Does Filtering Reduce Head Retention (dramatically)?

[BeerSwiller]

Hi,

I am having this problem of head retention which is really starting to give me the *****, my kegged beer has poor retention but my bottled counterpart is great..


I brew AG, Chill, Polyclar, then filter with 1 micron absolute and keg.... head retention poor.
Chill, Polyclar, then bottle and head retention is great!

I was thinking about going back to CCing, polyclaring and not filtering? Thinking that maybe the filtering is stripping out too many head retaining proteins??

Really not sure... help on this would be great..... pls! :unsure:

 

[Aus_Rider_22]

Really shouldn't be.

What's the difference in age from bottles and keg?

If you are force carbing the kegs and drinking asap then I can see how the head might not be staying around due to the co2 not being properly immersed in the beer. And if you are aging the bottles for weeks or monthly to carb up in the bottle then I can see how a more consistent head could happen vs the quick force carb and serve next day.

There is alot of differing opinions about force kegging and head retention and hopefully a few people offer their experience and advice!

 

[ekul]

:icon_offtopic: Do you reuse your yeast beerswiller? Been looking at polyclar but haven't wanted to buy a filter, if i can just polyclar and not filter that would be great. However i reuse yeast.

AS for head retention, are you sure your beer is fully carbed? Sometimes if i don't leave my beer long enough it won't hold a head. My current regime is to shake the **** out of it @ 3 bar for 50 seconds and then leave at serving rpessure for a week.

 

[BeerSwiller]

Hi,
Yes, I do reuse yeast, all the time in fact.
My bottled beers are the same age as kegged beer.
Carbonation is high

Damn.... hope its a protein problem and unfiltering will fix it

 

[Fourstar]

Damn.... hope its a protein problem and unfiltering will fix it

Dont do protein rests (if you do as you may be screwing up the temps) and on your next beer sub 5% of your base malt with some carapils. :icon_cheers: if you still have foam problems something strange is going on.

Dextrins+hop oils+head forming proteins=creamy foam.

 

[argon]

i'd be looking at both the cleanliness/sanitation of the keg system as well as the serving pressure balance of the system. I'd say the retention has something to do with how the beer is being served out of the keg.

 

[drsmurto]

Are you carbonating the kegged beer and bottled beer to the same volume of CO2?

How are you calculating both?

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Try kegging one without filtration - then you will know if its the filtering or the kegging step that is making the difference. I suspect the kegging itself is to blame, nothing about filtration should significantly affect your head retention.

 

[Tony]

I have no problems with head retention with filtered beers. And i filter everything but wheats..... that would be a crime

If your bottled beers are holding a head i would look at the carbonation difference in the keg perhaps?

Its a ahrd one to solve without being able to see your whole process.

 

[Cocko]

Try kegging one without filtration - then you will know if its the filtering or the kegging step that is making the difference.

Sense... perfectly expressed.

 

[ChrisECarpenter]

A 1 micron filter won't even touch the proteins responsible for head retention.
But you might be finding that your bottle-conditioned beers have more sediment when poured, which forms a nucleation point for carbon dioxide to come out of solution and form more foam (and continue to foam after the pour), whereas the keg-carbed & served beer holds the CO2 in solution better, so looks flat in the glass.

Can you post some photos?
Chris

 

[BeerSwiller]

Carbonation in the glass seems to be pretty much equal, I will post some photos once I finish work.
The only thing I can think of is that I don't sanitize my beer line after each keg us dispensed, I just swap straight onto another keg.
I have pulled both celli taps apart and cleaned also.
I woul not have thought filtering could be a problem as most commercial beer is filtered and they come out ok.
I use the 300kpa, shake for a min. Method of carbonation.

I can remember when I first got a keg system and had no filtering or polyclar, the clarity was crap, but had great head.