Molasses

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MOS

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Hi, Mike here from Sydney Australia. Been brewing for 20+ yrs. Started with Extract, then Mini Mash, then with a Braumeister, 50 litre grain batches. Recently, I used 600 gms of Molasses in a 23litre extract based Belgian dark ale thinking it would give it character. Woops. Should have started small. Just don't like the taste.. It is gassed in a keg and I was going to try a hop addition into the gassed keg in a stainless sieve sleeve as I had also thought of tossing it out, till I read some of the older threads on Molasses and sounds like the sweetness does drop and maybe it will become drinkable, so tonight it comes out of the fridge and into storage for 6 months. Any suggestions for a hop addition to reduce the Molasses taste?
 
I don't think there is any need for more hops. Let both the molasses taste and the sweetness age out.
+1

Just let it sit. If there's need for hops after six months, you can still do it then. The flavour you would get from the hops now will be gone in half a year anyway.
 
Last edited:
Molasses isn't a specific thing. It's the leftovers from a way of refining sugar. As such the word means different things to different people. I've seen instructions to make molasses which was basically caramelising refined sugar (not at all correct, but probably tasted better, unless it just ended up as properly burnt sugar). Black "treacle" is just a molasses diluted with highly refined refiners' syrup to "tame" the flavour a bit (not golden syrup as you often see documented, though it would probably taste the same) ... at least the Lyle's stuff is.

But what most people consider is "molasses" has a very strong flavour. And very masking. Such that you probably won't tell if a home-brew had 600gms in it or 300gms. Despite that, some people like it! It does develop into a comforting lusciousness. I used to like it, until I figured any beer with it in tasted much the same. It took me longer than the "20+ yrs" mentioned to figure that out to!

Treat "molasses" with respect next time, but don't throw away your current brew ... you might get to like it!
 
Molasses isn't a specific thing. It's the leftovers from a way of refining sugar. As such the word means different things to different people. I've seen instructions to make molasses which was basically caramelising refined sugar (not at all correct, but probably tasted better, unless it just ended up as properly burnt sugar). Black "treacle" is just a molasses diluted with highly refined refiners' syrup to "tame" the flavour a bit (not golden syrup as you often see documented, though it would probably taste the same) ... at least the Lyle's stuff is.

But what most people consider is "molasses" has a very strong flavour. And very masking. Such that you probably won't tell if a home-brew had 600gms in it or 300gms. Despite that, some people like it! It does develop into a comforting lusciousness. I used to like it, until I figured any beer with it in tasted much the same. It took me longer than the "20+ yrs" mentioned to figure that out to!

Treat "molasses" with respect next time, but don't throw away your current brew ... you might get to like it!
Thanks for the encouraging words, I won't toss it out, but will put the keg into the cupboard with a reminder in my phone to try in 3 months, and then repeat if necessary. I have in the past had beers that I have hopped 'enthusiastically' only to cringe when I tasted it. Three months later it was OK and six months it was a beaut. (Aussie for good). BTW, the Molasses was something picked up in the supermarket, probably the cake section, thought it might work well. I'll be more circumspect next time round.
 
+1

Just let it sit. If there's need for hops after six months, you can still do it then. The flavour you would get from the hops now will be gone in half a year anyway.
Thanks for the advice, it will mind its own business for a while and will be let out only when it has learnt to behave!
 
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