Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

I'm running a molasses wash today, stripping run on a 2" pot still. Sugars are from 75% molasses to 25% sugar to approx 14% abv. 50L boiler with about 40L charge. Fired it up with 2 x 2200w elements on full. 10mins into the run (after heat up) it puked. I stopped both elements for 5mins to allow it to settle down and fired up 1 element 100% and the second on 50%. Within a minute of starting to run it puked again, so I backed the second element off to 25%, it continued to puke. Once again I turned off all elements for a couple of minutes, and this time only turned on 1 element. It puked again. I found I could not run above 1 element with 50% power. After messing around for about 2 hrs so far, and not wanting to wait for a 6hr stripping run and since I've read it on here, I turned it off and added 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the boiler. It's no longer puking, but all the product is cloudy, like you are deep into tails. I've collected about 2L of this so far, and it's not getting any better or worse. It's currently at 52% abv so should be no where near tails (remember pot still).

I am worried about mixing it with my other low wines as I don't wont to stuff the lot. Should I just throw this batch or will it clean up when I do the spirit run?

I'd say the cloudiness is from the puke stuck to the inside of your boiler & still, if it's a brownish type of cloudiness that is.

If that's all it is you wont have any issues adding it to your low wines :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Just after typing this I went to see how it is going and dump the 400ml collection jar into the main jar. It's now looking a lot cleaner, not crystal clear but a lot better than the first 2L was.

So now I guess is it ok to keep that 2.5L? The rest should be safe?

MacStill wrote:I'd say the cloudiness is from the puke stuck to the inside of your boiler & still, if it's a brownish type of cloudiness that is.

If that's all it is you wont have any issues adding it to your low wines :handgestures-thumbupleft:

No brownish color like the puke was at all. It's that whitish like when you get deep into the tails.

yeah all good, it's just residual shit being cleaned out from the puke... :handgestures-thumbupleft:

even if it's deep tails oils you wont have dramas, tails oils is good and carries some very desirable flavours :D

Certain washes foam up more than others with rum being my worst yet. :text-+1: with adding some oil. Having a boiler sight glass lets you monitor the wash. Very handy at times.

I've done rum a couple of times now and never anything like this. With the same fill level I've always been able to run 1 element on full. The only change to this one is higher the % molasses. The run never cleared right up, and I ran it all the way down to 20%. It's in the low wines barrel now. I'll see how I go, I may try and run some more of the fermenter batch in the morning. Worse case I'll just call it Cloudy Rum and tell everyone it should be that way :laughing-rolling:

It should clean up fine through the spirit run.

Reckon you might have got a batch of molasses with a heap of solids in it, its the only time I've ever had dramas with rum puke.... cept early days on bundy 8-}

I feel for you OzKev. Molasses is the devil at the best of times.

I run 35 litres in a keg at 10% ABV. I run my 3 ring banjo flat out.
I also add a little bit of a silicone defoamer.
Never had a puke since doing it this way.

I also found that leaving the finished wash to sit a few days longer helps the solids settle out better.

scarecrow

Because I never seem to have time for this hobby, my rum washes seem to sit for weeks if not months - have never ever had a rum wash puke on me. Whiskey on the other hand can be a royal pylon pain in the hole on a good day, even after fully fermented. I need to work out why one day, but oil or even anti foam stuff doesn't seem to make much of a difference with my whiskey washes.

wedwards wrote:Because I never seem to have time for this hobby, my rum washes seem to sit for weeks if not months - have never ever had a rum wash puke on me. Whiskey on the other hand can be a royal pylon pain in the hole on a good day, even after fully fermented. I need to work out why one day, but oil or even anti foam stuff doesn't seem to make much of a difference with my whiskey washes.

protein rest might help ;-)

Yeah I do that already, but maybe not long enough ... Will have to do some testing I think

wed,

throw some process notes and your gain bill up...definitely fixable even for a stubborn wash like double wheat.

cheers
bt1

The outcome of yesterdays stripping was added to my low wines collection last night. Today I'm about 6hrs into the spirit run and am happy to report the product is still running crystal clear. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Im using 1/3 peated malt (its super heavily peated and overbearing and i hate it and have a TON of it), and 2/3 pale malt. Using a braumeister so doing a step mash. Mash in at 50 degrees, then after 10 mins its up to 55 for 45 mins, then 62 for 45 mins, then 72 for 45 mins, then 78 for some period i dont remember at present then mash out. Those steps are from memory and might be off slightly. Just by reading what I have typed, im thinking i need to rest at around 52 for 20-30 mins to do a proper protein rest if my reading is correct, and that might help my issue - seems like im not really doing a proper protein rest. Whats everyone else think?

wedwards wrote:im thinking i need to rest at around 52 for 20-30 mins to do a proper protein rest if my reading is correct, and that might help my issue - seems like im not really doing a proper protein rest. Whats everyone else think?

It's worth a try, Making beer with well modified grains a long protein rest can really fuck up your head retention (speaking from experience, now I only do short one for beer) but seeing as you don't want a head on your whiskey, give it a go.

Yeh not much wrong there...

A longer protein break as u mentioned
Perhaps Irish Moss tablet to drop proteins out...be my first choice
A longer rest at fermentation completion for settling/ Finnings perhaps
Perhaps a cold break at end of fermentation

Bout all I could consider useful for proteins

bt1

Try a longer lower protein rest temp. Mash in at 45c and hold. Proteolytic enzymes also like the Ph a bit lower than normal too (4.2 - 5.3) a crash chill at the end of fermentation helps clear everything out as well

Yep cool will mash in lower next batch and see how we go. Never thought of Irish moss for this but it's worth a shot if lower mash temp doesn't solve the problem, thanks

I wonder if brewbrite would help? It certainly knock the proteins out of me beer! ONly used it a few days ago and it is amazing!!