How to get head retention on a N/A barley tea brew

[osakarocks]

I'm working on a No-Alcohol recipe with barley tea, specialty malt, hops, and some CBD. I've got the flavor pretty well dialed in but the head retention is a bit sad. For now, I'm just making one liter test batches and force carbonating with a carb cap. Any tips for making it look, pour, and hold a nice foamy head like beer? Or am I hoping for the impossible?

 

[hottpeper13]

The wort that I can get to 172* in the mash has a much denser head that laces. I don't know your procedure but one liter at a time why not try it.

 

[osakarocks]

Thanks for the tip! Here's my process in a nutshell:

Note that 45g is equivalent to 2 pounds for 5 gal batch
and 1g would be roughly .75 oz for a 5 gal batch.

1. Heat 1 liter of water and 45g maltodextrin to 150°
2. Add 45g crushed CaraFoam in hops bag and hold for 10 mins
3. Add 1 mugi-cha teabag, 1g decarboxylized CBD shake, and 1g citra hops to bag and for 5 additional mins
4. Remove hops bag and squeeze out liquid
5. Let cool to around 120 before transferring to a 1 liter pet bottle and cold crashing.
6. Once fully chilled, force carb at 30 psi until fully carbed.

My problem is that I'm getting a "soda-like" head where it foams up for a second, then goes away. I'm also getting some chill haze which will be the next thing I try to address. If only I could get a nice clear brew with a beer-like head, that would be great!

Any ideas or additional tips for me? I'll definitely try upping the mash temp. Maybe it needs longer mash too? Or post-mash boil? Or?

 

[AlexKay]

A few ideas:

First, your CBD product may contain emulsifiers that obliterate head retention (and for that matter, also create your haze.) You can’t do without the emulsifiers, though, because then your cannabinoids won’t stay in solution. Try making a batch without the CBD and seeing what happens.

Second, I’ve never seen a coherent explanation of why CaraWhatever actually promotes head retention. I’d be concerned that whatever magical thing it’s supposed to be doing isn’t supplying the foam proteins you need. Try swapping out the CaraFoam for 2-row or (even better) wheat malt.

Next, iso-alpha acids are needed for good foam, and you hardly have any. You could boil the hops, though of course this will totally change the taste of the beverage. Dry hopping is generally considered foam-negative.

While this will also change the taste of your beverage, you might get somewhere by just using more malt. Increase the mugicha (which just contains roast barley, and not anything else?) or the base malt.

As a long shot, you could try adding food grade zinc. I use zinc sulfate drops marketed as a supplement, no flavoring and no additives, as a yeast nutrient before fermentation. For head retention the number I seem to recall is 20 ppm, but that may be way off the mark. Double-check this number if you go this route.

 

[osakarocks]

Very helpful tips — thank you! I'll definitely try a batch without the CBD just as an experiment. I had already planned to make the next batch with 2-row and crystal malt instead of carafoam. Need to pick up some wheat malt to try that too. Zinc is a new idea I hadn't considered. Might give that a shot too. Thanks again!!