Headroom

[wavemaker]

Gooday all. I am having a bit of trouble getting my carbonation right. What I currently do is fill my 23L SS keg put the lid on, attach gasline,screw pressure up to 40psi open gas line to keg and rock the keg back and forth for 4.5 minutes. Usually I do this 2/3 days before I will need to swap kegs. The beer will pour well, nice tight head but tends to lose the head and any gas in the beer quite quickly. I have had probably 40% of my beers/ales/lagers maintain good head and carbonation but no consistancy. I have noticed that when i fill the keg, there is little headroom left. Is this a factor in successful carbonation. Any help highly appreciated.

 

[carniebrew]

You might want to re-ask this question over in somewhere like "gear and equipment" rather than kits 'n extracts to ensure an answer...

 

[Black Devil Dog]

A couple of things that I've found make a noticeable difference to head retention are, glass cleanliness, this also means NO detergent residue.

Some recipes hold a better head than others.

Add some wheat to your brew (10%-20%), this can make a difference.

I fill my kegs to the seam which means the beer is just below the gas tube.