Question about carapils and maltodextrin

Is using carapils and maltodextrine together in the same recipe overkill? The last couple of batches, extract and all grain, I added 8 oz of carapils and 4 oz of malto.

Head retention is great and body is pretty good. Just wondering if I will lose anything by deleting one or the other.




Thanks

If you like it, then it's not overkill!

Maltodextrine is a 'thickener' so it would make a fully body in the beer. I've never used it in beer, but I've used it in root beer.

Carapils is a dextrine malt, which also supplies body as well as head retention. If using .5 pound isn't enough, adding the maltodextrine makes up the difference I guess.

I've used 1 pound of carapils in a Bohemian pilsner (otherwise, I rarely use it) and it was great in that.

I bought a pound package of maltodextrine at a shop a couple years ago. The label said "Maltdextrine (carapils)" so the two are closely related if not exactly the same.

RM-MN said:

I bought a pound package of maltodextrine at a shop a couple years ago. The label said "Maltdextrine (carapils)" so the two are closely related if not exactly the same.

Click to expand...

But that was a bag of grain, right? As was mentioned dextrin malt is another name for carapils. Here is morebeer description of maltodextrin, it's a powder and not the same thing:

"Our maltodextrin is composed of .5% dextrose, 2.5% Maltose, 3.5% maltoriose, 93.5% higher saccaharides, and is made from corn"

Yes it was grain. I was surprised to see it labeled that way.

So I boiled about 4 oz of maltodextrin in 3 or so ounces of water for 5 minutes and cooled. Added it to the keg and stirred.

The first pull from the keg clogged the dip tube but eventually cleared. Waited 2 hours and pulled again.

Results: The mouthfeel has definitely improved but I think it may have dumbed down the flavor a little. I am goin to wait and try again on Friday night to see if the flavor improves or the mouthfeel holds.

Note to self: remember next time to do this on brew day or kegging day.

You don't need either in an extract ale. The equivalent would be like using a roux to further thicken up potato soup, which should already be fairly thick without help from a roux.

Extract beers rarely have issues with body or head retention. Extra Light and Light Extracts are typically made with 2-row pale and Carapils. So it is very redundant to add more carapils on top of what is already in the extract. Additionally, the grist used to create the extract was most likely mashed in the mid 150s.

Think of maltodextrine as the extract version of carapils. Not exact (but almost exact), but the effects are pretty much identical- increase head retention and body without adding flavor or fermentable sugars