jondmn

Recipes 

Has anyone had any success brewing with molasses? I have wanted to try it doing it, but wanted to check and see what everyone's thoughts were.

Poindexter

Recipes 

90 minute boil and give those solids some time to settle. I have a stout with plenty of molasses in it been bottled about two months and solids still dropping.

It works, yeast eat parts of it and make beer. You can work with it, just do it. The 90minute boil is mostly for the byproducts of processing, just let her rip for a good 30 minutes before you do your (60) hops.

Lcasanova

Recipes 

Im using some in my American Brown Ale and I know Bluffwallace on the Gluten-Free Brewers group uses it. I used Blackstrap for mine, I'm hoping it masks the sorghum flavor but it certainly added some color. I'll get back to you on the "flavor" if I notice it...Oh, mine didn't have any sulfites added either...

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david_42

Recipes 

Molasses is a strong flavor and can be a bit strange once the sugars are gone. I wouldn't recommend using it for more than 5% of the fermentables. I did one recipe with 12 ounces and it took a long time before the flavor mellowed.

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Babachewy

Recipes 

Strange is the word for it. I made an all-molasses beer once (Geroge Washington's Small Beer recipe) and it had a strong minerally taste to it. That was using regular molasses, which is more refined than blackstrap.

BBBF

Recipes 

I was just about to reference that.

I've never brewed with molasses. I've brewed with sorghum molasses (the non brewing sorghum syrup) and it was weird. It'd be a little better if I didn't have carbonation problems, but it's been good for cooking. Hopefully the molasses I used in my current gf batch won't turn into 5 gallons of cooking beer.

jondmn

Recipes 

Thanks for all of the input. I was thinking about adding it to some apple cider instead of the corn sugar I usually use to make it a little "heavier" flavor.

thomrenault

Recipes 

I would think that the Molasses Flavor would work a bit better in Cider than in Beer. I added a cup to my first batch, and at a month it still tastes a bit... weird. I don't hate the taste of it, it's just a very unique taste. It totally masks the hop flavors. Instead the bitterness and flavor comes from the molasses, which isn't sweet anymore. I've heard that the flavor mellows well over time, so I'm just letting that batch sit, but I wouldn't add more than a cup to a 5 Gallon batch. I'd probably use a half cup in the future. I also added the Molasses to a light mildly hopped ale, so the flavor of the Molasses came through strongest, those flavors might be more balanced in a darker beer like a porter, stout, barleywine etc.

Lcasanova

Recipes 

Not sure exactly how much a cup of molasses is by weight, but I've used up to 1 lb of blackstrap molasses in a brown ale and it has turned out quite nice. The molasses does come through but it isn't unpleasant and have a chocolaty taste. I usually use 12 or so ounces and have had success with that. One thing to note- blackstrap is 50% fermentable and "light" molasses is about 90% fermentable.

Reference

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Lucky 13 Brewing Company
Est. 2009

KevinM

Recipes 

I've used a few ounces of unsulphured molasses in a single gallon IPA (my very first batch ever) and I had the mineral taste which I didn't mind, but my brother noticed. I didn't use blackstrap (but neither did it say light). Like some other people's tests have gone, I think light will work well for darker beers. I simply used it in mine because I was trying to figure some way to make it darker, and I like molasses. I eat a few spoonfuls straight whenever I open that bottle.