Getting Good Head

[ironxmortlock]

I've been having trouble getting good head. I've tried all kinds of different techniques but I've only had one success so far with a stoutish dark one. I can get good head at the moment of pouring but I can't seem to get it to last. It froths right up and then quickly shrinks away to nothingness.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

M

:beer:

 

[Muggus]

Is the carbonation up scratch with your beer?
What ingredients did you use for your beer? Having plenty of malt in the recipe helps head retention.
I've also heard that glassware can at fault for beers leaving no lace, particularly if they're cleaned using certain detergents. But that's rarely the problem.

 

[ironxmortlock]

Is the carbonation up scratch with your beer?
What ingredients did you use for your beer? Having plenty of malt in the recipe helps head retention.
I've also heard that glassware can at fault for beers leaving no lace, particularly if they're cleaned using certain detergents. But that's rarely the problem.

I usually use saf yeasts, malt extracts as fermentables and carbonation drops for priming. The carbonation is OK but a little light.

 

[barls]

move away from the drops and start using dextrose or a similar sugar. the drops are fine but take a long time to produce a good carbonation

 

[matti]

When I use malt extract I boil hops for 60 minutes and carb to around 6-9g/L.
6 weeks in bottle, I usually get reasonable head retention.
If you want to cheat, add dextrins. (Maltodextrine)
about 100 g for 23 litre or 5-10% of your priming sugar.
For example 170 g dextrose and 15g malto dextrine.
Just make sure it disolves well in warm water reaaly well or 10 or 2 bottle will be gushers

 

[Tony]

try buying it flowers or taking it out to a nice resteraunt.

works sometimes but no guarantee.

as for the beer.......... bulk prime with dextrose.

And the other killer is detergent in the glass.

you dont wash your glasses with the other dishes do you ?

My beer glasses ger rinsed out with clean hot water from the tap an i have a special "beer glass" tee towl that only gets used to dry the beer glasses. that way there is no chance of detergent killing the head.

hope this helps

 

[wildschwein]

I agree with the above comments about using as much malt as possible and detergenty glasses. I always just wash any glass I'm going to use in hot water. Then I rinse in cold and shake off - I never dry it. I got this idea from the Schneide Weiss website.

Here are some additional things to consider regarding head retention. Don't use any kitchen spoons during preperation, like wooden spoons - they may contain small traces of fat that may stop your head from forming. If you do any boiling in your regular cooking pots ensure that they are amaculately cleaned and degreased. Same with kitchen strainers etc.

I find using unscented homebrand household bleach for sanatising (about 1 cup in 30-40L of cold water) is also beneficial for head retention; as bleach really strips all traces of fat from your bottles and brewing equipment. You need to rinse everything in very hot or even boiling water though to remove the chlorine smell.

Some brewers swear by adding a small amount of wheat malt to their brew, as it really promotes a vigourous foamy head. Specialty grains like crystal malt and roasted barley also seems to aid head retention.

Carbonation can also be a factor. If there isn't enough gassing the head may not form - although low carb beers, like Stouts, can form decent heads. Bulk priming with dextrose works a treat for me. I nearly always use 180g of dex boiled in 180mls of water for a 23L batch of beer. My heads have been pretty good. See: A Few Recent Homebrews thread I started a while back - it has links to pics of some of my recent beers which have all had very good head retention characteristics.

 

[wimbymoonshine]

well i think detergent is one of the main killers. I washed a load of bottles in the dishwasher and results were no head. the ones i soaked in sanitiser and rinsed out with hot water gave great head.
Therefore, dont wash, but sanitise and you'll get great head

 

[Cortez The Killer]

You could add some carapils to you next batch say 200g

That'll help with head retention

Cheers

 

[0M39A]

wheat malt and crystal malt help give an amazing head.

and as already said, dont wash your glasses with anything else. rinse in boiling water when done drinking, and let drain. every now and again i give my glasses a soak in sodium percarbonate, then rinse well and let dry and this brings them up sparkling.

another way you could cheat would be to get some headmaster (or the like) glasses, which are etched on the bottom to promote a big long lasting head.

(cant believe i made that entire post without making any crude remarks )

 

[mfdes]

When I brewed from Kits and bottled I found two things:

The higher the alcohol the less head you'll get.

The more carbonated you make your beer the less the head lasts (which may be quite big when you first pour, but gone entirely in a few seconds)
The second is not intuitive but moderately carbonated beer (2 volumes) makes better head than anything much over 3 volumes, in my experience... perhaps the larger bubbles burst faster?

MFS.

 

[bonj]

I've been having trouble getting good head. I've tried all kinds of different techniques but I've only had one success so far with a stoutish dark one. I can get good head at the moment of pouring but I can't seem to get it to last. It froths right up and then quickly shrinks away to nothingness.

Any suggestions?

Perhaps she thinks you've lost interest when you start pouring the beer.

Sorry, I have nothing constructive to say but I didn't say it, someone else would have

 

[pint of lager]

BYO have an excellent article on foam formation and foam retention on their website.

www.byo.com

Every magazine has a few articles published on line and this collection of web based articles is growing into a great resource.

In kit brews, add some form of steeped specialty grain. Carapils for lighter styles and crystal for darker styles. When simmering to sanitise the resulting malty solution, it is also a good time to do some hops additions.

Hops help in foam formation too.

Spotless glasses are essential. If you have been eating greasy food such as pizza, chips etc they will need a thorough clean. Also lipstick or chapstick will need detergent to clean. They need a clean in a fresh sink of detergent, then this detergent needs to be washed off completely in hot water. An air dry and they are ready for the next brew.

 

[Steve]

Agree with all of the above. If washing glasses in dishwasher with other dishes give the glasses a good rinse afterwards with hot water....
Cheers
Steve

P.S. Its a bloody fine looking beer even without the head....nice and clear.

 

[KGB]

You can always cheat and use an additive to give better head retention - I have no idea what they are, I've never had trouble getting head (had to put one in there... ) but your LHBS should be able to help you out.

 

[ironxmortlock]

What a coincidence!

My avatar message thing now says "Great Head". Let's hope it's a sign of things to come!

Anyway, thanks for your responses.

I've confirmed that the problem isn't with detergent. I rinsed the crap out of some glasses in boiling water last night and had the same problem. Perhaps it's the cheap K-mart glasses I use but I think it's something wrong with my beer. It tastes good just no head.

M

 

[ironxmortlock]

It just occurred to me that perhaps my sanitising/cleaning techniques are what is responsible?

When I finish drinking, I immediately rinse out the bottle. After it's dried, I force an old cap onto it and store it until it's time to refill. Then on bottling day I remove the cap and sanitise the bottle with Sodium Met. and hang it on my bottle tree. After it's sat there for 15 minutes or so I pop the carb drops in, fill and cap.

Does this sound OK?

I always thought I should rinse things after they've come into contact with Sodium Met. but the bloke at the LHBS told me that this would defeat the purpose of sanitising as it would wash the sanitiser away!

On brew day I wash everything in Neon Pink and then rinse everything. Then I swish some Sod Met. over everything and get to work.

Could it be this residual Sod Met. (or Neon Pink) that is destroying my beer's head?

Thanks,

M

 

[Eugene]

treat her nice. easy.

 

[wildschwein]

It just occurred to me that perhaps my sanitising/cleaning techniques are what is responsible?

When I finish drinking, I immediately rinse out the bottle. After it's dried, I force an old cap onto it and store it until it's time to refill. Then on bottling day I remove the cap and sanitise the bottle with Sodium Met. and hang it on my bottle tree. After it's sat there for 15 minutes or so I pop the carb drops in, fill and cap.

Does this sound OK?

I always thought I should rinse things after they've come into contact with Sodium Met. but the bloke at the LHBS told me that this would defeat the purpose of sanitising as it would wash the sanitiser away!

On brew day I wash everything in Neon Pink and then rinse everything. Then I swish some Sod Met. over everything and get to work.

Could it be this residual Sod Met. (or Neon Pink) that is destroying my beer's head?

Thanks,

M

Maybe you should try rinsing and see what happens. Just rinse in really hot tap water and drain off quicky and bottle. This won't lead to infections, I do it all the time after I soak my gear in bleach solution. After the beer has fermented the ph has dropped (=become more acidic) and there is less chance of infection anyway; but for the sake of beer making, and given that your bottles and gear are already clean from soaking, hot tap water is more than adequately sanatary. Personally I adovate homebrand unscented bleach because it's very cheap ($1.80 for 2L) and cleans and sanatises at the same time. But as I said in the post above you do need to rinse it off well with hot water to remove the smell - I truly believe it provides me with a very clean enviroment inside my feremnetr and bottles which helps with all my beers' heads.

 

[Kingy]

with bottles: its best to pay attention around the base first where the yeast sits and slowly massage the sides as you make your way to the top.It helps if you put your mind into it. When you get to the top it should start shining at you.Almost like an angry smile. Any sort of bacteria in the mouth or lips can decrease the quality of head youll get. E.g any food , like pizza or chips or anything oily in the mouth will quickly decrease the head and it wont last as long. Doing this and all of the above comments you should be able to pour a great head that lasts.