Adding Body

[DJP]

Hi all,

I've been perfecting my all grain bitter over a dozen or so brews and am now at the point where colour and flavour are pretty much where I want them. Compared to commercial brews my own stuff stacks up well - except for body/mouthfeel. Mine just somehow feels thinner than the commercial stuff (while tasting fairly similar).

I have considered simply upping the mash temp from my normal 66 C to, say 68ish or thereabouts but I'm concerned about altering the flavour too much. So is there another way to boost body (ie adjuncts) or is temp the best way to go?

Cheers!

[BigEd]

Upping the mash temp by a couple of degrees just might do the trick. You may also want to consider adding 3-5% of dextrine malt (CaraPils or CaraFoam) to the grist bill. Can you post your recipe to see if anything jumps out?

[Scooby]

The biggest improvement to the body and mouth feel in my beers came about when I raised the mash temp to 68-69c except when I want a very dry brew and stopping the sparge early. I used to stop at 8-10G, I went to 12G and have settled on 14G now. I have adjusted my efficiency down from low 80s to about 70% now to compensate.

Why not give one or the other a try on your next brew

[mysterio]

I used to add CaraPils often but i've found upping the mash temps has exactly the same effect. This will make the beer seem fuller in the mouth and less watery. Remember that dextrins are flavourless, they won't make the beer taste sweeter. I mash all of my English or Scottish style ales around 68 (or higher sometimes). I would also look into if you're getting uniform temperature when you're measuring, and how long you're mashing for. IMHO, the only reason for adding carapils or maltodextrin is to compensate for a highly attenuating yeast like US-05 - nothing against US-05, I love it but it makes for a dry beer.

Try the temperature up to 68 first, i'm sure you'll be amazed at the change.

[Vossy1]

Interesting topic

[Barley Water]

As already noted above, increasing the mash temperature is the best way to increase body and I agree, it does not alter taste. A couple of other things that will help also is to decrease the amount of water used at mash-in (down to about 1 quart a pound) and eliminate sugars in the copper (this will cause your beer to be a bit sweeter since sugars tend to dry out the product). Also, the more crystal in your formulation, the bigger the beer will taste but of course this also affects the flavor. Finally, and it is not traditional in British beer, is to perform a decoction mash. That is how the Germans get their Octoberfests to have the big mouthfeel (this technique will also change the flavor some as it will make your beers more malty).

[SteveD]

The biggest improvement to the body and mouth feel in my beers came about when I raised the mash temp to 68-69c except when I want a very dry brew and stopping the sparge early. I used to stop at 8-10G, I went to 12G and have settled on 14G now. I have adjusted my efficiency down from low 80s to about 70% now to compensate.

Why not give one or the other a try on your next brew

That's about it. Mash hotter, use more malt, and stop the sparge early when you've got what you want. You could even go more extreme by upping the grain by about 20% and aiming for 65% efficiency.

[SteveD]

Finally, and it is not traditional in British beer, is to perform a decoction mash. That is how the Germans get their Octoberfests to have the big mouthfeel (this technique will also change the flavor some as it will make your beers more malty).

Are they still doing that?

"Vor Maxzimum Brauhaus Utilizationen Efficiency vee vill ztop uzing ze old mashverboilungsmethod und now vee do zer infuzioner mash like ze Tommies"

[Barley Water]

SteveD, you are correct, there is nothing efficient about doing decoctions so it wouldn't surprise me if they stopped (at least the big boys anyway). I can tell you from personal experience though that the technique will do some very interesting things to your beer which don't happen doing infusions. Besides making the beer more malty (which is worth it all by itself) it also makes for a creamy, full mouthfeel. I have no idea why this happens but it sure is nice. The only problem with the technique is that it can easily add a couple hours to the brewday and of course your wrist will start to get very tired of all the stirring. To me, one of the advantages of homebrewing is that we don't care about being efficient so we can do things that the big brewers won't do because of financial considerations.

[mysterio]

Yeah I asked the brewers at the Paulaner Brauhaus in Munich about Decoctions and they said they didn't do them, instead they use a portion of 'dunkles gerstenmalz' instead which is Munich malt over here. That reminds me, darker kilned malts tend to be more dextrinous so using malts like mild ale malt, Vienna malt & Munich malt are other ways to add body. Try making a mild or a 60/- with mild ale malt and I bet you'll love it.

I'd love to try a decoction someday but i'm happy with my lagers doing a single infusion with Pils malt, Munich & melanoidin malt. Saying that I'm not sure if it would be possible to create a really genuine Czech pilsner without decoctions but I'm not experienced enough to say otherwise.

To me, one of the advantages of homebrewing is that we don't care about being efficient so we can do things that the big brewers won't do because of financial considerations.

Definately, I wholeheartedly agree.

[DJP]

Gents,

Some useful info here, many thanks!

For the record my recipe is:

4 kg Maris Otter
250g Crystal
28g Black Patent

Mashed for 1 hour at 66 C

50g Fuggles boiled for 60 mins
40g Goldings boiled for last 15 mins

Occasionally I use 3.8kg of Maris with 450g Crystal but other than giving a slightly darker brew this doesn't really alter the flavour or body much.

Similarly I have experimented with longer mash and longer boil times, but again these don't appear to make much difference. My efficiency generally runs about 75% and I have no problems with clarity etc.

I normally, use Safale 04 or Wyeast London Ale III

Cheers!

[SteveD]

I wasn't suggesting that we don't do decoctions because of efficiency - time or otherwise, I was merely posting an observation in response to the assertation that the Germans get mouthfeel and body into their beer by using the decoction mash, whereas the truth is many German brewers have abandoned it in favour of infusion mashing, and using body giving ingredients instead, as Mysterio illustrated.

I used to be into high extraction and brewhouse efficiency but have for a while now abandoned this practice as being pointless, for the reasons mentioned. We don't have to be efficient, and being inefficient in the right way is going to make better beer, so why bother chasing the high efficiency figures - thin bodied low malt profile beers with possible astringency, huskiness, and phenolic off tastes are your likely reward.