From the Editor
Inventions and Sugarcane Mills
It took a lot of imagination and tinkering by the original designers and builders to come up with all the elements and processes of the first sugarcane mill. From crushers and presses to boilers and evaporators, the modern mills are giant assembly lines comprised of multi-disciplinary apparatuses that appear to work together seamlessly. In Spanish-speaking countries, they are known as Ingenios Azucareros, a tribute to the ingenuity of their initial designers (and often of their operators as well).
Luis Ayala
We covered the evolution of the mills in last year’s series “The Sugar Mill: Origins and Evolution” and I have also shared news with our readers about the alarming pace at which sugarcane mills around the world are shutting down. At a recent Moonshine University class, I mentioned the closing of the mills to some of the students, and they asked what I thought had to happen in order to slow down or to stop the attrition rate. My answer was simple: we need people to approach the subject with an open, clear mind, so that we may truly innovate. In this month’s Hawaiian Rum Travels Part 2, Mike Kunetka shares his visit to Kō Hana Distillers and some of the innovative things that they are doing, such as, crushing the cane on the field (rather than at the mill) and pitching the yeast immediately after crushing. These are examples of creative/innovative approaches, and the sugarcane world needs to have more of them.
Steve Jobs famously said that “no one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.”
Hopefully our generation will be able to see new technologies and approaches in the sugarcane milling industry, which will allow for the survival of the active mills and, hopefully, the re-birth of old ones.
Cheers!
Luis Ayala,
Editor and Publisher
http://www.linkedin.com/in/rumconsultant