Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

I was going to hold this post off until tomorrow, but I couldn't keep misleading everyone like this. Red Hots were NOT my secret ingredient. It wasn't a complete fabrication; it was a very clever idea from my mother-in-law. However, I thought it was a little too risky for a project like this. And, I don't know how appetizing it would be. It could be alright. I might just try dropping a few red hots into a beer sometime and see how it goes.

Sorry guys, just a little early April Fool's joke.

Okay, so what did I really do? My short list consisted of Vanilla, Lactose, Coffee, Molasses and Bourbon. I didn't know how much vanilla to use, how to use it or when to add it so I crossed that off. Lactose was already being used by another blogger and I didn't want to be the guy who made the second best milk stout. Coffee can be tricky, but it made it to the final two. And I didn't know if adding bourbon soaked oak chips would be considered adding two ingredients or not. So, I went with molasses. I have wanted to use molasses in a beer for a long time. I love the smell and flavor of molasses and I think it would compliment a stout nicely.

I found a recipe using molasses (a Marzen beer, actually) in Sam Calagione's book Extreme Brewing. I could not find any high-grade light molasses so I went with Grandma's Original Molasses. I used one pound as called for in the book and added it at the ten minute mark. The cooled wort smelled of fantastic molasses, now we'll just have to wait and see what is left after fermentation.

I carelessly forgot to take a gravity reading just before the addition so I don't know how much this added. The OG officially weighed in at 1.064. Apparently molasses is 90% fermentables and the aroma and flavor are supposed to remain. I sure hope so.

Cheers, and again, sorry! DA