What gives beer its mouthfeel?

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MustGoFast

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So I was sampling my Gonzo Clone from my flask (after I took my FG and put it in the secondary).

It's pretty sweet a little astringent although I thought that about my last batch at this point too and I think those things will fix themselves with age. My last thought though was that it had a pretty thin mouthfeel.

One of the things I love about a big porter is a nice thick creamy mouthfeel to it. What causes that in a beer anyway???
 
MustGoFast said:
So I was sampling my Gonzo Clone from my flask (after I took my FG and put it in the secondary).

It's pretty sweet a little astringent although I thought that about my last batch at this point too and I think those things will fix themselves with age. My last thought though was that it had a pretty thin mouthfeel.

One of the things I love about a big porter is a nice thick creamy mouthfeel to it. What causes that in a beer anyway???
Click to expand...

Body/mouthfeel comes from dextrins, the longer chain sugars that are not fermentation.
 
What I have seen in my porters is that time is what gives it the mouthfeel. They start out thin and when they mature the mouthfeel really improves.
 
I have had two beers that out of primary had real thin mouthfeel but after they were conditioned for three weeks they had very nice body so I would just wait and see what happens
 
MustGoFast said:
I need more research as it appears that my question was answered, but I sure didn't understand it.
Click to expand...

Basically picture your brew as part fermentable, part not. It's controlling the unfermentable part that increases/decreases mouthfeel and head retention. I wouldn't judge a beer as a problem from a gravity sample though. It's great to taste your samples, but realize you are not tasting your finished product. Reserve judgement until it's fully conditioned and at serving temperature...
 
If you are brewing from extracts, the company making the extracts has control of how fermentable that extract will be and you just have to use it as is. You can add some unfermentable sugars to increase the body by steeping carapils which will not change the flavor noticeably. If you brew all grain, you control how fermentable the wort becomes by controlling the temperature of the mash. You can also add the carapils to get even more.
 
Carapils are a type of malted grain that are prepared so they have sugars already converted which are primarily long chain sugars (dextrines) than have no discernible sweetness and are not fermentable by the yeast we use to make beer. Carapils is used for body and head formation/stability.
 
Carbonation also plays an important part in mouthfeel. Even my stouts taste thin when I sample the samples I take to test for FG. Once the beer is carbed, it has body and the mouthfeel is right.
 

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