No head on my beer, but it is carbed, wtf?

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bdnoona

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OK, here's the recipe:
grain: 10# 2-row, 1# carapils, 1# crystal 60L
hops: 0.5 oz centennial FWH, 0.5 oz centennial @60, 1 oz cascade @ 30 min, 1 oz cascade 10 min, 1 oz cascade dry hop
yeast: S-05

Mashed at 152F, OG 1.048, FG 1.008. Everything went fine as far as I can tell.

***The 1 oz Cascade at 10 min was fresh first year wet hops from my backyard. ***

It has been on kegged and on gas for two weeks. Several days were at 30 psi. The current temp is roughly 40-45F. Serving pressure is 12 psi. But when I pour the beer it creates absolutely no head, even if I try to make it. The keg is definitely holding pressure and I can't find any leaks with soapy water.

So what gives? Did I mess something up while brewing? Could the fresh hops be screwing it up? The beer pours normally but with no head. The beer once in the glass looks to have carbonation bubbles. Very odd. It tastes fine to me, just absolutely zero head. Thoughts?

Thanks, Brian
 
There's nothing in your recipe that would cause this. My first thought is that somehow something oily got into your beer -- that will kill the head.

I've never grown hops -- should they be dried out prior to using? Perhaps the oils from the hops are the culprit? I don't know, just thinking out loud here.

Another possibility is your glass -- are you using rinse agents in your dishwasher? Sometimes those can knock down the head.
 
+1 on making sure you don't have Jetdry in your dishwasher.

Try hand-washing a couple glasses and drying them with a lint-free cloth and see if that helps.
 
As far as I know fresh wet hops can be used as is. They don't need to be dried first.

And I have multiple taps. If I pull a pint off another beer, everything is fine. If I pull one off the wet hopped beer, there is no head. It's bizarre.

I cleaned this keg previously with oxyclean and starsan. I rinsed very thoroughly afterward. Is it possible that residual oxyclean could be causing this?
 
I am having a similar problem. I made an extract + steeping grains recipe for an IPA. It has been bottled for 3 weeks, It tastes great, it is carbed nicely, but there is no head. I also get a slight buttery mouthfeel in the first couple drinks. This was my first batch and it included 3 oz of whole hops and one oz of pellet hops (1/2 oz dry hopped).
 
As an experiment, you might pump up the pressure on this and see if you can overcarb it a little and see what it does to the head then. Just for curiosity sake.
 
I got a similar problem when naturally carbing a couple of batches in kegs. The natural carbonation in the keg worked great, I put them on gas and then after a few days the head just disappeared. I force carbed both batches and then put them on constant serving pressure and now their fine. Assuming your on constant pressure, and not swapping out CO2 connections each time you need to charge a keg to pour, you might want to try re carbing them at 30 psi over night and then putting the back on serving pressure. If glass cleaning, oils and everything else get checked off the list, I'd try that and see how it goes. Im still perusing the best heads on all y beers, but this is just something I tried and had good success with.
 
That's the thing though, I've tried over carb-ing it by keeping it on 30 psi for several days. When I bleed the pressure down to get it to serving pressure, it is obvious by the gas released that the keg has been holding the pressure. I'm sure there is no leak because 1) I've used this keg many times and 2) my CO2 tank has not run out even while putzing around with this keg at 30 psi. I don't get it.

The beer tastes OK, but the lack of head makes it look like I'm drinking apple juice.
 
Well, there are a couple compounds in beer responsible for head formation, and head retention... Protien Z and LTP1

What was your fermentation temp? That will affect it.

How vigorous was the boil? This will affect it.

What was your yeast pitch rate? This will affect it.

How well was the wort aerated? This will affect it.

Do you "shake" our kegs to quickly carb them? This will affect it.

Does it produce any head?

If you place it in a container and shake it like mad, will it make a head? This will take carbonation out of the picture and tell you if your beer is even capable of creating or retaining head...
 
I've had this issue on some kegs where I over filled my keg and didn't leave a whole lot of head space. I bet once your keg goes down a few pints and a week later you will have some. Either that or wait a bit longer.

I've learned the hard way, that I should not judge the beer's carbonation until the keg is half empty. THe last half of your keg will be more carbed. In the past I made adjustments to the full keg to get what I want , only to have the last half of the keg produce nothing but foam. THe key is to find a happy medium.
 
I guess what I am trying to say is that there is no easy answer. There is no overly simplistic answer to a beer that is carbed, not creating a head. There are so many factors that will affect the actions of protien Z and LTP1
 
Does it produce any head?

If you place it in a container and shake it like mad, will it make a head? This will take carbonation out of the picture and tell you if your beer is even capable of creating or retaining head...

If the the answer to this question is yes, then you have head killers. Since this is in a keg, I'd be tempted to put a little lecithin in the beer. You can find lecithin in the dietary supplements section of big supermarkets and health food stores. I does not dissolve in water very well. I'd mix 1/2 a tsp in some grain alcohol and add it to the keg, close it up and give it a vigourous shake and let it sit for a day.

Lecithin is an emulsifier and will counteract the negative affect of any oils in the beer
 
Exactly... even without carbonating, you can determine if your beer will have a head.
 
Well, there are a couple compounds in beer responsible for head formation, and head retention... Protien Z and LTP1

What was your fermentation temp? That will affect it.

How vigorous was the boil? This will affect it.

What was your yeast pitch rate? This will affect it.

How well was the wort aerated? This will affect it.

Do you "shake" our kegs to quickly carb them? This will affect it.

Does it produce any head?

If you place it in a container and shake it like mad, will it make a head? This will take carbonation out of the picture and tell you if your beer is even capable of creating or retaining head...

Fermented in the upper 60F's, a rolling boil, 11.5g S-05 pitched into 1.048 wort, well aerated, I don't shake the kegs to carb them. It doesn't produce any head out of the tap. I'll try the shaking it thing tonight.
 
I've had this issue on some kegs where I over filled my keg and didn't leave a whole lot of head space. I bet once your keg goes down a few pints and a week later you will have some. Either that or wait a bit longer.

I've learned the hard way, that I should not judge the beer's carbonation until the keg is half empty. THe last half of your keg will be more carbed. In the past I made adjustments to the full keg to get what I want , only to have the last half of the keg produce nothing but foam. THe key is to find a happy medium.

Holy crap, this might be it! When I filled it up, the starsan foam blocked my view of filling it. It was so over filled I had to siphon beer back out of the keg to get the lid on. I'll drink some more pints in the next few days and hit it on high PSI again. Hopefully you are right JesseRC. :mug:
 
Holy crap, this might be it! When I filled it up, the starsan foam blocked my view of filling it. It was so over filled I had to siphon beer back out of the keg to get the lid on. I'll drink some more pints in the next few days and hit it on high PSI again. Hopefully you are right JesseRC. :mug:

Sure, but you missed the part about me learning the hard way. If your start changing too many variables and force carbing on high, pretty soon you'll be starting a Thread title "is my beer over carbed". I'd first follow Pol's advice, as it is a fairly easy procedure. Like I said in my post. You might get it where you want it now, but halfway through the keg you'll be complaining of too much foam.

I keep mine at 10 psi, a keg at 7-10 days on co2 hardly has any head. Once it gets down halfway the head is great and is fine for the rest of the keg. This might also have to do with time and co2 absorbtion.

An untapped keg sitting there in the keezer for 1+month on co2 at 10 psi, has perfect head once tapped.

So either set it at serving and wait or start troubleshooting like mad.
 
Sure, but you missed the part about me learning the hard way. If your start changing too many variables and force carbing on high, pretty soon you'll be starting a Thread title "is my beer over carbed". I'd first follow Pol's advice, as it is a fairly easy procedure. Like I said in my post. You might get it where you want it now, but halfway through the keg you'll be complaining of too much foam.

I keep mine at 10 psi, a keg at 7-10 days on co2 hardly has any head. Once it gets down halfway the head is great and is fine for the rest of the keg. This might also have to do with time and co2 absorbtion.

An untapped keg sitting there in the keezer for 1+month on co2 at 10 psi, has perfect head once tapped.

So either set it at serving and wait or start troubleshooting like mad.

This is why you need to take a sample, place it in a nice clean container and shake he heck out of it to see if it will create head. If not, then nothing you will do with regard to head space etc. will help. This is an easy test to see if it is the beer itself.
 
Holy crap, this might be it! When I filled it up, the starsan foam blocked my view of filling it. It was so over filled I had to siphon beer back out of the keg to get the lid on. I'll drink some more pints in the next few days and hit it on high PSI again. Hopefully you are right JesseRC. :mug:

Do the beer shaking test first... it is easy and will give you an absolute answer before moving ahead.
 
Well, there are a couple compounds in beer responsible for head formation, and head retention... Protien Z and LTP1

What was your fermentation temp? That will affect it.

How vigorous was the boil? This will affect it.

What was your yeast pitch rate? This will affect it.

How well was the wort aerated? This will affect it.

Do you "shake" our kegs to quickly carb them? This will affect it.

I was curious about this stuff so I did some googling. This is a pretty good article:

http://***********/stories/techniqu...tention/697-getting-good-beer-foam-techniques
 
Alright, shaking the beer up in a container created all kinds of foam. I'm just going to assume that JesseRC was right. I filled this keg up to the absolute top. I guess next time I'll leave a little more room. Or just not worry about it and drink. Thanks for the help guys!

Brian
 
Your carbonation is OK. I'm thinking it's something else. I'm still going back to the use of wet hops. Everything I've ever read talks about the hops being dried before use (cf Mark Garetz, Using Hops: The Complete Guide to Hops for the Craft Brewer, 1994).
 
Even craft brewers use wet hops, and I have not heard of them having issues when they do.

Bottom line, the beer will create head, he already proved that. Now, for some reason, it isnt. But, the beer is capable, so it isnt the beer. It is an outside force. The shaking test is the key.
 
That's the thing though, I've tried over carb-ing it by keeping it on 30 psi for several days. When I bleed the pressure down to get it to serving pressure, it is obvious by the gas released that the keg has been holding the pressure. I'm sure there is no leak because 1) I've used this keg many times and 2) my CO2 tank has not run out even while putzing around with this keg at 30 psi. I don't get it.

The beer tastes OK, but the lack of head makes it look like I'm drinking apple juice.

A few days at 30 PSI wont overcarb it my friend!

As to the oil posts; I doubt it had to do with oils, Ive done fresh hops + bakers chocolate (yes including the cocoa butter, was all I could get) and even that retains a good head when properly carbed.

shake the @#$% out of the keg at 30 PSI for a few mins
then leave it at 30 for a while longer; bet you end up with head
 
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