molasses?

[wetdog]

A few recipes I've come across call for molasses as an ingredient.
I've not been able to find it in any of the usual supermarkets although Asda do sell molasses sugar
so could you use that instead, or if not what could be used in its place or does anyone know where to get molasses?

[Garth]

my mate had some for feeding fishing bait or something, I think it came from a pet food shop.

I think black treacle is similar, but I may be corrected

[boingy]

I've seen molasses recently in either Morissons or Sainsburys. Look beside the golden syrup and treacle.

[jubby]

Try health food shops. Some home brew shops sell it also.

[pantsmachine]

I did a brew using dark treacle 1 half kg of and it took a LONG time for the treacle to blend in. If i used it again i would use a 1/4 kg in 23ltrs.

[Flaming Barrel]

Try health food shops for molasses, treacle is the same stuff you can buy lyons at supermarkets. Ive used teacle in a few brews, Choc treacle stout & 2 x brakspear special, if you add it half way through boil, rather than 15 from the end it has more time for the strong flavours to get together, imo.
treacle is english name for american molasses, i reckon.

[Subsonic]

Ok, I actually have a lot of experience in using molasses,but don't ask me why... Raw sugar (muscovado sugar) was not refined in Barbados or Jamaica but sent to England. Sugarcane juice was concentrated by heating until it crystallised naturally - the liquid syrup remaining was the first molasses. The crystallised dark brown sugar was packed into barels and sent to England. On the way, more syrup settled, leaving a light brown muscovado at the top of the barrel, and a dark brown muscovado at the bottom. This is the origin of the light brown and dark brown sugars in our supermarkets. These days they are white sugar with added molasses (3% & 6.5%). The molasses after the first crystallisation is high in sugar and can be further processed. Not certain if this was done in the past. In any case the early molasses used for early rums was richer in sugar than our present day blackstrap molasses as the extraction was not as efficient.I think A grade molasses contains some 75% sugar. There is also B, C and then Blackstrap. I find that the closest thing to molasses is muscovado UNLESS you can get molasses from health shops or horse feed shops. But beware, some contain yeast inhibitors. Oh I stole the above text from another forum I belong too (Wal forgive me!) The best I found was 'Muscovado' available from most supermarkets. It is pretty close 'taste wise' to molasses I reckon. Oh, and for the record
http://www.innercirclerum.com/index.html I think this is the best use of molasses

[Flaming Barrel]

I mean black treacle when i said treacle.

[wetdog]

the molasses sugar I saw in Asda was very dark so I presume molasses is very dark too

[Flaming Barrel]

Pitch black, its gonna be a dark brew.
I put molasses sugar in some turbo cider & its very dark brown, (Too dark for cider)!

[pantsmachine]

3kg Marris otter grain
0.5 kg crushed crystal malt
0.5 kg wheat malt
0.5kg vienna malt
0.5kg dark spray malt
1kg dark brown sugar
460 g black treacle
80g challanger hops
50g perle hops
Nottingham yeast

This was my recipe for my first AG in July, turned out at 7.75%ABV. I've still got about 10 bottles left, its a treat with caution dark malty beer. Think i'll try one when i get back home and see if that treacles backed off any more....

[EportJake]

I used molasses in a brew a couple of weeks back and it seems to be very similar to black treacle - perhaps a little thicker and a slightly stronger taste. Think I got mine from Holland @ Barrett.

[wetdog]

hmm, I've got a tin of black treacle in the cupboard. might as well use that first if its similar to molasses. I shouldn't think its going to change the taste of the beer too much

[pantsmachine]

What recipe are you planning on using? I was surprised by how much i could taste the treacle in my ale. It really is a strong flavour, i suppose it all depends on what style you are going for. If you are aiming for a malt dominated beer you will get it. If you are hoping to get any hop aroma forget the treacle. As i said previously its a stronger flavour than you would imagine(at least it was for me). I would consider a 1/2 tin in 23ltr batch to be plenty and see if it blends in. Sadly i can't give an update at the moment on my brew to see if its mellowed further as its in Scotland and i'm in Spain. Last brew i used lyles golden syrup(2 tins in 23 ltrs) instead so i am looking forward to trying that out when i get back to see how much flavour it imparts. I will do my dark dragon ale again but next time i will 1/2 the treacle,lose the kg of sugar and DME and up the MO with maybe a bit of amber malt as well.

[wetdog]

What recipe are you planning on using?

there are one or two in Dave Lines' book that use molasses. The one I was going to do was was a Greene King Strong Pale Ale which calls for 2oz of it.