Not Getting Much Head

[Phill D]

Hi Guys - now that i have your attention.....

Anyway - i have brewed a couple of times before but didnt continue because I was probably a little underwhelmed with the results. I have had a couple of passable brews but the head on the beer or retention of a head was a little dissapointing.

Q: Is that related directly to carbonation or lack of it? ie more carbonation = a better foaming top on the brew?

I have brewed a couple of coopers as standard with dextrose and blue mountains morgan with corn syrup, fermented ok, bottled with carbonation drops and waited for things to work etc etc. Maybe i was too impatient to get into it and it should have been left longer. On average how long should you / do you leave your brews to mature?

This time I have a Blue Mountains Lager with Pale Malt and Cascade Hops happening in the barrell and just about to bottle - so thought i would ask.

I have also seen some debate on carbon drops - is one carbon drop enough for a good carbonation In your Opinion.

Thanks in advance - this is a terrific forum and great knowledge base!

2beers

 

[troopa]

What size bottles are you using .. that would help with how much sugar you need to carbonate
Is the powered malt just light dried malt or is it the brew shops "special" blend?
Usually the blend adds wheat malt that will help with head retention

and to your question.. yes carbonation helps with head retention as far as if the beer is flat in the first place you wont get a head

Usually you need at least 2 weeks to fully carb a bottle up but longer will allow the flavours to mellow a little and taste better

Congrats on sticking with it all and im sure in the end youll be making good beer (Edit) that you will be glad to offer to friends and family and tell them how much you now dislike VB over your own homebrew

Tom

 

[Phill D]

What size bottles are you using .. that would help with how much sugar you need to carbonate
Is the powered malt just light dried malt or is it the brew shops "special" blend?
Usually the blend adds wheat malt that will help with head retention

and to your question.. yes carbonation helps with head retention as far as if the beer is flat in the first place you wont get a head

Usually you need at least 2 weeks to fully carb a bottle up but longer will allow the flavours to mellow a little and taste better

Congrats on sticking with it all and im sure in the end youll be making good beer

Tom

Thanks Tom - appreciate the response. Yes perserverance was one of the things i picked up from reading the site and decided to get back into it. The malt additon was the Coopers Pale suggested by the HBS. I have a mix of bottles. 750ml pet and i have fifteen swingtops (grolsch etc)

Cheers
Phill

 

[manticle]

Are your brews flat or carbonated but just without head?

 

[Renegade]

I found that my early brews lacked head, and suspect that the glues & resins from the labels may have been the culprit, so all bottles were given a good clean with bicarb and a bottle brush. Could be my imagination.

It appears that the greater the usage of grain instead of liquid malts, the less this has been an issue anyway. You can even use grain that will help head retention, such as carafoam (? dunno, I dont use it). For the time being, you could use a bit of maltodextrin and observe the difference. Dont go overboaerd on this stuff though, too much will do things to the body of your beer.

There's an article in the database you may find worth reading:
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...;showarticle=70

And one carbonation drop for a stubbie / two for a longneck is sufficient. Actually I reckon that's too much, but you cant really customise the measurement (and which is why bulk-priming is advantageous - but one thing at a time !)

All the best

 

[BjornJ]

Hi there,
no expert on this but I have read a bit about what affects foam/head on the beer.
How long you leave them in the bottle seems to matter.
Having a very clean glass definetly does, as well. Normal dish washing detergent leaves a residue behind that normal rinsing possibly may not get rid of. I rinse my beer glasses 5-6 times really well (maybe a bit much?) after washing them, just to make sure.

After a month you can start tasting the homebrew, but "they" claim they will in most normal kit beer cases improve up to 3 months. In my experience my Coopers Lager, Coopers Draught kind of beers would be better after 3 months than after 2, better after 5 than after 3, by then they were all gone. Head/foam seemed to get better after several months, the foam consists then of more, smaller bubbles rather than the big, soft drink kind of bubbles.

How about adding some carapils? http://craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=799
Next time, make the exact same beer as today, take notes so you remember how much to add of everything.
But add 200 gr of Carapils, these grains are less fermentable than normal grains, leaving more stuff in the finished beer to give "body" and head.
You heat about a litre of water to 65-68 degrees and throw the grains in for 10-20 mins, then dump this (liquid only) in the fermenter.

thanks
BjornJ

 

[Renegade]

You heat about a litre of water to 65-68 degrees and throw the grains in for 10-20 mins, then dump this (liquid only) in the fermenter.

Add: You should really boil the tea after you take the grains out. Maybe not essential for a small addition, but good practice nonetheless.

 

[troopa]

Um i mighta missed something in the OPs post.. but what has grains got to do with the way the OPs brewing?
2beers seems to be a KandK brewer.. and being posted in the Kits and extract section im guessing grains wernt a factor

And thers pleanty of stuff on the market to help these guys (sorry) with head retention.. BE2 Wheat malt Homebrew shops "Speacial" blend you name it

plus someone else mentioned Cleaning your glass correctly and correct carbination

Little rant sorry..

Tom

 

[Renegade]

Mate, it's CONVERSATION ! You know, the stuff that people did before TV & Playstation (I know, it's ironic that I'm typing this to an internet site instead of talking to my family). His question is being addressed. What's the problem with adding another two bob's worth?

 

[troopa]

Wasnt Suggesting it wasnt good conversation .. i would love to suggest to the OP to go partial then AG i actually recommend that 2beers has a big read of both sections if he/she hasnt already
But the question put forward in this sub forum was about kits and extracts and had nothing to do with grains ,steeping and boiling and the OPs level of knowledge showed that (sorry 2beers)

I think the question was a great one at that cause new ppl to home brewing relate how good their brew is to commercial by head retention and lacing( well i know i did ) apart from taste

Back on topic
just a thought would be to grab a bottle of your favorite beer and pour it in a glass you use and see just how good the glass is compared with a home brew
itll show if its your brew of your glass thats causing the problem

Tom

 

[manticle]

Wasnt Suggesting it wasnt good conversation .. i would love to suggest to the OP to go partial then AG i actually recommend that 2beers has a big read of both sections if he/she hasnt already
But the question put forward in this sub forum was about kits and extracts and had nothing to do with grains ,steeping and boiling and the OPs level of knowledge showed that (sorry 2beers)

The suggestion was that 2beers future brews' head retention might benefit from the addition of a small amount of steeped grain. It wasn't amazingly out of place.

'My brew is X'.
'Well to fix X you might add Y'

Whether 'y' be maltodex or carapils, both are a simple and easily understood remedy.

Anyway the main thing to figure out is if it's something in the brew (and whether pre-ferment or during) or something in the bottle or something in the glass.

Then remedies will be forthcoming.

 

[Renegade]

But the question put forward in this sub forum was about kits and extracts and had nothing to do with grains ,steeping and boiling and the OPs level of knowledge showed that

Huh ? Potentially the answer to this question is ALL about grain.

 

[bullsneck]

Add some wheat extract to your beers, just a little. Wheat is higher in protein; the stuff that helps keeps foam on top.

 

[gjhansford]

Hey ... wait a minute guys ...

Today (tonight) is 2beers first post ... and he only joined AHB at 4pm today ... gve the guy/girl a break! I notice he's logged out already ... hope we haven't blown him away with all the repartee ... let's be gentle on the new posters with genuine questions.

 

[bum]

What the hell are you talking about? I cannot see anything 2beers might possibly take personally. 2beers has gotten plenty of good advice here. He should be stoked. I would be.

Lots of great things to try here, 2beers. Even the opposing view-points are all valid. If the options seem a bit overwhelming just do a search for key terms and get a bit more background info. Welcome aboard.

 

[Renegade]

Hey ... wait a minute guys ...

Today (tonight) is 2beers first post ... and he only joined AHB at 4pm today ... gve the guy/girl a break! I notice he's logged out already ... hope we haven't blown him away with all the repartee ... let's be gentle on the new posters with genuine questions.

He logged out after only six hours ! Dear God, were you expecting him to pull an all-nighter ?

And WTF are you talking about anyway? The only thing I can see that's coounter-productive here is Troopa's posts, and they weren't directed at the new member in the slightest (Ok, perhaps he was a touch patronising, but no big deal).

How about showing the newbies that as grown men we (by we I mean YOU) don't have to be ******* drama queens ? THAT may determine whether someone revisits this site in future.

 

[manticle]

I got furniture polish all over my carpet.

 

[mwd]

I am suffering a deja view moment same month same planet.

No HEEEED .

Seems nobody ever can be bothered to go back a few pages now we will be getting another six page thread of garbage.

 

[Renegade]

If any given question was only EVER asked once in the lifetime of this forum, it would be a very dull place indeed.

And being that the OP joined three weeks after the last post on the the thread you referenced, your comment is invalid. Who are you to assume everyone knows the mechanics of a web forum ? It's not a prerequisite for membership !

2Beers, don't be put off by the whiney old grumps & the PMS suffering blokes here. Ask as many questions as you like, and mostly you'll get lots of good answers, along with suggestions you may have not considered.

 

[rude]

Try a kilo of light dried malt extract, I used to use muntons.

If you do you should boil it up in say 5 litres of water add some hops in a sock at 30 mins or less depending on style , type of hops & then some more hops on the last 1 min mark

Then poor this in with youre kit plus cool water to get it at pitching temp 18c if its an ale yeast.

I bet you dont have a prob with head retention providing there is no detergent on youre glass

Down the track you can steep some crystal grains (spec malt)

Then youll be into all grain before you know it

Nothing worse than no head he cried