I read others and seems I am the only one having a LOT of lumps, and HUGE ones!
The best I could do was: putting huel over the water and shaking with the Huel shaker, and adding more and more water. 45 seconds of madly shaking. And I still got lumps: some inside that could not cross the grid, and a lot that crossed the grid. Very disturbing when drinking it.
If I put the water on the Huel and shake with Joylent shaker (with the spiral metal ball) the result is absolutely discouraging. The same if I use a gym shaker with a bigger grid.
Whatās happening? Nothing of this happened with Joylent nor Mana.
Why am I having so much lumps? The only way to get rid of them is using my kitchen whisk, but then the time to take it rises, since I have to clean and wash more thingsā¦
Hmmm this is strange. I get occasional small lumps but not big enough to be a problem. The first thing I would do is to remove the āgridā, that is an ice barrier it doesnāt help with mixing in fact I find it makes it harder.
The water must go in first and Huel second. Then 10-20 seconds of shaking should be plenty, you certain donāt need to shake for 45 seconds. Try 500ml of water with two scoops of Huel (76g), water in first, then huel, with no ice barrier, shake for 10 seconds.
Iām getting the same problem. I wonder if it might be an issue with water quality? I live in a very hardwater area and Iām thinking maybe the extra dissolved minerals in the water inhibit mixing. Just a thoughtā¦
Iām intentionally avoiding blenders because my main interest in Huel is as a portable food supply for hikes and camping. Using warm water seemed to help this morning (as you would probably expect), as did mixing after each scoop. A video would very helpful though, thanks.
I find you need a decent amount of water and you must put the water in the shaker first. A good hard shake for 20-30 seconds should make it lump-free. How many scoops are you using?
I had the same problem as above, also in a hard water area - after watching your video to make sure it wasnāt user error, and still getting the same results, I opened a bag from a different batch number and that seems smoother and easier to mix, but still a fair bit more difficult than Joylent.
The bag from Batch 1936 (expiry 07.2016) is the problematic one for me, it also seems to have noticeably bigger brown bits of flaxseed. Thankfully the other bag of batch 1927 (expiry 07/2017) seems a lot better in both senses. Hope that helps!
Hi Chris, Iāve mixed Huel at home in aylesbury (hard water) and while on holiday in bournemouth (softwater) and dont find a difference in the mixing.
As you can imagine Iāve personally tried all batches. No difference in mixing for me. The batch with the larger flaxseed bits was due the particle size being changed by the supplier from 80 mesh to 40 mesh. Onc the smaller size is available again we will switch back.
When you are shaking do you turn the bottle at different angles? I shake for a second or two then change the angle to nearly upside down, then repeat.
@Julian : Thanks! I did as in your video and the results surely improved, although I got lumps noticeable at the end of the stream enough to fill 1/4 a scoop and still disturbing (I ended filtering them). They were small but one quite large, and I shaked madly. It is right, as @ChrisN says, that is a fair bit more difficult than Joylent.
Talking about batches, all mine are from batch 1936 (07/2016).
I will repeat with the different angles, I think I did not do it completely right.
@alfonson@ChrisN Joylent is a different product, itās main carb source is maltodextrin.
Maltrodextrin is a very fine powder and does mix very well, however there are several downsides. Have a read of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltodextrin: here are some key points:
Maltodextrin is easily digestible, being absorbed as rapidly as
glucose.
It is commonly used for the production of sodas and candy
Maltodextrin has a glycemic index ranging from 85 to 105 (Sugar is 68 and Glucose is 100%)
Maltodextrin is a polysaccharide
Here is the nutritional profile of mlatodextrin:
Basically, itās not a naturally occurring ingredient, has almost no nutritional value apart from carbs and 1% fibre, there are no vitamins or minerals in maltodetrin. It will spike your blood sugar and insulin. If you want to recover quickly after exercise and get sugar / carbs into your blood very quickly then Maltodetrin has a place.
No worries, you arenāt the only one. Just reading this thread and First days of Heul, there are a good number of people (six in these two threads) that mention getting lumps. Seven people, if you count @Julian (āI donāt get lumps. OK, I get lumps but having something to bite into is quite nice.ā )
I use a Nutribullet blender to mix Huel and it works great, no lumps at all. I also use filtered tap water.
I liked the comparison with Joylent (and itās not just Joylent, all the soylent brands except Huel use maltodextrin ) Sure it may help with mixing but itās bad for diabetics. You just need to check your blood sugar to see the spike maltodextrin causes.
Iām currently waiting for my first order of Huel, however Iāve been using protein after training and have a matrix blender. It has two blender cups that have lockable lids so itās awesome for taking to work etc. Currently on offer on groupon: http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/gg-groupon-goods-global-gmb-h-1349-148.
Iām also getting an unpleasant number of lumps when using the shaker (despite following the video instructions). This includes big powdery lumps which arenāt nice to chew on.
Today I tried stirring the powder into the water with a teaspoon before shaking it and that reduced the lumps to a tolerable level after ~45s of vigorous stirring. The result wasnāt lump free, but the lumps were smaller and a lot nicer to chew on.
I recommend giving this a try if youāre looking for a blender-free preparation method.
(This was with soft water, although Iām sceptical that water hardness makes much difference.)
Itās not the best about getting Huel out of home.
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