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Molasses as a feedstock
Back about 25 years ago, when I kept milk goats, I would feed them molasses poured on top of their grain and alfalfa
pellets. It is a good source of minerals for them, especially phosphorous. Anyway, I lived in the mountains, and would drive
to the Port of Stockton (California) once a month, where I could fill up a 50 gal barrel of molasses for $.21/pound. A 50
gallon barrel was around 600 pounds (273 kilos) and it kept a lot of goats happy and made them good milk producers, as well.
Molasses is what rum is made from. It makes a pretty powerful brew and you can easily get 180 proof out of it. As a
fuel source, molasses is ideal, as it easily mixes with warm water. When you add the yeast, it ferments pretty good, as the
yeast organism love it, too! Molasses, by the way, is what rum is made of, mainly, sugar cane molasses. It smells great when
it ferments, and though it can be messy if you spill it, it is a lot less work than grinding corn or fruits. So, I would make
the trip once every couple of months, and buy one barrel for my goats and an extra one for experimenting with making my own
fuel. Now at a price of $0.21/pound, a barrel weighing 600 pounds (molasses is about 12.5 pounds to the gallon, same weight
as honey, almost.) cost me $126.00. I would get one barrel, mix it down with water, so I ended up with three barrels of black
watery syrup, and then take a balling hydrometer reading.
I diluted my barrel until I had a sugar content of 25% If you try to add yeast to the more concentrated molasses, you won't
ferment out all the sugar, as the yeast will end up dying when the alcohol level reaches 14%, unless you use a turbo yeast
(allowing you to start with 32% and yield 16% alcohol). You end up with three 50 gal. barrels of fermented brew, or 150 gallons
at 25% sugar which ferments down to 14 % alcohol. After fermenting, you have 14 % alcohol, and 90 to 95% alcohol is the end
product after distillation. Once distilled, it yields around 23.3 gal of 190 proof for about $144. (remember, you get half
as much alcohol as you get sugar. Then the formula for 180 proof (90% alcohol) made from 14% alcohol content beer would be
(150 gal x .14)/.9= 23.3 gallons. If you are making your own E85, then you remove the last 10% of water using zeolite (see
my web page on E85) and you will end up with 21 gallons of 200 proof.
$126.00 for 23 gallons of fuel works out to around
$5.40/gallon. You can see I didn't make any money with this back then, but it was a good one-time education, something I
had to try. I was more interested in being able to demonstrate how well the still worked, and next, how well engines ran on
the 160 to 180 proof. This was twenty-five years ago but you can do a lot better than this.
Although I was getting it
at the port and buying in bulk, (it was brought in from Hawaii in tankers, direct to Spreckles Sugar
Searching on the
Net for commodity per ton prices on molasses, I found the Calif. Agricultural commodities directory, published by the Dept.
of Agriculture, (USDA), at http://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/JO_GR225.txt
These prices are for July 6, 2004: The bulk price for molasses, per ton (2,000 pounds: Molasses, Cane Feeding FOB Stockton
is $87.50 per ton, and Los Angeles Ports = $95.00/ton.
So, $95.00/2,000 pounds = $0.047/lb. I was paying an exorbitant
price at $0.21 /pound (but I was buying a small quantity, not a whole ton.
Okay, so lets' do the math for buying a ton
of molasses at a time, say, for $0.05/pound (that is $100.00/ton).
2,000 pounds of molasses / 12.5= 160 gallons of molasses. To determine the sugar content if you don't know what you are
buying, first take a small sample and dilute one part molasses with one part water. Then measure the sugar content with a
balling hydrometer. Multiple your Brix reading by two and this gives you your starting sugar percentage. (You don’t
want to add too much water, either, as then it will take extra energy to boil it off again). For example, if you have 69%
sugar, you can add two parts water to you 160 gallons, you will get 480 gallons syrup for fermenting with one third of 69%
or 23% sugar. It is better not to dilute it quite this much, as you can start with a 26 or 28 % sugar content when adding
the yeast. Then you can ferment it to 14% alcohol. At 180 proof you get 480 gal x .14)x.9= 74.6 gallons of 180 proof. Remove
the water with Zeolyte and you have 67 gallons of 200 proof fuel, as a cost of $100/67gal=$1.49/gallon. But what if you
pay $90.00 for a ton of molasses, and it turns out that it is only 48% sugar? (You can approximately figure out the sugar
content by weighing it. 69% sugar molasses will weigh 12.5 pounds/gallon, and pure water is 8.34 lbs/gal. Everything in between
is a proportional ratio.) No problem. Dilute your ton of molasses 50/50 and you have 4,000 pounds of liquid (divide by 10
lbs/gallon) and you have 400 gallons of 24% sugar. This will yield 12% beer, which you can turn into 400 x .12 = 48 gallons
of fuel. This works out to $90/48 gal= 1.87/gal. for fuel. So, you can see that it will pay you much better if you can buy
the higher (69%) sugar cane molasses. Sometines the price drops down as low as $65/ton and then your cost would be $1.00/gallon
for fuel
If you can make ethanol fuel for a raw materials price of $1.00/gal, it is not unreasonable to figure that the
manufactured cost of molasses-derived alcohol would be about $1.25/gal (we have to figure in fuel and labor costs, etc, as
well as to capitalize out the cost of manufacturing equipment over a ten year period).
If you can make it for $1.25/gallon,
you can sell it at $1.85 /gallon, and make a $0.60/gallon profit. That is better than what gas stations are making these days!
I need to remind my readers, I am not a drinker and do not advocate this as a business for making hooch to sell. I am only
promoting the making of ethanol as a fuel which you can use in your car or truck, instead of gasoline.
Another product you might try, although it is much more expensive, is honey. (I have kept bees for over 25 years).
There were a couple times when I had a big honey accident, like dropping two one gallon jars on the concrete steps, or leaving
the honey barrel spout open when filling 60 pound (5 gallon) tins from the settling tank. Honey doesn't make any noise as
it runs, so it is easy to forget you have a spigot open, then discovery you have a few gallons of it on the floor of the honey
extraction shed, along with a lot of dead bees, ants, mud, etc. So this was another perfect use for my still, and I diluted
it quite a bit. Honey is 70% sugar by volume. It is a mix of mostly glucose, lots of sucrose, smaller amounts of dextrose,
but also 2 or 3% polysaccharides (more complex sugars), plus flavors, fragrances, and trace amounts of bee pollen. Every honey
is going to be different from other honeys, depending on what flowers were in season before the honey was harvested.
There
are likely some books on making mead, and I am sure you can find a source for that.
-Robert Warren
To build your own 190 proof still, order the blueprints with 40 pages of very clearly written and easy to follow instructions
with lots of photos not published on this website. Click on the Paypal button, above, to pay $30.00 via Visa or Mastercard
for the blueprints for the Charles 803 still.
History of the Charles 802 still.
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The great molasses tragedy!
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| Firemen try to rescue people trapped by molasses. |
Now for a sobering piece of history about molasses: this is from: http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless/molasses/molasses.html
Entitled, The Great Molasses Tragedy
"This is a story that I had heard when I was very
young, but cannot place its origins. It was one of those stories that I always assumed was pure fiction until I stumbled
upon it once again more than twenty years later.
"Clearly (since you can read the title above), I am
talking about the Great Molasses Flood that swept
through part of Boston, Massachusetts on January 15, 1919.
"At this time in history, molasses was America's
primary sweetener. It was used to make all types of
cookies, cakes, bread, and especially rum.
"Due to its popularity at the time, there were many
molasses factories, warehouses, and storage tanks lining
the shores of Boston. After all, Boston was considered to be the distilling capital of the United States.
"To tell this story, we are only concerned with one
of these facilities - a large storage tank located in Boston's north end - near the sites where the
world famous Fanuel Hall (Quincy Market) and the
New England Aquarium stand today.
"This was no small tank of molasses. The tank stood
over 50 feet tall. Estimates of its capacity range from
2.2 to 2.5 million gallons!
"And we all know where this story is going. A
sudden thunderous cracking sound was heard. The
tank exploded and all the molasses began to flow
down the city streets.
"The actual wall of molasses was estimated to be
from 15 - 30 feet high and moved at 25-35 miles per hour in
the area around the tank. The depth was only (only?!!)several feet in the surrounding area. You could not outrun this thing.
"There was no chance of saving anyone in its
destructive path. Anyone that attempted to go near
the sticky goo got stuck in it themselves and
could have been cooked alive. It could suck your
boots right off your feet.
The flood killed twenty-one people and injured an
additional 150. Some were suffocated, some cooked, and others were swept by the wave into the harbor. I guess
you could say that these unfortunate people were
molassassed to death. Not exactly how I wish to go.
The wave also destroyed millions of dollars worth of property. Homes and warehouses were swept off their foundations
and destroyed. Even part of the city's
elevated train line was destroyed.
Once the flood stopped, cleanup began. They could not remove the trapped horses from the sticky mess, so they had to
shoot them to death. Freshwater from the fire hydrants would not wash away the molasses, so salt
water from the harbor had to be sprayed on the
land.
It took over six months to remove the molasses
from the cobblestone streets, theaters, businesses,
automobiles, and homes. The Boston Harbor was also
stained brown for six months (must have made for a
beautiful photo opportunity).
Believe it or not, there were reports that the
molasses would actually continue to creep out of the ground and cracks in the sidewalks for 30 years! Others claim that
you can still smell traces of it on a very
hot day in the city.
So what happened to cause this mess?
No one is really sure, but there are two theories:
First, it was believed that the tank was overfilled due to the impended threat of prohibition. It cracked open due to the
extra force.
An alternative explanation has to do with the
weather that day. On the prior day, the temperature was only 2 degrees Fahrenheit above zero. On the day of the
accident, it had quickly shot up to an unseasonably warm 40 degrees. Some believe that this caused rapid expansion of the
molasses and overstressed the tank.
This accident is certainly one that will stick in
the minds of Bostonians for many years to come.
The Smithsonian Magazine has an online article,
http://www.mv.com/ipusers/arcade/molpark.htm
Types of Molasses and sugar content
There are three major types of cane molasses: unsulphured, sulphured and blackstrap.
There are also three major grades of cane molasses: first molasses, second molasses, and blackstrap molasses.
When sugar cane plant is harvested, the leaves are stripped. The juice is extracted from the cane by crushing or mashing,
boiled to remove most of the water, and later processed to extract the sugar. The results of this first boiling and processing
is first molasses, which has the highest sugar content because comparatively little sugar has been extracted from the juice.
Unsulphered molasses is the finest quality. It is made from the juice of sun-ripened cane and the juice is clarified and concentrated.
Barbados molasses is one type of unsulphered molasses, light in color and high in sucrose mainly sold for cooking, confectionery
and in the production of rum.
Second molasses is created from a second boiling and sugar extraction, so there is less sugar. It has a darker color and
a slightly bitter taste, or as some would say, a more pronounced flavor.
Further rounds of processing and boiling yield blackstrap molasses, used in the manufacture of cattle feed, as well as
having other industrial uses. Blackstrap molasses is from the third boil and has a commercial value in the manufacture of
cattle feed and other industrial uses. It is 55 to 65% sugar.
Sulphured molasses is made from green sugar cane that has not matured long enough and treated with sulphur fumes during
the sugar extracting process.
Cooking Molasses is a blend of Fancy and Blackstrap Molasses. It is 59 to 69% sugar.
Cane Molasses is a by-product of the manufacture or refining of sucrose from sugar cane. Cane molasses purchased as an
animal feed will contain more than 46% total sugars expressed as invert sugars. If its moisture content exceeds 27%, its density
determined by double dilution must not be less than 79.50 Brix.
Beet Molasses is a by-product of the manufacture of sugar (sucrose) from sugar beets. It will have more than 48% total
sugars expressed as invert and its density determined by double dilution must not be less than 79.50 Brix.
However, some molasses from sugar beets is so well processed it has virtually no sugar. So, if you are buying beet molasses,
be sure to find out first if it is sweet.
Citrus Molasses is the partially dehydrated juices obtained from the manufacture of dried citrus pulp. It must contain
not less than 45% total sugars expressed as invert and its density determined by double dilution must not be less than 71.00
Brix.
Starch Molasses is a by-product of dextrose manufacture from starch derived from corn or grain sorghums where the starch
is hydrolyzed by enzymes and/or acid. It is at least 43% reducing sugars expressed as dextrose and not less than 50% total
sugars expressed as dextrose.
The molasses trade commonly use the term Brix as an indicator of specific gravity and as illustrated in Table 4, represents
an approximation of total solids content. Brix is a term originally initiated for pure sucrose solutions to indicate the percentage
of sucrose in solution on a weight basis. However, in addition to sucrose, molasses contains glucose, fructose, raffinose
and numerous non-sugar organic materials. Consequently, a Brix value for molasses will often differ dramatically from actual
sugar or total solid content. In fact, Baker (1979) stated that, "With an impure sucrose solution such as molasses, Brix
does not represent anything except a number denoting specific gravity and this cannot be related to either sucrose or dry
matter content." Regardless, in the United States, Brix is used in the official definition of beet, citrus, starch and
cane molasses.
Interestingly, molasses is also an excellent chelating agent. An object coated with iron rust placed for two weeks in
a mixture of one part molasses to nine parts water will lose its rust due to the chelating action of the molasses.
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| Panorama of the great Boston Molasses Disaster |
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