Mouthfeel?

[HoppingMad]

I've done a quick search but apologies if I'm posting something that's been asked before.

I've made many extract homebrews over the years and one reoccurring 'issue', if you will, is the body / mouthfeel of my beer. Whilst the flavour and aroma might be excellent a lot of the time, in darker beers, stouts etc., the beer can feel a bit "watery", even if the ABV is relatively high; a perfect example is an "Exmoor Beast" clone I recently did, at 6.5%, which tastes fantastic but is a bit on the thin side.

I'm switching to AG in the near future (I'm waiting for kit to be delivered) and I was wondering if there was anything I could do to try and improve the body / mouthfeel of my beer?

Thanks very much in advance.

 

[phildo79]

Use lactose in the boil or malted oats in the mash. You could also avoid using finings like Irish moss etc.. However, if you are making a beer like an imp stout, you should probably use finings so the yeast doesn't become inhibited during fermentation.

 

[foxbat]

Ferment with the Vermont yeast strain.

 

[Galena]

Get your water tested, perhaps you need more calcium?

 

[MickDundee]

What’s your water like? If you are in a softer water area you might need to add calcium to your water to get the right mouthfeel.

 

[MickDundee]

Get your water tested, perhaps you need more calcium?

 

[Galena]

:hat:

 

[An Ankoù]

I've done a quick search but apologies if I'm posting something that's been asked before.

I've made many extract homebrews over the years and one reoccurring 'issue', if you will, is the body / mouthfeel of my beer. Whilst the flavour and aroma might be excellent a lot of the time, in darker beers, stouts etc., the beer can feel a bit "watery", even if the ABV is relatively high; a perfect example is an "Exmoor Beast" clone I recently did, at 6.5%, which tastes fantastic but is a bit on the thin side.

I'm switching to AG in the near future (I'm waiting for kit to be delivered) and I was wondering if there was anything I could do to try and improve the body / mouthfeel of my beer?

Thanks very much in advance.

Moving to AG should cure the problem. If you have more kits to make you could always steep 200-500 g of caramalt in your hot water before adding the malt extract. Caramalt doesn't need mashing, the steep is just to extract the sugars.

 

[Sadfield]

Welcome to the world of all grain, where the brewer is in control. Grain selection, mash thickness, time and temperature and water treatment are all tools that will be available to you, in solving this issue.

In the meantime, I'd look at your yeast pitch rate, as an overpitch will thin out beers.

 

[SkyBlue]

I agree with An Ankou, I noticed when I moved from kits to AG that not only did the taste improve massively but also the mouth feel. The next improvement I made was moving to CO2 and a regulator so now I get a perfect pint pretty much all the time

 

[Richard_H]

If your next brew will be extract then you could consider using more steeping grains at a slightly high temperature, my first extract was a stout where I used roughly 3 times as much roasted barley and black malt than most recipes would recommend simply because I was guessing and too excited to move away from kits. The end result was a very thick and rich stout that will needs months of conditioning!

As above all grain gives you all the control you need and its a move I wish I made sooner. Even something as simple as adding some more base malt during the higher end of a step mash will help, or better still kilned or cara/crystal malt when steeping. As I have only done a few all grain brews I find this the easiest method (I have also tried oats which help)

 

[terrym]

In the first instance, instead of spending money having your mains water tested, which in reality is only a test for water analysis on the day, and things can be different according to the time of year and is sometimes subject to where your water company decide to source your water from if they need to temporarily change it, have a look at your water company website where you should be able to punch in your postcode and that should give you a typical analysis of some sort. You can then take it from there.

 

[HoppingMad]

Thanks for all the replies and a few ideas to give me food for thought.

Re the water, I’m just outside Shrewsbury, Shropshire, which I’m led to believe has decent water quality but is a hard water area; we’ve a fair few local breweries which make pretty good darn beer, so it can’t be that bad!! I’ve just checked the Severn Trent website and all seems good but sounds like I need to do some reading on water and residual elements in it for beer, to make sure I don’t need to treat it.

I’ve seen a few people say bottled water is better, so I could give that a go on my next brew, if the local water turns out to be duff? I’m trying to avoid extra costs though!

Ive been doing Extracts since about 2012, but had a few years out from 2017 due to life getting in the way. I’ve done a couple of extracts this year but I’m always using recipe kits, so changing the ingredients hasn’t really been an option. Good to know there are things I can do to control the outcomes going forward! Looking forward to receiving my kit (hopefully tomorrow or Thursday) so I can start experimenting!

 

[Madhouse]

Oats in the mash help, as does lactose in the boil (love a milk stout!). I've just made a brew with dextrin malt which is also supposed to add body and head retention but it's currently carbing up so can't comment on it just yet.