Molasses in a Porter

jennieD · 07-15-2009, 01:13 PM

I'm going to brew a porter tonite and was thinking about adding some molasses. Charlie Papazian suggests you can use it as a primer (1 cup per 5 gal, I believe).

Is it better to use it instead of priming sugar, or should I add it to the boil? At 60 min? 15 min? Will boiling it significantly affect the flavor?

**david_42** · 07-15-2009, 01:19 PM

When you add it won't make any difference.

**Revvy** · 07-15-2009, 01:39 PM

The thing with mollasses is that a large percentage of it is fermentable, meaning that the purest sugar content will be converted to alcohol, leaving only the "impurities" the dark burnt caramel/sulfur that you think of with that stuff as flavor. It's the same with brown sugar (which is really mollases added to table sugar), the darker Belgian candy sugars, those un-refined mexican and chinese sugars and really even honey.

The purer, more refined, the sugar the less flavor is imparted, becasue it is converted to alcohol.

That's the thing with people adding honey to beer, they really AREN'T getting much honey flavor in their beer, because it is fermenting away to alcohol, like mead. Which unless you kill fermentation and back sweeten with honey that won't ferment, really doesn't have that much of a sweet honey flavor. (To get a real honey flavor, use the darkest you can find, with the most concentration of flavor, or even better, use Gambrinus honey malt ProBrewer Interactive - View Single Post - Honey Malt)

I have used Mollasses in my "Poor Richard's Ale" recipe in the last 15 minutes of the boil. It was an historical brewing ingredient. I do it late because I don't want any of those complex burnt/bitter/caramel flavors/aromas to boil away.

This is my 2.5 gallon recipe (so it would be 8 ounces in a 5 gallon batch)...you really don't need to go hog wild with it;

Quote:

Amount Item Type % or IBU
4 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 58.74 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM) Grain 22.03 %
12.0 oz Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 11.01 %
8.0 oz Special Roast (50.0 SRM) Grain 7.34 %
1.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 0.88 %
0.25 oz Cascade [6.00 %] (60 min) Hops 8.9 IBU
0.38 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (30 min) Hops 8.7 IBU
0.38 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (15 min) Hops 5.6 IBU
4.00 oz Mollases (black Strap) (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04) Yeast-Ale

GearBeer · 07-15-2009, 02:26 PM

I put 1 lb Molasses or Treacle in my holiday ale with 10 minutes left on the boil. It definitely imparts a caramelish flavor.

Boiling it will reduce the imparted flavor. I think I will try Papazian's suggestion this winter.

elkdog · 07-15-2009, 02:33 PM

a pound or so with, say, 5 minutes in the boil will be nice in a porter. I've made a porter with molasses before, and it's a nice flavor compliment.

beerkrump · 07-15-2009, 03:25 PM

+ 1 to Revvy on the timing of the addition.

Some flavor and almost all of the aroma compounds in additions to the boil are volatile and lost rather quickly. Since things like honey and molasses are sanitary to begin with, they don't require much of a boil.

I add 1.5 lbs of molasses to my Yule Log Porter, which is 8% of my grain bill. This beer is big, smoked, and oaked, so it can handle the burnt notes that the molasses adds. In a typical porter, I wouldn't go much above 5% or 6%.

**Revvy** · 07-15-2009, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beerkrump

I add 1.5 lbs of molasses to my Yule Log Porter, which is 8% of my grain bill. This beer is big, smoked, and oaked, so it can handle the burnt notes that the molasses adds. In a typical porter, I wouldn't go much above 5% or 6%.

WOW WOW WOW!!!!!!!

I wished you lived near me, I would love to taste that bad-boy!

jennieD · 07-15-2009, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Revvy

That's the thing with people adding honey to beer, they really AREN'T getting much honey flavor in their beer, because it is fermenting away to alcohol, like mead. Which unless you kill fermentation and back sweeten with honey that won't ferment, really doesn't have that much of a sweet honey flavor. (To get a real honey flavor, use the darkest you can find, with the most concentration of flavor, or even better, use Gambrinus honey malt ProBrewer Interactive - View Single Post - Honey Malt)

I actually was originally thinking about adding honey, then I came across this same information in my research and decided to try molasses instead.

Thanks a lot for the info guys, I think I will try adding it late in the boil. I'm only doing a 2.5 gallon batch, so maybe I'll try Papazian's method of priming w/ molasses in another small batch & compare.

**DRoyLenz** · 07-15-2009, 04:19 PM

I am working on a Winter Spiced Ale, and I am trying to mimic a ginger bread spice profile based off of my grandmother's gingerbread man recipe. Her recipe calls for brown sugar, but based on what I have just learned, maybe I should go with molasses to counteract the process of losing a lot of flavor to the fermentation. One question though, adding molasses to the boil is going to increase your OG. How would I calculate how much less Maris Otter LME to use in place of the molasses? I was planning on adding half the Maris Otter at the beginning, and half in the last 10 minutes. If I'm going to be using molasses instead, I should probably decrease the amount of LME added to the boil, correct?

Quote:

Originally Posted by GearBeer

Boiling it will reduce the imparted flavor. I think I will try Papazian's suggestion this winter.

What is Charlie Papazian's suggestion?

EDIT: By the time I got down to GearBeer's post, I had forgotten the OP. I see now that Papazian's suggestion is to use 1 cup of Molasses to prime.

**Revvy** · 07-15-2009, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DRoyLenz

I am working on a Winter Spiced Ale, and I am trying to mimic a ginger bread spice profile based off of my grandmother's gingerbread man recipe. Her recipe calls for brown sugar, but based on what I have just learned, maybe I should go with molasses to counteract the process of losing a lot of flavor to the fermentation. One question though, adding molasses to the boil is going to increase your OG. How would I calculate how much less Maris Otter LME to use in place of the molasses? I was planning on adding half the Maris Otter at the beginning, and half in the last 10 minutes. If I'm going to be using molasses instead, I should probably decrease the amount of LME added to the boil, correct?

It's easy if you are using brewing software, including Beer Calculus . homebrew recipe calculator

you just put your recipe together without the mollasses, make a note of the OG then add in the mollasses, and start incrementally decreasing the amount of MO in the recipe til the OG matches.