No head retention!

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Mr. Awesome

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My beer pours with a nice head to it, but it falls back very quickly to the point where there are no bubbles on top. I can taste and feel the carbonation in my mouth and see some bubbles rising on the side of the glass (though not as much as I would like. I guess a secondary question would be, 'How can I increase the carbonation in my beer overall? Just add more priming solution?'). Books I have say that this is caused by a dirty glass, but commercial beer does not have the issue as there is almost always a fine layer of head on the top until the last mouthfull. Any way to fix this?
 
Mr. Awesome said:
My beer pours with a nice head to it, but it falls back very quickly to the point where there are no bubbles on top. I can taste and feel the carbonation in my mouth and see some bubbles rising on the side of the glass (though not as much as I would like. I guess a secondary question would be, 'How can I increase the carbonation in my beer overall? Just add more priming solution?'). Books I have say that this is caused by a dirty glass, but commercial beer does not have the issue as there is almost always a fine layer of head on the top until the last mouthfull. Any way to fix this?
Click to expand...

Posting a recipe thats an example of a beer that didn't have any retention would be a good start, as well as priming and bottling details. AG, extract/steeping, PM? Without knowing specifics, I think that a safe suggestion would be to use some dextrine malts (carapils etc).

In terms of glass wear, there are a few regular culprits. Do you use a dishwasher? If so, stay away from stuff like Jet Dry etc. Also make sure you use wet glasses vs. dry when pouring.
 
Assuming you're doing extract with grains or partial mash...

Take 1/2 pound of carapils malted barley.

Crush them up with a rolling pin. Add them to your steeping grains and steep for 60 minutes at 155 degrees. Remove grains from wort.

Proceed with your extract additions and boil.
 
Here's the recipe.

Specialty Grains


* 0.5 lbs. Dingemans Caramel Pils
* 0.25 lbs. Briess Special Roast
* 0.125 lbs. Dingemans Biscuit
* 0.125 lbs. Simpson's Chocolate

Fermentables


* 6 lbs. Gold Malt Syrup

Boil Additions


* 0.5 oz. Northern Brewer (60 min)

Yeast


* Wyeast #1272 American Ale Yeast II. Fruitier and more flocculant than 1056, slightly nutty, soft, clean, slightly tart finish. Flocculation: high. Apparent attenuation: 72-76%. Optimum temperature: 60-72.
 
Double your carapils.

Also, the longer your bottles cold condition, the better your carbonation aspects (including head retention) will be. SO, if your chilling your beer for a day or two prior to serving, try letting them chill for several weeks.
 
Ah, good tip. I've been keeping them warm, then just chilling them as I want them. Somewhere I read that once you cool them down they stop aging, and I wanted them to keep getting better. I guess I'm wrong?
 

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