I searched for turbinado and read several threads. clearest info was from Denny stating that it has a stronger taste than light brown sugar (if im not mistaken) and that it will work out well.
Am planning on using it in a high alcohol pale strong belgian, any recommendations or concerns? I always steered away from brown sugar in brewing because people said the added molasses did not work out well. astringent, harsh flavours.
Turbinado is unrefined (or partially refined) sugar so it keeps most (or all) impurities including most of it’s molasses.
Brown sugar is refined sugar (aka white sugar) with molasses added back in to make it brown. The refining process removes most (if not all) impurities.
Light brown has less molasses added back in than dark brown so I can see where Denny’s description would be fairly accurate.
It will work great for you as long as you want the richness it brings. Ive decided I prefer something more neutral for styles like you mention.
Curious given my affinity for molasses in imperial stouts and even in the Dubbel I’m sipping right now.
i’ll update. it looks like i’ll be using it in a belgian. relatively soon. and i think it will be exclusively malt and turbinado. so should be a decent test batch
I use both brown sugar and molasses in my English Barleywine. However, I guess that is not a bad thing using both as the beer won two consecutive BOS at large regional competitions. I don’t notice any astringency in the beer.
I adapted an Old Peculier clone recipe to include a fair amount of molasses, and I really like the flavor that the molasses adds.
used 1lb of turbinado along with 1lb of D-180 candi syrup. of course the dark syrup overshadows the turbinado most likely, but its very fruity with no off-flavours, no molasses suggestion. not bottled yet, just a sampling
posting this to give a purpose to this thread and update.
I’m two weeks into fermenting a Belgian strong that included two pounds of turbinado in the boil. At this time, there’s no discernible molasses flavor.