How to add creaminess to the beer?

[tr08]

Hello guys,

I just brewed a batch of hefeweizen. Everything turned out decent except the lack of creaminess to the mouthfeel. Imagine Paulaner or even Guinness. I just want my beer to taste like those. How can I make it creamier, silkier? Anyone please help?

 

[tr08]

This is my recipe:
Wheat Malt 6
pilsner 4
weihen 3068 1
northern brewer .25oz 60
saaz .50oz 15
fermentation time 10 20c
pre-boil 11brix 1.044
og 13brix 1.053
fg 5.5brix 1.003
ibu 13
abv 6.50%
boil 60

 

[TheHopfather]

Well it looks like it finished extremely dry, 1.003 is a bit crazy for the style. How did you mash it? Single infusion? You could bump up the mash temps to try to get a little more body out of it. You could also try a step mash, I like to do a step with my hefe's.

Other than playing with your mash you can mess around with the salts in your water. Try going heavier on the chloride and little to no sulfate. It might just be that crappy plastic cup you've got the beer in, but it looks like its carbed pretty high. You could try easing off the carbonation to help with the mouthfeel as well.

 

[tr08]

Well it looks like it finished extremely dry, 1.003 is a bit crazy for the style. How did you mash it? Single infusion? You could bump up the mash temps to try to get a little more body out of it. You could also try a step mash, I like to do a step with my hefe's.

Other than playing with your mash you can mess around with the salts in your water. Try going heavier on the chloride and little to no sulfate. It might just be that crappy plastic cup you've got the beer in, but it looks like its carbed pretty high. You could try easing off the carbonation to help with the mouthfeel as well.

- Yes I used refractometer to read the fg, not sure if it's accurate.
- Used single infusion at 152f
- I used bottled commercial water for brewing
- And yes I did overcarb my beer accidently

Well will try these on my next batch. Cheers mate.

 

[TheHopfather]

Just so you know, the BJCP lists the FG range for the style between 1.010 & 1.014. I'd guess the majority of your mouthfeel issue is simply down to how dry the beer is. At 1.003 you've basically got alcoholic malt water. I'd focus on mash temps to get your FG up into the proper range.

Carbonation levels should be between 2.5 to 2.9 vols, so fairly high really. You've also got too much alcohol in yours to be true to style, should be 4.3% to 5.6%. That is probably down to how low your FG is on this batch though.

 

[tr08]

Just so you know, the BJCP lists the FG range for the style between 1.010 & 1.014. I'd guess the majority of your mouthfeel issue is simply down to how dry the beer is. At 1.003 you've basically got alcoholic malt water. I'd focus on mash temps to get your FG up into the proper range.

Carbonation levels should be between 2.5 to 2.9 vols, so fairly high really. You've also got too much alcohol in yours to be true to style, should be 4.3% to 5.6%. That is probably down to how low your FG is on this batch though.

Well thanks for rational suggestions.

 

[ircbrewing]

Agree with the others. The lower the mash temp the more attenuative the wort the dryer the beer. Try bumping up that mash temp next time. You can go up to 156 degrees for heavier body.

 

[shoengine]

Just so you know, the BJCP lists the FG range for the style between 1.010 & 1.014. I'd guess the majority of your mouthfeel issue is simply down to how dry the beer is. At 1.003 you've basically got alcoholic malt water. I'd focus on mash temps to get your FG up into the proper range.

Great, now you made me want to drink my last saison...

 

[Toga]

If you want creamy, oats are you friend. Get some old fashioned oats at the grocery store (not instant, not flaked) cook as you would to eat them but use lots of extra water, cook until soft n slimy, dump them into your mash at the beginning, and add a few minutes extra to your mash. A pound or two will do, depending on the brew.

 

[catdaddy66]

Agree with Toga... First thing I thought of was adding oats.

 

[tofuguy]

I hear a water chemistry option would be to have a >1 chloride/sulfate ratio. That is what they do with NEIPAs to improve the creamy mouth feel and accentuate the oats. I recently learned this and would like to try it also on a Hefeweizen.

 

[MrPowers]

Everyone is missing the fact that he read FG with a refractomrter. Unless you corrected for the alcohol in solution, your FG reading will be off. It’s likely higher than 1.003. Alcohol and refractometers don’t get along.

To address your problem though, I would ease off the carbonation level as well, that should increase the perception of body.

I would also add a little bit of Weyermann Carahell (around .5lb). I like a little caramel malt in my Hefe’s and the little bit of sweetness it adds helps the perception of creaminess too.

 

[TheHopfather]

Everyone is missing the fact that he read FG with a refractomrter. Unless you corrected for the alcohol in solution, your FG reading will be off. It’s likely higher than 1.003. Alcohol and refractometers don’t get along.

A refractometer will read high, not low, on the FG. Really, unless the refractometer has had the wort correction factor calculated with numerous hydrometer readings, the FG is a complete crap shoot. However assuming the correction was done with the standard correction factor of 1.04 and the FG came back as 1.003 it is safe to assume the beer is very dry, even if the reading isn't super accurate.

 

[shoengine]

Everyone is missing the fact that he read FG with a refractomrter. Unless you corrected for the alcohol in solution, your FG reading will be off. It’s likely higher than 1.003. Alcohol and refractometers don’t get along.

I don't think that was missed. It was not precisely relevant because you can taste what malt is still left in the brew. And if that is what is missing, it is easy to correct.

For what it is worth, oats are a good shortcut to mouthfeel.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Get some old fashioned oats at the grocery store (not instant, not flaked) cook as you would to eat them

Instant oats work fine and they don't need to be cooked (since the starch is already gelatinized).

Personally I would work on the water chemistry,.carbonation, and mash temp(s) before adding oats.

 

[Toga]

RPh Instant oats do work fine. I have found that the old fashioned oats do lend more creamyness than the instant oats. They also work better in my mashtun. I find I get a stuck sparge every time when using a pound and a half of instant oats vs not getting a stuck sparge using the same amount of cooked old fashioned oats even when adding rice hulls.

 

[RPh_Guy]

@Toga Thanks! I'll give them a try next time, but not in a hefe. Do you use a protein (beta-glucan) rest?