Influencing mouthfeel

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Terry_R

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Hi. How do I influence the mouthfeel of my homebrew. Is it all to do with the water quality (hard water in my area), can I influence it with yeast choice? I'm looking to get a creamy/velvety mouthfeel.
Cheers.
 
Hi. How do I influence the mouthfeel of my homebrew. Is it all to do with the water quality (hard water in my area), can I influence it with yeast choice? I'm looking to get a creamy/velvety mouthfeel.
Cheers.
Do you treat your water Terry? A water with a more Chloride based profile will help. For an experiment try incrementally adding table salt to a glass of your beer to see if the mouthfeel changes.

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That's interesting sadfield, as what you are describing is the mysterious "umami" taste of foods/drink.
Salt, anchovies, tomato paste etc enhance the umami of what you are eating.

Never thought of adding salt to enhance a bland brew. Got a couple of bottles of insipid ale from Aldi sat in the cellar, might have a stab at pouring into two glasses and add a teaspoon of salt water to one and see what difference it makes.
Wonder what it does to the fizz/head?
 
Salt (table salt). It was not uncommon for breweries to add salt to beer. I've seen one log where 3oz per barrel was added.

Assuming my maths is ok!

3oz = 85g
1 barrel = 163 litre
85 / 163 = 0.52g (per litre)
23 litre homebrew = 12g Salt (0.52 x 23)
 
Salt (table salt). It was not uncommon for breweries to add salt to beer. I've seen one log where 3oz per barrel was added.

Assuming my maths is ok!

3oz = 85g
1 barrel = 163 litre
85 / 163 = 0.52g (per litre)
23 litre homebrew = 12g Salt (0.52 x 23)
 
Interesting. I'll have a play around with this. So I add salt to finished beer before bottling, or at some other point in the process?
 
Interesting. I'll have a play around with this. So I add salt to finished beer before bottling, or at some other point in the process?
I'm not sure it matters much, my preference would be at end of boil, just because you know its properly dissolved, but at bottling could be done also.
 
Salt (table salt). It was not uncommon for breweries to add salt to beer. I've seen one log where 3oz per barrel was added.

Assuming my maths is ok!

3oz = 85g
1 barrel = 163 litre
85 / 163 = 0.52g (per litre)
23 litre homebrew = 12g Salt (0.52 x 23)

Some info from John Palmers How to Brew and Randy Moshers Mastering Homebrew.

1g/L of Table Salt will give :

Sodium - 394 ppm (Typical range for brewing liqour 0-150 ppm) - Rounds out flavour and accentuates malt sweetness.
Chloride - 606 ppm (Typical range for brewing liqour 0-250 ppm) - Accentuates fullness and flavour.

Worth remembering that your brewing water will already contain these ions and the beer will start to taste salty at around 200ppm of Sodium.
 
Some info from John Palmers How to Brew and Randy Moshers Mastering Homebrew.

1g/L of Table Salt will give :

Sodium - 394 ppm (Typical range for brewing liqour 0-150 ppm) - Rounds out flavour and accentuates malt sweetness.
Chloride - 606 ppm (Typical range for brewing liqour 0-250 ppm) - Accentuates fullness and flavour.

Worth remembering that your brewing water will already contain these ions and the beer will start to taste salty at around 200ppm of Sodium.
Yes... If your water is already salty, adding more salt, will make it more salty.
 
I do the Greg Hughes ESB alot, and since adding flaked Barley to the mash its far superior,as you can see from my profile image the head lasts all the way down to the bottom of the glass.
 
First time i did 100g for a 10 gallon batch to see how it went.
Second time i doubled it to 200g far better and smoother, i ditch the wheat too and add a bit more crystal
 
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