Poor head retention

I have brewed 8 batches and only 2 of them had a decent head. The rest of them had a small head and it disappeared very quickly.

Add carapils/Dextrin to your grain bill, whether or not you are brewing extract w/grains, or all grain....usually a half pound is all you need...

I keep forgetting it in some of my granbills...and I tend to remember and slap myself the minute I pour the first one from a batch.

Phew, glad to know I am not the only one. Seems every time I need it my head is nowhere to be found! Like right now. What were we talking about?

Who are you people and what are you doing in my living room?!













Um, yeah, crystal malt will also help with that.

If you have a spare hour, I'd recommend listening to this Brew Strong podcast from TheBrewingNetwork.com.
The Brewing Network.com - Brew Strong: Brew Strong: 09-01-08 Head Retention
Jamil and John are two guys who know a lot about brewing good beer. Carapils can help, but there can also be process-related things that could be impacting your head retention. They cover a bunch of different things in the podcast. It may help give you an idea of things to change in your process and recipes to help head retention. You also get a bunch of "head" jokes, which I'd consider an added, 4th grade humor, bonus...

Pardon my ignorance (yet again) but does the head serve any purpose other than cosmetics?

Pardon my ignorance (yet again) but does the head serve any purpose other than cosmetics?

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Aside from aesthetics, the head does in fact serve a practical purpose- the presentation of aroma.

flyangler18 said:

Aside from aesthetics, the head does in fact serve a practical purpose- the presentation of aroma.

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It is also important for the creation of the beer foam mustache. Don't forget that.

It's also a key indicator as to how well the beer was brewed to style.

Pour a mild and get a big fizzy head that dissipates quickly and you've got a thin bodied, overcarbonated beer.

Pour a wit that barely shows any sign of a head and you've got a flat belgian beer.

Now...pour an APA and get a thick, frothy head that forms slowly as you pour, levels off at about 1/2 inch and stands on its own for the first half glass...and you know (without drinking) that this beer has the right body, carbonation and mouthfeel.

Neigh...more than aesthetics. It's as important a part of the "total beer" as anything.

flaked barley also helps head retention.

great website, much info.

Comparing and Selecting Hops

BierMuncher said:

It's also a key indicator as to how well the beer was brewed to style.

Pour a mild and get a big fizzy head that dissipates quickly and you've got a thin bodied, overcarbonated beer.

Pour a wit that barely shows any sign of a head and you've got a flat belgian beer.

Now...pour an APA and get a thick, frothy head that forms slowly as you pour, levels off at about 1/2 inch and stands on its own for the first half glass...and you know (without drinking) that this beer has the right body, carbonation and mouthfeel.

Neigh...more than aesthetics. It's as important a part of the "total beer" as anything.

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Almost nine years later this post made my day. Simple and true.

Thanks

portguy said:

Almost nine years later this post made my day. Simple and true.

Thanks

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Don't know how many of these veterans of HBT are still active. I know Revvy is active, plus I use BierMuncher's Cream of Three Crops recipe so the legacy continues.

Morrey said:

Don't know how many of these veterans of HBT are still active. I know Revvy is active, plus I use BierMuncher's Cream of Three Crops recipe so the legacy continues.

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Dunno Morrey: i'm new to homebrew and this forum...but i'm glad the knowledge subsists!

Btw: Revvy is the user i read the most..love the guy!

portguy said:

Dunno Morrey: i'm new to homebrew and this forum...but i'm glad the knowledge subsists!

Btw: Revvy is the user i read the most..love the guy!

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Yeah, Revvy is a knowledge bank for sure. I haven't seen BierMuncher around too much lately, but if you look at some recipes on HBT, you'll see his name frequently.

I think there is a definite cycle of peaks and valleys regarding members and posts they make, but many are steadfast and are online almost daily.

The real secret to foam is within the hops and grain. Proper brewing to style only answers half the question.

To get foam, you need two basic ingredients to interact properly - hop oils and grain proteins. Isomerized alpha acids will bond to the proteins you have in beer so it's important to have the right amounts of both in your recipe.
Reduce or leave out certain other ingredients, adjuncts, or chemicals that will disrupt your suds ... like detergents and oils.
With the right ingredients and methods you can have a respectable foam stand in a low alcohol CrystalClear NearBeer that's carbed properly. I use hops containing enough alpha acid to get at least 20IBU with malted wheat and never once bothered with Carapils. If done right, you don't even need the wheat - even when using a partially modified barley with a usable protein content, any old barley will do the job.

flyangler18 said:

Aside from aesthetics, the head does in fact serve a practical purpose- the presentation of aroma.

Click to expand...

This is a great reply and a good hint why hop oils are important.

I sat around moping, wondering why my bottle of Leffe had such a persistent lacing and foam even when warm. So I read a bit, altered my grain bill somewhat, and my beers - usually as flat as Olive Oyl's arse - changed dramatically.
BYO had a great article on foam and that's what I leveraged. Before, I'd only used hops with low alpha, high beta acids for brewing so changing some methods did the trick ... that and a good bottle of Leffe.