First attempt at Porter (not much body)

[daveIT]

I made a Porter back on 28 Aug and kegged it on 17 September. It's been on Co2 since 18 Sep and I've been tasting it a little here and there and it tastes alright, but it seems not to have much body/mouthfeel to it...maybe a bit watery. Will it fill out in time or does it sound like I did something wrong? I have the CO2 set at 16 PSI for 58 degrees which is what I read in a book.

 

[Walker]

what was the recipe?

-walker

 

[daveIT]

6lb Alexander Pale Malt Extract
1lb Munich Malt 30L
1/2lb Black Patent Malt
3/4lb Crystal Malt 120L
1/8lb chocolate malt
1 1/2oz northern brewer (bittering)
1 oz fuggles (flavoring)
Wyeast British Ale II

 

[Walker]

i'm still pretty novice when it comes to analyzing/creating recipes, but that looks like a lighter-to-medium bodied recipe to me. I'm not sure about the Munich malt, but none of the other grains add any mouthfeel. That leaves you with 6 lbs of extract for body.

Is that liquid or dry extract?

For liquid, a good rule of thumb is

1#/gallon = light bodied
1.5#/gallon = full bodied

if you want to use this same recipe in the future and get more mouthfeel, up the extract to 7 or 8 lbs or (alternately) add some malto-dextrin to the mix. that one doesn't ferment or modify flavor, but will give the body that you are after.

-walker

 

[Lost]

Unfermentable sugar is what creates body. Alcohol is thinner than water so the more fermentable sugar (alcohol ultimately) you have the thinner the beer will be. This is why wine will almost always have an FG below 1. Also, having not much in the beer but water will of course lead to a watery beer.

Carapils is typically a very popular source of unfermentable sugar.. and thus body. For the ag brewer mash temp can also have a lot to do with body.. but this seems like a non issue for you. Really, as an extract/grains brewer I'm not exactly sure how you could get more body.. soak more dark color grains I guess.. and soak some carapils/dextrin malt as well (assuming this type of malt doesn't need to be mashed). You could also use more dark extract .. it will have more unfermentable sugar as well.

 

[daveIT]

Is that liquid or dry extract?

It's liquid. I got the recipe from the local homebrew shop, so maybe I can go ask them how it's supposed to be. I'll keep it on C02 for awhile longer and see if it improves. It doesn't taste bad, just the mouthfeel isn't what I was expecting. Not too bad for a first attempt I guess.

 

[Walker]

if you want more mouthfeel, up that to 8 lbs of extract next time. (or use malto-dextrin in the wort.)

That recipe you have above is going to be a fairly light bodied beer. The CO2 will not change that as far as I know.

-walker

 

[ScottT]

if you want more mouthfeel, up that to 8 lbs of extract next time. (or use malto-dextrin in the wort.)

That recipe you have above is going to be a fairly light bodied beer. The CO2 will not change that as far as I know.

-walker

How much malto-dextrin do you use in a 5 gal. batch ot increase the body?

 

[El Pistolero]

Around two ounces for a hefe

 

[Rhoobarb]

Add a 1/2 lb. of CaraPils and you'll see a big difference. CaraPils has become one of my very favorite malts!