Arabinoxylan from non-malted cereals can act as mouthfeel contributor in beer

•Arabinoxylan is responsible for an increase in beer viscosity.•Non-malted rye can be used to improve mouthfeel in beer.•Fine milling increases rye arabinoxylan solubilisation to a limited extent.•Addition of xylanases during mashing reduces rye beer viscosity only slightly.•A sensory panel can differentiate a rye beer as beer with higher fullness. A satisfying mouthfeel is essential for the production of non-alcoholic, low-alcohol beers and light beers. This paper highlights the importance of non-starch carbohydrates as mouthfeel contributors in this context. Beers were brewed with a substitution of 20 % barley malt grits by non-malted barley, rye or oats compared to a control. For the beer brewed with rye, both a 53 % increase in arabinoxylan content and an increase in the average degree of polymerization from 29 to 50 were observed. Compared to the control beer (1.48 mm²/s), viscosity was the highest for the rye beer (1.85 mm²/s). Multivariate data analysis underlined the role of arabinoxylan content and degree of polymerization as determinants of beer viscosity. A sensory panel distinguished a low-alcohol rye beer as the one with increased fullness compared to a 100 % malt beer. These experiments suggest that rye addition can be used as a strategy to increase the beer fullness.