Using maltodextrin with concentrate

So, I keep a keg of water in the keezer, and ordered several varieties of the Prairie Moon extracts. I have found the resulting product to be a little 'thin'. I know some people use maltodextrin for their soda purposes, but I'm curious if anyone uses it with concentrates?

To be clear, I use 1 qt bottles with 1oz draw pumps to pump concentrate into glasses and then top it off with plain water that is kegged and carbed.

The 'thin' feeling I get is universal, but most noticeable in the root beer (that 'creamy' feeling is missing if ya know what I mean).

Any thoughts or opinions on quantity to add, and whether to add it to the concentrate or the keg of water?

I've observed in the forums that:
-'Maltodextrin is 1/10th as sweet as sucrose', so it's not much of a sweetener.
-'Maltodextrin is non fermentable'
-'Maltodextrin is more of a 'thickener' than a 'sweetener''

What psi is the water set at? Does the carbonated water taste good by itself?

I would think you could mix up a bit of malto dextrin in some water to test its thickening ability.

Is the concentrate watery enough to mix with a small amount of the malto dextrin before adding the shot of carbed water?

Pretty sure I've got the water @ 25-30 PSI - it's somewhat metallic, but not bad... I'm not much of one for soda water so I'm probably not the best judge. I wouldn't say that I have any 'problem' with the water, though.

I may just stop by the LHBS and grab a pound of MD and do some tests.

The concentrate is fairly liquidy, but the MD may just push it over the top... hadn't considered that, but somehow I was thinking the answer to this would be to add it to the keg and not the concentrate. Probably just because in those ratios, it's probably much easier to control.

I agree on adding it to the water. Adding to the concentrate probably would not dissolve in properly if it that sugary.

I keep thinking of adding a soda to the line up, and it would be nice to do fountain style drinks like this.

However you add it, make sure you heat it up in a bit of water to dissolve it. I wasn't thinking when I added it to a small bottle of my concentrate and it didn't really dissolve. I expect it to work if I get the balance right though.

leviticus said:

Pretty sure I've got the water @ 25-30 PSI - it's somewhat metallic, but not bad... I'm not much of one for soda water so I'm probably not the best judge. I wouldn't say that I have any 'problem' with the water, though.

I may just stop by the LHBS and grab a pound of MD and do some tests.

The concentrate is fairly liquidy, but the MD may just push it over the top... hadn't considered that, but somehow I was thinking the answer to this would be to add it to the keg and not the concentrate. Probably just because in those ratios, it's probably much easier to control.

Click to expand...

How did you tests work out I am just getting into making my own soda and ordered some Prairie Moon concentrates. What kind of a mix did you finally come up with when you add maltodextrin with the water and sugar? What is your recipe for using Prairie Moon concentrates and adding MD.

I used a teaspoon (maybe a half, I think) of guar gum in my root beer syrup concentrate I make to get that good smooth mouth feel. I added it at the end of my cooking so it would dissolve well. Fair warning to start with a little or your syrup will get too thick.

Old thread, but I thought I'd come back here and answer a question, since I just had the same one myself. Ironically, I figured out how much I used by finding the old bag of MD and weighing it!

Apparently I used 8 oz for a 5 gallon keg and as I recall was satisfied with the results. I'm recuperating the keezer right now, so I just threw the other 8 oz into another keg. Root beer concentrate is on the lineup. Do people combine that with vanilla?