Great Head --------why

[hihosland]

Seasonal greetings brewers all
I had a very ordinary, bland, no mouth feel, nor head,
but certainly drinkable Munton's IPA made with kit and
kilo of Coopers brew enhancer.
Had half a keg (10lit) left and decided to give it bit of a
lift by squirting in some iso hop.
Squirted too hard, the top came off the bottle and it got
a massive infusion of hop oil
Now a very bitter beer
interestingly enough less bitter after a few days than originally
or I'm just getting used to it.
But the most amazing change to the head,
strong, fine bubbles, that persist and curtain
down the side of the glass as it is drunk.
What is going on?
Has the extra acid lowered the beer ph to a point where
something has happened to the proteins to produce this result.
Is anyone aware of a relationship of ph to head retention?
interesting,
Seasonal greetings to all brewers.
Davidh

 

[Finite]

Its the extra iso hop you added,

Isohumulones which are alpha acids from hops is one of the contributers to having a good head and retention. The other one is high molecular weight proteins so beers with more protiens or hops will have better head retention.

As far as im aware the role of water PH contributes more to mouthfeel and taste than apperance. I would say from what I know that there is no relationship between PH and head retention or if there is it would be minute.

for more info on head retention check out this great article in BrewWiki.

 

[hihosland]

Thanks Finite,
I knew that it had to be the ops oil/acid
I just could not understand why
it would have that effect.
cheers
Davidh

 

[braufrau]

I once put pickled capsicum in a bread mix and the yeast went beserk!
The dough climbed out of the machine and down the side.
Perhaps it is the pH?

-braufrau