Effect of 10% molasses?

So without quite knowing what I was doing (i.e. the motto of this sub forum), I made a recipe with about 10% molasses in the grain bill. Subsequently, I've read that 5% is the recommended maximum. Eeep. I've also read that this tends to produce a rum-like flavour to the beer, but also that it might just be a beer that needs time to mellow. Does anyone have any experience with using an amount of molasses this high?

It's also a rye beer (although only 10% there), so this could be a challenging beer to say the least! I figure I'll for sure at least prime with DME instead of dextrose to increase the malt content even by that little bit.

Alternatively, could I boil up some extract and add it to the primary (even if it's a couple weeks in)? I have plenty of room in it for more liquid.

A recipe would have been helpful.

10% rye, and 10% molases. I don't think you will notice the rye. You will learn what 10% molases does. Not sure many on here can tell you what to expect, but I suspect, the impact on the flavor will be minimal.

Would be interested in your perceptiobs of how much the molases contributes to the flavor.

10% rye won't be overpowering. 10% molasses will be quite strong. Its a very potent ingredient. Sounds like its already made, so nothing to do now but ride it out and see how you like it. Maybe you'll like a strong molasses flavor.

I decided to boil down some LME and add it to the batch and top up to get ~ the same gravity per a calculator. It's only a 1 gal batch so it's worth an experiment to see if this works. I still have some of the hops I used for it originally as well, so I'm adding a little bit more. It won't be the beer I set out to make, but if this works, it'll probably be better beer. I'd rather risk ruining this to make something better than to have something that isn't really drinkable.

Raygun said:

I decided to boil down some LME and add it to the batch and top up to get ~ the same gravity per a calculator. It's only a 1 gal batch so it's worth an experiment to see if this works. I still have some of the hops I used for it originally as well, so I'm adding a little bit more. It won't be the beer I set out to make, but if this works, it'll probably be better beer. I'd rather risk ruining this to make something better than to have something that isn't really drinkable.

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You should have at least tasted it before adding anything

You could secondary this beer after the lme ferments out and add a tincture with spices like ginger and cinnamon. Think ginger bread cookies. Just a thought.

An update on this now that it's ready to drink -this is the happiest I've been of a brew to date, although this is only the third that I've had any from. Ended up getting it down to 4.7% (both of molasses and rye), and retained a bit of the rye bite. I'm not really tasting anything that I think I'm supposed to from the molasses, although I don't necessarily have the most refined palate ever. Kind of a weird after note: the yeast cake stayed entirely in the bottle after pouring, even pouring out the whole bottle.

How strong was the molasses flavor.

I guess that's what I'm saying - maybe I just don't know what I'm looking for, but I don't taste it. It's supposed to be either metallic and/or rum-like, right?

So I just opened up one that I was only able to get down to 7.4% molasses and I know what I'm tasting now -- but I guess I just like the taste of molasses in beer.