Stalled Rum Wash?

[Woodsy71]

Gday Folks,

I put down my 8th rum wash ( 2x23litre ) on Saturday night. All bubbled away nicely until i checked them last night and found them to have stopped. :handgestures-thumbdown: In the past they have generally taken 5-7 days to finish, so im unsure what to do. I dont have any hydrometer stats to give you because ive never bothered with it before ( mental note to start using hydrometer ).
Ive tasted the washes and to me they taste slightly sweet, but im starting to second guess myself. The weather has been low 30's during the day and high teens at night.
Is it possible they could finish in this short time?
Should i add more yeast etc? :think:
Any advice would be much appreciated ^:)^

This is the recipe ive been using http://learntomoonshine.com/easy-rum-recipe

Cheers

[Dominator]

Firstly, no point taking gravity readings on rum washes. Molasses has too many unfermentables for your readings to be accurate.
After 8gens your yeast is going to be getting old but I think it is more likely going to be a ph issue in which case pitching more yeast is unlikely to help. How much dunder have you been using? Do you have a ph meter?

[Yummyrum]

I dissagree Dom about the SG readings .
Sure , you can't determine the potential ABV in a wash like you can in a sugar wash ,but you can use it to calculate how much alc has been produced by using start and finish readings and applying the formula (Start -Finish) /7.46 .

Woodsy ,I just had a molasses wash about 95% done in just over 24hrs on the weekend .It was around 30 Deg C during the day

[Woodsy71]

Sorry Dominator,

I didnt word my post well. I meant that this is the 8th seperate time i have made the wash. Im not doing generations. No i dont have a PH meter.

Yummy,

Any tips on how to tell if its ready?

Whats your opinion fellas, should i put something in to get it going again? Or wait a few days and run it?

[Yummyrum]

I recon its probably done . You've used a typical recipe that covers all bases and with those temps its probably been a quick fermentation.
If its slightly sweet then I'd leave it a few more days just to make sure but basically the bulk of fermentation happens in the first few days .

The wash I did that was almost all over in just over 24 hours tasted slightly sweet .It had fermented to a calculated 6.35% .now 3 days later its at around 7.5%

[Dominator]

7% seems low for a rum wash. The recipe in the link should ferment out to about 10%, McRum is closer to 12%

[Yummyrum]

Yeah Dom I'm experimenting with all molasses ( no sugar) so didn't want to push much higher for this go .Will be going a bit higher next time .Just seeing how high it'll go .

Still, at those temps I recon Woodys wash should be done in two days even if it was a 10% wash

[Woodsy71]

Thanks for the advice Dom and Yummy.

Im off work friday so will run it then. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Sam.]

Are you relying on an airlock to see if its bubbling? Or can you actually see the wash fermenting? :think:

[Woodsy71]

Yep,

Checked the airlock. Opened and closed a couple of times. Seal was all good on both washes.

Even did the " sit and stare with a stubbie in hand for 5 minutes" check.

No movement. Dead. No foam.

[MacStill]

if you stick your finger in the wash and let it dry is it sticky ?

if not run the shit :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Woodsy71]

Okay 8-)

[Yummyrum]

I dissagree Dom about the SG readings .
Sure , you can't determine the potential ABV in a wash like you can in a sugar wash ,but you can use it to calculate how much alc has been produced by using start and finish readings and applying the formula (Start -Finish) /7.46 .

Woodsy ,I just had a molasses wash about 95% done in just over 24hrs on the weekend .It was around 30 Deg C during the day

Hey Dom ,I was wrong on this .Was just pointed out to me on another forum that that formula is not accurate at high SG washes .( what you might have been saying ) Sorry

However this formula is to be used instead on beers and washes with a high SG ..Such as Molasses washes

ABV =(76.08 * (og-fg) / (1.775-og)) * (fg / 0.794)