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Maltodextrin in Chocolate Stout
As I'm about 1.5 hours from the brew store opening, and thinking to myself, "man I hope Black Friday doesn't affect homebrew stores", I thought I'd ask for advice on using Maltodextrin.
I've brewed and kegged two stouts now: a Vanilla Oatmeal and an Imperial Stout. Both of them turned out fine, but it seemed like the more they aged (when I say "aged", I mean that the keg lasted about 3 weeks), the weaker the body and head became. Again, good flavor, but not the consistent head and body I wanted. I'm sure that there all kinds of variables that came into play which probably affected the body/head.
One of these variables is probably carbonation methods/problems. I forced carbonated the Vanilla (filled with with 30lbs and rocked it, then fridged it overnight, purged C02, then filled back up with 3-5lbs and poured). With the Imperial, I naturally carbonated, using priming sugar in the keg. However, 7 days later, it was still flat, thus I did a little forcing, not much though. I guess I'm stating this variable because this could have be the issue for both batches. This time, however, I'm bottling...not necessarily as a result of the above issue, but also to avoid having all of my brew consumed by my brew buddy who has the fridge down at his house.
To my original point: my buddy says that maltodextrin will drastically improve the body and head of my stouts. What do you all say? If agreed, how do you use it? When do you add it? How much do I add? Or, is there something better to improve the body/head? What I'd really like to end up with is a body that is smooth and silky, like a Young's Double Chocolate....wouldn't we all though, right?
I would use (assuming a 5 gal. batch) .5 to 1 lb of maltodextrine in the last 10 minutes of the boil.
Other things to try to add fullness to your body would be oats (but I assume you did with your oatmeal stout) or flaked barley. Wheat malt, cara pils, caramunich etc. can be used as well. It does sound like a carbonation issue though.
I would suggest googling a carbonation chart and using that to select the proper CO2 level for your temp and set it and forget it until it is carbonated (5-10 days typically) and then continue to serve at the same pressure. If you end up having foaming issues you may need to lengthen your lines. Good luck!
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