Molasses and Dark Brown Sugar

Do yourself a favor and add two pounds of black strap molasses and a pound of dark brown sugar to your next imperial stout or barley wine.

You will thank me later.

--Superness --

Oh god, after I die from barfing just from thinking about that much molasses, I will haunt you for the rest of your life. I will be a fart-haunting ghost.

kanzimonson said:

Oh god, after I die from barfing just from thinking about that much molasses, I will haunt you for the rest of your life. I will be a fart-haunting ghost.

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+1,000,000

You just said what I was thinking exactly. I have added a bit less than that to one of my early stouts - it tasted somewhat like alcoholized manure juice.

I think it's good. Ive done this with a barley wine and now with an imperial stout. It makes the beer taste like black licorice. It's great with some coffee and some chocolate.

Superkabuto said:

I think it's good. Ive done this with a barley wine and now with an imperial stout. It makes the beer taste like black licorice. It's great with some coffee and some chocolate.

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Some, myself included, cannot stand the horrid flavor of black licorice. I wish I did, then maybe I could stomach the stench that is Ouzo. But I can't. More power to you though.

I like mollasses and brown sugar and use it in certain brews all the time, but I think 2 pounds of mollasses is probably overkill. I thin it all depends on the recipe you created.

My new favorite brewing adjunct is date palm (jaggery) mollases. I used it in my Sril Lankin Stout. And just primed using the stuff. It's not sulphery like regualr mollases. It has a nice sweetness to it.

I like using molasses, just not blackstrap. Blackstrap has a strong mineralogy to it and tends to lend an iron note in the flavor. Regular unsulphured molasses is plenty dark enough and lends a nice molasses bittersweet flavor without the minerality or licorice flavor.

Ya man, that's a little much. I use .25lbs molasses and .25lbs brown sugar for my pumpkin brew, and that's all the molasses-y flavor it needs.

No, sir. You are wrong. 2lbs is the appropriate amount. Without that much you don't get the full effect.

@Revvy: I've never heard of palm molasses. I've only used black strap and so I'd be willing to experiment with different kinds.

I hate molasses. Fermented molasses is even worse. It's all the awfulness of molassses without the sweetness since it ferments out.

Molasses is barely tolerable in baked beans. In beer, it's beyond bad.

Brown sugar is bad, too, but not as bad as pure molasses.

nasty, nasty, nasty stuff when fermented.

Revvy, interesting about the date palm molasses - I was recently wondering about adding dates to a beer....

Sorry to hijack.

I like molasses and brown sugar. I like to keep their presence subtle, though. The target audience for a 5 gallon brew with 2 lbs of blackstrap molasses is most definitely a small one.

Superkabuto said:

No, sir. You are wrong. 2lbs is the appropriate amount. Without that much you don't get the full effect.

@Revvy: I've never heard of palm molasses. I've only used black strap and so I'd be willing to experiment with different kinds.

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You have a real certain attitude that others will like this as much as you did... not saying its a BAD thing but.... I HAVE tried that much molasses / brown sugar and I thought it tasted like a fermented turd.

To each their own, but calling someone wrong for disliking what you think is delicious - well that's just presumptuous, and good sir I just won't stand for it. Holy crap this stout is kicking in.

Jokes aside, I suggest you try 4 lbs. I bet that effect would be fuller than 2lbs

I had a wee heavy from a a kit recipe that required two cups of dark molasses and that just started tasting decent after 2 years of aging....

I've been known to eat blackstrap by the spoonful before lifting weights, to give me a little extra energy, but even I'm skeptical about putting 2lbs in a 5 gallon batch.:cross:

jjones17 said:

Jokes aside, I suggest you try 4 lbs. I bet that effect would be fuller than 2lbs

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Yes!!