Brazilian Cachaca - by Zeke

Hello family and friends. Recently my family and I went on a trip into the interior of Brazil. In this story I will be telling you about one of the things we saw; the production of cachaca (pronounced cashasa), all the way from the field to the bottle .  Cachaca, often called rum, is known to most as cane spirit. The big difference is that one is made from sugar juice and the other from molasses. Mum and Dad tell me the two tastes completely different.

Cachaca

This drink is manufactured from sugar cane.  So first of all you have to grow some sugar cane. Once it has matured a fire is put though the field to burn the sharp leaves that make working nearly impossible. After the burning labourers come in and hack down the remaining cane before it is loaded on to a truck and taken to the processing plant.

At the processing plant the cane is dumped at the juicer where every last drop of liquid is squeezed out. The juice is then fed down a pipe to the distillery where it is left to ferment for a day The yeast will now get to work . Meanwhile the cane that’s had the juice squeezed out of it is spread out on a hill to dry. The dried bagasse is then used in the fires that boil the cachaca.

After being left for a the sugar juice is poured into a big copper pot. After this a fire is lit under the pot to get all 15% of alcohol out. Because alcohol boils at a much lower temperature its vapors are the first to rise to the top of the still. Their they cool the alcohol down and drain it off into a tub. The cachaca is then left for a minimum of six months. In some cases the cachaca would be distilled twice then put into oak barrels for a year and a half. After a year and a half in barrels the cachaca is almost ready for market there’s just one last thing.

Bottling

At the factory bottles were placed in holders that moved along a track first though a cleaning machine then a filling machine before coming to a thing that stuck a lid on and finally stick a label machine. After this the bottles are stacked in crates ready to be sold.

Sugar cane in the field

Cane on the way to the factory

The juicer, it squeases the juice out of the cane.

The bagasse being dried on the hill.

The sugar juice left to ferment – this makes about 15% alchohol.

A copper still, it evaporates off the alcohol out of the sugar juice.

The dried bagasse waiting to be burnt under each still.

The bottling machine.

More on Cachaca

The second factory we visited was powered by steam and had a four hundred year old juicer for squeezing the juice out of the cane. In action this machine would resemble a giant death trap. The stills in this factory were fired by steam. The steam was generated by a boiler which was fuelled by bagasse and water was pumped out of the near by creek. This factory also had a bottling plant similar to the one at the first factory.

A very old horse/donkey powered juicing machine – we saw it in a museum.

Still being used!  This 150year old steam engine is powering the juicing machine in this factory.

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