Molasses Table Beer (small beer)

[KeinGluten]

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.

A deer slug vs beer bottles ... was there anything left?!

 

[Labatts]

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

 

[ExperimentalBrewer]

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:

 

[ExperimentalBrewer]

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

 

[Miraculix]

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.

 

[ExperimentalBrewer]

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?)

 

[Miraculix]

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....

 

[ExperimentalBrewer]

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

 

[Miraculix]

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.

 

[ExperimentalBrewer]

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.

 

[Miraculix]

This might end up problematic. Heating it up to 70 degrees c for pasteurisation would have been a good idea, but let's see how it goes. Half a gallon is drunken quickly anyway....

 

[ExperimentalBrewer]

Time will tell. My water is good, the syrups are shelf stable and I dry hop all the time with the hops so I am not too worried. But we will see, it might be a mistake.

 

[Miraculix]

The sirups are shelf stable because of the high sugar content, which you diluted.

 

[ExperimentalBrewer]

It will be interesting to see, I read all the time that beer was drunk in the past because the water wasn't safe (the alcohol killed the bad stuff), and the preservative properties of hops..... all of which sound a little suspect to me so maybe I am breeding some nasty bugs as we speak. As you say, 1/2 gal won't last long so on second thought we may never know

 

[Miraculix]

Usually it is not nasty but only souring or flavour destroying... But sour is fine, if you like it of course.

 

[ExperimentalBrewer]

It's still brewing.... been cold all my brews are moving slowly right now. I had a little taste of the no-boil brew. It's sort of "grassy"

I think it should finish soon.

 

[ExperimentalBrewer]

I had to come back to this thread to say. I just did a side by side taste test of my George Washington inspired beer vs Budweiser Freedom Reserve.

Of course the verdict is that mine is better!

Mine has more body, more hops, and much more flavor. I can barely taste the molasses in the Bud product. Obviously I am biased but the interesting thing is that is that a 100% sugar beer holds up very well against a malt product.

My opinion about Freedom Reserve is that it is a step up from regular bug, more malty, better flavor. But it does have a bit of that budwiserness to it, if you know what I mean Not worth the gluten

For the record, these are my notes for the one that I compared with:

Molasses #10 (feb 3)
½ cup quinoa
½ cup corn
8oz molasses
20oz sugar syrup.
.75 cascade hops.

RedStar champagne yeast
2/18 rack and 4 cubes of oak
2/23 bottle

 

[ExperimentalBrewer]

I'm back again.. I opened another bottle from a different batch with this recipe:

Molasses #11 (feb 25)
½ cup corn
½ cup oats
8oz molasses
16oz sugar
.75 oz cascade hops
redstar champagne yeast

4/29 bottle: At bottling it has a little spice flavor.

You can see from my notes that it fermented for a long time. I attribute that to cold weather, life, and other factors that aren't obvious. To me it tastes exactly like Leffe Blonde. It has got some banana, clove, coriander and I'm not sure what else (i'm working on my tasting note abilities).

Did I mention that it tastes like Leffe?