Increase body in light IPA

[stijn26]

Hi,


I now use 100% pale malt for my IPA that has 4,5% abv.

I want to increase the body and maybe even lower the abv a little bit to 3,9%.

Things I'm considering:
- Increase mash temp from 66° celsius to 69° celsius. (I single mash for 35 mins).
- Change the malt bill:
--maybe i can use CaraAmber® Weyermann 60-80 EBC for 5%?
-- what about dextrine maltose?
-- maybe add cara-120 for 5%

I also want to lower the EBC, I will use carapils for this (10%).

What do you guys think? What are the effects for instance when I will do the following things all in once:
- The mash temp increase
- use 5% caraAmber
- use 5% cara-120
- lower the total grain volume to reach a abv of 3,9%
- use 10% caraPils

 

[hezagenius]

Lots of ways to skin that cat.

The quick and dirty way is to add maltodextrin to the boil.
CaraPils should accomplish the same thing.
Not sure how reducing the grain volume will increase body.
Increasing mash temp will do it
I don't have experience with CaraAmber or Cara 120

 

[Weezy]

Crystal malts mentioned will add some body but also change the flavor considerably.

You can add dextrinous malt like carapils, carafoam, flaked barley, oats, or even layer them. 3-10% is just fine. Maltodex was mentioned as well. Mash higher like your said. You can also use lower attenuating yeast strain.



4.5% beer isn't bad. I brew in that range all the time. It's when you get to 1.035 They start getting thin and you need to use all the tricks at once.

 

[stijn26]

Allright, I definitely don't want the flavor to change much. Crystal malts are of the table then.

My current attenuation is around 72%.

For my new brew I'm aiming at 3,6% abv. (Assuming the priming sugar will add 0,3 I will land on 3,9% abv)

When you mean 3-10%, do you mean as the total of all the options (carapils + carafoam + flaked barley, ...) or separately?

Do I need to include maltodextrin in my calculating sheet? Or how does this work? Just add it?

For the grain bill I can do something like this (assuming 10% as max of the sum of the options):
- 90% pale
- 7% pils
- 3% maltodextrine (if I need to include it in the grain bill).

Is it possible to up the pils even more without flavor change? Note that I boil for 75 mins (dms problems possible?).

 

[Queequeg]

Increase mash temp for a target FG around 1.012 and add some wheat malt, say 10%. This will have the minimum effect on flavor whilst maximum body improvement.

 

[ProblemChild]

I have really been liking flaked oats for that purpose. really rounds out mouth feel.

 

[stijn26]

So lets say, 87,5 pale, 10 wheat and 2,5 flaked oats?

 

[AZBeer]

I use some wheat in my basic IPA grain bill. Gives nice body. (70% 2-Row, 18% Wheat, 2% Caramel 60L, 9% Corn Sugar is my go to...if you are interested, tends to come in a little higher on the ABV tho.)

Personally, I would limit the changes you do at once. That way you can zero in on how your changes impact the final product.

 

[ProblemChild]

So lets say, 87,5 pale, 10 wheat and 2,5 flaked oats?

Seems good to me. Give it a goWIll make a decent grain bill. Can always adjust as deisted.

 

[Miraculix]

I would replace the base malt completely, or partially with munich malt. This will give back the malty backbone. You can also think about a little bit of melanoidin malt to do the same.

There is a new book by a female author about session beers going to be released in the UK in October, in the states it might be already available. Maybe you wanna have a look into that.

 

[stijn26]

Miraculix, I'm afraid that this will change the flavor too much.
Do you have the name of the book?

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

Body and head/lacing are important to me. I have used flaked oats, munich and carapils. Carapils gives a nice body and head up to 10% maybe 15% if you are really going for a chewy ale. There's nothing wrong with oats or munich, but munich has a distinct flavor (which isn't bad) and oats adds a mouthfeel that in my opinion doesn't go with a pale beer.

 

[Miraculix]

Miraculix, I'm afraid that this will change the flavor too much.
Do you have the name of the book?

Session beers by Jennifer Talley

I am not sure about if a, let's say 30%, munich malt replacement would actually change the perceived flavor, when at the same time lowering the overall amount of malt. I would really give it a try.

 

[thehaze]

I use Munich I, CaraPils and Flaked oats in my IPAs and session beers. Flaked oats do wonders to the beer, so I use them often.

I made a 4,3% Session IPA with Crystal, El Dorado and Cascade hops, fermented warm with Omega Hothead Ale yeast and it turned out fantastic. Really appreciated by those who tasted the beer. Bright yellow - around 5 SRM - and very good mouthfeel. It did not feel like a beer with only 4.3% ABV.

But CaraPils will help with the body and so will a higher mash temp. I usually mash at 154.4F/68 C and have no issues with body in beers. I also do not have issues with body and mouthfeel in beers mashed at 149F, but that is because I use some adjuncts, like oats, flaked barley, CaraPils.

 

[stijn26]

thehaze, thanks for the input. What is your grain bill for the session ipa? Also, how long do you boil?

Miraculix, I will try the munich after I tested with flaked oats, wheat malt/carapils.

 

[thehaze]

The grainbill for that particular session beer was:

2000 gr Pale Malt
1000 gr Flaked Oats
500 gr Flaked Barley
250 gr Flaked Wheat
250 gr Golden Naked Oats
250 gr Carabelge
..............................................................................................
Hops
15 gr Cascade 30 minutes
25 gr Crystal Whirlpool
25 gr Cascade US Whirlpool
25 gr El Dorado Whirlpool
75 gr Crystal Dry hopping
75 gr Cascade US Dry hopping
75 gr El Dorado Dry hopping

I boiled for 90 minutes and the IBUs were at around 31. You can of course bump the IBUs, but for lower ABV beers, I prefer under 40 IBU.

1oz is 28 gr.

NOTE: I remade the beer using a little Munich I and it did bump the SRM from the original 4.7 for around 5.3, but it was still bright yellow and tasty. Munich is maybe a bit toasty in higher qty, but at only 20-30 % it will not feel too toasty or " annoying ".

 

[Miraculix]

thehaze, thanks for the input. What is your grain bill for the session ipa? Also, how long do you boil?

Miraculix, I will try the munich after I tested with flaked oats, wheat malt/carapils.

If you are afraid of changing the flavour, I would be careful with Cara Pils as this is just a light crystal malt. Crystal malts can have quite a strong impact on the flavour.

I personally do not like oats, they do not contribute much in the lower percentage and when it starts to get interesting they destroy the head retention and create stuck Sparges easily.

Wheat malt in the 10 to 20% range might be worth a try.

 

[Queequeg]

Personally I would only use 2% oats. Too much gives an Katy nose.

 

[65C]

You can also use Maris instead of Pale - it gives a lot more of a malty flavour

 

[Mirilis]

Munich is the new Crystal...

 

[stijn26]

Okay i will go for maris otter instead of regular pale. For now I will use 5% carapils and mash higher. See what it gives