Recipe ideas to contol mouthfeel/viscosity/palate-weight

[rootsbrew]

OK no lactose in paler beer. Trying citrus zest in a wort of Coopers RA kit + Coopers pale LME, as I write, in the hope oils will emulsify.

As far as I can gather, diastatic extracts contain a sufficient surplus of enzymes to convert the starches other grains. I can only guess that the combination of farming and manufacturing processes used when the books were written, caused lower enzyme levels (hence glucose) in a lot of grains, so extra enzymes were needed. In most cases, I don't think there's a need because either the brewer's malting the grains him/her-self, is using malted grains or using disolved malts - in all these cases, (most/enough of) the starch has been converted to glucose. I guess if the malting process goes wrong, DLME might be useful to rescue the batch? Unmalted adjuncts contain too much starch to be ignored so DLME is required if using extract/kits - I don't know what one does when AG-ing with unmalted adjuncts?

From what you say about needing to sit, makes me think there's a balance to be struck: amylase (one of the enzymes) will convert starch to glucose and works faster than the enzymes that convert the more complex molecules to starch: If this is correct, the balance is to get the amylase to munch through as much starch as possible, while reducing the amount of beta-glucan etc. that is converted to starch...

Hey, while I'm writing this, why don't you just sling in a load of pure amylase, which will stop working once it's converted all the starch, rather than having to worry about enzymes that break down the longer (wanted) molecules as well? It's going to get heated to denature it before it gets to the wort, anyway.

... if there's an expert out ther, please pipe up!

[super_simian]

I don't know what one does when AG-ing with unmalted adjuncts?

Pretty simple; assuming the adjunct has been pre-gelatinised (assuming the gelatinisation temp is out of normal mash temp range) it is simply bunged in with the grain. So rolled wheat/rye/oats/barley or flaked rice/corn are doughed in with the malt. Getting back to the original point, wheat malt extract can be added to a kit or extract brew for head retention, and malto-dextrin for viscosity. To go the other way, simple sugars can be added to "thin" the brew; to avoid stressing the yeast (esp.in delicately flavoured beers,) dextrose or maltose syrup are preferable to sucrose.

[rootsbrew]

Thanks. So, just thinking about what needs to be done to convert a standard recipe into something with a bit more palate weight.

Original...
Gold ale kit (e.g. Coopers Real Ale)
Pale LME (e.g. Coopers Pale LME)

Full...
Wheat kit
500g flaked oats
1.0kg Diastatic LME
500g malto-dextrin
- This one might be a bit cloudy though?
- Is the amount od m-d too much? How can its residual sugar/sweetness be brought down or balanced?

[mad mushroom]

Hi i had the same problems i was getting a good flavour but a weak mouth feel to my ales . So after speaking to some other brewers I was told to get a water sample up to a lab to find out what was missing in my water it turned out that it was a low calcium present that was to blame but you will need to get your own test done for you area .
But with instant effect from using some different water treatments I now have a good flavour plus good mouth feel .

[rootsbrew]

Calcium. That's good info (and ties in with grapes grown on chalk/lime are successful - Sussex, Champagne, Chablis, Cote d'Or...).

Small bubbles definitely help. Even if the beer's fizzy, it can be OK, so long as the bubbles are tiny, so the "mousse" (aka head) persists through to the palate. Wonder how this can be reliably achieved?