Head Dissolves into floating...Clumps...?

I have a bock I brewed (still very young…Kegged) where after pouring and head dissolving a thin layer of head lays on the surface of the beer but moves and floats in clumps on top. I can shake the glass and get the clumps to go back into the beer but they eventually come back up. I’ve had other beers that I have brewed do this but only beers that had Munich Malt in them. Such as my doppelbock and an Oktoberfest I brewed last year. The taste is great, so no complaints there. I’m just curious as to why exactly I’m getting that type of head on these beers. Anyone else experience this?

Oil from your skin? Or dishwashing agents. Idk just guesses.

That would make since but I can literally drink the beer and pour my IPA in the same glass and get a head that is not like this. This just occurs when pouring my Bock and Doppelbocks.

My weisse beers do that. Also kegged.

I have an IPA that did the same. I kegged half and bottled half and only remember the bottles doing this. Kegs were force carbonated and bottles maybe a little over carbed using dextrin. I wondered if it wasn't the hop oils since it was heavily dry hopped, but I guess since yours probably aren't it must be something else. No dishwasher, btw. All glasses handwashed and rack dried.

Hate to say it, but that is one of the tell tale signs of an infected beer. Chances are it has some lacto in there. Sorry to be the bringer of bad news.

Doubt it's infected if it tastes ok. I've had beers do that. Probably soap or oils.

Oils is my guess as well. Infection is unlikely if it tastes fine. That said, don't risk it and get drinking with some friends!

Defiantly not an infection... I'd be able to taste that. It happens with every glass no matter how I wash it. I would figure oils but it would have to be oils in the beer itself because I can pour a different beer in the same glass and not get the same head.

How are you washing your equipment?

bierhaus15 said:

Hate to say it, but that is one of the tell tale signs of an infected beer. Chances are it has some lacto in there. Sorry to be the bringer of bad news.

Click to expand...

How do you figure? Most of my beers have done this since I started kegging (I just assume leftover dishwasher residue is causing it) and I have zero other signs of infection. My personal opinion is that if it was lacto, it would be showing up in my fermentation vessel as well...

IffyG said:

How do you figure? Most of my beers have done this since I started kegging (I just assume leftover dishwasher residue is causing it) and I have zero other signs of infection. My personal opinion is that if it was lacto, it would be showing up in my fermentation vessel as well...

Click to expand...

It is a common indication among professional brewers that a clumpy, curdled head is a sign of something very wrong in a beer, typically infection. I also took a short, one day course on brewing sanitation while at University and our instructor pointed this out as we went over common brewing contaminates.

I know I am going to get flamed for this, especially among those in the homebrewing community, but infections are much more prevalent among hombrewed beers than we care to admit. Not all infections will lead to major off flavors and often it can be difficult to tell by taste or sight alone, especially if it has a minor infection. Nor am I saying all infected beers are undrinkable or it make a beer 'bad' - as many have little impact on the flavor profile. However, if you have oily patches on your beer, a head that curdles, or a slight film in your bottles, chances are your beer has an infection of some sort. If you still don't care to believe me, do some research. Talk to reputable brewers. E-mail the people at UC Davis or Siebel. Most of them are happy to help a brewer out.

Well at this point then I’m going to assume nothing and treat it as if it may be a possible (tasteless or difficult to taste) infection. I clean all equipment (including kegs) with oxyclean rise several times then follow with starsan bath then drip dry. Maybe left over oxyclean residue?

If it is an infection then it is more serious than I thought and I assume I need to pin-point what it is and where it is coming from... Any suggestions? It is only happening in my lagers. For the most part I use the same equipment for my lagers. I do use a second stage on my cooling that I might try to discontinue the use of and see if that makes a difference. To increase cooling in my lagers to get down to pitching temps I use a wort chiller and a march pump direct chilling using copper coil in ice bath. It is completely possible that I could be picking something up from this stage. Although all of it is sanitized with starsan (inside and out).

bierhaus15 said:

It is a common indication among professional brewers that a clumpy, curdled head is a sign of something very wrong in a beer, typically infection. I also took a short, one day course on brewing sanitation while at University and our instructor pointed this out as we went over common brewing contaminates.

Click to expand...

I don't doubt that infections run rampant in homebrewing, I'm sure it contributes to the 'homebrew taste' that turn most people off to homebrewed beer. At least in my case, most of my beers display this behavior as well as about half of the commercial beers I buy. If it was just my homebrew, I'd be willing to accept that I have an infection somewhere, but since beer I buy at the store does it it's probably related to my glassware cleaning technique.

bierhaus15 said:

Hate to say it, but that is one of the tell tale signs of an infected beer. Chances are it has some lacto in there. Sorry to be the bringer of bad news.

Click to expand...

It's my understanding that lacto infections show a oily white film in the fermentation vessel. I didn't have that in any of my fermentations. I've googled curdled head and haven't come across anything but a few places that suggest it to be due to high level of protein. Which makes since in the beers that I'm seeing this in.
http://hbd.org/brewsandviews/messages/15516/16510.html?1054848576

The more I think about this I think the beer may be slightly over carbonated or maybe that's a factor... When I let it sit out longer the clumps dissolve back into the beer and don't come back up.

My first kegged beer was doing this and I kind of wondered why.

Then today, for the first time, I noticed one of my bottled beers doing it too. Both taste like fine beers to me, so I guess it doesn't matter.

I find this occasionally in my glass, and I usually find some sort of "debris" stuck to the bottom of the glass that somehow escaped cleaning. This causes a handy nucleation site for the carbonation, and you get a clump of head above the little contaminant. This could even be caused by water spots.

I know glass cleanliness has been mentioned by several folks and "ruled out" by the OP, but that's what it looks like to me. I also find that beer that would normally have a bigger head is much more affected by this (higher protein would make sense.)

You know, the one lager I've brewed so far did the exact same thing as described in the OP, and I've always wondered about it... Never had a repeat performance - I suppose an infection that doesn't impact flavor may be an issue - but the gravity never changed beyond what was expected due to yeast, and I had no bottle bombs or overcarbonation issues, so I have a tough time understanding how such an infection could have survived...

lol, as i sit here and drink a glass of PA, it does the same thing... i would not worry about it.... for some reason this is the only beer that does that that i have brewed... (had a Guinness extra stout in same glass before this and did not happen)

if it taste fine i would not worry

Kokopuff829 said:

Oil from your skin? Or dishwashing agents. Idk just guesses.

Click to expand...

Its the dishwasher and soap. No dishwasher is capable of removing all of the soap residue. Washing by hand takes extreme heat out of the equation and will be better.

I will say this - I brewed an ESB a while back, and had some problems with the autosiphon when racking... long story short, there were no off flavors, but [I saw the exact same head issue on every bottle I poured.
After 2 months in the bottle, I had the last one left, and it bubbled over out of the bottle when I popped the cap. So I now think in retrospect there was a small infection that was negligible at first and then took off after being left alone. Take from my experience what you will.