molasses

I just picked up 3 gallons of unpasteurized cider from a local orchard. My plan is to make some "New England" style cider, which according to all the info I can find online, may include molasses. I really want to try this, but I have no idea how much. I saw one post here on HBT where Brandon O suggests 2 lbs of molasses for 5 gallons - this seems like way overkill to me. I think I also saw some recipe online that says to use 2 tablespoons of molasses for 3 gallons, but also includes some brown sugar.

Anyone with experience using molasses in cider want to chime in?

I do know that brown sugar already has molasses in it, just not sure how much molasses per pound of brown sugar. I would like to know the answer to this as well as I would like to try using a mixture of molasses and honey for my next batch.

i would probably go with 2 pounds myself. when i put 5 pounds of honey in it comes out at around 11%.
i don't typically use molasses or brown sugar though because i don't like that flavor that comes off the unfermentables.

frydogbrews said:

i would probably go with 2 pounds myself. when i put 5 pounds of honey in it comes out at around 11%.
i don't typically use molasses or brown sugar though because i don't like that flavor that comes off the unfermentables.

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I should have mentioned that I'm concerned about using molasses as a flavor component only. I was planning on using other sugars to get the gravity up. My initial reaction was that 2 lbs of molasses would be too much flavor-wise.

Well, I went forward with my cider. I used 12oz of turbinado sugar and 3oz by weight of molasses (1/4 cup by volume) in 2.5 gallons of cider. I added some yeast nutrient and some pectic enzyme and I pitched a vial of wlp775 English cider yeast.

This cider was unpasteurized and I didn't have any campden tablets, so hopefully the wlp775 gets going quick enough to keep the other critters at bay. I have to admit too that my sanitation was not quite up to my normal level of OCD. Hopefully his will still turn out well.