What causes "flabbyness" on the tongue in beers?

[bergerandfries]

I brewed this beer below, and it is a little flabby on the tongue. I pitched cold and let it warm to 72F over about 5 days...

Recipe Specs
post boil vol. 5.5 gal
OG 1.060
IBU 41
Colour 6 SRM
BU:GU 0.69
pre boil vol. 6.5 gal
BG 1.051
extract 7.13 lb
grain mass 9.87 lb

Brewday Assumptions
mash efficiency 70%
loss to grain 2.29 qt/lb
mashtun dead volume 0.26 gal
mashtun equivalent 0.66 gal
hop utilization factor 100%

Fermentables
name quantity potential use colour
Marris Otter 2-row pale malt 9.0 lb 38 PPG mash 3 SRM
Table Sugar 1.5 lb 46 PPG extract 0 SRM
Breiss Crystal 40 0.5 lb 33 PPG mash 40 SRM
Dingeman's Cara-Vienne 0.4 lb 37 PPG mash 30 SRM

Hops
name form AA Qty time IBU
Styrian Golding (Slovenia) pellet 4.2% 1.0 oz 60 16
Hersbrucker (German) pellet 4.2% 1.0 oz 60 16
Styrian Golding (Slovenia) pellet 4.2% 0.7 oz 20 7
Styrian Golding (Slovenia) pellet 4.2% 0.5 oz 3 1
Styrian Golding (Slovenia) pellet 4.2% 0.5 oz 0 0
total hops 3.7 oz

Other Ingredients
name quantity notes
Irish Moss 0.2 oz 1 tspn
WYeast 1388 31.7 oz 900ml starter
Dregs of Orval Bottle 1.0 oz None
Tspn Gypsum 0.1 oz None

Mash Schedule
start
temp grain
mass start
water water
addition target
temp strike
temp minutes notes
45.0 F 9.9 lb 0.0 gal 2.7 gal 145.0 F 186.2 F 90
142.0 F 9.9 lb 2.7 gal 1.7 gal 164.0 F 212.8 F 5
162.0 F 9.9 lb 1.2 gal 3.2 gal 168.0 F 172.4 F 5
total additions 7.7 gal total time 100
loss to grain -1.57 gal
total 6.18 gal

[DannyW]

Perhaps it's just undercarbonated? I consider the opposite of "flabby" to be "bright" or "lively" or "refreshing" and the little bit of acid that carbonation adds might go a long way toward helping.

I think low sulfates in your water can cause that too, but you did add some gypsum so maybe that's not it.

Can you better describe "flabby?"

[skipper]

Do you measure your mash pH? If so, what was it?

Have a listen to John Palmer talking about pH on Basic Brewing Radio http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr01-11-07.mp3, or if you have the time, the water show MK II http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/archive/dwnldarchive04-16-06.mp3 and from the archives . According to Palmer, "Flabbiness" can be a symptom of relatively high mash pH, or general high pH of the finished beer. This may lead to a further investigation of your water chemistry, in particular bi-carbonate levels.

As DannyW indicated, low carbonation can be a factor in high pH (dissolved CO2 forms carbonic acid, which lowers pH).

[bergerandfries]

Low carb may be it. I primed low because of the Brett in the bottle, so I'll be watching the carb level and the flabbyness. The best way I can describe the flabbyness as a sweetness that just kind of lies on the tongue from a mouthfeel point of view...