Molasses Table Beer (small beer)

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ExperimentalBrewer

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There are a few recipes around. I am working on perfecting the recipe as my personal favorite cheap and easy brew. I started working this from the George Washington small beer and I am on my 3rd generation.

I find 100% molasses too much of that flavor (which I like) but I am looking for something lighter as a "table beer"

Molasses Beer #3 (1 gal)
1/2 gal water
3T corn grits mashed with 2t amalyse 1-2 hours (#1 had 0, #2 had 2T)
I didn't test for full conversion, in fact it didn't test all that sweet. But I do this because I find some corn adds a little body and head.

Bring to boil and add:
10oz molasses (#1 had 16oz, #2 had 8oz)
8oz invert syrup (#1 had 0, #2 had 8oz)
2 rooibos tea bags (#1 and #2 had black tea)

boil for 30 min, fish out the tea bags.

.5 oz cascade 60 min
.166 oz cascade 45 min
.166 oz cascade 30 min
.166 oz cascade 15 min

strain and fill 1 gal bottle with cold water to fill.
cool and pitched 1/4t Red Star Pasteur yeast.
.
Orig Gravity 1.040 (meant to be a small beer)

I intend to dry hop (more on that when I get the time comes).

So far all my batches have been made with Pasteur yeast (because I have a bunch). I want to try different yeasts but I want to get the other quantities right first.

Notes on the #1 and #2
#1 the molasses flavor was quite strong, liked it, but looking for something lighter
#2 The molasses flavor could be more, would like some dry hops, very drinkable.

Thoughts and suggestions welcome.
 
I found some other old molasses beer recipes, was going to be brave and try the one I found that had eggs in it. Am also led to believe our local (Australian) molasses is different to the US variety but will ignore that for the first attempt.
 
Not at the moment. Batch #3 is still in primary bubbling away strongly. i'ts been about 1.5 weeks. I'll dry hop when it slows down.
 
I dry hopped with 1/4 oz of cascades a couple days ago. It is still quite cloud, lack of clarity is becoming a theme for me (see my rice beer thread). In a couple more days I think I will cold crash and bottle. the gravity is down to 1.00 and it has a really nice dry-hopiness. I'm super stoked, I think I should get to bottling before I lose the floral aroma of the hops.

I'll post a pict in the glass in a couple weeks after its conditioned.
 
Finally got around to taking a picture.

I am pretty happy with the taste.

IMG_20170804_183320.jpg
 
I want to figure out how to make this recipe clear. I tried a batch with nottingham yeast. It's nice, but not clear.

do you think that not boiling the molasses would help?
 
I haven't tried gelatin (or any other fining). One thing I noticed in the original GW recipe is that it says boil hops in water, then add molasses at after the boil. Next time (1 week I think) I will water and hops then add the sugars at the end of the boil. But I have read that boiling hops without sugar creates off-flavors. Maybe I will try sugar and hops and then add the molasses at the end.
 
I was sitting here sipping on some Bourbon and thinking.... hey George Washington fermented his brew in a barrel. In my next experiment I am going to add some oak to my brew.

I have access to plenty of oak, I can make some Oak chips to toss in. so my questions:

charred, toasted, or raw?
in primary or secondary?
how long?

Anyone have experience/oppinions.
 
I prefer using American oak just, dried of corse. I use it in both wine(now) and in my beer.

I never char it, leave that for the steaks. You can toast it if you want but I believe you will loose some of the oaky goodness as the heat will remove some flavors.

Put it in secondary only. You do not it "fermenting" the sugars dying primary.

As for length of time spent during secondary, I add it during the last part of secondary so I'm not fishing thing out of my almost finished beer/wine.

Anywhere from 3-7 days. I never leave oak in any longer than 7 days. I use oak cubes and reuse them. Chips are good to but don't think I would reuse them.

Always before adding to secondary and after I remove the oak I soak in grain alcohol of vodka for up to a half hour. If your dead set on chips, do yourself a favor and add them to a muslin or hop bag that has at least double the capacity of your chips, 3x even better.

You didn't ask about quantity so I will tell you what I use. This is for 5-6 gallon batches.

American oak 1-1.5 ounces for beer. 1-2 ounces for wine

Hungarian oak .5-1 ounces for beer and wine.

Hope this helps and good luck
 
Oh I left this out. Always measure hops, oak etc. by weight not volume. Some get confused on that so thought I'd throw that in. I apologize for the typing errors, this iPad aka icrap sometimes has a mind of its own. Forgot to proof read before posting, my bad.
 
I started the oaky one. My thought was that I should reduce the molasses thinking it would overpower the oak.

1 gal batch:
4 oz molasses (weight)
20oz invert sugar syrup (weight)
0.5oz cascades
2 rooibos tea bags
3 T corn grits
1/4 t Nottingham yeast
1/2 t yeast nutrients

Process:
1. steep tea overnight
2. bring corn grits to boil with sufficient water.
reduce temp to 150f 2with 2t amylase, hold for 2 hours. leave over night.
3. boil sugar. corn liquor and hops with 1/2 gal water (I didn't measure quantity ended with 1/2g) 60min
4. add Molasses at flame out. (new process to make more clear)
5. strain into fermenter, add tea and water up to 1 gal.
6. when cool add yeast and nutrients.

I prepared the oak for secondary. I've got about 1.5oz of cubes, I sterilized the oak in the microwave (about 30 sec got it too hot to hold), oak will go in secondary. Labatts, by your measurements I should only use 1-2 cubes in my 1 gal batch..... that doesn't seem like much, what is your thought?

the oak:

IMG_20170917_182338.jpg
 
I have no experience with oak myself, but I alsways read that one should put it in and taste it each day... when it tastes oaky enough pull the oak out.
 
Sorry bud just seen you asked me a question. I don't make 1 gallon batches but I would cut the oak way back from what I posted above. Divide it by 1.5 and start there. I think that will give you a good starting point. The tea is going to blend nicely with the oak. Just don't overdo it. Like Mieaculix stated taste it when you check your gravities. When it's hits what you like pull the oak. I time it so I'm not opening the fermenter to put things in or out. Everything gets pulled on bottle day so last 3-5 days of secondary is what works good for me. I follow a ver strict gravity schedule so everything is done the same way at the same point ever time. You don't want that oak in there if the beer is still fermenting heavily or you could overdo it.

I'm curious what your OG will be? Can you post it?

Thanks,
Labatts
 
Thanks Labatts. It's not a high gravity beer OG 1.050, it is usually pretty heavy in flavor due to the molasses, but the ABV is not so high. I cut back on the Molasses because I thought it would hide the oak. I agree, I think the tea and oak will be good combo.

I've made "bourbon" before with charred oak blocks in white rum, I always thought the oak needed time to do it's magic. Is it different with beer?
 
Oak aging and adding an oak flavor are 2 different things yes but we are not making a 1 plus year old aged wine. So where as you can oak age beer and it can be just fine, we are not trying to push and pull the beer in and out thru the oak over the like you do in an oak cask and aging. So you can age beer, wine and spirits pretty much the same way but we don't need that much from oak when making a good beer. I'm sure others have long term oak aged beer and had wonderful success, I don't find it necessary with beer. During secondary fermentation in beer, things are still churning and moving around as the process even comes to an end. In wine we add things to stop the fermentation process which stops the churning and significantly slows down the oak aging process. This is why certain wines and spirits are oak aged for years. It takes time for the process to take pace.
 
The Oak went in tonight. I racked it and added 1/2 oz oak cubes.

Being light on molasses it seems pretty thin on body. Time will tell. Now starts the tasting to determine when to stop the oak. Hopefully there will still be some left when I declare it done :)
 
It has been a few days.

The taste is slightly oaky, a little vanilla, a bit of tea shows through. I gave it a dose of gelatin to see if I can clear it more and I will bottle in a couple days.
 
Miraculix said:
Interesting thread, always like to here about brewing alternatives to beer within the same strength region :)
Click to expand...

thanks. As my user name suggest, I like experimenting. I'm a gluten free brewer. I read about Washington's molasses beer 6 - 8 months ago and I have be messing around with the recipe since. I'm having fun, 2/3 of my brewing is just a very simple cider. The other 3rd is combination of ginger beer, mead, and this molasses experiment. From time to time I try a sorghum beer, but I don't enjoy them as much, and I can't decide if I like mead or not :)
 
Yes same here, I also love to experiment. I like to go ancient roots, I think I got the book with the Lincoln recipe as well.

You might want to make sure that your molasses is not from sugar cane as it tastes different and it is unlikely that they had it back in the days.

Have you tried a small mead? You can also try a mead based on honey and apple juice just throw it together and start drinking it during active fermentation as soon as the sweetness tastes right to you. Don't throw in too much honey though..

Easy but nice recipe, brewed it many times. Best is, you can just top it up with juice and honey if you drank something :)

I tried Sorghum once... Not my taste.
 
ExperimentalBrewer,
If the molasses was the base of your beer I would add it at either 60 mins or 45 in a 60 min boil, but your using it as an adjunct so last 15 mins should be fine. Same with your hop schedule. You will need to boil the bittering hops for at least 45 mins in my opinion in order to achieve some bittering effect. The rest if your schedule looks good.

As for any additional sugars the last 15 mins has always worked good for me.

Clearing the beer, there are lots of options for finning agents however I don't find them necessary. Just leave it sit longer in the secondary fermenter until it's almost clear then bottle age it. Minimum 30 days. It will continue to settle out and clear if your process was clean, I mean no infections. If there is some little critter in there, more than likely the alcohol should keep anything from harming you as long as your over 5% or so unless it was a dirty brew. Keep in mind some beers just won't clear but the ingredients you used should clear.

Remember the less additives you put into a beer (finning agents) and such the better. For every ingredient you add can add a new set if circumstances and obstacles for you.

The way I approach making a "new" beer is to do what I know first then make or add only 1 change to that beer per brew. For example is you have made a corn beer before and you wanted to add molasses and let's say candi sugar I would only add the molasses to this brew and omit the candi sugar until the next brew. Thus way it's easier to pinpoint any problem areas, ultimately making it easier to fix any issues.

As for the yeast, that could be the problematic area but I doubt it fir thus batch. However I have never used that yeast before especially with molasses.

I'm a bit confused on #1 and #2. 1 says flavor was to strong and 2 says flavor could be more.

Whatever that means you can make the necessary adjustments to the next batch as needed. Take away or add more molasses as you like. Just keep in mind you making such small batches that minor adjustments will have a huge impact. The reason I stick to 5 gallon batches. Less chance of making huge impacts on the beer with adjustments.

Hope thus helps,
Labatts
 
Oh I forgot you mentioned the beer was thin. I did not see Maltodextrine in your recipe, that will fix your mouthfeel issue. Use 5oz per five gallons. If that is still to thin for you increase at a rate of 1 oz per five gallons until you achieve the taste you prefer. I wouldnt exceed 8 oz per five gallons or you will end up with something like buds redbridge which is awful. It's like drinking cottonmouth. So in a small beer just divide out what you need. That will fix your "thinning" effect.
 
Labatts.

Thanks for the advise. Haven't been too scientific with this experiment. Fir what I have seen. Boiling molasses seems to make it cloudy.

Malodextrin s a great idea. Thanks.


I agree about Redbridge.... Terrible.
 
ExperimentalBrewer,

I hear ya. As for fermentable sugars I always stick to last 15 mins no matter if it's honey or any other sugars except Maltodextrine.

2 thumbs down for redbridge. It's so bad I almost want to start a "bash redbridge" thread. Ugh that stuff is chit. All of the extra bottles I had went up on the target stand and their lives as a beer ended abruptly with a deer slug.
 
Labatts said:
2 thumbs down for redbridge. It's so bad I almost want to start a "bash redbridge" thread. Ugh that stuff is chit. All of the extra bottles I had went up on the target stand and their lives as a beer ended abruptly with a deer slug.
Click to expand...

A deer slug vs beer bottles ... was there anything left?!
 
Only thing left was beer cAps. I know it was overkill but again that was the point. I use a 12ga or 20ga for just about everything. Never let me down. Rabbit and squirrel hunting can be a bit messy tho. I remember as a kid shooting a rabbit with a 12ga slug, of course not knowing the extent of what would happen. Dead center body shot and the dam thing disappeared. I was like I know I hit it. Then I found an eye stuck to a weed and was like oops
 
I finally managed to sample and take a pict. It's great, there is a little residual sweetness left, a little sourness from the molasses. Some may say it has some "cider" like flavor from sugar. Some nice bitterness from the hop. No head, but nice and clear:

IMG_20171103_180428.jpg
 
Been drinking some sorghum beer that I made and came back to this one tonight. Really happy with it especially compared to the sorghum. it's time to brew the next batch. I think this is the recipe I am going to do:

Molasses Beer #6 (1gal)
5oz molasses (weight)
16oz invert sugar (weight)
2 oz maltodextrin
1oz cascades (.75 in boil, .25 dry in secondary)
2 rooibos tea
½ cup corn grits (boil crap out of them)
1.5 oz oak (in secondary)
nottingham yeast
 
I was also quite disappointed with the Sorghum beer I made... Haven't tried it for some months, maybe it got better with time. Will try one of those next week.
 
Thanks for sticking with me on this journey Miraculix, I have enjoyed the experimentation and documenting it here even if it s kind of a solo mission. My daughter who does not do gluten-free tried the molasses beer last night. She liked it. It's different, if you are looking for a "craft beer" you'll be disappointed, if you are looking for Bud, you'll be disappointed. It you take it as it's own thing, it's a nice drink.

I did brew last night, but I made the recipe a little different than above. Here is what I actually did:
Molasses Beer #6 (1gal)
5oz molasses (weight)
20oz invert sugar (weight)
1.5 oz maltodextrin
1oz cascades (.75 in boil, .25 dry in secondary)
2 rooibos tea bags
½ cup corn grits (boil crap out of them, steep with amylase)
1.5 oz oak (in secondary)
red star premiere blanc yeast
SG 1.055

My thought process based on last one.

1. maltodextrin for more body -- thanks Labatts
2. more molasses, that's the defining taste, embrace it.
3. more hops, it should have a beer taste.
4. more corn to help with the body
5. red star yeast because the ferment was a little slow last time.
6. keep the tea, adds to the complexity of the flavor
7. keep the oak, there is a vanilla note that is quite nice.
8. raise the gravity a bit for fun (maybe we are getting out of the small beer category?)
 
Of course! I love experimental stuff :)

Which type of molasses do you use, the one comming from sugar cane or the one comming from sugar beet?

They taste really differently and I have the feeling that they used the sugar beet version back in the days....
 
I believe what we call molasses in the US comes from sugar cane. Apparently there is some that comes from sorghum cane also. I've not tried it. At this point the quantity is pretty low compared to the other sugars. At this point it is become a sugar beer. take that beer snobs :)
 
Maybe it would be worth trying the other type of molasses that is available as that one is most likely the one that was used to be brew old school molasses beers, like the Lincoln table beer recipe. In Germany this stuff is available as a spread to eat it on bread called helmstaedter goldsaft, other brands exist as well. This stuff tastes completely different compared to the sugar cane molasses. I can imagine the sugar beet molasses way easier to be the base of a fermented beverage.
 
Last edited:
Today I had no time, but an air lock was free and we all know an empty fermenter is a waste.....

So, today's version is no-boil

(1/2 gallon batch)
4 oz molasses
10 oz corn syrup
0.5 oz cascade hops
yeast nutrients
red star pasture (or whatever it is called now....)
OG: 1.052

mix the syrups with enough warm water to mix.
everything in the fermenter, fill with cold water.
that's it, easy-peasy.

I expect it to have no hop bitterness, but I hope for hop floral flavors and stronger molasses flavors. I won't oak this one.
 

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