No head, Nicely carbonated...

I've just started popping open my second brew at 2 1/2 weeks in the bottles, and I'm getting no head. Even with a fairly "rigorous" pour, I get a small bit of bubbles on the surface which quickly go away. It is nicely carbonated...

It happened on my first brew as well, and it's really annoying me.

It's not the glasses, I've tried several different methods of cleaning the glasses, and several different kinds of glasses. All of them get head with micro-brews, but none on my home brews...

The recipe I just used:
6.6 lbs wheat LME
1.5 lbs DME
1lb crystal malt
1/4lb chocolate malt
1/4lb german caraffe
1.5 oz german spalt hops
2oz mt hood hops (1oz flavor, 1oz aroma)
and 3/4c corn sugar...

OG 1.060
FG 1.010

The only thing that I can think might contribute to it after reading a bit, is that I got very little cold break on both of the brews. It took over night to get the wort cooled. I had ice water in the fermenter and just poured the wort into the ice water and put the top on, waited till it dropped to pitching temp which happened to be the next morning.

Could that solve my problems? Is it just based on the fact that I didn't really cool the wort fast? I haven't been getting infections, the beer tastes great, just no head or lacing whatsoever.

I can never get a good head either (mine is carbonated aswell) thats why I drink from the bottles.
Currently Coopers IPA
500 grams DME
500 grams Dextrose.

yea, it's upsetting...

when i bring my brew to places where people know beer, they're disappointed that it has no head, but always say it tastes great.

dwf137 try adding a 1/2# or more of carapils to your grain bill extract brews are notorious for having little or no head.

What temp are you steeping your grains at ?
I like to go for a temp near to what would be used for PM or AG brewing.

Congrats on the Beer


-Jason

Just out of curiosity have you tried pouring one at room temp without chilling? Does your LHBS carry any kind of heading agent or heading powder? These often work when nothing else does..

my first batch had great head, with decent lacing. But tasted like crap.

My last batch has minimal head at pour, no lacing. But is by far the best tasting brew I have put forth.

As long as it tastes good, It does not bother me.

With that Caraf and wheat you should be getting awesome head! (snicker)It's possible it could be your bottles that are killing the head on it. How are you cleaning/sanitizing them?

Ok i know its not the glasses but i have to say Detergents kill heads. Look at how you clean the glasses. Mine go in the dishwasher and the head is great, if i wash them by hand with detergent it dies in seconds. I know that's not the problem. Dry hopping adds to head and not bitterness, perhaps add some dry hops.
Glass shape also helps, how do you measure your carbonation? by scoop? Do you use dex? I use dex. some use LME. Look at how you clean bottles. Perhaps cut shorter your fermentation time or swill before bottling to allow more yeast in the bottle.

What's the water like that you are using? Is it tap water?

Also, if the fermenter you are using is a plastic bucket then it has piss poor ability to dissipate heat. I would cool it more in the pot with an ice bath and the go to the ferm w/ ice water. Yeast is tougher than you think. I have pitched dry yeast (Nottingham) at 95 to 100 degrees and didn't have an issue. It's not recommended, but the beer turned out fine.

+1 on the CaraPils recommendation. I brewed a Kölsch from DME and after only a week in the bottles it poured with a nice head that stuck around for a bit...still needs a couple of weeks in the bottles for the flavors, but the pour is nice.

I'm somewhere in the middle. On the 3 batches I have brewed, the head is about 1/2 inch on the pour and hangs around for a decent amount of time. I'm not ashamed of it but I would like to improve it. I would like an inch or so of head and would like to see it last longer. LHBS suggested adding a tad bit more sugar at priming for more head and wheat malt in the grain mix for better retention, so on the dortmunder that I am going to brew this weekend I have added a 1/4 pound of wheat. We will see how that goes.

Dennis

Shoot, I haven't been able to get decent head since a few years after getting married.....
But for my beers, I found after switching to all grain it got a lot better. I never could get a decent head with extract.

hmm...

well i'll be doing extracts for a while, I'm living in a fairly small apartment building in downtown Seattle. Extracts with PM is about all I can handle right now.

EvilTOJ said:

With that Caraf and wheat you should be getting awesome head! (snicker)It's possible it could be your bottles that are killing the head on it. How are you cleaning/sanitizing them?

Click to expand...

This might be my issue. I've been using a powerful sprayer with super hot water, and shaking the heck out of it. I keep forgetting to get a bottle brush. I sanitize everything with iodophor.

Flattop said:

Ok i know its not the glasses but i have to say Detergents kill heads. Look at how you clean the glasses. Mine go in the dishwasher and the head is great, if i wash them by hand with detergent it dies in seconds. I know that's not the problem. Dry hopping adds to head and not bitterness, perhaps add some dry hops.
Glass shape also helps, how do you measure your carbonation? by scoop? Do you use dex? I use dex. some use LME. Look at how you clean bottles. Perhaps cut shorter your fermentation time or swill before bottling to allow more yeast in the bottle.

Click to expand...

Well, I've never actually measured my carbonation, but i sure can tell it's there when I drink.

Joe_Stout said:

What's the water like that you are using? Is it tap water?

Also, if the fermenter you are using is a plastic bucket then it has piss poor ability to dissipate heat. I would cool it more in the pot with an ice bath and the go to the ferm w/ ice water. Yeast is tougher than you think. I have pitched dry yeast (Nottingham) at 95 to 100 degrees and didn't have an issue. It's not recommended, but the beer turned out fine.

Click to expand...

I'm using tap water filtered through a Brita filter, and put into sanitized water jugs from my first brew.

I'm going to try putting the pot in an ice bath next time. Hopefully that'll help my clarity.

Cheeto said:

dwf137 try adding a 1/2# or more of carapils to your grain bill extract brews are notorious for having little or no head.

What temp are you steeping your grains at ?
I like to go for a temp near to what would be used for PM or AG brewing.

Congrats on the Beer

-Jason

Click to expand...

I'm steeping around 180 degrees. I warm up to 180, put the grains in, top on, and take off the heat. by the time they're done, I'm still around 170.

Don't steep above 170 BTW. 170 is where you can start leching tannins. I don't know if this effects head retention but can cause off flavors at the least. If you have good carbonation, don't go adding more sugar or yeast at bottling time.

I agree, the high steeping temp isn't good but I don't know how it effects the head.

The only other thing I can suggest, besides the advice already offerred, is to try a batch using bottled spring water instead of your tap water. I can't tell you that will effect the head and its retention but there is so much possiblitity for stuff in tap water that you would need more than a brita filter to get it all out. If you do this make sure and use spring water, not distilled or drinking water.

Dennis

my first brew (IPA, no dry hopping) I used bottled spring water... no head at all... this one is slightly better.

Ok, just a thought. Probably not a water problem then.

thanks for all of the replies guys..

It's getting narrowed down though. I guess right now the list is:

A. Just a side affect of extract brewing...
B. Bottle cleaning (Use a bottle brush to actually "clean" instead of just rinse and sanitize)
C. Use an ice-water bath cooling method for the wort to try and get some cold-break.

Next batch I'll try B and C. Unfortunately that probably won't be for another month. I need to drink more so I can have some more bottles available.

dwf137 said:

thanks for all of the replies guys..

A. Just a side affect of extract brewing...

Click to expand...

Kind of, but not really. As stated above, try steeping 1/2 - 3/4 lb CaraPils with your next batch. See if that helps.

I'll give that a shot... I'll just add that in with the other grains while steeping...

will that add any additional flavors?

Carapils/Dextrine shouldn't add color, sweetness, or other flavors to the beer.