Better mouth feel for Coopers or Muntons kits?

[Riley Henderson]

Hello all and thanks in advance for any advice you can contribute
I've been brewing for about a year and a half now and am always slightly disappointed with the mouth feel my brews produce. For awhile I was making blondes but have switched up to doing more ales.

Does anyone have any advise on how to enhance the ales to get a better mouth feel?
Typically I used 2LBS of DME and a cup or 2 of dextrose just to bring the OG to about 1.042-1.046 in a 5 gallon batch.

Again any advice would be very much appreciated.
Cheers!

 

[RM-MN]

Step 1. Skip the dextrose, it is completely fermentable and will get you beer with a thinner mouthfeel.
Step 2. Replace the dextrose with LME or DME to get to the same OG. These will have unfermentable sugars to get you better mouthfeel.
Step 3. Add some Carapils or C-10, steeping them in the water before adding the DME. Put the grains (crushed) in a bag, either muslin or a polyester paint strainer bag into the water as you heat it, them remove the bag of grains when the temp reaches 170. You could stop the heating a little short of that and hold it for a while to get more from the grains,
Step 4. Learn to brew all grain where you have complete control of the flavors and mouthfeel. This isn't as difficult as you probably think. Look at the section labeled BIAB on HomeBrewTalk.

 

[STMF]

There are things like Brew Enhancers that could help you with that. If you got access to Coopers products they have a few different ones.

 

[Riley Henderson]

Step 1. Skip the dextrose, it is completely fermentable and will get you beer with a thinner mouthfeel.
Step 2. Replace the dextrose with LME or DME to get to the same OG. These will have unfermentable sugars to get you better mouthfeel

Yeah I know I should, its just a matter of getting DME in 1 LB bags not wanting to spend the extra for 1 LB when I only use a cup or 2. meanwhile I already have a bag of dextrose that I primarily use as priming sugar when bottling.

 

[Calder]

Replace the sugar with extract. Sugar is 100% fermentable and will leave the beer thin. Extract will leave some unfermentable sugars that will make the beer more 'fuller'.

A 1.044 beer should have very little or no simple sugars as it already has very little malt. Using all extract will add more malt flavor, leave a higher FG and make the beer overall more substantial.

 

[coonmanx]

Ditch the corn sugar for sure. You can always use dry malt extract instead of it for bottling anyway. 1 and 1/4 C. of it for a 5 gallon batch. I did this for years until I started kegging my beer.

 

[coonmanx]

Steeping some crystal malt of varying color will also add mouthfeel. If you want it light you could use Crystal 10. Darker use Crystal 40. Start with maybe a half pound and see how that goes.

 

[Jayjay1976]

For a better mouthfeel, brew something other than coopers or muntons kits.

Seriously tho, you need to increase complex sugars that won't ferment out completely. As others have said, get some DME or LME, and amber will contribute more 'thickness' than extra light will.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Brewers Crystals (example product) may be another option. Some online homebrew stores offer them in one pound packages.

I've used brewers crystals a number of times (and I'll use them again).

If you decide to experiment with them, be sure to dissolve them in a pot off heat. If you just dump them into the boil kettle, they will likely sink to the bottom (and burn) before dissolving.

 

[Riley Henderson]

For a better mouthfeel, brew something other than coopers or muntons kits.

Seriously tho, you need to increase complex sugars that won't ferment out completely. As others have said, get some DME or LME, and amber will contribute more 'thickness' than extra light will.

I also do Mangrove Jacks but most the time I do Coopers or Muntons just because its a little cheaper and I don't got to go all the way across the city.

 

[derekp83]

Riley,
If you want to add more mouthfeel given the recipe you are using with the 2 pounds of DME, and you don't want to spend another dime, you could always top up to 4 gallons instead of 5. You can eliminate the dextrose as others have said, and you'll probably end up in the 1.050-52 range. You'll get more mouthfeel and more bitterness, which contributes also. That's still roughly 40 beers at a Miller High Life price.

 

[derekp83]

Riley,
If you want to add more mouthfeel given the recipe you are using with the 2 pounds of DME, and you don't want to spend another dime, you could always top up to 4 gallons instead of 5. You can eliminate the dextrose as others have said, and you'll probably end up in the 1.050-52 range. You'll get more mouthfeel and more bitterness, which contributes also. That's still roughly 40 beers at a Miller High Life price.

By the way, best stout I've made was a Muntons Irish Stout. Took one can and made 2.5 gallons. Couldn't believe how good it turned out.

 

[Riley Henderson]

By the way, best stout I've made was a Muntons Irish Stout. Took one can and made 2.5 gallons. Couldn't believe how good it turned out.

Awesome thank you for that
Its interesting you mentioned that as I was going to be making a Muntons Irish Stout for my brother over the weekend and as I'm not much of a stout drinker I will definitely have to do that.

 

[derekp83]

Awesome thank you for that
Its interesting you mentioned that as I was going to be making a Muntons Irish Stout for my brother over the weekend and as I'm not much of a stout drinker I will definitely have to do that.

Any time. Let us know your results.