Dried Molasses for Starter?

[greeneyed]

Can I use dried molasses as the nutrient in a starter?

 

[ChshreCat]

I didn't know dried molasses was a yeast nutrient.

If you're actually asking if you can use molasses instead of malt extract, then no. It's a different kind of sugar than is in DME, so you wouldn't end up with healthy yeast ready to ferment your wort.

 

[greeneyed]

Well, dang that sucks. I can get it free. Thanks

 

[Revvy]

I've never heard of it. Only the liquid version. It may suck as an starter, but it would make a great adjunct to brew with. I wonder if it would even work as a priming sugar.

If you can get some fro free, get some and use it in your beers, just not to make your starters.

 

[BioBeing]

Molasses is basically pure processed sugar. For a healthy growth. yeast also need nitrogen, phosphate, vitamins etc. That said, I just bottled an old ale with some molasses as the priming sugar, and it is great

 

[greeneyed]

Molasses is basically pure processed sugar. For a healthy growth. yeast also need nitrogen, phosphate, vitamins etc. That said, I just bottled an old ale with some molasses as the priming sugar, and it is great

Well...I can also get certain types of phosphates and different sources of nitrogen

 

[Scotty_g]

I would think it will taste a lot different from DME, but since you only use a little bit it would be fine as a starter. The molasses is what's left over *after* the pure sugar is extracted. I think a lot of the proteins and non-sugars from the cane or beets ends up in the molasses so it wouldn't be as nutrient-free as table sugar. Rum is fermented with pure? molasses, so it must be capable of supporting some kind of yeast growth.

Getting it for free wouldn't be my primary reason for using it unless you're making really big starters. Normally if I make a 1-qt starter I use about 5 oz of DME, which comes out to less than a buck. But, if you need a lot of DME/molasses because it's a big honkin' starter, you probably have an expensive batch of beer that you don't want to ruin by saving a little on the starter DME.

That said, it would be an interesting experiment and I strongly encourage you to try it (and let us know how it went, of course!). Keep a pack of dry yeast around just in case. Priming with it could be really nice, especially if you were making a porter or something.

 

[ChshreCat]

Molasses is basically pure processed sugar. For a healthy growth. yeast also need nitrogen, phosphate, vitamins etc. That said, I just bottled an old ale with some molasses as the priming sugar, and it is great

I was just gonna say that if I had free molasses laying around I'd try out an old ale recipe. As Revvy said, it would be crap for a starter, but that doesn't mean it can't be used in your beer in another way!

 

[greeneyed]

Ok, so will look into using the Dried Molasses elsewhere in the brewing process.

Another quick question.
Are the rice hulls used in brewing whole or ground? I can get ground rice hulls in bulk as well. (I know they are cheap, but so am I).

I can also get Bentonite, though used in wine making, can it also be used in brewing?

Will have to ponder what else is available to me...

 

[PerkHouse]

So why are you guys poo-pooing molasses as a nutrient? It's what the yeast producers use. Granted, they do add other nutrients, but the primary ingredient for their nutrient is molasses. Ask them!
Ok, here's a blurb from the Dakota Yeast site:

From the pure culture vessel, the grown cells are transferred to a series of progressively larger seed and semi-seed fermentors. These later stages are conducted as fed-batch fermentations. During a fed-batch fermentation, molasses, phosphoric acid, ammonia and minerals are fed to the yeast at a controlled rate.

Yeast Production
Alright, so they are talking about baker's yeast, but ask Lalvin or Red Star or White Labs or Brewer's Best and I suspect they all use it because it's cheap and contains phosphorus, nitrogen, magnesium, potassium, and lots of other stuff that make those little yeasty boys happy.