I've been a RIMS brewer for almost my entire homebrewing duration, so wort pumping is a matter of fact for me. I've not been disappointed with the body and mouthfeel of my beers, but I wonder if pumping actually makes any difference to the finished product?
As you can imagine, sending wort through a pump is similar to putting it through a tornado. There are significant shear forces on the wort when it passes through the pump that could conceivably rip the body-building proteins in the wort apart.
My question is: Does anyone know if there is actually a difference between a pumped and non-pumped wort and beer? I don't believe there is.