Just what is mouthfeel and body, and can brewers achieve more of these desired qualities? Alix Blease, technical sales representative at Lallemand Brewing is on hand to explain more.

We don’t want thin and watery beer; we all want more body and mouthfeel! Many UK breweries are currently embracing the trend for hazy NEIPAs, low alcohol and lower ABV table beers. In brewing it can be tricky to define the term “mouthfeel” and “body,” as we cannot really assign a numerical value to them as we can for IBUs, colour or haze. So, what is mouthfeel and body?

According to the BJCP “Body is technically separate from mouthfeel, which encompasses physical sensations such as astringency, alcoholic warmth, and carbonation. The combination determines how the beer stimulates the palate.” Some major factors which contribute to body in beer are residual sugars, medium length proteins, polyphenols, ions, and levels of carbonation.

Sugars which can contribute to body and mouthfeel include dextrins, maltotriose, maltodextrin and lactose. To maximise dextrins in a beer, you can increase the mash temperature or reduce the amount of adjunct. Maltotriose is unfermentable by some yeast, such as Windsor. Selecting a maltotriose-negative yeast strain for fermentation can help to increase body.

Brewers sometimes add maltodextrin to beer to achieve the same effect; however, quite a considerable amount needs to be added to see a difference. In addition to this, maltodextrin is not 100% unfermentable, it will contribute some fermentable sugars to your wort, so it should be used with caution if trying to create low alcohol beers via fermentation. Finally, lactose, an unfermentable milk sugar can provide body and sweetness, however, the addition of lactose does make the resulting beer unsuitable for vegans and requires additional allergen labelling.

Proteins are an important contributing factor to numerous sensory qualities in beer. It has been observed that some proteins help create stable beer haze, others contribute to mouthfeel and others, such as LTP1 and protein Z help to maintain a lovely foamy head.

Proteins come from a variety of sources; malted barley, wheat and oats being the most utilised in the brewing industry. But, as every brewer knows, just loading up your mash tun with copious amounts of oats and wheat can lead to a stuck mash, lautering problems, viscous wort, unstable haze and reduced fermentability. There is a delicate balance to be struck when designing an oat or wheat heavy recipe. 

AB Vickers have recently released an exciting new tool for brewers to utilise in the quest for achieving more mouthfeel and body in their beers; ISY Enhance. It is already being used by numerous breweries around the UK. They have found ISY Enhance has resulted in increased body, mouthfeel, reduced astringency, and improved drinkability.

Northern Monk in Leeds uses ISY Enhance in their low alcohol beers. They report that it “delivers equal if not improved mouthfeel versus maltodextrin, with much less brew day hassle and a better price point.” Track Brewery in Manchester commented that they “saw an increase in mouthfeel, giving a fullness to the beer and also a glossy texture.” 

As well as increasing mouthfeel and body, ISY Enhance can reduce hop burn, bitterness, and astringency in dry hopped beers by binding to polyphenols. This leads to a more rounded flavour profile. Bluntrock Brewery in Cornwall remarked “it gave smoother body, elevating the roundness of mouthfeel to balance peaks of flavour. For example, our pilot brewery is a ‘brew in bag’ system which often can leave an elevated perceived bitterness downstream. We’ve found ISY-Enhance can help to balance that harshness out with enhanced body.”

ISY Enhance is a natural and 100% yeast derived product meaning that, unlike lactose, there are no allergens or additional labelling requirements. Through a unique process developed by Lallemand, the yeast cell walls are weakened to allow the recovery of high molecular weight compounds, such as mannoproteins and polysaccharides from the yeast.

The suggested dosage rates are between 20-60g/hl added into the whirlpool. It is easy to carry out benchtop trials to see what the effect of the product would be on your own beers. You can do this by dissolving the equivalent dosage rate into hot water, and then adding this to a sample of finished beer.

“We have trialled ISY Enhance in a few of the low alcohol beers we produce and have been impressed with the initial results with regards to rounding out the flavour profile and improving body and mouthfeel. 

“It is very easy to use (we dissolve in boiled water and add directly to our whirlpool), we have found it has saved us a great deal of time, as it reduces/eliminates the need to run extensive titration trials on post fermentation additions to improve flavour and body. We have found that ISY Enhance has rounded out any harsh edges that you can get when brewing low alcohol beers. 

“We are also considering trialling it in sub 4% pale ales to improve the body and mouthfeel of our beer in that ABV range.,” explained Attic Brew Co.

ISY Enhance is available from Loughran Brewers Select.