# How do you create a beer with good head



## trustyrusty (11/3/15)

Hello,

I have read a few articles and posts and not quite sure what makes a good head on the beer.

My beer is turning out ok, but head does not last long..

> Is it more time in the bottle? (Been about 4 weeks when I have tried) (I have a range of coopers beers, one tooheys special with extra hops, there is an ale that has probably been in for 2 months now, I will try again soon, but it was the same at 4 weeks)
> Is it brew enhancer (ie malt) that is the difference
> Some say hops does help...

I have made sure the glasses are washed properly
A friend let me try and bottle of dark ale that had been in the bottle for 18 months, but he said he also used extra malt...
and it was great.... the head lasted to the last mouthful..

So I cannot be sure what it is...

From your experience what is it?

I am a newbie at all this.

Thanks


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## barls (11/3/15)

ok better question to you whats your normal way of making beer. kits, extract or all grain.


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## Blind Dog (11/3/15)

Resisting the obvious smutty response...

Malt, mash temps, time conditioning, level of priming, water composition, in fact just about every ingredient and part if the process can affect head to a greater or lesser extent. Would probably need to know your recipe, mash schedule, etc to offer constructive advice

That said I've found including a short rest at 55 and a longer one at 72 in the mash schedule, extended conditioning, clean glassware and waiting post (vigorous) pour all helped


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## trustyrusty (11/3/15)

At the moment, noob, so just kit (can) plus fermentables (Coopers brewenhancer 2, coopers brewing sugar), sometimes normal sugar (that maybe the issue with some?)


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## Blind Dog (11/3/15)

Also, once you've decided what steps to take try changing one thing at once so you'll know what does and does not work for you


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## trustyrusty (11/3/15)

Blind Dog said:


> Resisting the obvious smutty response...


 Yes there will be some, I did not how else to say it


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## barls (11/3/15)

ok the one that i found was the first one was ditching the dextrose and replacing with a dme or dry malt extract. 
then steeping grains and finally i ended up all grain.
then theres mash temps and other factors that come in to it.
adding hops also help.


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## Yob (11/3/15)

Wheat..


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## seamad (11/3/15)

Yob said:


> Wheat..


I wonder if adding some dry malted wheat extract would help ? Can't see why it wouldn't.
You can also steep some carapils.


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## Spiesy (11/3/15)

10% carapils. Job done.

Or, you could try - step mashing, adding wheat, etc.

Edit: sorry, just read the bit about kits.


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## TheWiggman (11/3/15)

I've never had any luck with head on simple kits beers like OP uses.
I'd focus on making sure your glass (drinking) and bottles are thoroughly rinsed and devoid of any soapy residue. Try not to use too much soap when washing. Apart from that, the above recommendations - where applicable - are good.
There are additive products like Big Head Powder that you could play around with, but I've never tried them.


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## Yob (11/3/15)

seamad said:


> I wonder if adding some dry malted wheat extract would help ? Can't see why it wouldn't.


Used to add it religiously in my kits n bits days, helped loads


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## danestead (11/3/15)

Ive never tried one, however what about a fresh wort kit? I assume they are made by an all grain process and with any luck they achieve a better head than what you are getting atm. Pretty much the same 'brew' process as you are currently doing now. Pour into fermenter, top up with a small amount of water, add yeast, wait, drink. Theyll taste a million times better as well.


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## droid (11/3/15)

for me, using light dry malt extract (ldme) instead of sugar helped (gives the beer more body too) and the correct dosage of sugar or ldme or like at bottling

are you getting bubbles in the beer?


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## Blind Dog (11/3/15)

I found all of these useful to varying degrees:

_https://www.ibd.org.uk/cms/file/311_
(if the link is dodgy, search for 'getting a head Institute of Brewing and Distilling') on google to find the pdf

http://byo.com/stories/item/621-fabulous-foam
https://byo.com/stories/issue/item/693-getting-good-beer-foam-techniques


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## micblair (11/3/15)

4 ppm tetra hop.


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## Feldon (11/3/15)

Spiesy said:


> 10% carapils. Job done.


This. Can give you a beautiful lacy head that clings to the sides of the glass as you drink it down.

Crush about 250g of Carapils grain (put it in a zip lock bag and beat the shit out of it with your wife's best rolling pin), put it in a saucepan or pot and pour in a couple of litres of very hot water. Let it steep for about 20 mins or so (give it a stir every now and then).

Strain into another pan or pot and bring to boil to sterilise it. Give it a simmer for five minutes or more and your done. You can use the boiled Carapils extract to help dissolve the rest of your kit ingredients.

Good luck.


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## danestead (11/3/15)

Feldon said:


> This. Can give you a beautiful lacy head that clings to the sides of the glass as you drink it down.
> 
> Crush about 250g of Carapils grain (put it in a zip lock bag and beat the shit out of it with your wife's best rolling pin), put it in a saucepan or pot and pour in a couple of litres of very hot water. Let it steep for about 20 mins or so (give it a stir every now and then).
> 
> ...


That sounds really simple and probably the best way to get some head on a kit beer and is a look into kits and bits style brewing.

Just to clarify, 'very hot water' doesn't mean boiling water. About 80 degrees would be the maximum you would want to go. Your hot tap water is usually regulated to about 50 or 55 degrees im pretty sure.

When you do bring it to the boil later on, that is after you have strained out the grains. It is fine to boil it at that point. The reason you dont want to boil the grains is because you will extract tannins (bad bitter taste like sucking on a tea bag) from the grain husks.


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## manticle (11/3/15)

For kit beer - maltodextrin or steep some carapils and use some hops.

Glasses clean and well rinsed.


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## trustyrusty (12/3/15)

Thanks Guys for all suggestions - I will go through and report back or ask a question about a post, cheers


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## trustyrusty (12/3/15)

Some of you mention _dry malt extract_.DME and some mention _dry malt wheat extract_ - Is that the same thing?


I have also read this _Use foam-building ingredients such as wheat or unmalted barley_ . And someone also responded with wheat. But I am not sure how much (If I was making 23 lt (Beer kit). How can I add wheat to a kit beer, are there extracts, or a similar product I can add to the wort or should it be raw.

Also I think adding raw sugar to the bottle for conditioning seems to make a better head, more foamy, than the drops - is that right?

My beer is not going flat - there are bubbles - and there is a good head when I pour just not staying there. I have cleaned the glasses in hot water and no soap. They were previously washed in a dish washer. I also used the pink glass detergent they use in the pubs for some washes, not sure if there was a difference - but I might have to dry two methods of washing as see what is best.

Thanks


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## seamad (12/3/15)

Dry malt is 100 % barley, Dry wheat is usually a mix of wheat and barley (65:35 ) Liquid wheat ( coopers ) is 50:50.

Edit: As to quantities ( these are rough as I don't brew with kits)
1. 250g carapils steeped ( in @ 1L 70-80 C water )
2. If you're adding 1kg of extra fermentables try 250g of dry wheat malt in the mix
3. Some beer styles would suit adding a tin of the coopers wheat if you want to use liquid extract.

You can't easily use wheat/fllaked barley as they require mashing


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## trustyrusty (12/3/15)

Thanks - BTW in some brews I have used Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 - which has the light dry malt - is that not enough (I am waiting for them to condition properly, they say 2 weeks to be drinkable but I am waiting at least a month). In some cases I only used sugar not brewing sugars. That could be an issue?

Thank you,


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## manticle (12/3/15)

Malt will give a better head than dextrose or white sugar. Wheat, hops and or carapils will all help with better head formation and retention (on top of any benefit malt brings).


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## Winny (12/3/15)

I just added 250grams of malt to this brew , I have zero retention however so caraphils sound like the go


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## manticle (12/3/15)

Beer is generally mostly made from malted barley so see that as a base to build on rather than an additive.


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## TehCrucible (13/3/15)

+1 for steeping CaraPils grain. Its so cheap and easy. The beer in my profile pic was a simple kits and bits with CaraPils and it kept that head, with nice lacing. I think I took that photo at just over two weeks in the bottle. 250g, crushed. Steep in ~ 70° water for half an hour, strain, boil and then add to fermenter.


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## trustyrusty (13/3/15)

TehCrucible said:


> +1 for steeping CaraPils grain. Its so cheap and easy. The beer in my profile pic was a simple kits and bits with CaraPils and it kept that head, with nice lacing. I think I took that photo at just over two weeks in the bottle. 250g, crushed. Steep in ~ 70° water for half an hour, strain, boil and then add to fermenter.


Looks good  Thanks - One thing I have noticed in my bubbles - they seem more like lemonade bubbles - size and speed up the glass, and sometimes I do find you can have a little taste of gas in the head. Would the carapills,malt etc help with that?


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## manticle (13/3/15)

Yes. There's a few good articles around on what is responsible for foam formation and retention. Proteins and dextrins are the main culprits - carapils provides the dextrin part.

I'll try and hunt up some reading for you.

Start with the attached pdf. 

View attachment 07 - Beer foam.pdf


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## Adr_0 (14/3/15)

Manticle mentioned it before, but make sure your glasses are clean and you're not eating pizza then putting those pizza lips on your glass.

I throw a few spoonfuls of sodium percarbonate into the dishwasher (glasses only) and put it on a glass cycle. They come up a treat, see below:


I might be cheating as this is an all grain beer: 60% Weyermann pils, 40% Weyermann vienna, 64°C for 45min and 70.5°C for 15min. Gently transferred into fermenter (no sloshing) and into a glass washed with sodium perc and drip dried. That was a photo after about 3min (took a while to sort out my camera).

Definitely agree with steeping some carapils (5%?) and some dried wheat extract if you can get your hands on it. And clean glasses. Did we mention clean glasses? As manticle also mentioned - it's like the guys knows his stuff... - hops actually helps head retention too. I thought it was mostly dry-hopping, but I'm sure that hops in the boil will help too. Anyway, nothing stopping you dry-hopping with extract: use a hop bag, soak in sodium perc, rinse, soak in Starsan, add your hops then chuck it in after a few days of fermenting.

Sodium percarbonate is readily available, cheap, and is unbeatable for cleaning fermenters and glassware. It's probably not the best for copper/brass as it's a solid oxidiser. It's an essential cleaner in any home brewery.


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## elcarter (14/3/15)

What time are we aiming for this phenomenon that is head retention? I remember "sort of" at the Heineken brewery it was said you should have finished your beer in 120 seconds before the foam dissipated and your beer was spoiled. I though it was out of the tap but I digress. 

If mine lasts for more than 60 sec great. 

If not I've probably made a bad beer because it lasted 60 secs.

Just my personal opinion but if this is you final piece of your beer jigsaw puzzle and you have absolutely nailed everything else you could in that beer than your far wiser than most. Particularity me - not hard.

I just feel as though there are far more important facets of beer craft than how long the head foam molecules hang around while your too busy ogling your beer than drinking it. 

Or maybe I haven't had enough head and just in a shitty mood?

All for bettering your beer craft but I think far to many get hung up on appearances than the substance. Feels as though this is throughout society as a whole these days.


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## Adr_0 (14/3/15)

Yeah, you're right... then again I was going to comment about yeast and temperature and all that, but this hobby/habit you pick up bits and pieces of information all over the place, and sometimes one or two things bug you and you can find some answers here. Who are we to say what's the most important thing about somebody else's homebrew?


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## elcarter (14/3/15)

Internet keyboard warriors armed with conjecture and misinformation?

I certainly didn't want to discourage the pursuit of head. " pun intended " but I've seen big breweries put $ into grain crop modification for the the elusive head. I just wonder what for? advertising?

I don't care that my beer head on my first war font pour fills half the glass with foam or that my second pour looks perfect for 30 sec before it dissipates but you and others might.

My point is to just put a little perspective that some may want to look at water quality, recipe formulation or temp control before worrying what 100g of steep of carapils will add to a 90+% extract brew fermented at ambient 30 deg with bakers yeast.


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## manticle (14/3/15)

Many other things to worry about but head adds to texture and aroma as well as appearance and anyone who thinks texture, aroma or visual appearance of a food or drink is irrelevant has their arse in their elbow.


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## Goose (14/3/15)

> I don't care that my beer head on my first war font pour fills half the glass with foam or that my second pour looks perfect for 30 sec before it dissipates but you and others might.


Maybe, but you should, I cannot persevere with a beer with no head and when they have been undesirably created they have not had the honour of human digestive processing...

If a beer has no head, I believe conventional wisdom means that it is incomplete.


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## stewy (14/3/15)

500 grams Wheat DME works a treat. Excellent head retention & doesn't effect flavour at all. Either that or steep 250g Carapils


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## superstock (15/3/15)

A quick squirt into the bottom of the glass with a sand blaster to create nucliated glass and just about every beer will have a head.


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## dicko (15/3/15)

Winny said:


> ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1426149975.271636.jpg I just added 250grams of malt to this brew , I have zero retention however so caraphils sound like the go


Mate, without being critical of your glass cleaning procedure....that glass is filthy.

The bubbles on the sides of the glass are nucleation points that are brought about by small particles of foreign matter causing the C02 to come out of solution.

There are a couple of great topics on this forum on the cleaning of beer glasses if you want to have a bit of a search.

Cheers


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## Winny (15/3/15)

dicko said:


> Mate, without being critical of your glass cleaning procedure....that glass is filthy.
> 
> The bubbles on the sides of the glass are nucleation points that are brought about by small particles of foreign matter causing the C02 to come out of solution.
> 
> ...


Matw your spot on there , that
Glass was filthy , that happens when the mrs cleans them and puts in the cupboard haha


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## trustyrusty (15/3/15)

manticle said:


> Yes. There's a few good articles around on what is responsible for foam formation and retention. Proteins and dextrins are the main culprits - carapils provides the dextrin part.
> 
> I'll try and hunt up some reading for you.
> 
> Start with the attached pdf.


thanks


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## trustyrusty (15/3/15)

Thanks Guys for all the info,

I will go through.

I actually have a couple of brews that are getting better,

some I used with sugar, some with coopers BE2, and some with coopers brewing sugars....The one with Be2 (Aust.Coopers Ale - International series) is getting quite good, the head is better. One month in the bottle.

I will let you know how the others are going - too early too tell..

cheers


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## dicko (15/3/15)

Winny said:


> Matw your spot on there , that
> Glass was filthy , that happens when the mrs cleans them and puts in the cupboard haha


I never let my Mrs touch the beer glasses unless of course she has to take the empties out to my cleaning area after a session :lol:


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## Adr_0 (15/3/15)

Rusty, sounds like even those ones that are along the way you might be able to help with glass cleaning (sodium percarbonate). It's here if you want to grab some:
http://shop.beerbelly.com.au/catalogsearch/result/?q=percarbonate


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## barls (15/3/15)

don't know where i got this but have a read 

View attachment Beer foam.pdf


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## verysupple (17/3/15)

As usual when the topic of head formation and retention comes up, glassware cleanliness and foam positive ingredients have been discussed. But nobody has mentioned the huge affect the quality of fermentation has on head formation and retention. 

Yes, an all malt beer probably has more foam positive molecules in it than a beer with a high proportion of simple sugar, but there should still be enough in either case. Look at many Belgian ales that often have quite a bit of simple sugar in them, they have superb head retention. I tend to agree with the author of this article that more often the problem is excess of foam negative compounds (and often dirty glassware isn't the cause of these) than a lack of foam positive ones.

Get your fermentation sorted and it's likely that a lot of your head issues will be sorted too.


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## dicko (17/3/15)

Great link vs.


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## jimmy86 (17/3/15)

Well said verysupple!
Ferment temp and cell count make a world of difference to more than just flavour.


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## trustyrusty (8/4/15)

Hi Guys, a bit of a report back.....

I have found that *time in the bottle* is probably the best for the head retention too, as long as you have done the right thing in the process.(At this point since I made the post I dont have any beers that I have changed the recipe but may next one ready is a coopers pale ale with a mix of malt, dex, etc from brew shop)

I have a number of brews (kit 'n kilo) some with brewing enhancer, some with brewing sugar, some with plain white sugar as fermentables
but the glassware has to be clean, and the best thing I have found so far is the dishwasher (finish soap) with rinse aid (in fact I think the rinse was even low - not even sure it was in there, I will run again) but last night I had a brew and the head lasted right till the last sip.. and tasty, one of the brews had extra hops and that seemed to really fire up in the bottom with headmaster glass...so that helps too...

Thanks


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## zeggie (8/4/15)

Bad habit Ive seen is chucking beer in a freezer for an hour then cracking and pouring it. Very bad for head especially homebrew.


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## peekaboo_jones (9/4/15)

TheWiggman said:


> I've never had any luck with head on simple kits beers like OP uses.
> I'd focus on making sure your glass (drinking) and bottles are thoroughly rinsed and devoid of any soapy residue. Try not to use too much soap when washing. Apart from that, the above recommendations - where applicable - are good.
> There are additive products like Big Head Powder that you could play around with, but I've never tried them.


Very true, I've found this is my main problem. I typically clean and sanitize bottles with a home brew shop powder mixture then rinse with cold water straight from the tap but I try and do it without using too much water. Tested a few rinsing with heaps of hot water and the difference is there


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## trustyrusty (9/4/15)

Trustyrusty said:


> but the glassware has to be clean, and the best thing I have found so far is the dishwasher (finish soap) with rinse aid


False alarm, I think I thought I used a glass from dishwasher. I may have been wrong...I am going to do some tests with different glasses at the same time with the same beer....
BTW I just rinse bottles with hot water, twice, add sanitizer and leave until I need to fill, then whn needed I rinse with high pressure hose a couple of times then fill....I never use soap, but do you think you can use the pink glass washing powder... Could this have an effect on head, how do you wash your bottles...


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## TheWiggman (9/4/15)

Trustyrusty said:


> I have found that *time in the bottle* is probably the best for the head retention too, as long as you have done the right thing in the process.(At this point since I made the post I dont have any beers that I have changed the recipe but may next one ready is a coopers pale ale with a mix of malt, dex, etc from brew shop)


Cheers for the follow up. I was thinking about this last night too and I'm certain that beers I have kept longer in the bottle have better head retention.


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## Grott (9/4/15)

I only wash my glasses in water and if having a few use these brushes and rinse the bottles straight away with a pressure rinse. (both from ebay.)
Cheers


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## trustyrusty (9/4/15)

grott said:


> I only wash my glasses in water and if having a few use these brushes and rinse the bottles straight away with a pressure rinse. (both from ebay.)
> Cheers


Thanks, so you you just wash glasses with hot water, I was thinking that would not be a bad way, no chance of contamination. cheers


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## mr_wibble (9/4/15)

IMHO it's not about whether you wash in no-detergent, brewery cleaner, or off-the-shelf-whatever. 

It's a rinsing problem. 

The detergent does help sanitise, remove fingerprints & other fats from your lips (from whatever you have been eating), lipsticks (et.al.) from the used glass. 
But just ensure you rinse it away.

The shape of the glass also benefits head retention. Tall, narrow glasses help retain the foam, shorter/wider glasses do not.
I've also read that glasses which taper in at the top (e.g.: German wheat beer glass) hold the head even more.

There's some more information here: http://byo.com/hops/item/621-fabulous-foam but it's more of a general overview.

cheers,
-kt


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## Adr_0 (9/4/15)

Few heaped teaspoons of sodium perc in the dishwasher, crack open the dishwasher when it's done and things are still got and steamy. 

It really is as simple as that for the glass side of things. A very easy fix... Then look at your beer which may not be as simple.


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## peekaboo_jones (11/4/15)

stewy said:


> 500 grams Wheat DME works a treat. Excellent head retention & doesn't effect flavour at all. Either that or steep 250g Carapils


I'm going to do this from now, might even do a wheat dme and carapils combo


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## trustyrusty (5/2/16)

Hi Guys, thought I would check back here....

I found that yeast is a good contributor... 

Coopers Dark Ale + BE2 + 250 g brown sugar (..not sure why the sugar....nothing fancy) but I used American West Coast BRY-97

This beer as a great head right till the bottom. I can only assume is the yeast that made a difference... I don't think it could have the brown sugar?  The Coopers

brew enhancer I have used a few times.. and not the same result. Also used brown sugar in bottle conditioning..


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## butisitart (5/2/16)

just got onto this thread -
briefly flicking through above, i didn't see carapils aka carafoam mentioned -
you can steep it, and i find that dumping 2-300gm of that into something that i want a creamier head on noticeably helps. i once dumped 650gm in cos it was in danger of going stale, and that was a seriously creamy brew.


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## DanIAm (23/5/16)

Torrefied wheat, 125g - 250g in a 20 litres of wort is plenty (and cheap).

"Torrefied Wheat consists of grains of soft wheat varieties that have been cooked at high temperature resulting in gelatinisation of the starchy endosperm. Addition of Torrefied Wheat will promote head retention and add body to the finished beer." _www.crispmalt.co/files/19%20_*Torrefied*_%20_*Wheat*_.pdf_


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## MHB (23/5/16)

The article linked by verysupple is about the best information outside professional literature that I have seen. It reads like a popular science version of Foam by Charlie Bamforth (a good investment for anyone Pro Brewing or going that way).

The big take home message
_"Good foam seems to follow good general brewing practices. There is no silver bullet to getting good foam, so focus on making good beer and the foam should come naturally."_
What makes the biggest difference, to my mind isn't so much the foam building ingredients/processes as the foam degrading ones. Of what we have control over, yeast stress is the most important, contact time with old yeast being a big part of that.
Too long on old yeast will kill foam!
Mark

Edit crap formatting
M


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## Randai (14/6/16)

So recently listened to a brew strong episode on the brewing network and they said if you have excess splashing about that it could use up the proteins that are used for long lasting head. e.g only foam fully once.

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/brew-strong-foam/

Now I no-chill at the moment and do just pour the whole cube in and it splashes around and it gets a huge rocky head persistent once poured into the fermenter and my head retention is pretty bad, but initial head is alright.


Anyone had any experience with this sloshing about (say even shaking the fermenter) causing poor head retention.

I'll try and be more gentle next beer and see if the head stays more or not.


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## wereprawn (14/6/16)

Randai said:


> So recently listened to a brew strong episode on the brewing network and they said if you have excess splashing about that it could use up the proteins that are used for long lasting head. e.g only foam fully once.
> 
> http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/brew-strong-foam/
> 
> ...


I have a good 15 cm of foam after transferring from urn to FV and haven't come across any problems with formation or retention of head . Most brewers actively try for a well aerated/oxygenated wort. May be worth searching this forum for other causes of poor foam.


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## Randai (14/6/16)

wereprawn said:


> I have a good 15 cm of foam after transferring from urn to FV and haven't come across any problems with formation or retention of head . Most brewers actively try for a well aerated/oxygenated wort. May be worth searching this forum for other causes of poor foam.


Fair enough. I'll have a go over some other things as well, might have missed something the last time I tried really looking into foam formation.

But it is helpful to know that others have had a huge amount of foam while they transfer into the FV.


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## MHB (14/6/16)

There are a finite amount of foam building ingredients in a wort, mostly proteins and alpha acids (yes that's why head tastes bitter than the beer) unless you loose them they should pretty much all end up in the beer.
Long protein rests will degrade proteins to peptides if you wait long enough, reducing the amount of head building medium molecular weight proteins (mostly LTP and Protein Z), personally I think with modern malt a protein rest is mostly a WOFTAM unless you have a lot of unmalted cereal adjunct.
The foam on boiling wort is rich in foam builders - don't skim the kettle, very long (3h+) boils can reduce useful protein, the foam in the krausen also contains lots of head builders - blow off tubes can reduce head, stale hops can be head negative as can mould on malt (no one here would use crap ingredients even if they were free would we) and Oxidisation products can reduce head. perhaps that is what the link above is talking about. Lots of otherwise benign bacteria can be very bad for head. Detergents and oils are also head killers, as are some of the lipids (oils - sort of) in trub so avoid excess trub transfer.
The enzyme Protease A produced by old/stressed yeast is probably the worst head killer of all.

High hopping levels improves head, Zn in the finished beer is important, especially in high alcohol beer (alcohol is head negative).
As always good brewing practice makes beer that holds a head.
Mark


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## rude (14/6/16)

Randai said:


> So recently listened to a brew strong episode on the brewing network and they said if you have excess splashing about that it could use up the proteins that are used for long lasting head. e.g only foam fully once.
> 
> http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/brew-strong-foam/
> 
> ...


Mate havent listened to the brew strong but splashing youre wort into fermenter is a bonus IMHO
o2 ing the wort for the yeast to make a good start is a no chill bonus

Were they talking about splashing when the wort is hot ?


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## Randai (14/6/16)

rude said:


> Mate havent listened to the brew strong but splashing youre wort into fermenter is a bonus IMHO
> o2 ing the wort for the yeast to make a good start is a no chill bonus
> 
> Were they talking about splashing when the wort is hot ?


Actually they were talking about one specific thing. Basically anything that was causing it to foam, would end up coagulating the proteins out (or something along those lines). Which would degrade the head retention in a future foaming.

So as an example they foamed an entire bottle of beer from a tap, then recarbed it, using the same system and noticed a lot of chunks on the bottle of the bottom and when pouring it, it did have a head, but it quickly disappeared.

Jon Palmer was saying something along the lines of even "O2ing your wort can reduce the head formation some what". But he used the example of putting a beer stone in and putting pure O2 in, which I don't have any first hand experience so I can't tell you if that'd be "smoother" or less foam generating.

Its why it got me thinking about it, because as you exactly said, the oxygenation helps your ferment and you'd definitely want it in there, but at the same time if it does degrade it, how do you balance those two things



MHB said:


> There are a finite amount of foam building ingredients in a wort, mostly proteins and alpha acids (yes that's why head tastes bitter than the beer) unless you loose them they should pretty much all end up in the beer.
> Long protein rests will degrade proteins to peptides if you wait long enough, reducing the amount of head building medium molecular weight proteins (mostly LTP and Protein Z), personally I think with modern malt a protein rest is mostly a WOFTAM unless you have a lot of unmalted cereal adjunct.
> The foam on boiling wort is rich in foam builders - don't skim the kettle, very long (3h+) boils can reduce useful protein, the foam in the krausen also contains lots of head builders - blow off tubes can reduce head, stale hops can be head negative as can mould on malt (no one here would use crap ingredients even if they were free would we) and Oxidisation products can reduce head. perhaps that is what the link above is talking about. Lots of otherwise benign bacteria can be very bad for head. Detergents and oils are also head killers, as are some of the lipids (oils - sort of) in trub so avoid excess trub transfer.
> The enzyme Protease A produced by old/stressed yeast is probably the worst head killer of all.
> ...


In this case it was purely the foaming part I believe. Unless I misunderstood it. Which is entirely possible. e.g "Foaming once"

Just thought I'd chuck it out there as one of the potential culprits.
I mean there is a bunch of other reasons as well as you've listed. So a lot of things for me personally to investigate into my own process.


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## MHB (14/6/16)

Hell yes, there are lots of things that effect every possible feature of a beer, no one can address all of them in every beer and in lots of cases there will be more than one choice both of them will have both up and down sides.

That said do the basics well and its odds on you will make good beer, with a good head.
Mark


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