Diagnosis · Slimy mouthfeel or off flavour
Usually a dosage problem, occasionally a grade problem
Slimy, coating mouthfeel is the classic signature of an overdosed fluid gel. The same polymer that holds particles in suspension will coat the tongue if there is too much of it.
What to do
- Cut the dose first. This is the cheapest and most likely fix.
- If the texture must stay, change the grade. High acyl reads as softer, more elastic and less slimy at the same concentration.
- Blend with a low ratio of xanthan — the synergy reaches the same body with less total hydrocolloid.
- Rule out the rest of the formula. A polymer that has been through an acid or heat step contributes a flat, starchy note of its own.
The reading behind this
How this conclusion was reached
What is actually going wrong?
The mouthfeel is slimy or the flavour is off
Check this against your own system
This describes the usual cause. What actually fixes it depends on your water hardness, total solids and fill temperature — send those three numbers and we will come back with a starting point, or with a bench sample of the grade this points to.
Ask about this diagnosisOther conclusions
Everything else the tree can land on
- Gel too soft — no calcium present
- Gel too soft — water hardness unknown
- Gel too soft — high acyl grade
- Gel too soft — low pH hydrolysis
- Gel too soft — remaining causes
- Lumps — powder not dry blended
- Lumps — hydration window missed
- Lumps — process details to check
- Pre-gelation — in the line
- Pre-gelation — free calcium
- Pre-gelation — cold tank
- Syneresis — water weeping
- Gel cloudy or dull
- Gel melts when warm
- Particles settle
Other tools
Keep going
Three more decision aids for the same problem set.