were asking 500 $, but i could buy it for 350 !! It is in very good shape. Only I have to convert it with an electical motor. Now it is setup to be driven by a mule or hore.

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  • Hore powered eh .... nice find

  • but what is it? and whats a hore?

  • For processing sugar cane! He either forgot the w or the s I will let him correct that one. :-?

    It is what you make it!

  • you guys got something against a good hore?

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • No,they have a job!

    It is what you make it!

  • oops !!! of course I meant a horse !! With a "w" it would become xxxpensive !I Today I took it apart. It's in a very nice condition. Maybe I will sand it and paint it. I was thinking it should need a special paint that you can use in the food industry. Also for the grease. I found the website from the muanufacturer. I wiil send them a mail.

    M.

  • wow mossca this is the best new toy i have seen for ages im thinking red ! ducati red

    i would think that your electric motor would need to be on some kind of gear box ? as a horse has a lot of torque great find you will be able to make yur own juice do you have a cheap supply of cane? im so jealous right now

  • Or get a hore hor mule.

  • yes Coop, I still have to sort that out, maybe with a belt or with a gear transmission. Cane season is here from end Feb till beginning of April, so I have time. There is cane all year here, but the best time is at the beginning of the summer. I read that after the composition of the sugar changes and the taste is less. I made some rhum that has been sitting for 2 months on french oak and everybody is really fond of it. Still have a gallon that I will keep 1 year. I'm new to distilling (nearly 1 year) but from one thing I'm sure, aging is very important. I'm glad I have a 100 L boiler so I can make enough to age. From now on I try to age everything at least 6 months to 1 year.

    M.

  • will take a fairly hefty gearbox.... or just a gear reduction motor.

  • I read a comment somewhere that rum aged 2 years in a oak barrel was worth at least twice the price of new off-the-still booze. Maybe sell both as time permits? If I remember correctly you have set up a legal distillery. That's correct?

    Even with a 100L boiler it takes a lot of work and a lot of time to fill just one 200L oak barrel with 65 to 75% ABV rum.

  • That's correct lloyd, I'm planning to start the "Licoreria Artesanal de Atlantida" in 2 years or so. Still have do do a lot of research. I'm supprised I have such good results in less then a year. Thanks to everybody who is helping me out !!!

    +1 on the 100 L boiler, this is only for trials for the moment. Later on I will need a 400-500 L boiler. The white rhum from cane juice is only aged 3 months I read, so this would be ideal for starting. But it has a very special taste, and it is not nown here in Central America. Some people really like it and some don't at all.

    M.

  • I'm thinking you are setting the new standard in your location Moscca. And your customers will love you for it.

    Keep up the good works and when you are ready for the big boiler send me a private message. I'll help you to get what you need.

  • edited June 2013

    Tonight i setup everything to start early in the morning a 80 L all molasses wash. This one i cleared and used DAP and epsom salts, together with 15 % of my dunder pit. I'm already very exited about this ferment.

    First I cleaned my bubbel plates, they get very dirty with a all molasses run.The lower plate has a white-silver layer on it the removes rather quickly. The plates above have a black deposit that removes more difficult. Even cooking in vinegar does not do the job. I hope to have less deposit with this cleared wash.

    Took a new foto of the dunder pit, it smells even sweeter and changed color. Before it was more white, now it is dark brown. I wish you could smell this, so frutal sweet, very much pineapple! This has to give a better product.

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    It looks white because of the flash, but the color is dark brown now. This one is nearly empty, but I have another 40 L going on. From now I will start in a 200 L barrel.

    M.

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  • IMO you will get better results by not using an insulated vessel Moscca. At least that has been my experience. Heat is your friend.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • This vessel is not insulted. I bought it for frmenting and tought it was insulated, but to my supprise it was not. I have to put a lid on it otherwise I get a lot of insects in it. I did it the first time and my dunderpit became something really ugly. It was smelling and looking really bad. I had gusanos (worms) crowling in and out of it. I had to toss it. Now I have them covered loosly and from time to time I leave it a while open.

    Yesterday I ran the 80 L molasses wash with 15 % from the dunderpit. Normally I have a strong molasses smell at the start of the distilling. Now it was much sweeter, the pineapple smell was there. I wiil make no more molasses washes without dunder from the pit. Just bought a 200 L tank for my dunderpit. Tomorrow I'll start a smaller one (50 L) with a piece of cane in it.

    The smell from the dunderpit get really stong pineapple, stronger then yuo smell a overripe pineapple !

    M.

  • I got 21 X 300 ml + 650 ml foreshots @ +/- 92 % + 1 L where I went down till 30 %. 6950 ml @ 92 % = 6400 ml @ 100 % for a 80 L wash. This means that my wash was over 8%, Right ? Can I put more molasses, let's say till 10% wash ? I count 50 % sugar for my molasses when i make the ferment, but apparently it is less.

    I see that the clearing is not a big sugar loss I i compáre it to my molasses washes without clearing.

    M.

  • edited June 2013

    This is how the drap from clarifying looks now. it settled more.

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  • edited June 2013

    Just separated the liquid from the drap on the bottom. It was easy to do because the drap on the bottom has a much higher density the the liquid on top, so I just could pour it off. It is like a jelly, like you can see in the picture I separated them and the drap smells bad (gums?), different from the liquid on top. I got +- 1200 ml drap out of 22 L wash. Clarifying will be standard now with my molasses washes as will be 20 % of my dunder pit. Later today I make my cuts from my first wash. Only by smell i know it will be better. Planning to do 240 L ferments over the weekend. Now I have bentstick's oak in the oven to toast.

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  • edited June 2013

    Looking forward to more. Thank you. Will you ramp this to a larger scale? Can you execute that separation process with a conical vessel? Will the clarification process (including the purchase of molasses) cost more than a better grade of molasses? I am wondering how many beneficial nutrients are being rendered out by the clarification process? What uses can be found for the sludge? Can you mix that sludge in a compost heap and see how well cane grows with it the following season?

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • I read that the clarification is best executed in conical vessel. I found some cheap 60 gallon vessels for 150 $. They are only rated till 60 C. Today I clarified my molasses this way : heated it up till 66 C, give it a good stirr. Half an hour later it was 63 C. I copied this as a form of pasturizing milk. I heat it up in a 80 L SS pot. I let it sit here one night. The idea is to use this pot only for heating and maintaining it 30 min at 63 C, then pumping it in the conical vessel to clarify. My first gallon of this rum is on oak since yesterday.

  • The sludge this time (heating till 65 C) is much less then the molasses I heated up till 85 C, like 1/3. This came from another barrel of molasses, much more liquid then I usually get, tasted also a bit sweeter. Will do more tests.

  • From the same barrel of molasses I made a ferment today. This time I heated up till 85 C and the same amount of sludge as with 65 C. Nearly nothing, so I tossed everything in the fermenter. It is the first time I got black strap so liquid. The guy I buy it from has a 20000 L tank. He sells per 55 gallon. I think when he doesn´t sell for a while, you get more sludge because it settles.

    M.

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