Molasses as priming sugar?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

KYchemBrewer

Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2012
Messages
24
Reaction score
0
Location
Louisville
I saw in a book about using molasses or brown sugar as a priming sugar for bottling. I've just used prepacked priming sugar before.

Any advice on this?
I have an American Stout (1.074 OG and 2oz Willamette at 0min boil) on day 2 in the primary so lots of time to decide.

Thanks for your input!
Mark.
 
A cup should do a reasonable job for 5 gallons, but it is hard to get an exact equivalent to sugar, depends on brand, type, etc.
 
Go by weight (use a scale) rather than volume (measuring cup). I use about an 1oz. per gallon. Often mix with dark brown sugar and molasses. Gives a nice finish to your sips.
 
sweetcell said:
no it isn't - use a priming calculator like http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

once you've got your amount, be sure to boil it quickly to sterilize it before adding it to your bottling bucket.

Thanks for the Northern Brewer link! I'll bookmark that.

Any recommendations between molasses, maple syrup or brown sugar?

And to be clear-- if I use a liquid like molasses or maple syrup, I should lightly boil it (how long) before adding it to my bottling bucket?
Thanks all!
 
I've done it with Date Palm Mollasses before, it was intense. It's really your call. You can use any fermentable for priming. I give detailed info on priming with alternative primers including fruit juice (including the link to the podcast,) and other sugars including mollasses in my bottling stickey- Scroll to the lower half of this post.

I wouldn't trust any calculators and do the math based on the nutritional information on the label....which is how I show in that post.
 
Any recommendations between molasses, maple syrup or brown sugar?
since you'll be priming a stout, any of them would work. really depends what you're going for. molasses will give you the most intense flavor, you should do some searching here on others' experiences with the stuff - some people love it, some don't. then again you'll only be using a little. i love the taste of maple syrup (i'm canadian, we have to) put it will be pretty subtle. might not shine through a very roasty stout.

And to be clear-- if I use a liquid like molasses or maple syrup, I should lightly boil it (how long) before adding it to my bottling bucket?
Thanks all!
i would boil the molasses or the sugar in water. hold for a few minutes, enough time for the steam to fill up the inside of the pot and kill everything in there (3-4 minutes). for the maple syrup, i would boil some water for a few minutes to sterilize the pot, then let the water cool to 170*F, add the MS, and hold that for a minute. this will pasteurize it. you don't want to boil MS since you'll blow off some of the delicate aromatics.
 
Brewed the oatmeal stout on MLK, sat in primary then bottled two weeks ago.

I used 1.2 oz of maple syrup and dextrose to make up the remainder of priming sugar.

Forgot the good advice and put the maple syrup in for 2-3 or so of boil (dextrose had been in for 10min by then).

I like the flavor. You pick up the maple in the finish in the back of your mouth. Good w a stout.

I WOULD do this again but probably use even less syrup and follow the good advice NOT to boil it.

Any one else try this?
 
Back
Top