Frig temperature vs beer carbination

ok, to start off with I'm still very much a newbie..... I have brewed two batches now and both are doing the same thing.

Amber Ale- over a month in the bottles (used DME)
Smoked Scotch ale- little over 3 weeks in the bottles (used brown sugar)

Here the story. If I put either one in the frig for about 2 hours to give them a good chill, when I go to serve both have a fairly good head. Amber 1/4", Scotch probably 1/2". Now if I put them in the frig over night or several days just as it is recommended neither one has a head. No bubbles form, but have a carb feeling when tasting.


I guess the ultimate question is what temperature should I have my frig set at to properly chill?

I have not taken the temperature in the beer frig yet but will this weekend...

thanks Pete

Co2 is more soluble at colder temps causing less head. You might use a room temp glass, or let the bottle sit out for a few minutes.

More than likely then, they are not actually fully carbed yet. And your 2 hours in the fridge is STILL pretty warm, and the co2 in the head has not been fully absorbed into solution in the cold, what little there is. On the other hand, the longer chill IS absorbing the limited amount of co2, and since it's a small amount it is no appearing carbed.

Remember that the 3 weeks at 70 we recommend is just a rule of thumb and not etched in stone, and that is only for beers that are around 1.060 og or less. Bigger beers do take longer. I have had stouts and porters that have taken 6-8 weeks, and a 1.090 belgian strong that took three months to achieve carbonation.

Like I said, I don't think that even at 3-4 weeks your beers are fully carbed to begin with...give them a couple more weeks above 70, and agitate them once to lift the yeast back into solution...and check back on them in another week or two, they should achieve full cab levels by then, and chilling them for the 48+ hours we recommend should net you perfect beers.

ok, more patients got it..... Thanks...

I did agitate all of them last week. So at least I'm heading in the right direction. I think something else that could be effecting them is that I didn't take into account the wort temperature verses the amount of sugar needed. I just used the standard 2/3 cup and 1 1/4 cup... I found a calculator on here the other day that I will be using for now on to make sure i'm right on...

thanks again guys, Pete

Longer time in the fridge will give you better carbed beer since the CO2 in the headspace needs time to absorb into the beer, as was said. You might also try handwashing your beer glasses if you use a drying agent like Jetdry in your dish washer. That stuff can kill your head as can other residues on the glasses.

We never used Jetdry in our dish washer, but since moving to a house without one and having to handwash everything, I've noticed my beer having better head than it did at the apartment where we used the dishwasher.