Increasing beer chew with all-grain

I''m stepping up this spring from partial mash to all-grain brewing and I'm wondering what the best way is to increase mouthfeel and head retention. I use carapils in my partial mash recipes, as well as a higher mash temp to increase unfermentable sugars. Question is, do people still bother with carapils for all-grain, or rely solely on crystal malts and higher mash temps?

I use Maltodextrin in some of my stouts to get that "chewy" mouth feel and mash at 154ish. 4oz per 5 gallons works well.

The answer is, in short, yes.

You could have even been using crystal (caramel) malts in your partials and gained body and head retention. Carapils just seems to be purpose built for it. Even consider 5 to 10% wheat or rye additions, that would help too without throwing much flavor in the mix. Though I have no personal experience, what transamguy77 put out there is usually mentioned in related topic threads.

DSorenson said:

The answer is, in short, yes.

You could have even been using crystal (caramel) malts in your partials and gained body and head retention. Carapils just seems to be purpose built for it. Even consider 5 to 10% wheat or rye additions, that would help too without throwing much flavor in the mix. Though I have no personal experience, what transamguy77 put out there is usually mentioned in related topic threads.

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I use crystals as well in my PM batches, though always find a little carapils helps especially for head retention. Do you think i can eliminate it for AG, or is it still a good idea to include? Transamguy77, I tried maltodextrin as well but found it didn't work as well for me. Granted, I think the one time I used it I probably overdid it a tad...

I brew all-grain use about 8 oz of Carapils in most of my brews, anything with a 10lb. plus grain bill. It does help with head and mouthfeel. Although I don't use it in all. If I'm brewing a lower alcohol, summer lawnmower beer, I usually leave it out of that. I notice a difference for sure. Without it they tend to give me more of a thirst quenching effect.

To be honest with you, I hardly ever use Carapils unless I am formulating a low to medium gravity beer that might not have enough oomph on it's own. I just recently used it in a mild recipe with an OG of 1.045, for instance. I have several beers that just use a base malt that, with proper conditioning and suitable fridge time, have produced perhaps the best foam I have seen in my homebrews.

There is no harm with using carapils, I merely shy away from it because I am a bit of a base malt purist. My feeling is that in general people get hung up on specialty malts. Though they are important for certain styles of beer and I use them plenty myself, beer has a tendency of exhibiting the appropriate traits if properly cared for. If you are using a fair amount roasted malts they do tend to kill head retention, so feel free to try to circumvent that.

Torrified or unmalted wheat will increase dextrins thus leading to a "chewier" feel

I throw in 3-4% carapils for thicker mouthfeel in some of my recipes. Head retention and lacing on the glass are always much better with the carapils, but that's not to say my beers are lacking when I leave the carapils out. I still get good head retention without it, but it's better when I use it. My decision to use carapils is usually based on wanting the mouthfeel it provides with little impact on the flavor. Mashing higher will leave me with a thicker but sweeter beer, and sometimes I don't want the added sweetness, just the mouthfeel. That's when I use carapils.

I like to add ingredients with higher levels of protein to give beers a little more body. Things like wheat (torrified or malted) and flaked barley are my favorites

Wheat, and or carapils here.

Cheers

Whatever everyone else has said so far: go with less than 5% carapils or flaked barley - flaked rye if you're feeling especially scandalous!