Hi…how is a grain that builds body and mouthfeel and really has no other flavor notes a bad thing?? I brew very dry belgian farmhouse style beers with heavy brett. Brett will take away body by its nature because it eats everything!!! LOL!!! Carapils stands up and gives my beer incredible body without change of color or taste…I love it and it is a 1 lb addition to most of my beers…thank you for listening and I hope for feedback!
I have found that a Pale Wheat Malt will do what CaraPils is supposed to do, but with much better results Just my experience though.
Cara pils is a tool to use in your toolbox of malts. There’s nothing “bad” about it. It can be over used. Perhaps sometimes it is underutilized
Totally agree. Very much like how it became trendy to diss crystal malt. Drew and I discuss this with Dave Taylor on the next podcast.
I’m not convinced that Carapils actually does much of anything in the amounts that people typically use it, 5-10% or whatever. Try white wheat instead, in my humble opinion. But as I say so often… more experiments are needed. If you’re not doing blind experiments, then do you really know what it does or how much it takes? 
I totally agree. I put carapils in the same category as flaked oats…in theory contributes something, but in reality it doesn’t seem do a darn thing, at least in my brewery. I never use it anymore.
Edit: However, if using a diastaticus strain that strips out all the dextrins, I can see how a small amount of any grain, including carapils, might be noticeable. Once you get rid of all the extraneous noise, the signal becomes more visible.
I certainly think crystal malts have been over used by both home and commercial brewers. Especially East Coast commercial breweries. Way too many super sweet super hoppy super caramelly Pale Ales and IPAs and IIPAs that were cloying and not enjoyable. Plenty of beer styles I don’t use crystal or cara malts in. But plenty I do!
I know the OP is talking about brett beers, but in my experience, yeast choice and water chemistry have the biggest impact on mouthfeel of a beer. the other things are a distant third.
Yep. Use what ever you need in whatever amount to get the result you want.
I’ll admit that for the last 5 years or so I fell into the “crystal malt=bad for IPA” trend. Lately I’m back to loving 5-10% of crystal 40 in my hoppy beers
Crystal Malts are very tricky and their use is very specified. Used wrong they do, in fact, add alot of caramel and syrupy overtones to beer. I use them in 60 minute mash/60 minute boil english real ales and that works well. Concentrated in a 90 minute boil they can heavily change character…again a specific tool in the malt tool box…You all are so great to give your excellent feedback on my post!! Thank you.
I realize that this is the all grain brewing section, but one benefit I’ve found of carapils is that it can be steeped for an extract recipe. Wheat malt/flaked wheat need to be mashed IIRC
Great point. I’ve started to specify it for this purposes in recipes that I write for others. I am not an extract brewer anymore, but I know how to get an extract beer to taste great.
Welcome to the forum!
Briess says carapils should be mashed.
From Steeping Specialty Malts - Homebrewing with Briess
“STEEPING SPECIALTY MALTS
What is steeping? Steeping is the process of crushing grain and adding to hot water to draw flavor and color out of the specialty malt. For best results steep at 150° F to 170° F and “dunk” or somehow agitate the grain and water to improve the extraction. Steep for about 30 minutes.
What malts can be steeped? It is not recommended to steep Base Malts, Pale Ale Malt, Munich Malts or other malts with a mealy endosperm because starch could be extracted which would interfere later in the brewing process. These malts need to be partial mashed or mashed, which activates the malt enzymes and converts the grain starches into fermentable sugars.
Briess malts suitable for steeping include:
Carapils[emoji2400] Malt (a unique dextrine malt)
Victory[emoji2400] Malt
Special Roast Malt
Extra Special Malt
All Caramel Malts (Crystal malts)
All Dark Roasted Malts
All Roasted Barley
The simple technique of steeping malts makes it possible for extract brewers to brew virtually an unlimited variety of beer styles. Put the crushed grains in cheesecloth, a nylon stocking or any fine mesh material to make it easier to separate the spent grains from the wort:
Fasten your mesh bag with a string, clothespin or chip clip.
Fill a stainless steel pot about one-half to two-thirds full of water. Heat the water to 150° F – 170° F. Turn off the heat.
Put the bag in the hot water and steep for 30 minutes.
Remove the bag from the water.
Sparge the remaining flavor and color from grains in the bag. To do this, put the bag in a strainer, hold the strainer over the pot, and pour hot water over the bag of grains.
Begin the basic extract brewing process using the flavored water.”
Yeah, I know. They’ve had that contradiction for at least 20 years. Other places thet say it needs to be mashed. Take your pick.
Good to know, thank you. I was using the info solely from their website.
Isn’t Carapils just a very lightly kilned crystal malt?
And if so, couldn’t it just be steeped like other crystal malts?