my first stout. where's the "mouthfeel"?

[frizzlefry]

I brewed my first stout last month and just tried a taste of it. It is a Dry Stout kit from Austin Homebrew.

There are 2 noticeable issues:

1) Lack of head and head retention. There is not much foam on the freshly poured beer, and what foam there is goes away quickly. What can I do to improve this? I'm not using jet dry, but I do have fairly hard water, if that makes a difference.

2) Mouthfeel. The beer, though very dark, doesn't come across with any muscle. It tastes watery, kind of. How can I make the beer feel thicker?


The kit was for a 5 gallon batch with 1# Crushed Crystal 60L, .5# crushed black barley, .25# crushed black patent with 7# of dark extract, 1 oz of German Magnum bittering hops (60 min), and 22 grams of Muntons yeast. I primary fermented for a week, secondary for a week and bottled at room temp for 2 weeks.

Thanks!

[Payson]

At the risk of stating the obvious, all grain and /or more grain would certainly help. Another option is adding maltodextrine to boost the mouthfeel. Head retention additives are also available although I've never used them. Good luck!

[Jeff]

I would suggest using an Irish ale yeast from either White Labs or Wyeast. I have had excellent head on my stouts with this yeast compared to any other yeast I have used.

[Blkandrust]

Originally posted by Jeff
I would suggest using an Irish ale yeast from either White Labs or Wyeast. I have had excellent head on my stouts with this yeast compared to any other yeast I have used.


Ditto on the Irish yeast.I used wyeast 1084 for my last stout.Turned out great.Also make sure your glasses are clean.

[Fast_Eddy]

Try roasted barley or oatmeal for improved head retention and stability in a stout.

[buzzfalcon]

You didn't sanitize your bottles in the dish-washer did you?

[Magnew]

Hey buzzfalcon,
I always santitize in the dishwasher and my stouts have had plenty of head and good mouthfeel. As long as there is no soap (my diswhasher only gets used to sanitize bottles) there should be no problem.

[Tom C]

Irish Ale yeast is beautiful in a stout...also for head retention try some flaked Wheat. If you are doing extract I imagine you can steep it along with the crystal.

Tom C

[stronk]

Do you have to steep the wheat at mashing temps and have distatic extract, or can you just steep it like a tea bag?

[Tom C]

By steeping it like a tea bag you won't get the fermentables from it but I imagine you would get the head retention qualities as you get coloring from the crystal. If you do mash it just do it for like 30 minutes at a higher temp say 158....heck you might be able to throw it in at 145 as you are heating your water and take it out upon boil before adding the extract.

Tom C

[davesarman]

Originally posted by buzzfalcon
You didn't sanitize your bottles in the dish-washer did you?

I've had mild head retention problems in the past and I do sanitize in the dishwasher. I don't use any soap or detergent, but I also use the dishwasher for regular dishes as well. Could this be causing a problem? I don't have any carbonation problems, that is always pretty much where I want it. Just head retention. I haven't brewed much in the past year (having kids will do that to you!), but have experimented around with flaked wheat and such. Most of my beers are bigger beers (7-8% abv and above), so I just pretty much wrote it off to that.

[stronk]

By steeping it like a tea bag you won't get the fermentables from it but I imagine you would get the head retention qualities as you get coloring from the crystal. If you do mash it just do it for like 30 minutes at a higher temp say 158....heck you might be able to throw it in at 145 as you are heating your water and take it out upon boil before adding the extract.
Thanks for the info. Maybe I'll consider adding some to my next brew (an infusion mild). I think it may be too thin, otherwise.