best way to add body?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

garrettbuckeye

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2009
Messages
120
Reaction score
20
Location
Youngstown
I recently brewed a stout that tasted perfect. It was just a simple 70/20/10% stout with an irish ale yeast. I mashed at 151 for an hour. It was force carbed at the proper temp and pressure, but it was very thin. What is the best way to add body without changing the flavor?

Mash a little higher? Will it still attenuate as well?
Add carapils or oates? Will it change the flavor? Will it be sweeter?
 
With 20% flaked barley it shouldn't be thin. Are you sure your thermometer is accurate?
 
On my humble noob opinion, raise your temp... You can go up to 155 for a little longer time maybe...

Regards
JLubbert
 
I don't know if i'm accurate, but alfa-amilase does promote sugars that are less fermentable than beta-amilase (dunno if my english is right). Taken this into account, try to get good conditions to alfa-amilase, so your gravity after fermentation is higher wich means more body.

Cheers
JLubbert
 
I would suggest mashing in the 154-155 area. You can also add about 5-10% golden naked oats for even more body.
 
I have checked the temp of a poured pint, and it matched the keezer's 55*F. I guess I will have to brew a few and decide. There seems to be a million variables. I just don't want to lose that nice dry finish.

The next challenge is to brew and imperial stout that ferments out a little more. I am pretty sure underpitching may be to blame. Back to back brews and pitching on the cake should help!
 
151 is going to be be a thin for most stouts. I'd bump that up to 154. It'll be just a little sweeter but with mor body. Also, it'll be a little less fermentable so it won't attenuate quite as much. Likely a few points higher fg.
 
151 is going to be be a thin for most stouts. I'd bump that up to 154. It'll be just a little sweeter but with mor body. Also, it'll be a little less fermentable so it won't attenuate quite as much. Likely a few points higher fg.

That's what i ment with the enzimes :D

Cheers! :mug:
 
I'm in the habit now to just add .5 lbs of Malto Dextrin to all my beers. Gives a good mouth feel and body w/o any additional flavors.
 
Good question, why not just mash warmer. In some of my beers, I'm not necessairly looking for a 'maltier' profile, which mashing high tends to give. So the simple solution is to use the malto. And to be honest, it's not that expensive :)
 
I don't know what your final gravity was or which yeast used, but I have great luck mashing for 45 minutes to an hour at 155*f, fly sparging with 180* water and fermenting with an English ale yeast between 68*-75*. If gives me the body without being a sweet beer and finishes consistently at 1.016. After fooling around to get to this recipe, I have used American Ale yeast and had to mash higher, messed with the grains, tried to "fix" it with fun adjuncts and ended up with the same recipe that has been used traditionally. Too dry gives to much ashy flavor, too sweet tastes like garbage.

And just so you know, I have also bumped this up to 160*f when I only had American yeast and it still fermented less than 1.014, which was too dry for my tastes. Good luck.
 
Why not save the money and just mash warmer? :confused:

I am not convinced it saves much money. The carapils costs maybe $.80, and to mash warmer that means you have to heat your strike water a couple of degrees warmer, so you're using more energy to do that, and hence more gas or electricity. I'm way too lazy to do the calculations, but in any case you're not saving more than a dollar unless your LHBS is ripping you off. Maybe if you are a commercial brewery and each batch costs you a couple grand, it would behoove you to investigate mashing at different temps instead of just tossing in some maltodextrine.

I think there's several ways to skin the cat. Sometimes, just changing the carbonation level a bit can have an effect on the perception of body.
 
The mash temp must go up, if you add maltodextrine, carapils..they are the same malt, if u mash at 151 you will have the same results thin body, but it will be sweeter stick to the same malt but 155 or maybe 158 max, what will happen is youll produce maltose which is not fermentable thus increasing body, and no need to add to grain bill
 
Using carapils and maltodextrin just seems dirty to me. They just seem like tricks to hide inadequate technique. It's your beer so do what you want, but I always found beer made with solid technique tastes better than beer with the cover ups.
 
Maybe use a portion of Munich with MO for a base malt? This with higher mash temps should help. Just did this on a session pale ale then heard the recent BN podcast with Jen Talley from squatters saying the same thing. 🍺
 
Using carapils and maltodextrin just seems dirty to me. They just seem like tricks to hide inadequate technique. It's your beer so do what you want, but I always found beer made with solid technique tastes better than beer with the cover ups.

cara-pils is the same as maltodexrtrin the malt was created and malted with the german purity law in mind, which such brewing would not allow any adjunct to boost body or alcohol, with this in mind its not a short cut or a trick to hide flaws as this malt creates a body naturally through enzymes.
 
Using carapils and maltodextrin just seems dirty to me. They just seem like tricks to hide inadequate technique. It's your beer so do what you want, but I always found beer made with solid technique tastes better than beer with the cover ups.

I don't understand why you would call it inadequate technique. It is just a different way to get a similar outcome.
 
If technique alone can address issues of head retention, it seems that using an ingredient whose sole purpose is to aid in inadequate head retention is a shortcut. While carapils may be "less dirty" than adding straight maltodextrin, neither of them feel right to me. Like I said though, it's your beer so do whatever you want with it.

As for reinheitsgebot, it has pretty much been tossed out the window by every home brewer and the vast majority of brewers worldwide, save the few whose styles are inherently "pure." We all do wheat beer, add the occasional rye, use spices ad nauseum, and almost no one bottle primes by adding speis.

Using DME to hit a missed OG is a cheat, there's no arguing that. I'd much rather let my beer go and see how it turns out than use a manufactured product, purpose-built to fix my mistake. Just me, someone who would rather drink a mistake that I made than drink a success that I used a band-aid to fix.
 
Back
Top