millet for mouth feel?

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ponderingsage

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Hi, I am recently new to brewing and now with a few batches under my belt I would like to try to make a GF IPA for my housemate, who I have been torturing with the yummy brewing smells and she can hardly take it.

I was at a friends house and he was making a stout. I saw him grind up raw millet in a coffee grinder until it was a powder. He added this strait into the boil. He said it gave his beer a good mouth feel. Does anybody have experience trying this? seems worth a shot

GF beers seem always light in body and I wonder if this would help. I also plan on roasting grains for color as per another post.
thanks for any feedback.

Sage
 
I was at a friends house and he was making a stout. I saw him grind up raw millet in a coffee grinder until it was a powder. He added this strait into the boil. He said it gave his beer a good mouth feel. Does anybody have experience trying this? seems worth a shot

I wouldn't recommend boiling grain, be it pulverized or not. Will just add starch to your beer, not sure what that would do for mouthfeel, but I can't imagine it tasting very good.

In any case, depending on what you want for your IPA, dry is usually ok. If you want it sweeter, casanova is dead on the money, as usual.
 
Thanks for the info. I am assuming 80z for a 5 gal batch.maltodextrin. I will probably run the recipe by the forum for any other tips before brew day.
thanks.
 
Thanks for the info. I am assuming 80z for a 5 gal batch.maltodextrin. I will probably run the recipe by the forum for any other tips before brew day.
thanks.

First 8oz, not 80. Yes, it's a good amount for 5gal most of the time.

There is a guy in this forum who had a nice way to calculate exactly how many points malto-dextrin will give you. Maybe try search.
 
I believe you are referring to this post:

Maltodextrin (or Lactose if you're making a Cream Ale) is the real key to body in GF beers. Basically figure out the amount of non-fermentable sugars (sorghum syrup is 25% non-fermentable sugars, whereas rice extract is almost completely fermentable). Then add enough maltodextrin to raise the FG to the desired level.

Example:
I have a 6lb container of sorghum syrup and a 1.25 lb jar of rice extract. How much maltodextrin do I need to get a FG of 1.013 from my 5.25 gal batch of beer?

First Find the FG without Maltodextrin
6 lbs at 38 points per lbs per gal = 228 points

Assume sorghum is 25% non-fermentable (from Briess website), then that means 57 points of non-fermentables.

To get a FG of 1.013 from 5.25 gal that means you need a total of 68 points non-fermentables.

Take 57 from 68, that means you need 11 points of maltodextrin for your batch...or around 4-5 oz of maltodextrin powder (typically powder is about 40 points per pound).

This is a technique I've been using lately and it's been giving me perfect head on my beer that last just as long as it should.

Bonus:
OG on the above example would be about 1.055
 
I wouldn't recommend boiling grain, be it pulverized or not. Will just add starch to your beer, not sure what that would do for mouthfeel, but I can't imagine it tasting very good.

In any case, depending on what you want for your IPA, dry is usually ok. If you want it sweeter, casanova is dead on the money, as usual.

I would think that the extra starches would increase the mouthfeel...isn't that what oats do?

Or maybe not :confused:
 
I would think that the extra starches would increase the mouthfeel...isn't that what oats do?

Or maybe not :confused:

Mashing oats and boiling millet are not quite the same thing, I believe there are also sugars in flaked oats that create different tastes and a creamy mouthfeel.

I am not sure exactly what pulverizing and boiling millet would do, but here is a snippet from BYO about what decoction mashing does, which is essentially the same thing you are asking about...

The (in)famous decoction mash is frequently recommended when a brewer is in search of more malt flavor. Decoction mashes boil malt and — among analytical brewers who are not afraid of rocking the boat with unpopular ideas — are known to increase the astringent character associated with tannins.

Of course, even after a decoction, the grain is removed, so I don't know what the result looks like if you ferment with it too.

There is a very real contamination issue with crushing grain near your fermenters, but I am not sure this applies the same way.

Basically, please try it and let us know what the outcome is. By my own prediction, I do not see good things coming of it though.
 
Hi guys,

can I add maltodextrin at bottling or secondary to increase mouthfeel? I know its not fermentable so I will need another sugar at bottling aswell.

My beers are somewhat lacking in head and I want to try to improve that.

Cheers

Colm
 
Maltodextrin will improve head an head retention as well as mouthfeel. It can be added with the priming sugar. won't give you a Guinness head, but it helps.
 
Maltodextrin will improve head an head retention as well as mouthfeel. It can be added with the priming sugar. won't give you a Guinness head, but it helps.

Just to clarify on what David said, you can add it at anytime from the start of the boil onward. Make sure to boil it if you add it after the boil though, just like priming sugar.
 
Just to clarify on what David said, you can add it at anytime from the start of the boil onward. Make sure to boil it if you add it after the boil though, just like priming sugar.

+1 on that, I've forgotten to add it to the boil and added at bottling time along with the priming sugar- no problems with the beer
 
Just to clarify on what David said, you can add it at anytime from the start of the boil onward. Make sure to boil it if you add it after the boil though, just like priming sugar.

I am going to be using this for the first time next weekend. Making a barley wine.

I know nothing about the stuff. I grabbed an lb from my LHBS(Forgot to ask about use when another question came up), I am 5 gallon extra batching.
Should I use the whole pound?

Are my levels going to vary with gravity?

Is there an ideal time to add it?

I am not brewing gluten free BTW. It's a normal extract kit from my LHBS with specialty grains.
 
Warning on taking raw millet & grinding it. The outer husk has some bad things you don't want to consume, so make sure you use dehusked millet. I've been researching the idea - 50 lbs. of it from the feed & grain store for $12 - and my first batch is coming out now. That stuff REALLY expands in water, so watch it.
I used to live in Japan & really liked Asahi & Sapporo beers. Asahi has kind of a canny aftertaste I'd like to import into my gluten-free mix and I'm trying to replicate that, if anyone knows how.
Could it be from rice?
By the way, anyone else try making beer from millet?
 
BTW, from what I've read, one can grind the millet with husks & then put it into water and let the husks float away.
Another African way is to germinate the millet & then roast in patties to a desired brownness and taste.
 
I've never heard anything about millet husks. What's wrong with them?
 
Hardly remember what I read, but something to do with tannins, I think. Anyway, when you buy millet, it is USUALLY dehusked, I understand. Same with going to sprout it, husks should separate, I think.
Do you know how much millet to use for a 5 gal. batch? Will dehusked millet, as I have bought, sprout?
 
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