Molasses Oatmeal Porter (Anglo-Colonial Historical)

[Odysseus]

Inspired by 17th and 18th century Anglo-Colonial brewing techniques, I will be making a 1 gallon batch of Molasses Oatmeal Porter in honor of George Washington/Independence Day tomorrow. Besides Gen. Washington's own recipe, which was simply molasses, hops, water and yeast, I will be drawing inspiration from other colonial brewing techniques.

This recipe is a work in progress, so I'd love some feedback.

Where I need the most help/input is on proportions and nutrition. Target ABV is anywhere in the 3-7% range, preferably on the higher end but not necessarily so. Washington's recipe called for bottling after a week, and I'm not looking for a long, drawn-out brew - just a quick brew to enjoy in the here and now.

1 Gallon of Spring Water (plus a little bit extra to compensate for loss during the wort boil)

Molasses - 1 jar (16oz? 32 oz?)

Flaked Oats - 6 ounces? Too little, too much, thoughts? I'm going with these mainly for flavor balance, not sugar content.

Dried Fruit (Steeped) - Raisins, dates, etc - mainly for nutrition, so just enough to keep the yeast happy and balance the flavor. Maybe a little orange peel as well for balance.

Hops - Whatever general hops I have leftover/on hand.

Yeast - Same as hops, just sort of whatever/on hand.

Gruit - Ideas? Thoughts? Good idea? Bad idea?

Should I add sugar to this brew? Will the molasses have enough sugar to make alcohol since it's basically a grain-free brew? If so, how much sugar? I'd prefer a turbinado sugar since it seems closer to what they had in colonial times, but I'm not against white sugar either.

Also, will the molasses and handful of raisins/fruit have enough nutrition to support the brew? I don't have quick access to any kind of commercial yeast nutrition products.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Unless you're measuring the raisins in pounds, it will not provide enough nutrition.

For the flaked oats, are you planning on mashing them? If not, they'll contribute unfermentable starches that will negatively affect clarity and stability. If so, you'll need to add an appropriate amount of malted grain for diastatic enzymes.

 

[Protos]

I like the boldness of your project!

I think you'd better stick with the original Washington's recipe without fruits, oats or other additions - you won't taste them anyway behind the overwhelming metallic taste of molasses. The brew will be a pretty yucky swill in any case, but if you recreate the historical recipe it will have at least educational value. Otherwise, it won't have any value at all.

You definitely don't need any sugars apart from molasses. And Gruit is a bad idea indeed (first, it had long been out of use at the time, and second, it can't be recreated, its recipe is totally lost, various herbal combinations called "gruits" nowadays are anything but the real historical Gruit, because its main component was dried yeast of unknown kind, along with the herbs). If you don't have access to commercial brewing yeast, use baking yeast. If you rely on wild yeast (from the raisins or environment) your brew will taste really really bad.

There's no room for improving or balancing a molasses swill, whether by turbinado or orange peel. Just brew the Washington's recipe, learn what it is like, and move on to you nobler and better brews

Otherwise, if you're set to brew a beer with typical "colonial" ingredients (like local wild hops, unprocessed sugars, local fruits, local grains etc.) you must take a different base recipe, other than the molasses hooch. Research which malt beers did they brew at the time. In malt-based beers your ingredients might work well. In the hooch, they wouldn't no way, whatever you do.

 

[day_trippr]

I think you'd better stick with the original Washington's recipe without fruits, oats or other additions - you won't taste them anyway behind the overwhelming metallic taste of molasses.

I was thinking the same wrt potential metallic character from the molasses...

Cheers!

 

[DBhomebrew]

I'm assuming you're looking at this recipe.

https://www.mountvernon.org/library...l-encyclopedia/article/recipe-for-small-beer/
Note two items.

1 - The good people at Mt. Vernon know much about Washington, perhaps less about fermentation. Molasses would not make for a very sweet beverage as they suggest. Molasses would ferment completely out leaving no residual sugar

2 - "The recipe’s inclusion in Washington’s wartime notebook suggests that it was consumed as a regular beverage - and even perhaps an occasional substitute for water - among troops. At Mount Vernon, beer was a favorite, but the Washington family rarely would have consumed small beer or served it to guests. Instead, it was given to paid servants, enslaved people, and children, while its finer, more alcoholic counterpart was reserved for those who could afford it."

This isn't something the Honorable Washington was proud of.

 

[Protos]

Molasses stripped of its sweetness by the fermentation process might acquire a pretty nasty taste, which is also very strong. Add just 10% to you beer, and it tastes nothing but metal and burnt tar. I tried that.

 

[Odysseus]

Thanks for all the input!

It does stem partially from the Mt. Vernon small beer, but a few other colonial brews as well.

https://learn.kegerator.com/how-to-brew-beer-with-molasses/
Persimmons, ginger and raisins were also added to some of these beers besides just straight molasses as in Washington's small beer.

The impetus behind this is partially living history, but also trying to brew with stuff I can find at WalMart, Publix, etc. It's a bit of some neurotic/bored tinkering/looking for a project more than anything though. I'm a teacher, so I have 10 weeks of vacation over the summer, and I hate hot weather/summery things, so I get fairly bored pretty quickly.

I've got some proper brewing ingredients on order, and I've made a few decent kit brews. This was just more a spur of the moment idea I got after watching Barry Lyndon. I was just looking for something more beer-oriented rather than homemade wine, and that's what lead be to look into molasses.

 

[MaxStout]

Maybe ditch the molasses entirely and replace it with an equivalent amount of some dark, unrefined sugar, like muscovado or piloncillo, etc.

If you want to keep the oats, you could cheat a bit and do a mini-mash with 1/2 lb. or so of 2-row.