mouth feel

Carapils creates long chain dextrins which are not fermentable by yeast. Thus you get a little more body from this type of malt, with very little if any, flavor. Wheat can also be used in small quantities such as 1-5% to give you more body and a silky feel.

Another way to control mouthfeel (or I would also describe it as dryness or sweetness) is by mash temp. Mashing an IPA at 149-151F will give you a very dry beer that is excellent for IPA styles. If you have a style that you would like a little residual sweetness in, say like a malt forward style, concentrating less on hops, mash at a little higher temp. such as 154-156F. This will create more of those long chain dextrins which are not fermentable by yeast and thus, the residual sweetness.

And I also agree that carbonation has a lot to do with mouthfeel. CO2 will completely change a beer's flavor from pre to post carbonation.

from the guide lines, here is what we are supposed to "feel" when we drink them. just brings more questions to me. every beer i like has a medium body in some form. what? a stout has medium to full and so does an amber? i love how they use carbonation, like in tylers description. i really appreaciate the descriptions like warming from alchohol, to me it helps to know what they are saying. i note that in the stout they use oats as an ingredient to increase mouth feel.

10A. American Pale Ale
Mouthfeel: Medium-light to medium body. Carbonation moderate to high. Overall smooth finish without astringency often associated with high hopping rates.

10B. American Amber Ale
Mouthfeel: Medium to medium-full body. Carbonation moderate to high. Overall smooth finish without astringency often associated with high hopping rates. Stronger versions may have a slight alcohol warmth.

11B. Southern English Brown
Mouthfeel: Medium body, but the residual sweetness may give a heavier impression. Low to moderately low carbonation. Quite creamy and smooth in texture, particularly for its gravity.

14A. English IPA
Mouthfeel: Smooth, medium-light to medium-bodied mouthfeel without hop-derived astringency, although moderate to medium-high carbonation can combine to render an overall dry sensation in the presence of malt sweetness. Some smooth alcohol warming can and should be sensed in stronger (but not all) versions.

14B. American IPA
Mouthfeel: Smooth, medium-light to medium-bodied mouthfeel without hop-derived astringency, although moderate to medium-high carbonation can combine to render an overall dry sensation in the presence of malt sweetness. Some smooth alcohol warming can and should be sensed in stronger (but not all) versions. Body is generally less than in English counterparts.

12B. Robust Porter
Mouthfeel: Medium to medium-full body. Moderately low to moderately high carbonation. Stronger versions may have a slight alcohol warmth. May have a slight astringency from roasted grains, although this character should not be strong.

13E. American Stout
Mouthfeel: Medium to full body. Can be somewhat creamy, particularly if a small amount of oats have been used to enhance mouthfeel. Can have a bit of roast-derived astringency, but this character should not be excessive. Medium-high to high carbonation. Light to moderately strong alcohol warmth, but smooth and not excessively hot.

maltodextrin powder is another source of this and I have used it in a couple recipes...comes in pound bags..but Tyler's Desc is good i think..Jeff

not wrong that is kind of what i have found from home brewing wiki:

Mouthfeel is the description of how an alcoholic beverage feels in your mouth. This can refer to the perceived thickness, astringency and body of the drink.

seems fairly subjective. seems a lot of people also attach bitterness to it, because astringent and bitterness are incorrectly used together.

i think of thinkness, or watered down. i like how you include carbonation. and the discription given was spot on.

so other than cara pils what can provide these unconsumed sugars? could it come from using not enough yeast or too much malt.

i think we have a good start here!

In my readings and experiments/observations, here's the information I've found:

Mouthfeel has a fairly loose definition. I'd say it is an observation on how the liquid feels on your palate. Is it light, heavy, thin, watery, chewy? Does it feel like you took a mouthful of syrup, a small sip of carbonated water, or somewhere in the middle? How's the carbonation? Is the carbonation too prickly on your tongue, is it sooo under-carbed that the liquid feels and tastes bland? The right amount of carbonation will wake the flavors up without being too much (prickly or sharp) or too little (heavy and dull). Oftentimes the mouthfeel is related to the concentration of sugars in the finished beer. That concentration is a balance of how much sugar the yeast left in the liquid and how much CO2 is in the liquid.

Cara-pils seems to contribute sugars which can't be fermented (and will, thereby, be left in the liquid after fermentation) thereby "increasing" the amount of mouthfeel perception but doesn't leave much of a flavor imprint. The flavor of your beer is somewhat unaffected but you get more sugars contributing to the perception of mouthfeel than you'd have gotten without it. Sometimes that increased perception is good (some stouts and porters, for example) and sometimes it's not (saison, pilsner, etc.). This grain can be mashed or steeped in the extract-brewing process.

Similarly to Cara-pils, different parts of the mashing process can create sugars which cannot be fermented and will be left over in the beer after fermentation. These amount of sugars that are potentially unfermentable are semi-easily controlled by raising or lowering the mashing temperature. This isn't a control you have when brewing with extract (extract is made by dehydrating the liquid coming out of the mash).

...now...after typing all of that...I'm probably 100% wrong about all of it.

alright guys and gals help me out with this, what is mouth feel? why can cara-pils help with it? why can it be achieved more easily from all grain? other than cara-pils, what can provide this feel? do all beers need mouth feel? which styles are you really looking for it? not it is time for the your inner beer geek to come out and help a brother out (so to speak). please if you read this give your thought idea or comment, it really does help to learn the chemistry of our CRAFT (pun intended)