Maltodextrin Substitute?

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gravlbely

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I'm brewing a porter today and wanted to add maltodextrin but my LHBS doesn't keep a supply of the stuff and I was wondering what I can use as a substitute. Possibly: LME, Molasses, Maple Syrup, etc. I've never used maltodextrin before in a beer so I have no idea. However, I've taken a gal. of 1st runnings of a stout, boiled it down for an hour and a half to get a syrup and added it to the last 20 mins. of the boil before. Came out great. Should I just do this with my porter?
 
gravlbely said:
I'm brewing a porter today and wanted to add maltodextrin but my LHBS doesn't keep a supply of the stuff and I was wondering what I can use as a substitute. Possibly: LME, Molasses, Maple Syrup, etc. I've never used maltodextrin before in a beer so I have no idea. However, I've taken a gal. of 1st runnings of a stout, boiled it down for an hour and a half to get a syrup and added it to the last 20 mins. of the boil before. Came out great. Should I just do this with my porter?
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Maltodextin gives you body and mouthfeel. You definitely do not want to use molasses and maple syrup as a sub. This will probably give you the opposite of what you want. Try flaked wheat, flaked barley, or carapils.
 
jmo88 said:
Maltodextin gives you body and mouthfeel. You definitely do not want to use molasses and maple syrup as a sub. This will probably give you the opposite of what you want. Try flaked wheat, flaked barley, or carapils.
Click to expand...

I'm actually brewing BM's black pearl porter https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f126/black-pearl-porter-ag-24243/. It calls for maltodextrin and lactose in the boil. I'm already using flaked oats in the mash. I don't really want to change the grain bill, that's why I'm looking for a substitute in the boil. Maybe I should just do the boil down method I originally did with the stout?
 
The only substitute for maltodextrin is to use a dextrin malt in the mash. The other adjuncts you listed will all ferment out and make the beer drier.

Since you liked the results you got with the stout, why not try it in the porter? Boiling down wort creates unfermentable complex sugars.
 
I'm gonna do the boil down method this time and get some maltodextin for the next batch and compare the two. The only thing is, I'll have to adjust for pulling out a gal from the first runnings and it'll be hard to recreate w/out doing so and truly compare the two. Oh well, RDWHAHB, right? BTW, I found Lactose at my local health foods store, and they said they would start carrying Maltodextrin if I asked them too.
 
I don't think honey should be on a list of purported "maltodextrin substitutes" as most brewers presume "unfermentable" as the very first character of note, and honey is pretty much the complete opposite of that...

Cheers!
 
I've added a pound of maltodextrin exactly twice to ~6.5 gallon batches, and detected its presence as added mouthfeel or body exactly zero times. All it does in my experience is increase the FG.
 
day_trippr said:
I don't think honey should be on a list of purported "maltodextrin substitutes" as most brewers presume "unfermentable" as the very first character of note, and honey is pretty much the complete opposite of that...

Cheers!
Click to expand...
Indeed a ferment-able, however this search came up when looking for a substitute so since I am allowed to post I did. Be it a beer application or not. You never know someone else could be looking for a substitute and this thread comes up without that info....
 
smcinco said:
Let’s hope they got it already.
Click to expand...
I noticed it was a necro post but just adding current information in response to @Bubbles2 post
Bubbles2 said:
Indeed a ferment-able, however this search came up when looking for a substitute so since I am allowed to post I did. Be it a beer application or not. You never know someone else could be looking for a substitute and this thread comes up without that info....
Click to expand...
 

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