How to improve head retention

[chubbytaxman]

Brewers ....

Can I pick your brains for a bit?? :unsure:

I brew a few different styles of beer (until I find some that I would like to brew regularly) ...

Some of the styles I brew are ... Irish Reds ... Porter .... Mild ... English Bitter .... Saison ... Rauchbier

My question revolves around head retention :beerbang:
I cannot seem to get a lingering lace or head in the glass through any style - except .. maybe ... the Rauchbier

I have read that Carapils, Melanoiden or a wheat will assist here but am concerned that may alter the taste of the final product.
I do have a few small quantities (up to 3kg) of Carapils and Crystal (assuming 60 - 80 L), so was wondering if these specialty malts would help at all?

As always, your feedback appreciated ...

chubby

 

[manticle]

Full mash brews?
Seeing as this is in ag brewing, i guess it is.
5 minute rest at 55 degrees, sacch rest, then 10 minutes at 72. Clean glasses, well rinsed, sprayed with starsan, then air dried.

 

[chubbytaxman]

Full mash brews?
Seeing as this is in ag brewing, i guess it is.
5 minute rest at 55 degrees, sacch rest, then 10 minutes at 72. Clean glasses, well rinsed, sprayed with starsan, then air dried.

Thanks for the reply manticle.
Sacch rest ??? Ok I am gob smacked ... Can you help a brother out ?
Point taken on the glasses - cleanliness thereof - never used starsan on them before.
Yes it is AG brewing - total of 12 brews under my belt.

chubby

 

[TheWiggman]

Saccharification rest, the main rest you brew your mash at (60-70°C).

 

[chubbytaxman]

Thanks Wiggman.

I suppose I should have mentioned that I use BIAB, single step infusion (with a twist ... ) on my brews so far.
The twist is that I use 3V as well as BIAB :huh:
Whatthe ??? I hear you yell ...
Ok explanation time .... My system is this - hot water urn (30 odd litre), BIAB in a 50 litre esky, then a 50 odd litre kettle.
Usually do 20 odd litre batches and mostly straight into cube - once or twice used a wort chiller.
If I am doing this wrong then I need to rethink the process ... :lol:

chubby

 

[squirt in the turns]

To do a 55°C rest (commonly referred to as a protein rest) and then raise to your saccharification temperature, you can do a step infusion, which will probably require you to reduce your strike water volume and have the remaining liquor at a higher temperature. Software can help you with these calculations.

Alternatively, as you have an urn and a bag, you could do a single-vessel BIAB and use the urn's element to step the temperature up. As it's a 30 L urn, you might struggle to do a 20 L batch in it, but it's a lot simpler and probably more reliable than doing multiple infusions.

As manticle says, keep your protein rest short - 5 mins - and bear in mind the time it will take to ramp up to sacch. temps. Modern malts don't usually need long protein rests and in fact a long rest in the 50s can harm head retention.

 

[verysupple]

There are many ways to introduce foam positive elements in to your beer, but usually an all grain beer isn't lacking those anyway. I think far more often it's the introduction of foam negative elements that is the problem, in which case it doesn't matter how much wheat, CaraPils, etc. you put in or what mash rests you use, you still won't get good head.

I used to think it was a bit of a crock and that I must've been doing something wrong in my wort production. I'd tried all the typical remedies mentioned in previous posts, but nothing really helped. I'm fairly certain now that my problem was unclean bottles. I thought they were clean because I scrubbed them with a bottle brush in very hot water as soon as they were consumed and then sanitised before filling. Then one day I decided to give them all a soak in Oxyper and there was all this scuzzy stuff accumulating at the top in the foam. No more head problems now that I soak them before every batch rather than about twice a year. I never got an infected bottle, though, so it was probably mostly protein and yeast and beery stuff.

Even if you keg it has to be properly clean. I'm not sure what your cleaning regime is, Chubby, but it's something to think about and I'm sure others will find this thread in the future, so I hope it helps someone.

 

[Spiesy]

Full mash brews?
Seeing as this is in ag brewing, i guess it is.
5 minute rest at 55 degrees, sacch rest, then 10 minutes at 72. Clean glasses, well rinsed, sprayed with starsan, then air dried.

What does a no rinse sanitiser have to do with improving head?

 

[manticle]

Using an acidic product like starsan helps remove residuals from washing. If I want really clean glasses, I'll clean with hot water and perc, then clean water rinse, then starsan.
Vinegar or vinegar/bicarb is an old one too.
It works and it works good.

 

[Spiesy]

Using an acidic product like starsan helps remove residuals from washing. If I want really clean glasses, I'll clean with hot water and perc, then clean water rinse, then starsan.
Vinegar or vinegar/bicarb is an old one too.
It works and it works good.

I know Star San is a "no rinse" acid and I'm a massive fan of the product, but I wouldn't personally want to use it - unrinsed - in a small drinking vessel such as a beer glass.

Just my personal preference, of course.

 

[manticle]

I'm still here. 3 heads but I'm still here. Unrinsed, excess emptied and glass dried is fine ya big pansy.

 

[mosto]

I'd recommend using around 5% Carapils, along with the other steps outlined above. I find it's pretty flavour neutral but does help with head retention. I can get flaked wheat from work for nothing and tried this, instead of Carapils for my last couple of brews. One is still in the fermenter, but the other, a Saison, had no head retention at all. Process, equipment etc was the same as the majority of my brews so can only put it down to the lack of Carapils. I assumed the wheat would compensate for this but didn't seem to. Not sure if the fact the wheat is unmalted had an effect. Anyhow, I think I'll go back to using Carapils.

 

[MHB]

Personally I wouldn't use Star San as a no rinse anywhere but especially not in glassware, its an Acid and Detergent mix and the detergent in this case is a 1950's industrial surfactant that I don't want residue of any of anywhere near my glasses.
No doubt it cleans well but do rinse with clean water after use, Chlorinated Trisodium Phosphate (AKA TSP, Pink, PSR...) works really well as does Sodium Percarbonate, Sodium Carbonate (good old washing soda) and Sodium Metasilicate (brewers detergent) or various mixes of the above (i.e. PBW)
But in all cases there is no benefit to leaving any residue in the glass so rinse well and air dry.

Wheat as it is rich in medium sized proteins, used in the 5-10% of grist range it is often included in a grain bill to improve head and head retention, does benefit from a short protein rest (50-55oC), long rests can reduce head forming proteins by degrading them too far, so 5-10 minutes is usually enough.

CaraPillis/CarraFoam, again 5-10% of grist is recommended by the manufacturers as required to get head improvement, more can be used in some styles but additions under 5% really wont achieve much of anything.

Hops improve head, the more you use the better the head, high alcohol tends to reduce head, maturity improves head, correct carbonation is critical.
Dint skim your boil, there is a finite amount of head building ingredients in a wort, a lot of the medium molecular weight proteins that are important for head and head retention form a foam on the wort at the start of the boil - removing them reduces the amount available in the finished beer.

This is worth a read Getting A Head View attachment 07 - Beer foam.pdf

Head can be a vexing issue and the answer is rarely any one thing, there are both head building and head reducing ingredients, head building and head reducing processes, the sum total of the effect of all the factors applied properly is a good looking beer with a great head that laces the glass well, may not affect the taste much but a good looking beer is to be preferred.
Mark

 

[manticle]

Personally I wouldn't use Star San as a no rinse anywhere

Reckon there's many risks to my health I'm more concerned with than exposure to starsan.

 

[Blind Dog]

Personally I found the biggest improvements from:
- a simple but thorough rinse of the otherwise clean glass in cold water before use
- a short 5 min rest at 55C
- let the full glass sit for a little while before taking the first drink


Also this podcast from Brew Strong has some useful information: http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/Brew-Strong/Brew-Strong-09-01-08-Head-Retention

but seeking the perfect head on beer can drive you mad if you let it

 

[Spiesy]

- let the full glass sit for a little while before taking the first drink

Dude.

 

[pcmfisher]

Reckon there's many risks to my health I'm more concerned with than exposure to starsan.

I am not sure if MHB is inferring health risks or the surfactant being a head retention killer.

I know they say "Don't fear the foam" but I have wondered more than once about a surfactant of any sort being washed off my fermenter walls into my beer. h34r:

 

[djar007]

Hasn't coca cola got phosphoric acid in it? What's the problem with a little stars an residue. If I had to give up all things bad for me I would start at bacon cured and smoked meats. Not minute traces of starsan left in a dry glass.

 

[Spiesy]

Hasn't coca cola got phosphoric acid in it? What's the problem with a little stars an residue. If I had to give up all things bad for me I would start at bacon cured and smoked meats. Not minute traces of starsan left in a dry glass.

Coca Cola is hardly the pinnacle of health.

The acid in it will rot meat and clean coins.

 

[djar007]

Neither is beer. Lol.