Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

RC Al wrote::laughing-rolling: yup welcome to rum :teasing-tease:

Definitely different from the 50/50 rums i have run in the past.
I reckon i might do a few more all molly runs then blend the 2 varieties.

Rum novice here!

Just put down 62ltr 2nd gen Hook Rum,

18ltr dunder
7.5ltr molasess (bundaberg)
5kg raw sugar
0.5kg dark brown sugar
1 heaped tblsp DAP
2gm sodium bicarbonate
200gm rehydrated bakers yeast

Went off like a rocket at the start, as many mention. At 30-32degC it possible that fermentation (fizzing) has finished in 40hrs? :think:

Cheers

Bender

Just put down my first macrum wash. I had a 5 litre tub of molasses so instead or taking out 3 litres , As the original recipe says, I increased everything by 66% and made a wash of 45 litres in a 60 litre fermenter. It took off like a rocket. I think increasing the yeast by 66% was a mistake as I’ve been beating down the foam for 3 hours. Every time I go out to check it I expect to see foam running out the shed door. x_x

1st gen rum wash always goes mental, it will calm down soon.

The wash will also be less violent as you go through gens.

BigRig wrote:1st gen rum wash always goes mental, it will calm down soon.

The wash will also be less violent as you go through gens.

Thanks BigRig.
I think it’s settling down a bit. It was looking like a long night there for a while.

Just checked my first macrum wash this morning. Fizzing stopped and it tastes bitter. I presume it’s finished fermenting which surprises me considering the cold weather we have in vic at the moment. I did have it on a heat pad and wrapped in a blanket with the temp hanging around the mid 30s, but finishing in less than 48 hours seems a bit quick. I’ll leave it sit till the weekend and strip it.

Nah it will be fine, the extra yeast will do that for you, less is generally better for rum - stresses the yeast to give more flavours that you wouldn't want in most other washes

Some I know like to let it settle for a while - even cold crashing it to settle the yeast out, me - I just run its done and when im ready

Yeah mid 30s will see it done as quick as 48 hours it will be finished

This recipe is a beaut, followed it right through and it was done in around 8 days, but small bubbling every now n then. I did add a fair bit of spices to the wash to make an Indian styled rum. Grand dad's recipe used jaggery, so molasses was an experiment and the output it's almost exactly the same.

My boiler is small so am doing 2*25L runs with the still. Have just finished the first run. Whilst the first run is meant to be a stripping run, I took it very slow on the still thanks to the FSD power controller.

The spices have come through perfectly, got rid of the first 200mI and put aside the next 500ml as heads, which is packed with flavour. Collected 2.2L 65% ABV which smells and tastes amazing. Then put aside 500ml to 700ml of tails, not so nice stuff. Stopped when the ABV reached 40% and it started to stink. This run I used one copper roll, next one I will do two, just as an experiment.

I'm pretty happy with the hearts and the spices are just perfect, should I collect few batches and do a spirit run, even though I'm pretty happy with the hearts?

I just completed 2 x 22 ltr stripping runs from my first macrum wash. Started with 45 litre in a 60 litre fermenter. After discarding the first 300ml of foreshots on each run I ended up with 8.6 litres of low wines at 42% abv. Does this amount seem around ball park figures? I let both runs go down to about 20%. I used about 10 litres of Dunder from the first run to mix another batch of sugar and molasses to start another generation as stated on the original recipe. It hasn’t fired up yet but I read it does take a while for the 2nd generation to kick in. From memory of reading through this thread, there is no need to add more yeast. Is this correct?
Thanks guys. Really appreciate the feed back this forum is providing. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Hick1960 wrote:I just completed 2 x 22 ltr stripping runs from my first macrum wash. Started with 45 litre in a 60 litre fermenter. After discarding the first 300ml of foreshots on each run I ended up with 8.6 litres of low wines at 42% abv. Does this amount seem around ball park figures? I let both runs go down to about 20%. I used about 10 litres of Dunder from the first run to mix another batch of sugar and molasses to start another generation as stated on the original recipe. It hasn’t fired up yet but I read it does take a while for the 2nd generation to kick in. From memory of reading through this thread, there is no need to add more yeast. Is this correct?
Thanks guys. Really appreciate the feed back this forum is providing. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

i suppose it depends on how you treated the trub after you emptied the 45 litre wash.
the sludge in the bottom is where the yeast is usually, some add a little warm water to keep them happyish, while they mix the hot dunder/sugar/water in a separate container, wait for it to cool to about 30c, then add it to the trub, using the old yeast.
others pour boiling water onto the trub, kill the yeast(nutrients for next wash), mix the mol/sugar etc, wait for it to cool to pitching temp and use fresh yeast.
if you are using trub and dunder, it would probably be a good idea to to check the PH.

Thanks Howard. I just added the mix back to the fermenter at around 30 C without adding anything else. I guess I’ll see what happens. If nothing fires up, is it just a matter of pitching more yeast to get it going?

howard wrote:

Hick1960 wrote:I just completed 2 x 22 ltr stripping runs from my first macrum wash. Started with 45 litre in a 60 litre fermenter. After discarding the first 300ml of foreshots on each run I ended up with 8.6 litres of low wines at 42% abv. Does this amount seem around ball park figures? I let both runs go down to about 20%. I used about 10 litres of Dunder from the first run to mix another batch of sugar and molasses to start another generation as stated on the original recipe. It hasn’t fired up yet but I read it does take a while for the 2nd generation to kick in. From memory of reading through this thread, there is no need to add more yeast. Is this correct?
Thanks guys. Really appreciate the feed back this forum is providing. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

i suppose it depends on how you treated the trub after you emptied the 45 litre wash.
the sludge in the bottom is where the yeast is usually, some add a little warm water to keep them happyish, while they mix the hot dunder/sugar/water in a separate container, wait for it to cool to about 30c, then add it to the trub, using the old yeast.
others pour boiling water onto the trub, kill the yeast(nutrients for next wash), mix the mol/sugar etc, wait for it to cool to pitching temp and use fresh yeast.
if you are using trub and dunder, it would probably be a good idea to to check the PH.

I do the 2nd method.

Hick1960 wrote:Thanks Howard. I just added the mix back to the fermenter at around 30 C without adding anything else. I guess I’ll see what happens. If nothing fires up, is it just a matter of pitching more yeast to get it going?

Yep just add some yeast to it if it doesnt start.

Hick1960 wrote:I just completed 2 x 22 ltr stripping runs from my first macrum wash. Started with 45 litre in a 60 litre fermenter. After discarding the first 300ml of foreshots on each run I ended up with 8.6 litres of low wines at 42% abv. Does this amount seem around ball park figures? I let both runs go down to about 20%. I used about 10 litres of Dunder from the first run to mix another batch of sugar and molasses to start another generation as stated on the original recipe. It hasn’t fired up yet but I read it does take a while for the 2nd generation to kick in. From memory of reading through this thread, there is no need to add more yeast. Is this correct?
Thanks guys. Really appreciate the feed back this forum is providing. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Sounds about right although i dont think you needed to take 600ml foreshots on a 45L strip. 100mls each strip would've been more than enough. Assuming you will also take another fores cut on the spirit run too.

Thanks BigRig
I guess I was being overly cautious. All part of the learning curve.
I just checked the Ph of the 2nd gen. It’s at 5.6. If it hasn’t kicked in by morning I’ll pitch some more yeast.
Thanks again.

Onto the 3rd generation over the weekend. The second generation took over night to kick in but when I checked in the morning it was fizzing away nicely. The 3rd gen took a good day to start up but it now doing it’s stuff. Seems the further you go into the gens, the longer it takes to kick in. But it seems to kick in eventually. Luckily got a bag of goodies from 5 star to set my keg up as storage ( thanks Andrew) as I was running out of jars and demijohns.
For a slow start up, if I add another batch of yeast to get it going, does this change the final taste/ result?
I’m happy to let it do its thing on its own, the question is just more out of curiosity than any thing.

If you want to ramp up the esters, go light on the yeast to stress it and up the temp to high 30s.

I started my 2nd gen last night using yeast from gen 1. But it is not working. How long should it take to start working? Temp is around 26 degrees. It has been 11 hours so far. I left gen 1 about 4 days after it finished without heater and it got quite cold. Crappy summer here. Should I just add more yeast now? And how much yeast, 80g again?

My 2nd gen took a good 12 hours before it started fizzing. The 3rd over 24 hours. Once they started they were fine but I did have the temp up over 30 deg.

Hick1960 wrote:My 2nd gen took a good 12 hours before it started fizzing. The 3rd over 24 hours. Once they started they were fine but I did have the temp up over 30 deg.

Thanks. It has started. I had left the air lock off in case of eruptions. When i looked at it, it was not fizzing. When i put air lock on "just in case", it started to bubble. It is bubbling slowly but consisently so i think all good. 12hrs is good to know, it is about that now.