Molasses In Secondary?
Herb G.
the molasses in it.It's now already done frementing in the primary, so I
was thinking of adding it to the secondary. Any experience doing this
out there, anybody? TIA, Herb G.
--
"The 'Ole Spotted Dog Brewery"
Home of the Black Mamba Barleywine
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Ted Nebus
suspect that it would re-start a fermentation, just like a priming sugar
does. I am currently doing an Imperial Stout, using black strap molasses.
Be sure to boil or pasturize the molasses before adding them.
Ted
"Herb G." <g8...@spamnot.com> wrote in message
news:3DF15940...@spamnot.com...
Rob Neff
understand that with cider, there's a fairly long primary fermentation
(on the order of a month or so) and a super long secondary fermentation
(about 2 months, or even more). If my experience with the cider is any
guide (and it may or may not be), you'll be okay, so long as:
1) You're supposed to just add the molasses to the fermenter, and not to
the boil (and that's probably the case ... heat does funny things to
molasses, honey, and other natural sugars)
2) You pay attention to the fermenter, and make sure you don't
bottle/keg before your fermentation is absolutely finished
3) You age the beer in keg/bottles longer than you would normally.
Mollasses has a pretty strong bite to it. It takes a lot of time for it
to "marry" with the other flavors in your beer/cider, and this means
patience during aging. Also, it ferments a lot slower than beer (and
even cider), so you need to make sure you ferment it to completion,
which is probably why it's almost always added to the primary. You may
be wise to rack this to a tertiary fermenter to make sure you're
removing the dead yeasties but giving the molasses enough time to
ferment .... that's probably what I would do.
Please post to let us know how this works out for you!
Rob Neff
Ted Nebus wrote:
>
> Now, I don't have any experance with this exact situation, but I would
> suspect that it would re-start a fermentation, just like a priming sugar
> does. I am currently doing an Imperial Stout, using black strap molasses.
> Be sure to boil or pasturize the molasses before adding them.
>
Boiling your mollasses will mess with the checmical composition and
affect your flavor. There's really no reason to do this ... yes, it
contains micro organisms, but it's no big deal. The yeasties will
overpower them, and some believe that the micro organisms actually add
part of the character you're shooting for by adding it to your brew.
Pasturizing is also a bad idea, as it's likely to affect the
fermentability of the molasses. Just make sure your containers are
sterilized and go for it.
Rob Neff
Pennywise wrote:
>
> On Sat, 07 Dec 2002 18:15:23 GMT, Rob Neff
> <ne...@NOessc.SPAMpsu.FILTERedu> wrote:
>
> >I've messed up like this, but with a cider recipe ... You have to
> >understand that with cider, there's a fairly long primary fermentation
> >(on the order of a month or so) and a super long secondary fermentation
> >(about 2 months, or even more). If my experience with the cider is any
> >guide (and it may or may not be), you'll be okay, so long as:
> >
> >1) You're supposed to just add the molasses to the fermenter, and not to
> >the boil (and that's probably the case ... heat does funny things to
> >molasses, honey, and other natural sugars)
> >
> Malt extract is a natural sugar.
Congratulations. You win this round of Splitting Hairs -- have yourself
a homebrew :) The point I was trying to make is fairly clear, and it
still stands.
Rob Neff
Pennywise wrote:
>
> On Sun, 08 Dec 2002 01:42:33 GMT, Rob Neff
> Wow, how rude. I was just stating what you left out. And your point
> is???? That heat changes sugar? That would be obvious as to why we
> boil. I think experimentation is key here, split the batch and try
> several ways of adding the molasses.
As with most forms of written communication, it's hard to really read
peoples' tone of voice ... I wasn't trying to be rude ... I was simply
pointing out that just because DME is a natural sugar that should (must)
be boiled doesn't mean that all sugars should be boild. I'm going to
assume that your orignal post wasn't meant the way I took it either ...
so truce? :)
On to the brewing stuff ... yeah, that was the subpoint -- heat changes
sugar -- simple enough, but remember the orignal post had something to
do with the proper way of adding molasses to a stout. When we boil malt
extract (or runnings from a mash), we are trying to make certain
chemical modifications to the extract. When we boil honey, molasses,
cider, etc., we make undesirable modifications to those sugars. You
could decide not to take my word for it and experiment with it ... some
of the effects will be more subtle than others, and it may work out okay
with molasses, but the overall point was that there's no need to boil
it, and therefore the risks outweigh the non-benefits. Mead and cider
brewers will tell you boiling does awful things to honey and cider, and
it's typically accepted in every book I've read that it's a bad idea to
boil molasses too. So ... YMMV, but for my money (and time), I would
just dump the molasses in the secondary and take the other steps
indicated in the other posts in the thread. I tend to do my
experimenting with my recipes, and stick to standard methods of handling
the ingredients so I can disern the effects various ingredients have on
my brews. But hey ... it's a free country (I think). Have fun.
Rob Neff
Pennywise wrote:
<snip>
> So would you
> dissolve the molasses in a warm water mixture then add it? I would
> think it would take some time to dissolve in room temp wort.
Yeah, and particularly since this is the secondary, I'd probably boil
the water, let it cool, dissovle the molasses in the water, then mix the
mixture into the beer (remember the original poster is adding to the
secondary).
In the primary, it's easier. You can simply heat up the molasses a bit
by letting the bottle/jar sit in warm water to thin it a bit, then mix
it in to warm (but not hot) wort ... lots of stirring is good for wort
anyway, and it will dissolve just fine. Also, the mixing action of yeast
in primary fermentation will make sure the sugars stay suspended long
enough.
I just did a transfer on my holiday spiced cider, which has molasses in
it ... it mixed just fine with slightly warmed cider, and you would
expect the cider to have a harder time dissolving molasses since it has
a higher specific gravity than most worts (particularly when you spike
the cider with cane and brown sugar the way I did). The only regret is
that the holiday the cider will be ready for is April Fool's Day, not
Christmas :)
Steve
when you boil it? Uh hypothetically, yeah that's right...
What would be the best way to introduce something like honey or
molasses into a brew? In this case, it has been suggested that the
molasses be put directly into the secondary. Is there any need to mix
or dilute it? Because it is so viscous, will the molasses sit on the
bottom of the fermentation vessel, or will the yeast activity take
care of this?
Cheers!
Steve
Rob Neff
Steve wrote:
>
> Uh Oh... A bit off topic, but hypothetically, what happens to honey
> when you boil it? Uh hypothetically, yeah that's right...
>
:) Basically it changes the flavor ... it also does a hot break, just
like it does when boiling wort ... this isn't altogether bad, as it will
result in better and quicker clarification, but it also chemically
alters some of the sugars
> What would be the best way to introduce something like honey or
> molasses into a brew? In this case, it has been suggested that the
> molasses be put directly into the secondary. Is there any need to mix
> or dilute it? Because it is so viscous, will the molasses sit on the
> bottom of the fermentation vessel, or will the yeast activity take
> care of this?
Please see a previous post in the thread, I believe in response to
Pennywise ....
Good luck with your hypothetical situation ... let us know how it turns
out :)
Steve
Reading is Fundamental. Probably why I always come up with these
"hypothetical" situations...
Cheers!
Steve
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