Using molasses

Ello!

I heard that adding molasses to a brew in the fermentation carboy can up its gravity, is this true?

Technically yes, I prefer to add it to the kettle though so that it gets sterilized in the boil. I like a little blackstrap in a brown ale or porter. Remember though, the flavor is strong and it will end up in your beer. Don't over use it. I am not sure exactly how much to use in a home brew, I have only done it on a pub system (15bbl), if I can find my notes on it as pertains to pounds of grist to pounds of molasses ratio, I will post it.

Yeah you can also add corn sugar, regular table sugar, maple syrup, honey, malt extract, and anything else with sugar in it. Just cause you can up your gravity and boost your alcohol doesn't mean its a good idea though. It will effect how your beer is going to taste.

Correct me if i am wrong, yes you can molasses but you wouldn't really want to use an adjunct like that to up the gravity. You should be using either some DME or LME added it to the boil. i also agree with comer

Depends on the style. Many strong Belgain beers contain candi sugar or other simple sugars in the recipe - either added to the boil or part way into fermentation. Corn sugar is used to boost the alcohol and dry out certain IPA's.

If you want to up the ABV, use a sugar. Molasses has had most of its sugar refined out of it; what is left will disappear during fermentation. As was said earlier, be careful because the flavor is strong, and surprisingly bitter if over-used.

I got a sweet 5 Gallon empty molasses jug from a bakery yesterday. Currently holds my fermenting Stout. No molasses in the recipe though!

wailingguitar said:

if I can find my notes on it as pertains to pounds of grist to pounds of molasses ratio, I will post it.

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That would be great!

Thanks to everyone who replied! I didn't realize that it would change the taste so drastically.

wailingguitar said:

... I am not sure exactly how much to use in a home brew, I have only done it on a pub system (15bbl), if I can find my notes on it as pertains to pounds of grist to pounds of molasses ratio, I will post it.

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Ok, so I found the notes and have downsized the recipe from the original batch size of 10 bbl to 5 gallons. It probably needs some tweaking since scale can have uncertain effects.

This is a fairly basic brown ale recipe, the grain bill would (depending on your brewhouse efficiency) suggest an OG of around 1.044. With the Molasses, OG came out to 1.055. Record of my FG is missing. The beer was quite dark, could have passed for a Robust Porter by sight. I brewed this in '99 so my recollection of detail in the taste is a bit hazy, but I know that the molasses was definitely present in the flavor and that more would have been overpowering. It had a nice, creamy mouthfeel... was on the sweeter side, but not out of balance. It sold well and I had some good feedback on it. It did especially well when dispensed through a beer engine w/o the sparkler.

7# pale ale malt
0.3# chocolate malt
1.15# blackstrap molasses (aprox 12.4 fluid oz)

15 IBU
1/2 oz EKG at flame out.

Safale S04, fermed @ 65F

Yeap last time i made bbq sauce i tried molasses in it and i tasted it thinking it would taste great! MAN WAS I SHOCKED! It wasnt what i expected. Its strong tasting ! Im not saying it was bad but its a taste that you have to acquire. If it were me i wouldnt b/c i dont like the taste but you might so ya know dont knock it til ya try it

I have been using between 8oz to 1lb in my 3-gallon batches. It's not as strong as you might think, but it does take a few more weeks of bottle-conditioning to mellow out than normal. It made my special bitter quite yummy!