My beer gets great head, but why!? lol

Ok, I've brewed quite a few extract kits. The robust porter, amber cerveza, raspberry hefeweizen all have pretty knarly heads on them, as in I have to pour a little, and 1/2" will be beer and the rest foam....wait..wait...wait some more and slowly get it all out of the bottle. It might take 3 minutes just to pour! I store my beer in the basement which is about 68 degrees and usually dark. The beer was brewed over the winter so its aged a few months. The beer all tastes great but just have a lot of foam when pouring. Is it just a case of over carbonation and if so how do i prevent that? I haven't had any bottle bombs and usually do a primary and then a secondary and then bottle. I use the sugar that comes with the beer kits and boil that and add to bottom of bottling bucket and then transfer from glass carboy to bottling bucket the beer and let it swirl so it mixes up the priming sugars natually.

Any ideas?

How are you pouring it?

Also... how are you washing the glasses? The soap you use will have a huge effect on the head and head retention.

well we wash the glasses in the dishwasher with everything else. I figured that might have something to do with it??? but...didn't figure it would be the MAIN reason? let me know...

I pour my beer with the glass slanted and pour it real slow.

if you brewed them this last winter you may have under pitched yeast and they are just now finishing up,or you over carbed..

What temp is the beer when you pour it, and what temp is the glass. Warm glass and cold beer = more head. The dishwasher detergent might do it, too.

Do you drink a few beer out of the same glass? The head should change if it is the detergent on the glass.



-Nick

Temp of the beer is str8 out of the refrigerator which is probably 37-42 degrees??? and the glass is 70-72 degrees. A lot of it could be that plus just washing the glasses with everything else in the dishwasher.

Thanks all for giving me some ideas on things to correct. What is your ideal way to server, use frosted mugs?

Don't use frosted mugs. They will trap in most of your aroma and flavor. Frosted mugs are for BMC and the like. Use room temperature glasses that you hand wash, hold your glass at a 45 degree angle and pour slowly down the inside of the glass, slightly tilting up your glass as you get to the top. Drink your beer then tell the SWMBO that your beer gives you more head than she does. They love that.

Lol @ hambone....

FWIW, detergent is usually a head killer not a head maker. We used to use bud light to rinse our beer glasses prior to filling them at the brewpub, and we would keep the same glass our entire session. The kitchen washes all the glasses the same, but at my house my beer glasses always get a vinegar water rinse prior to drying. That way I can use the dishwasher and still have foam in my cup.

Oh, and I think you may be over-carbonated. Does the beer taste too bubbly out of the bottle? Take a swig before pouring into your glass and see if it does. You will never be able to tell if you foam that much and try to see from your glass if you are over-carbonated. Note: this is the only time I recommend drinking my beer from a bottle, lol.

How to get truly beer clean glasses. Let's see if the HBTer responsible pipes up.

[youtube]27ESd5lopUo[/youtube]

I'm thinking over carbonation. I'm not sure why, I use the typical 5oz of priming sugar that comes with the extract kits. I typically per the recipe , boil the water and sugar, put in the bottom of my bottling bucket, and then let the beer swirl around the priming sugars as its racking from glass carboy to bottling bucket. I don't do any extra stirring to mix the priming sugar water in to the beer, I just let it swirl naturally to mix. I bottle and then I then store in the basement in boxes away from light where the temps are about 68-72 consistently.