Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hi All, Desperatly need help. Ive been making rum for a few years now and have made a lot of really great rum. Ive had no problems at all. Now for the last 7 ferments they have all been shit. All heads and tails. I have gone back to basics and sticking to the recipe to eliminate any possible problems Im doing. I sterilise my fermenters between ferments. Ive even tried boiling and clarification. I have used Lowans yeast for most of my runs . I have just bought a few different yeasts from the HB shop to rule out the yeast. My molasses has come from all different suppliers and none of it seems any good. I am putting my problem down to bad molasses at this stage. I will strip my still this weekend and wash all plates in Vit C to see if that makes a difference. Im pulling my hair out at the moment as I can not work out what is going on. the temp here in perth is a little cold but surely that can't affect flavour/ferment that much as to turn it all bad. Any advice much appreciated. I need help fast! stocks are running low. I really need to make something worth drinking. Desperate HELP!!!!

regards Rush.

Your ibc was no good ? :crying-blue: i have not tracked it down but have had the same thing from heads straight to tails, also ver low yield. Thinking can only be ph or infection. But have not pinned anything down yet..

bluc wrote:Your ibc was no good ? :crying-blue: i have not tracked it down but have had the same thing from heads straight to tails, also ver low yield. Thinking can only be ph or infection. But have not pinned anything down yet..

This is really doing my head in. I only drink rum and have $200+ worth of bad molasses, and NO Rum to drink. If you guys are having a problem on the east coast maybe its the whole years production of molasses is no good. surely NOT

Rush006 wrote:

bluc wrote:Your ibc was no good ? :crying-blue: i have not tracked it down but have had the same thing from heads straight to tails, also ver low yield. Thinking can only be ph or infection. But have not pinned anything down yet..

This is really doing my head in. I only drink rum and have $200+ worth of bad molasses, and NO Rum to drink. If you guys are having a problem on the east coast maybe its the whole years production of molasses is no good. surely NOT

So glad I don't drink rum

I wish i could drink something else. Been a rum drinker all my life.

Pretty sure CRT stock freemantle molasses, the might have it over your way, Ive been using it with good results, I think lamdmark and elders carry it too. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Has the yield been bad as well or just the flavour?

yield is affected with respect to the fact there is no hearts. but still getting roughly the same amount out. just all undrinkable.

My molasses was straight from the port I found no issues with it

I've had a bad run with my rum aswell but mine is probably due to bad hygiene. My last 4 washes have got infected and have been real low in yeld. I've never really had much luck with rum, trying to find a good molasses can be a pain. I found the Fremantle stuff to be ok but still not great, might be time to spend the money and buy the good stuff. My yelds the last 12 haven't been great. I've even bumped up the sugar content to try get a higher yeld.

Do you make anything but rum? If so what are the yelds like on them? It could be the still leaking.

Was also just thinking if your getting all heads and tails, is it the still smearing? Is it running different? Are you getting plenty of reflux coming back down the still? Is it running too fast due to not enough cooling? Are your takeoff rates normal? Do you put faints from the last run back through with the next batch? I have been and i recon all I'm getting back out is the faints i put in and a bit extra from the new ferment due to bad ferment, are the heads and tails stacking up from run to run?

Rush006 wrote:yield is affected with respect to the fact there is no hearts. but still getting roughly the same amount out. just all undrinkable.

I have had this happen with "other" wash's also I don't think it is necessarily the molasses doing it. Last one for me to do it was an all grain choc scotch. Usual amount of low wines but no hearts. Might be worth giving your ferment a thorough clean and sanitation.

Check to see if your rc is leaking :think:

I had a similar run once, think it was 3rd or 4th gen, only got the feints I had put in. I assumed it wasn't fully fermented, never tested gravity but it tasted finished. And I assumed it didn't finish due to pH but didn't test that either. Put me off rum making for a bit but I recently started again, on first gen now but have pH meter for subsequent gens.
Sorry, not much real help, hope it works out for you Rush.

woodduck wrote:Was also just thinking if your getting all heads and tails, is it the still smearing? Is it running different? Are you getting plenty of reflux coming back down the still? Is it running too fast due to not enough cooling? Are your takeoff rates normal? Do you put faints from the last run back through with the next batch? I have been and i recon all I'm getting back out is the faints i put in and a bit extra from the new ferment due to bad ferment, are the heads and tails stacking up from run to run?

:handgestures-thumbupleft: good questions, Rush maybe you've thought of all this already though but they are always useful things to ask. Whenever I have trouble with a run I go back to basics and treat it as if it was my first run with my still, slowly making changes to heat input or cooling to find that balance, taking nothing for granted.

Good luck

Do you use 100% mollasses or combo with brown or raw sugar,I would try a batch with 50/50 mollasses and sugar ifn ya use only mollasses,may help point the finger to bad mollasses, if you get a better yeild.cheers hillzabilly ;-)

Thanks for all the reply. everything mentioned has been tried. back to real basics and stock standard recipe Mc Rum. I sterilise fermenter all the time and have never had an infection. in the process of stripping and cleaning everything and ill check condensers for leaks. My next run will be all brown sugar to see if this turns out ok. I don't care if it turns out to be a really light rum but if it has the normal amount of hearts in it ill know its the molasses.

And at least you'll have something to drink :teasing-neener:

I'm pretty hammered right now, and you may have thought of this, but I'm thinking outside the old box. What if it's the sanitation procedure that is hindering the fermentation of your molasses????

How much heat and what take off rate? Sounds kinda like smearing. Same volume of expected yield just no discernible hearts...