odd looking head but great flavor- Your thoughts

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Beertk

Beertk

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I have a light english pale ale that has an odd head. It starts with a big bold head when poured from the bottle but when the head dies a little it seems to coagulate. I am used to the head evenly covering the top of the beer and this one seems to form islands of head. It does not taste like an infection just looks a bit funny. Anyone seen this before. The recipe for the beer is plain and and simple yet delicious. It is

5 gallon batch
10 lbs Marris Otter
1 lbs Golden Promise
Mashed at 150
1 oz Target @ 60min
1 oz E Kent Goldings @ 10 min
boil time 60 minutes
1 packet Muntons gold
Fermented primary 1 week at 65 degrees
cold cond 45 degrees 1 week
bottled and conditioned 3+ weeks
have been drinking for 2 weeks :mug:
 
bentk said:
I have a light english pale ale that has an odd head. It starts with a big bold head when poured from the bottle but when the head dies a little it seems to coagulate. I am used to the head evenly covering the top of the beer and this one seems to form islands of head. It does not taste like an infection just looks a bit funny. Anyone seen this before. The recipe for the beer is plain and and simple yet delicious. It is

5 gallon batch
10 lbs Marris Otter
1 lbs Golden Promise
Mashed at 150
1 oz Target @ 60min
1 oz E Kent Goldings @ 10 min
boil time 60 minutes
1 packet Muntons gold
Fermented primary 1 week at 65 degrees
cold cond 45 degrees 1 week
bottled and conditioned 3+ weeks
have been drinking for 2 weeks :mug:
Click to expand...
Well, my theory is that as long as it tastes good, it's good beer. Don't suppose you have a pic, sounds to me like it just lacks head retention.
 
I have not gotten a picture of it. Besides that I don't pay for a membership to this site so I can't post a pic here. Alternatively, I suppose I could post elsewhere and link to it.
 
My Belgian Golden Ale does that. I am not sure what the cause is. I don't think it could be a head retention things, as this beer has very good head retention. It still has head when I am halfway through the beer. However, as it decipates, it does definitely form little islands of head. I don't know the answer, but I have seen it.
 
I have the same thing on some of my beers. I never considered it an issue, but now I am interested in hearing what it is. I can take a pic of it tonight.
 
It sounds like a finely textured, dense head that may have some particles in it (and that's not unusual for homebrew). The head dissipates more quickly around those particles, leaving with you with some bits of head left around.


TL
 
Good to hear others have experienced the samething. Cheers!
 
Like this?

4569-Kolsch1.jpg


....shamelessly taken from Edwort's gallery.
 
No, that is not what I was referring to at all. The one I get is after most of the head disapates, and the remaining head breaks up into 'clumps' or islands. I will try and take a pic, but I am forgetful.
 
No I think he means that thick, small/compact/dense bubble head like on stouts.. then the head sort of dissipates a little and you get left with little solid looking collections of head and thinner swirls of it around.. I get it from my Sam Adams brews all the time. I thought it was my glass's. I use American Pint glasses but they have ridges on the inside.
 
cubbies said:
No, that is not what I was referring to at all. The one I get is after most of the head disapates, and the remaining head breaks up into 'clumps' or islands. I will try and take a pic, but I am forgetful.
Click to expand...
You hit the nail on the (you guessed it) head. That is exactly what I see in my beer. Not a head that stands up and takes a bow :) like EdWorts. It does stand up for a good 5-10 minutes but by the time I am 3/4 of the way down the glass then I get the islands.
 
Yeah, mine's not like Ed Wort's picture at all. It's also when the head dissipates and breaks up into islands of bubbles that stay together even when roused.
 
Maybe it's what you're using to clean the glassware?

Could be rinse-aid type stuff breaking down the head just leaving islands in the middle where the stuff hasn't got to yet. That's my theory.
 
Yeah, I tried rinsing the glasses. It did not correct the problem.
 
You guys don't pour then wait for the head to settle? I always drank from bottles until the day I signed up here..

I rinse my glass, leave upside down on a paper towel, grab beer, open, pour, smell, put back on counter.. take a whizz, grab my beer and then start drinking.. The head settles and I get better flavor (i think) when I let the beer settle in the glass a couple of minutes.. most beers lose their head, not the stouts I buy..
 
Do you mean something like this? Usually I get a star pattern of sorts, and I'm trying to figure it out myself. I start out with a great head which slowly subsides and breaks apart into sections similar to this. I think it has to do with head retention issues. After to listening to a recent Brew Strong podcast I think it might be due to me using a paint stirrer to aerate which would break down a lot of the "foam-once" proteins.

islands.jpg
 

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