How can I get that Nice Creamy Taste

Okay, I'm now on my 8th batch of extract with seeping grains. I want to work out my consistency and get my procedures down before I make the jump to all grain (hopefully this fall/winter). I've been very satisfiyed with every batch I've made so far. My absolute favorite was an Old Speckled Hen clone. I'm really into Irish and English Ales at the moment and I really like the smooth creamy taste of the original OSH. My clone was pretty good but lacked a bit of body the original has. I'm guessing I could experiment around with different seeping grains (types and quantity) and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to add a bit of smooth creamy body to my ales?

Checked Wiki...would anyone recommend adding a seeping grain with some good mouthfeel properties?

Thanks again....Scott

CaraPils for a steeping grain or add Lactose. Both are unfermentable and will give it a more creamy mouthfeel.

I too am on a quest for nice creamy beers.

The bottom line is you need to keg with beer gas (Nitrogen + Carbondioxide), which is how Guinness and Kilkenny are made creamy and I think OSH might be too.

I've just made Cheesefoods caramel cream ale recipe which included lactose and it is rather thick and creamy, but in a different way to the British ales listed above. Lactose is unfermentable milk sugar so it will also make the beer rather sweet.

I'd love to know what happens if you drop a tiny bit of liquid nitrogen in the bottle before capping in an attempt to create beer gas in bottles. I suspect they would end up mode deadly than hand grenades though.

Maltodextrin can also help. It's easy to use.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=30394

http://www.beer-wine.com/product_info.asp?productID=896&sectionID=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dextrin

syankey said:

Checked Wiki...would anyone recommend adding a seeping grain with some good mouthfeel properties?

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How about oatmeal? Allow me to quote from the scriptures. (Book of Palmer!)

12.2 Other Grains and Adjuncts

Oatmeal 1 L Oats are wonderful in a porter or stout. Oatmeal lends a smooth, silky mouthfeel and a creaminess to a stout that must be tasted to be understood. Oats are available whole, steel-cut (i.e. grits), rolled, and flaked. Rolled and flaked oats have had their starches gelatinized (made soluble) by heat and pressure, and are most readily available as "Instant Oatmeal" in the grocery store. Whole oats and "Old Fashioned Rolled Oats" have not had the degree of gelatinization that Instant have had and must be cooked before adding to the mash. "Quick" oatmeal has had a degree of gelatinization but does benefit from being cooked before adding to the mash. Cook according to the directions on the box (but add more water) to ensure that the starches will be fully utilized. Use 0.5-1.5 lb. per 5 gal batch. Oats need to be mashed with barley malt (and its enzymes) for conversion.

Maltodextrin sounds like a worthy experiment. Sounds like I could boil and ferment in primary as usual then rack into 2 3 gallon secondarys, use one as the control and the other a Matlodextrin experiement for a side by side comparison. I'm thinking I want to stay away from Lactose...I don't want my OSH clone to be too sweet.

The other questions that popped into my mind was the signature way a Guiness or a OSH (at least from a can) settles out. I'd like to be able to get that beautiful cascade of carbonation making its way to a nice creamy head.

I'm assuming this is a property of a grain. Would steeping CaraPils possible add this property as well as some additional mouthfeel?

flaked oats were the first thing that sprang to my mind but you'll need to partial mash

syankey said:

The other questions that popped into my mind was the signature way a Guiness or a OSH (at least from a can) settles out. I'd like to be able to get that beautiful cascade of carbonation making its way to a nice creamy head.

Click to expand...

I don't know for sure but I think that's the nitrogen doing that

Muss said:

I don't know for sure but I think that's the nitrogen doing that

Click to expand...

This is correct. A nitrogen atom is much, much smaller than a CO2 molecule, which is why the beer appears to "cascade" inside the glass, as opposed to the all-too-simple CO2 bubble rising. To achieve this property in your beer, you would have to keg with nitrogen, which requires different fittings/guages than CO2 does. Eventually I am going to make the leap to nitrogen kegging, but not any time soon! I just can't get enough of that cascade effect, but since I'm fairly new to brewing, I can't justify the expense!

So, here's a list of beers I recall that cascade:

• Guinness
• Boddingtons
• Belhaven Scotish Ale
• Wexford Irish Cream [might be wrong about this one, it's been too long]
• Old Speckeled Hen
• Youngs Double Chocolate Stout & Outmeal Stout

I'm sure there is more, but that's all I can seem to remember at the moment. If anyone would care to add to the list, I'm always open to a new cascading beer!

only thing i can add is that i believe it is a co2/nitrogen mix...60/40 or 40/60 or something...

i want to do this for my friend's coffee porter, probably before next years desert trip

At this moment going to a Nitrogen Keg set up isn't going to happen. My local hombrew shop has the metal mini kegs with a carbonation setup that uses the small CO2 or N2 cartriges. Althought is sounds like I still may not get the desired cascade effect or the very fine head (I'm understanding this is a product of the Nitrogen, the tap, or the widget?).

But it still sounds like a good experiement to conduct. Anyone had any negative comments regarding these mini keg setups?

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=4898

Luckly I live in Cincinnati where Listerman Manufacturing is located and have seen these on their store shelfs.

Those mini-kegs sound primo! You could fill a few mini-kegs with the same brew and experiment with different mixes of CO2/Nitrogen in each one.

orfy said:

Maltodextrin can also help. It's easy to use.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=30394

http://www.beer-wine.com/product_info.asp?productID=896&sectionID=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dextrin

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My recommendation as well. Made my Porter really stand out.

Using honey or even a blended honey cause it's still convertible sugars. Grains convert at approximately 67% and honey/sugars/syrups convert at 93%. Using the honey at the start of the boil will Jack up the alcohol content. Add it later in the boil and it increases the honey flavor. No matter when you add it, it makes the beer really creamy and rich. When you prime the beer for bottling add 2 tablespoons of honey to the priming sugar. It masks the taste of the priming sugar gives a much nicer head. When you do your grains (all grain or exract) add a pound of flaked wheat or flaked oats. It doesn't impact the taste but enhances the head of the beer. Better lacing with a richer head. 5 gallon batch add 2 pounds of honey. The Webstaurantstore.com has great prices on bulk honey. I have gotten honey for beer and mead there for $15.00 for 5lbs.

DAAB said:

flaked oats were the first thing that sprang to my mind but you'll need to partial mash

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I've steeped flaked oats in wheat beer with good success.

I did 1 gallon of flaked oats for a 5 gallon batch.

NCSU_Brewer said:

I've steeped flaked oats in wheat beer with good success.

I did 1 gallon of flaked oats for a 5 gallon batch.

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Flaked oats will give you a "slick" mouthfeel. Flaked barley should give more of a "creamy" mouthfeel.

I think prolly 9.5 yrs later the OP has it figured out.

dtarrance said:

This is correct. A nitrogen atom is much, much smaller than a CO2 molecule, which is why the beer appears to "cascade" inside the glass, as opposed to the all-too-simple CO2 bubble rising. To achieve this property in your beer, you would have to keg with nitrogen, which requires different fittings/guages than CO2 does. Eventually I am going to make the leap to nitrogen kegging, but not any time soon! I just can't get enough of that cascade effect, but since I'm fairly new to brewing, I can't justify the expense!

So, here's a list of beers I recall that cascade:

• Guinness
• Boddingtons
• Belhaven Scotish Ale
• Wexford Irish Cream [might be wrong about this one, it's been too long]
• Old Speckeled Hen
• Youngs Double Chocolate Stout & Outmeal Stout

I'm sure there is more, but that's all I can seem to remember at the moment. If anyone would care to add to the list, I'm always open to a new cascading beer!

Click to expand...

John smiths smooth
murphys stout
Also a number of years ago, i had a friend who worked for John Smiths and Murphys had produced a prototype STOUT of the widget in a bottle

The bottles he gave me had just plain white labels, but the stout was so good.

That was over 20 years ago, low and behold i finally saw some of these bottles about 6 years ago but none since.