Dry but with body

How do extract homebrewers play around with the ingredients to make a dry beer? Dry is one thing, I would also want the beer to have some proper body and mouth feel?

Anyone has tried anything along what I have described?

I think the things you are shooting for are mutually exclusive.

Dry beers have low FG. Fuller bodied beers have high FG.

The only simple way to dry out an extract beer without losing body is to use dextrose or some other brewing sugar in small quantities.

david_42 said:

The only simple way to dry out an extract beer without losing body is to use dextrose or some other brewing sugar in small quantities.

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That won't really work though, will it?

Adding a near 100% fermentable sugar will dry it out, but it does so by making more alcohol which thins the beer out (loss of gravity).

How about adding some maltodextrin?

Nurmey said:

How about adding some maltodextrin?

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That will add body... making it less dry.

I think this is more a question of balance. If you don't want a beer dry, you raise the FG. If you find a higher FG to be too sweet, you balance it with either bitterness or alcohol or both.

I believe carbonation also plays a part. Higher carbonation makes for a lighter mouth feel, while lower carbonation can lend a fuller mouth feel. Like Bobby said, it's about finding a balance of all the elements.
Last year BYO had a pretty good article on the subject.

Walker said:

I think the things you are shooting for are mutually exclusive.

Dry beers have low FG. Fuller bodied beers have high FG.

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In other words, is it right to say that the "body" of the beer is related to the amount of sugars left behind? All dry beers have little to no body then? This is not something I would enjoy. Perhaps I should find ways to have some "perceived body".

Bobby_M said:

I think this is more a question of balance. If you don't want a beer dry, you raise the FG. If you find a higher FG to be too sweet, you balance it with either bitterness or alcohol or both.

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I would be inclined to agree. Perhaps what I am looking for is a full bodied beer that isn't sweet. That would require me to make it hoppy.

ChrisS68 said:

I believe carbonation also plays a part. Higher carbonation makes for a lighter mouth feel, while lower carbonation can lend a fuller mouth feel. Like Bobby said, it's about finding a balance of all the elements.
Last year BYO had a pretty good article on the subject.

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Thanks. Do you have any idea what's the name of the article? I should go dig it out.

Oops. It was actually in the September 2008 issue.
"Mastering Mouthfeel" or "Mouthfeel in Beer"

I certainly think it is possible to have both. Heck, the BJCP style "Dry Stout" pretty much proves it. The body is defined as "Medium-light to medium-full," yet the name of the beer tells you it has to be dry. I think of dry as being devoid of sweetness, with a drying feeling in the mouth -- in this case, it comes from the high % roasted barley in the beer. In other products, as mentioned, high carbonation plays into it.

The increased body is often due to beta-glucans (gum/starch-like polysaccharides) introduced through the use of flaked barley. These contribute no sweetness, but give the beer its thick, creamy mouthfeel.