Influencing mouth feel?

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MTate37

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How can you do it? My first batch has been bottled for the weeks now and I'm very happy with how the taste has progressed. The recipe is an extract Hyland Oregon Pale Ale clone from my LHBS with specially grains and the hops notched up a bit. Not my preferred style, but I wanted a recipe that would be ready in a relatively short period of time.

Anyway, I'm not very satisfied with the mouth feel of the beer. It's so thin that I almost feel compelled to chug it. Are there any simple steps that I can take to give a little more mouth feel to future batches?

Thanks!
 
Some general things:

Extract -- you don't know exactly how the maltster produced it, so it could be more or less fermentable than a recipe expects
Grains -- Carapils, Carafoam, Carahell, and wheat are the most common ways to add body and mouthfeel to brews
Sugars -- adding Lactose or Malto-Dextrine to the last 10 minutes of the boil is a method to use too, lactose adds sweetness and a bit of body, Malto-Dextrine adds body and mouthfeel

For all-grain, controlling your mash temperature determines the final mouthfeel. Low mashing makes a drier beer.

If you do extract, you can partial mash with the above grains or add the sugars. Ask your LHBS what they may recommend. They could point you to a completely different brew that could still be ready quickly. Good luck!
 
MTate37 said:
How can you do it? My first batch has been bottled for the weeks now and I'm very happy with how the taste has progressed. The recipe is an extract Hyland Oregon Pale Ale clone from my LHBS with specially grains and the hops notched up a bit. Not my preferred style, but I wanted a recipe that would be ready in a relatively short period of time.

Anyway, I'm not very satisfied with the mouth feel of the beer. It's so thin that I almost feel compelled to chug it. Are there any simple steps that I can take to give a little more mouth feel to future batches?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

kylevester said:
Some general things:

Extract -- you don't know exactly how the maltster produced it, so it could be more or less fermentable than a recipe expects
Grains -- Carapils, Carafoam, Carahell, and wheat are the most common ways to add body and mouthfeel to brews
Sugars -- adding Lactose or Malto-Dextrine to the last 10 minutes of the boil is a method to use too, lactose adds sweetness and a bit of body, Malto-Dextrine adds body and mouthfeel

For all-grain, controlling your mash temperature determines the final mouthfeel. Low mashing makes a drier beer.

If you do extract, you can partial mash with the above grains or add the sugars. Ask your LHBS what they may recommend. They could point you to a completely different brew that could still be ready quickly. Good luck!
Click to expand...


^also flaked wheat, oats, etc. but they do add to the haze.
 
kylevester said:
Some general things:

Extract -- you don't know exactly how the maltster produced it, so it could be more or less fermentable than a recipe expects
Grains -- Carapils, Carafoam, Carahell, and wheat are the most common ways to add body and mouthfeel to brews
Click to expand...

Will these grains change the taste of the recipe, our do they only increase the body? How much should be added to improve bay for a 5 gallon batch?
 
To add to the confusion, if you use one of the flaked grains you need a base grain to go along with it to convert the starches to sugar.
If I understand it correctly, 2 row malted barley has enough enzymes to convert an additional 25% starch to sugar along with its own conversion.
So to convert 1/2 lb of flaked oats I would need 2 lbs of 2 row malted barley.
Is that correct?
 
menerdari said:
To add to the confusion, if you use one of the flaked grains you need a base grain to go along with it to convert the starches to sugar.
If I understand it correctly, 2 row malted barley has enough enzymes to convert an additional 25% starch to sugar along with its own conversion.
So to convert 1/2 lb of flaked oats I would need 2 lbs of 2 row malted barley.
Is that correct?
Click to expand...

To be honest I have done a 50/50 2-row to flaked wheat (BM's blue moon clone) and I haven't had an issue with non conversion. Its hard to find a realistic ratio for this. I have also heard to use 6-row in this case, but another article I read said modern 2-row is just as equipped with enzymes.

So pretty much YMMV.
 
I heard you could use DME instead of priming sugar to prime and that would get you better mouthfeel. No idea how much to use instead of sugar or if it works in all situations, if at all. I was planning on trying when I brew a Guinness clone because I heard (again, not sure of truth) that it would make for smaller bubbles and better mouthfeel to make up for the fact that I am going to bottle instead of kegging with nitrogen.

Again, not sure what the source was, but I do remember the source specifically talking about doing this for stouts/porters.

Anyone have any experience with DME instead of priming sugar? Thanks.
 
MTate37 said:
Will these grains change the taste of the recipe, our do they only increase the body? How much should be added to improve bay for a 5 gallon batch?
Click to expand...

Carapils/Carafoam won't. Carahell may, just a touch, I believe it's essentially the same as 10L crystal.

I generally add 1 lb of one of them to a batch and I've seen others here suggest .25 lbs as being enough.
 
All of the suggestions above are good, but one thing that a lot of people overlook is carbonation. You mentioned wanting a beer that would be ready quickly, but if you short-changed the bottle conditioning and it's under carbed, it will always taste a little thin. Before changing the recipe, I'd make sure it gets the full 3 weeks at room temp and a good 2 or 3 days in the fridge and taste again. You may find that it's a completely different beer. Of course, if you're sure they're properly carbonated, I'd start with 1/2 a pound of Carapils in the next batch and see where that gets you.
 
gr8shandini said:
All of the suggestions above are good, but one thing that a lot of people overlook is carbonation. You mentioned wanting a beer that would be ready quickly, but if you short-changed the bottle conditioning and it's under carbed, it will always taste a little thin. Before changing the recipe, I'd make sure it gets the full 3 weeks at room temp and a good 2 or 3 days in the fridge and taste again. You may find that it's a completely different beer. Of course, if you're sure they're properly carbonated, I'd start with 1/2 a pound of Carapils in the next batch and see where that gets you.
Click to expand...

The beer sat in primary for two weeks and last weekend they hit three weeks in the bottle. The beer has been sitting in my 70 degree garage since bottling, and the beer I had last night has been in the fridge since Friday night. I've tried a beer or two a week just to see how things progress. There has been a noticeable improvement in the flavor, and the beer has carbed, although I'm not quite sure if it is 'proper' since this is my first batch. The carbonation seems more fizzy than bubbly if that makes sense...like the bubbles are really small. I can pour with a little head, but it dissipates rather quickly. Does this sound like poor carbonation?
 
Don't know if it helps to make a judgment on the carbing, but here is a pic. I know, it's almost empty, but I just thought of it. As you can see there is virtually no lacing and those are tiny bottles on the top. I was able to get a good head when I poured, but I pretty much poured straight into the bottom of the glass. Is there anything here that is indicative of incomplete carbing?


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