Flat Beer Or Poor Head Retension

[drag]

I have been noticing that after 3-4 beers pulled from the keg that the head dosnt stay anywhere near as long.
The keg has been sitting carbing @ 100kpa for a week now and temp is 3-4 degrees.
I have tried different glasses thinking its the glass. One glass has the indentations in the bottom and the other dosnt.
It will slowly bubble in that glass but the other nothing at all.
Should I force carb next time to see if that makes any diff?
Is a week long enough for carbing up?
It was a k&k with 1kg dex & .5kg of ldm.
Any help appreciated.

 

[newguy]

It probably has more to do with your ingredients than anything else. I first started with k&k, and the head on those beers was very poor. As soon as I started doing partial mashes, the head on my beers dramatically improved. In general, the more "sugar" you add, the poorer the head. Omit the dextrose and substitute DME instead and you'll see a dramatic improvement.

 

[drag]

Thats what I carnt understand , the first two glasses have great head and will last to the end of the glass.

 

[kook]

I have tried different glasses thinking its the glass. One glass has the indentations in the bottom and the other dosnt.
It will slowly bubble in that glass but the other nothing at all.

Surface scratches, indentations, etc on a glass will act as nucleation points for CO2.

 

[Fents]

Surface scratches, indentations, etc on a glass will act as nucleation points for CO2.

So say scrubbing a glass (thats knackerd and dosnt hold head) with maybe steel wool? would be good for it?

 

[kook]

So say scrubbing a glass (thats knackerd and dosnt hold head) with maybe steel wool? would be good for it?

Any clean glass should hold a head if the beer is in the right condition. However, a glass with scratches on the inside will create more head.

If you look at some Belgian glasses (Chimay for example) they have an etching in the bottom of the glass to help promote the head.

Also, those "headmaster" glasses that pubs use also have a similar thing (scratches / abrasions in the base).

Personally I wouldn't clean my glasses with steel wool purely for cosmetic reasons.

 

[fifteenbeerslater]

I assume you are using the same glass, you get three or four beers with good head and there on a poor head. That proves your beer is OK and they should all be the same.
Sounds to me that your glass may be getting greasy-are you eating or snacking on something eg nuts?
Cheers,
15BL