How to make a beer with a creamy feel

Brewers just want their beers to have a good mouth feel and a great taste

It's the most important part.

At the extreme, a great tasting beer that is flat is not a good experience right?

So a creamy mouthfeel and good taste can make the drinking experience wonderful.

When that perfect ale slips down your throat nicely, the brewer has done a great job. They probably followed our brewing guide or lessons learned! ;)

If you are wondering what we mean by a creamy beer you could think of the physical feel you get when you drink a Kilkenny or a Guinness beer.

Forget what they taste like, they are good examples of a creamy beer.

They do have a clever and interesting trick that helps them be so creamy – they are pumped with both carbon dioxide and nitrogen!

How to get a creamy feel in a beer?

It's easy.

Almost too easy.

Here's how to do it:

1. Use more ‘unfermentables’ in your beer. In effect, this is malt. Add more malt. The more malt you add, the 'creamier' your beer will be. This is in the sense that your beer will be more viscous, making it feel thicker in your mouth. 
2. You could try adding sugar lactose. Lactose is not fermentable by yeast, and it will give your beer a milky mouth feel. Lactose is added to Milk Stouts to increase the body of the beer, and give it a creamy mouth feel. Some stout beer enhancers will come with lactose. 
3. You could try and high alpha hops. Such an approach would increase the beer’s bitterness, but also increase the level of ‘isohumulones’ that help enhance head retention. A better head can assist with a good creamy mouthful.
4. Do what the Guinness brewers do and pump the beer with nitrogen and CO2. This would, of course, require some pretty serious investment in some gear!
5. We certainly do not advocate putting cream in your fermenter! We imagine that would ruin your good work and vastly increase the likelihood of a beer infection occurring.