Island 17 Brewing - "The Strap" Blackstrap Molasses Porter

ajbram · 01-02-2012, 04:45 PM

Here is the recipe:

Grain Bill
9lb Canadian 2 row
8 oz Chocolate malt
8oz Crystal 77
8 oz Carafa Type 111
7oz Black Patent
8oz toasted barley flakes

Mash Schedule
Mash at 158F for 1 hour
Sparge 170F 10 min

Boil:
1oz First Gold @ 60 min
0.5oz Mt. Rainier @ 20 min
10oz Blackstrap Molasses @ 10 min
0.5 oz Mt. Rainier @ 5 min

Fermentation:
Starter of Safbrew T-58 pitched at high krausen when wort had cooled below 90F
Primary 9 days at 65F
Secondary 7 days at 60F

Tasting Notes:
ABV: 5.2%

Appearance: Pours almost black, really dark and opaque with a little ruby shimmer around the edges. Head is creamy tan, very thick and dense. Head retention is pretty decent, and a thin layer of foam remains until the end of the drink. Lacing is good to very good. Love the way this thing looks 5

Aroma: Loads of dark chocolate and some malty roastiness. 5

Taste: Very complex. Again chocolate is the dominant flavour with some malty roastiness and coffee. There is a noticeable molasses tang that I really like that lingers towards the finish. Molasses sweetness is nicely balanced with hoppy bittnerness and chocolate, so not overpowering at all. Finish has a nice spiciness to it. It's pretty clean overall, but will be better with some age on it. 4

Mouth Feel: Head imparts a very impressive creaminess which is present to a lesser extent in the body. Plenty of carbonation, but bubbles are small and unobtrusive, giving this a very smooth texture. Not grainy at all. There is a slight astringency in the finish that leaves my mouth wanting another sip. This stuff is way too easy to drink a lot of in a hurry. 5

Overall Impression: I'm surprised at how well this turned out. It looks nice, smells nice and is really nice to drink. It's very very sessionable and a lot of this disappeared over the holidays! 4.5

**weirdboy** · 01-02-2012, 04:49 PM

I used blackstrap in a RIS recipe, and just with 8oz, the molasses flavor is still a bit overwhelming two years later. What brand/source did you use for the molasses? They can vary quite a bit.

ajbram · 01-02-2012, 04:56 PM

Bought it at the local organic bulk food store. Sorry I don't know what their source is, but I will look into it and keep you posted.
The molasses in this is detectable, but definitely not overwhelming. Personally I attribute this to the overall complexity of the beer from other ingredients. I think the astringency of the rather large amount of black patent coupled with the bittnerness of the hops and the spiciness of the T-58 cut the molasses thickness nicely. I also mashed at a pretty high temp, so the unfermentable portion of the molasses doesn't make up the bulk of unfermentables here.

**cabron99** · 01-02-2012, 05:26 PM

Man, that looks good! Its up next for me.

electrohippy · 04-11-2012, 09:55 AM

What did you do for carbonation?

ajbram · 04-20-2012, 03:47 PM

Bottle carbed... primed with 3/4 cup of turbinado

**MrSpiffy** · 05-21-2012, 01:25 AM

Just curious, is this for a standard 5-gallon batch? And did you use whole leaf hops or pellets?