mouth feel....

[FreeLordBrewing]

every home brew I have ever made has a watery mouth feel....

tried high gravity, tried high carbonation, tired spring water vs tap water (Chicago water) no difference always feels watery on the tongue.

every beer that I have ever tasted that was "awesome" has always had a "syrup" type to it.....thick...coats the tongue.

what are some tips to getting my beer to "feel" like that. aka what am I doing wrong??

I even sampled home brews from the local home brew that feel the same watery way.

never tested PH or anything like that......I have nailed awesome flavor profiles but fail on the mouth feel (based on my own opinion which is usually the harshest) big fan of the local brewery here "pipeworks" which has never failed to let me down. I use starsan and have read that it can lead to this....but not getting a real clear answer any help would be appreciated thanks in advance - Shawn

 

[flars]

Thin beers can be the result of a greater volume in the fermentor than what is called for in the recipe. Have you marked the fill line on your fermentor using a measured volume of water? Buckets that have volume markings on them, are often not correct.

 

[JonM]

Things that increase mouthfeel:

Higher mash temp
Low attenuating yeast like WLP002
Addition of unfermentables like lactose
Addition of things like flaky adjuncts, maltodextrine, carapils, etc
Mash pH on the high end of the acceptable range like 5.5.

Others will chime in with more suggestions.

 

[stevehardt]

are you using steeping grains?

 

[skunkfunk]

+1 to JonM's suggestions. Another thing you could try is nitro setup.

How long are you leaving it in the fermenter? Maybe too long. How much sugar are you using? Sugar can be used heavily in good beer, but will dry it out fiercely.

 

[TheCADJockey]

All of my beers have a similar quality to them, I never knew what it was because they did not taste bad. Maybe this is what I am experiencing as well. I've always used US-05 yeast and only recently starting to adjust water quality. Sub'd.

 

[Brettomomyces]

Your main source of fermentables could also be responsible. If you've used the same brand of extract and you consistently get watery beer you could try a different brand and see how that does.

 

[RM-MN]

How long are you letting them mature in the bottles? I find that my porters really improve if I leave them 3 to 6 months and stouts I leave even longer.

 

[FreeLordBrewing]

thanks for all the replies first and foremost!! you guys are awesome!!

and a Merry xmas!! and happy holidays for those of you which that doesn't apply ha ha.

flars My volume is adjusted based on hitting my target O.G. so this always varies. I always go off gravity versus volume. target on this batch was 1.095 just slighlty above 5 gallons.

Jonm my last batch (sampling again) had a higher temp fermentation of 72 and fermented super aggresive!! O.G. of 1.095 deff contributed to banana type flavors which I'm okay with. but I ended up with the krausen entering the air lock....I had to remove the simple air lock, install a barb fitting (sanitized) and run a hose into an elenmyer with sanitizer which bubbled like CRAZY!! the yeast was about 71-73% attenuation based on date on package and calculator, wyeast 1083 (Irish ale) which reached a F.G. of 1.016 resulting in 9.2 abv after temp adjustment.

my recipe just thrown together is this:

2- 3.3 cans of dark LME (6.6)
3lbs of dark DME
2 lbs of dark brown sugar (last 10 min of boil)

steeping grains:
.5 lb american carapils
.5 lb american Black prinz
.5 lb american chocolate
.5 lb crystal 60L

6 shots of espresso thrown in when racked into keg.

shooting for an Imperial espresso robust porter. named "Impresso Robuster"

I chose to do a single fermentation versus secondary for the hell of it. so I let it sit in the primary for 4 weeks. also dry hopped.

the brown sugar deff dried it out....I might try this recipe again and eliminate the brown sugar and adjust volume to reach the 1.095 again to see if that changes mouth feel, but even on lower gravity brews (using a brewers best kit modifying only the addition of extra hops) netted the same watery mouth feel.

I haven't matured the beer in a bottle yet (currently using a keg setup) but I made a counter pressure bottle filler that I have yet to use, that I plan on using once the carbonation level reaches (what I think is acceptable).

RM-MN will aging make that much of a difference?? I guess I am jumping the gun sampling the beer (today being a week exactly in the keg).

side note: my kegerator might have kicked the bucket.....compressor is running, can hear the refrigerant running through the freezer plate sounds like a hiss kind of noise (not leaking as the refrigerant would of leaked out by now) but the freezer plate is no longer freezing up (building ice on it) and temps are only reaching a low of 60F at the lowest setting on thermostat. With the keg not reaching lower temps, the beer is not absorbing the CO2 like my past brews.....I currently have the psi set to 25 to counter act the issue. I am still not happy with the carbonation of the beer. I sample every 2-3 days to test....how ever today is the first day I have seen the small bubbles escaping from the beer in a pint glass (still some what flat so I will continue to carbonate until the level gets to where I like it, then counter pressure bottle from there).

sorry for the long post (I think the home brew at 9.2% is kicking in although not carb'd enough and watery feeling) Thanks again - Shawn

 

[watermelon83]

Everything you list as a Og addition is highly fermentable, I'd point to that as a big portion of your issue. If you want mouth feel you need unfermentables, maltodextrin and milk sugar are the two biggies.

On a side note, why did you steep the Carapils, what were you looking for there? I'm still learning about the different grains and their use.

 

[flars]

I may have done the math incorrectly, but I come up with a volume of 4.8 gallons for an estimated OG of 1.095.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[RM-MN]

thanks for all the replies first and foremost!! you guys are awesome!!

and a Merry xmas!! and happy holidays for those of you which that doesn't apply ha ha.

flars My volume is adjusted based on hitting my target O.G. so this always varies. I always go off gravity versus volume. target on this batch was 1.095 just slighlty above 5 gallons.

Jonm my last batch (sampling again) had a higher temp fermentation of 72 and fermented super aggresive!! O.G. of 1.095 deff contributed to banana type flavors which I'm okay with. but I ended up with the krausen entering the air lock....I had to remove the simple air lock, install a barb fitting (sanitized) and run a hose into an elenmyer with sanitizer which bubbled like CRAZY!! the yeast was about 71-73% attenuation based on date on package and calculator, wyeast 1083 (Irish ale) which reached a F.G. of 1.016 resulting in 9.2 abv after temp adjustment.

my recipe just thrown together is this:

2- 3.3 cans of dark LME (6.6)
3lbs of dark DME
2 lbs of dark brown sugar (last 10 min of boil)

steeping grains:
.5 lb american carapils
.5 lb american Black prinz
.5 lb american chocolate
.5 lb crystal 60L

6 shots of espresso thrown in when racked into keg.

shooting for an Imperial espresso robust porter. named "Impresso Robuster"

I chose to do a single fermentation versus secondary for the hell of it. so I let it sit in the primary for 4 weeks. also dry hopped.

the brown sugar deff dried it out....I might try this recipe again and eliminate the brown sugar and adjust volume to reach the 1.095 again to see if that changes mouth feel, but even on lower gravity brews (using a brewers best kit modifying only the addition of extra hops) netted the same watery mouth feel.

I haven't matured the beer in a bottle yet (currently using a keg setup) but I made a counter pressure bottle filler that I have yet to use, that I plan on using once the carbonation level reaches (what I think is acceptable).

RM-MN will aging make that much of a difference?? I guess I am jumping the gun sampling the beer (today being a week exactly in the keg).

side note: my kegerator might have kicked the bucket.....compressor is running, can hear the refrigerant running through the freezer plate sounds like a hiss kind of noise (not leaking as the refrigerant would of leaked out by now) but the freezer plate is no longer freezing up (building ice on it) and temps are only reaching a low of 60F at the lowest setting on thermostat. With the keg not reaching lower temps, the beer is not absorbing the CO2 like my past brews.....I currently have the psi set to 25 to counter act the issue. I am still not happy with the carbonation of the beer. I sample every 2-3 days to test....how ever today is the first day I have seen the small bubbles escaping from the beer in a pint glass (still some what flat so I will continue to carbonate until the level gets to where I like it, then counter pressure bottle from there).

sorry for the long post (I think the home brew at 9.2% is kicking in although not carb'd enough and watery feeling) Thanks again - Shawn

I said that time in the bottles would make a difference in mouthfeel of your porter but I hadn't realized that you were making a high gravity porter. It will make a huge difference but the timeline for that porter isn't 3 to 6 months, it's probably mor like 6 to 9 months at room temp. Colder temperatures will take longer for maturity.

 

[skunkfunk]

I said that time in the bottles would make a difference in mouthfeel of your porter but I hadn't realized that you were making a high gravity porter. It will make a huge difference but the timeline for that porter isn't 3 to 6 months, it's probably mor like 6 to 9 months at room temp. Colder temperatures will take longer for maturity.

You take 6+ months to make a normal high-gravity ale? Something is wrong in your process or recipe if you have that much crap you need to age out. "Flavors need to mellow and meld together" well maybe don't put so much of whatever it is that needs to mellow out.

 

[FreeLordBrewing]

thanks again for all the replies....I figured out what I've been doing wrong all these years....or at least I assume so!! ha ha.

so with the temp being some what high due to the kegerator failing....I jacked the psi to 40 to see if that would help the beer absorb the co2....

turns out it sure did!!!

the last time I tasted the beer (and all other times before that).....I would have to assume the flatness of a non carbonated beverage is what I have been picking up on!!

finally got the co2 bubbles spawing from different spots on the glass and mouth feel became amazing!!!

also perhaps the week in the keg also added in the aging process!! the espresso came on through and wasn't masked by the "warmth" of the alcohol the keg also dropped 2 degrees with the outside temps dropping by about 15 (in a basement). at this point this just became my best beer brewed to date!!

watermelon83 I steeped the carapils based on a kit I once used to make an Imperial pale ale from brewers best that had the addition of it in the steeping grains. I added it to help head retention, and assist in a fuller body.

scroll to the bottom of this link:

http://www.brewingwithbriess.com/Homebrewing/FAQs.htm#c

flars couldn't tell ya why the math doesn't equal my results I deff made sure to stir the water in as I topped off the fermenter so the sugars weren't concentrated, I guess I could have measured wrong. I tested with the temp at approx 70 degrees so maybe I missed a temp adjustment there.