Monstrous molasses

[Mardoo]

Lol, fair enough
Personally I've tried molasses before and wasn't pleased with the results, I'd like to see if anyone has made something drinkable with it though

Rum.

 

[sp0rk]

$10 for a kg of molasses is a bit rich
unsulphured stock feed molasses (might have to ask around for it) is more or less the same thing and is around $1 per litre or even less early in the cane season when there are good stocks (i've seen it as low as 50 cents)

 

[Forever Wort]

I'd be into that if there was a supplier near the Melbourne CBD!

 

[sp0rk]

There'd surely be somewhere close to the CBD that would do stockfeed/rural supplies/produce

 

[TimT]

Interesting, just did a search. A number of general pet supplies place in the inner and outer suburbs that also cater for 'stockfeed' - a range of products for horse, cattle, etc. I seem to recall there's one in Coburg, a dusty looking old place that looks like the sort of place you'd find on the outer street of Swan Hill. (It's called 'Andrews Stockfeed'). A search on websites isn't that helpful though.

 

[RobboMC]

An old mate made a kit and kilo with a full kg of molasses. He said it tasted "like Molasses".
Ended up diluting it with 4 full batches of normal beer, ending up with 115 litres of Porter.

From Palmer's book his advice on using 'creative' ingredients is to decide how much to add, and then HALVE IT!
I have also read somewhere to only use Blackstrap Molasses. I get mine from the sugars aisle in the supermarket,
usually $3-4 for a 600 g jar.

Look on the label for the sugar content, usually around 65%. This means that the other 35% are unfermantable
and will remain to add flavour, after all that's why you are adding it.

You can always make a second batch with more of your special ingredient if a it's too subtle flavour.

I have added 0.3 kg of Molasses to brown porter with excellent results. I would think the 0.5 kg is the above recipe from Forever Wort is the absolute maximum I would recommend.

I would definitely not be making a beer using 3 kg of molasses as the base sugar, it won't be beer, it will be fermented tar.

 

[sp0rk]

I have also read somewhere to only use Blackstrap Molasses. I get mine from the sugars aisle in the supermarket,

Blackstrap is the product left when they've removed the most sugar possible from raw sugar cane
It's the exact same thing as the stockfeed stuff, except that stockfeed may sometimes have sulphur added, but you can usually find it unsulphured if you ask
It's a good cheap easy source of sugaz (and flavours) for other hobbies

 

[TimT]

Yes - avoid the sulfured stuff.

One of my brews last year I used molasses. Turned out to be sulfured.

All I could taste was the sulfur.

 

[TimT]

These days it usually seems to appear in recipes as an adjunct. So it adds body and contributes to richness of flavour. Lot of Old recipes seem to have it.

 

[sp0rk]

Yes - avoid the sulfured stuff.

One of my brews last year I used molasses. Turned out to be sulfured.

All I could taste was the sulfur.

I used it once for making firewater with a mate, turned out pretty average and we dumped the whole batch

 

[Kranky]

A couple of years ago I was trying to brew a clone of Abyss, from Deschutes. They list the ingredients on their website and it includes molasses. I didn't have a clue how much I should use so I emailed the brewery and one of their brewers got back to me and suggested not to use too much, as it can easily become overpowering. I used molasses in imperial stouts several times after that and the advice from the Deschutes brewer was sound, as one time I used too much and I had to blend it with other imperial stouts to balance it out.

If I were to use molasses again I wouldn't use more than about 250g in a 20l batch. Proabably I'd use a little less than that.

 

[Vini2ton]

I read somewhere about it being used for soil health via a sprayed solution to improve biota blah blah worms microflora blah blah renewal of depleted environments and such. Isn't it pronounced mo-lassiss?

 

[super_simian]

I use it to make historic invert sugars .

 

[QldKev]

I read somewhere about it being used for soil health via a sprayed solution to improve biota blah blah worms microflora blah blah renewal of depleted environments and such. Isn't it pronounced mo-lassiss?

Up here there are 2 grades. Mol A is the initial stuff at around 75% sugar. Mol B, which is moreso known as blackstrap once it leaves the mill, is 50%. Blackstrap is the stuff we want, as it has a higher muck (flavor) content. The primary use is rum (from here), but excess blackstrap is diluted down and is great to spray back onto the soil as a nutrient. A lot of the solids are separated from the molasses prior to fermenting a rum wash, these solids along with the lees from the ferment are also used as a spray for farming.

Before using it for a beer, I recommend anyone doing a small ferment of straight molasses to get a good understanding of the flavor.

 

[Forever Wort]

My molasses porter is aging well. It is exceptionally smooth. I think that, like other posters before me, I will put less molasses in my next batch - but it is still a nice drop.

Kind of interested in using a tiny amount of it to colour an amber or red ale now too.

It's gotta make the beer better for you, right? I know a dude who drinks raw green smoothies for lunch every day and forces himself to swallow a spoonful of blackstrap before doing so.

**** that, but I can drink beer with it in it!

 

[sp0rk]

I picked up a couple of buckets of stockfeed molasses the other day, looking at doing a oaked molasses porter with it
I tasted my little 2L batch oaked baltic porter experiment last night and it's amazing, so I'm now going to charge ahead with a full size batch
I'm planning on using about 300g, will clarify it first and invert the sugar
Very excited to see how this goes

 

[Vini2ton]

After a couple of pints you'll want a salt-lick and good rub on a fence post or a tree.