Huel 2.2 - texture

Just to add to the “me too” crowd, I got on fantastically with 2.1, but haven’t managed to make a decent shaker of 2.2 yet. I was using 3 scoops to 400ml of water, gave a nice texture, but if I do that with this, it’s like glue, and full of lumps. Really unhappy that I’ve bought 4 bags of this stuff with this texture.I’ve upped the water to 500-550ml, but now it’s just slightly more watery and has an unpleasant general gelatinous feel to it.

I’ll keep experimenting, but this definitely feels an inferior blend. Taste is mostly still okay, if seeming slightly sweeter, but that could just be the way I’m making it up.

Batch 3018 08:32am
05/2018 10-05-17

Normally using for breakfast and lunch, but this is killing my motivation to use it too.

3 Likes

Just to add as well that I usually would hate to complain, but I have been so happy with the previous version and recommend it to everyone, and now I feel a bit embarrassed by it in case they order and find the new version really gluey like I do! I love the idea that the Huel team are constantly looking to make improvements, but when I am paying nearly £80/month on a subscription service, I would hope that any changes wouldn’t be negative - and certainly hope that negative feedback from loyal customers would be noted and resolved.

3 Likes

I’m with you on the embarrassment factor; I won’t be recommending Huel any more. Well, not to anyone I like anyway.

I tried someone else’s 2.2 UU and made it up as usual with 500mL water followed by 3 scoops Huel. Shaken by hand for 15secs in Huel shaker with ice grid in, and left overnight in the fridge.
Result? Next morning it was a mousse. I have it another 30seconds hand shaking and it became a slightly runny mousse with slimey lumps. Bleurchhhhh.
I don’t want to use a blender - it takes time and space and washing up. My kitchen has a single small surface which already holds a chopping board toaster and kettle! There’s no room for anything else which is why I loved that Huel was great with hand shaking in the shaker provided!
I still have my vanilla at the moment but I’m wary of ordering any more in case that too has changed.
Another customer on the way out after such high hopes :disappointed:

2 Likes

I haven’t bought any 2.2 yet…have been holding off as I still have sufficient here and feedback is somewhat off-putting…I use 500ml and 100g and have done since I started…but don’t want a mousse. sure I’ve experimented in making a mousse with ground chia seeds and Huel but not for my regular meals. I just made some truffles with huel, raw cacao, coconut oil, agave and adzuki beans but again not a regular meal.

2 Likes

Update on this.

After preliminary, in house testing we genuinely don’t feel there is a significant difference in thickness between v2.1 and v2.2 and think that the texture is superior. It’s clear from this thread alone that it isn’t clear cut - some think it is too thick, too thin, and others think it’s just right.

However, with your feedback here this isn’t good enough for us and have thus sent Huel v2.1 and v2.2 away today for external viscosity testing to get to the bottom of it.

Will keep you posted on the results.

10 Likes

Good to hear!

For me, it’s not so much a thick/thin issue, it’s more lumpiness and mouth feel. It’s almost as though it’s not mixing as smoothly as 2.1, and the lumps (which I got used to, and even quite enjoyed) feel ‘gluey’ while the liquid part is thinner. I quite enjoyed the slight grittiness of 2.1 whereas 2.2. seems to feel a bit more gloopy.

Perhaps it would be possible to get around this by using a blender, but for me that would really diminish the usefulness of Huel - I keep the powder at work and just mix it up by hand at lunchtime!

2 Likes

Hey Tim,

I recently did a 5 scoop comparison between 2.1 and 2.2 at both room temperature and chilled > thermos with ice > 6hrs later

At room Temperature and drunk straight away:

2.1 = 5 scoops + 600ml > hand blender = thick chocolate milk consistency. No lumps
2.2 = 5 scoops + 700ml > hand blender = similar thickness. No lumps. Drinkable. If I use less than 700ml it is much thicker and a spoon is needed to finish off the left behinds

Chilled:

2.1 = 5 scoops + 600ml > chilled 1 hour > thermos flask + 6 ice cubes > 6hrs later, pours out like chocolate milk.

2.2 = 5 scoops + 700ml > chilled 1 hour > thermos flask + 6 ice cubes > 6hrs later it doesn’t pour out easy, am doing the ketchup bottle smack and it eventually gloops out. Kinda has a porridge thickness (as the whipped air thickness is gone) since the smooth consistency it had when blended has gone. There’s about 30% left behind so I have to resort to keeping my thermos upside down for a while to try and get most of it out.

Overall, blending and drinking 2.2 straight away is ok but the extra water needed has diluted the flavour and the extra air (moussiness?!?) makes it more filling. I think the extra water needed is ok but the problem for me happens with the chilling and pre-making it. All the setup I had with thermos flasks (I have a few different sizes) and blender containers has been disrupted by the changes to 2.2 and the extra water required. I had to jump from 1L of Huel to 1.5L of Huel for the same amount of scoops. Some of the time advantages of taking Huel have been lost with the extra steps to make and consume 2.2. It seems, in my layman’s eyes, the thickening agents in 2.2 work a bit like gelatine, eventually absorbing the water into dense pockets. I hate to waste Huel so I have to take extra steps and time to make sure I get all of it off the sides of the containers/flasks.

I never used the shaker bottle from Huel as I found it not very good but was using the blender bottle from Bertrand (which has a shaker ball). With 2.1 it worked well. With 2.2 it’s unuseable because of the extra water and the thickness. The shaker ball is coated in mud at the bottom. Though I don’t consume Bertrand at this moment, in contrast, Bertrand mixes pretty easy in their shaker bottle. I’m not sure what the benefit of the thickening agents are.

I’ve got 6 more bags of the stuff and have spent about $70 AUD getting new containers/thermos to accommodate the extra amounts of water needed. Not the end of the world, but kinda a hassle since I invested in the stuff based on my 4 bag experience with 2.1.

I hope the extra feedback helps Tim!

NOTE: It might be worth mentioning I used cooled boiled water to make my huel.

2.2 Vanilla = 2951 12:53pm 11/4/17
2.2 U/U = 2950 11:31am 11/4/17

2 Likes

My main problem is that no matter how much I shake it in the shaker with the grid tray in it, it’s full of lumps and not mixing properly. This is after a good 5-10 minutes of physical vigorous shaking. I’ve identified that the grid seems to get glued up with the huel, so it’s not passing through it, and therefore not mixing properly. I’m sure it’s better in a blender, but at work I don’t have a blender, I’m mixing it up, putting it in the shaker, and drinking it. Or trying to, at this point.

4 Likes

Sounds like your grid is causing problems. I never get lumps using 500ml water, 3 scoops and no grid in the normal Huel shaker.

@TimOfficeHuel Thank you for investigating! I have a couple of questions if you have time to answer:

  1. I’ve worked in Quality Assurance reviewing GMP facilities and reports for about twenty years now, and wonder whether the facility you use for manufacture is GMP compliant? And the external testing site?
  2. I think that in some ways we consumers don’t have a leg to stand on with our complaints - except when we follow the instructions EXACTLY i.e 1/5 ratio with water and nothing added. When you request testing of 2.1 and 2.2 is it an exact 1/5 ratio? Is the water used straight from a tap? How is it then mixed?
  3. Cheeky extra question; I know that you was the ‘best’ viscosity and ‘mouthfeel’, but what does best mean? Would your ideal be like water? Heinz tomato soup? Milkshake? Thickshake? Yoghurt? Mousse? Set yoghurt?

Anyway, thank you Tim for being open to this forum’s views.

3 Likes

Good to know you’re working this out.

And it’s good that I still have a couple of bags of 2.1 and can postpone my next shipment. Which I have done.

1 Like

I think that’s the problem with trying to do one version, it isn’t possible to please everyone, what is wonderful for one person is ghastly for another. Some people like it thin, some thick, some lumpy, others smooth, some textured. Unfortunately for me, the Huel team prefer it thick and smooth.

1 Like

Tim - thanks to you and the team for looking into this.

The difference in thickness and texture, based on my own personal experience, is most noticeable when the shakes are chilled overnight in the fridge. Using my mix of 1/3rd vanilla + 2/3rds U/U, the following morning the consistency is much “gloopier”. I am adding more liquid to thin the mixture, which does work - but of course it weakens the otherwise excellent flavour, making it taste a bit thin, even though the texture is thick.

In all honesty, if I didn’t already have experience of 2.1, I’d consider 2.2 perfectly acceptable - but speaking personally, I preferred the thickness of the previous version.

Looking forward to learning the results of your tests :slight_smile:

1 Like

I’ll give it a shot without it in the morning, but last time I tried it without the grid on 2.1, the results were terrible, and it was far far lumpier.

1 Like

I really hope they don’t change the viscosity. It’s perfect at the moment.

Well, that worked even worse without the grid than with it. Huge lumps of huel unmixed in in the shaker, after a good few minutes giving it a damn good shake. I don’t know what’s happened, but it just doesn’t seem to mix that well with the water, has a tendency to clump up, and have the consistency of yoghurt when it does mix!

1 Like

I have no idea what you’re doing wrong then because I never have this problem. This is what I do.

3 scoops
500ml water
Add water to shaker
Add scoops one at a time on top of water
Shake for 10-15 seconds
(No grate/grid or anything like that)

No lumps using 2.1 or 2.2

Very rarely I will not shake it hard enough and I’ll get a very small lump at the top of the lid of the shaker, but when I say rarely I mean about 2 or 3 times a year…

Could be variations of water hardness around the country are affecting the mix?

1 Like

Personally, I have no issues with either version.

Wondered that. We’ve got really soft water here, don’t know what it’s tested against.