bigbeergeek

Recipes 

I came up 5 points low on a saison. I've been itching to put some date molasses into a brew, so it looks like fate has chosen my saison to be the inaugural batch. Should I boil it before adding it to the fermentor? My calculations put it right around the same gravity points per pound as honey. I'm assuming it's a hygroscopic solution, so it might be safe without a boil -- should I risk it or just heat it up and cool it first?

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LexusChris

Recipes 

Although I'm not sure if molasses is as hydroscopic as honey, I think it must be pretty close.

Even so, post fermentation you have the alcohol content and the very well established yeast colonies to keep any new critters at bay... (at least that is my understanding)

I'd add it directly, or maybe dissolved in a tiny bit of distilled water. No boil. That way you keep the aromatics & flavor compounds for the brew!



Good luck!
--LexusChris

Revvy

Recipes 

Good question, I've only ever added it to the boil or primed with it on bottling day. I would probably take the amount you intended to use and add enough water so you get maybe 2 cups of liquid and bring it to a boil and turn it off. It will both sanitize it and thin it out a bit.

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bigbeergeek

Recipes 

I've calculated that I'll need 19 oz of date molasses to bring my gravity up 10 points, not five points. I was mistaken in my original post. I split the 5.5 gallons into two 5 gallon fermentors (for headspace). I'm not sure what the flavor combo of date molasses and WY3711 will be like, so I'm going to add 10 oz to one of the fermentors, wait a week, and sample it. I'm going to follow Revvy's thinking, chill the mixture down as quickly as possible and pitch it in. If it's acceptable, I'll add the other half of the molasses to the remainder of the batch.

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bh10

Recipes 

I added Molasses to my RIS, during fermentation, straight out of the jar no boil or nothing. Its been aging for a month and nothing bad as come from it, no infection forming or anything.

bigbeergeek

Recipes 

I hear you, but this is far from a RIS... this is a wee tiny 4% saison. I'm not sure the sanitizing properties of the beer are the same. Plus, this is NOT molasses. The only ingredient is dates. It's "date molasses." I'm not sure how it's processed or if it's safe to use unheated, which is why I'm bringing it to a simmer before cooling/pitching it.

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Revvy

Recipes 

It's mollases just like regular mollasses, it's made during the refining process of making jaggery or date palm sugar from the date palm plant.

SInce it comes from places like bangladesh, india or sri lanka, places with less "quality control" and different sanitary standards I would make sure it was sanitized before using it.

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Revvy's one of the cool reverends. He has a Harley and a t-shirt that says on the back "If you can read this, the bitch was Raptured. - Madman

I gotta tell ya, just between us girls, that Revvy is HOT. Very tall, gorgeous grey hair and a terrific smile. He's very good looking in person, with a charismatic personality... he drives like a ****ing maniac! - YooperBrew

Vance71975

Recipes 

I would mix it with water, Bring it to 160-170 degrees, hold it there for 30 mins, cool and then pitch.

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Revvy

Recipes 

You really don't want to go that long, you truly would dissipate all the volitile aroma and flavor compounds. You wouldn't add it that late in the boil of a beer (usually the last 5-10 minutes) so you wouldn't heat it that long.

Just bringing it up to a boil, and turning it off will pretty much kill anything off without totally destroying all the good stuff.

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Revvy's one of the cool reverends. He has a Harley and a t-shirt that says on the back "If you can read this, the bitch was Raptured. - Madman

I gotta tell ya, just between us girls, that Revvy is HOT. Very tall, gorgeous grey hair and a terrific smile. He's very good looking in person, with a charismatic personality... he drives like a ****ing maniac! - YooperBrew

sweetcell

Recipes 

arise, oh slumbering thread!

i was in a middle eastern store this weekend and on a whim i picked up a jar of date molasses. i am thinking of using it in a dubbel or BDSA, maybe even an RIS at some point. D-180 syrup uses "a small amount of raw Date sugar to add a rich undertone of flavor" (http://www.candisyrup.com/faq.html) so i'm thinking that using a small proportion (10%?) of date molasses along with regular sugar should be tasty and to style.

for those of you who have used date molasses, how much did you use? how did it turn out? any tips?

an imperial stout recipe i found that uses date molasses: http://pdtnc.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/ag71-abyss-imperial-stout/

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Drinking: Not So Random (Belgian) Blond, Cranial Cap DIPA, Dubbel Down
Fermenting: Belgian Imperial Stout + its second runnings.
Aging: Vertical Epic 09.09.09 clone, 09.09.09 2nd runnings w/brett, Farewell to Eurocrats (Chocolate BDSA), Lucky Number Tripel, Saison & On & On w/brett, Midnight in Brussels BDSA w/brett, Breakfast of Champions Stout v2 (~KBS clone)